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Tuesday
9/11, 2007

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"Citizen--there is a term whose past is glorious and revolutionary. This term designates a person who
cannot be governed without, in some clever manner, giving him the impression that he is governing himself.
To create this impression among the governed is the end product of a specialized and absorbing labor: politics.
In reality, the idea of a citizen governing himself has always been a myth." --Ludvik Vaculik, 1967

What to do with 9/11? The date is significant but there seems no consensus on the proper observance. Reverend Rich Lang of Trinity United thought it would be a good time to call for government and press accountability to the citizenry and proposed a general strike, student walkout, and picketing of commercial media. At first I thought this would be a good idea, but in the end I boarded my usual morning bus packed with people on the way to their jobs and worked my butt off on a Tuesday much like the Tuesday 6 years ago--sunny with clear blue skies, the only difference being planes continued to fly, helping to color the horizon. After work, John, Josh and I went down to the strip in Alki where tricked out lowriders were cruising, people on Rollerblades pushed babystrollers, and a large crowd was gathered on the beach bopping along as a big band played happy tunes and a fireboat arced 4 streams of water high in the air. Neither protest nor solemn occasion, it seemed the day was chosen for a celebration and rededication of a newly refurbished miniature Statue of Liberty. It's important to remember liberty, especially because since 9/11 it is more a concept than a practice among a populace that is cowed, complacent, and distracted--myself way included.