CRASH AND RECOVERY [That's what it's all about, isn't it?]

The 2996 Tribute site was overwhelmed yesterday and went under, but is now back on its feet. Please visit it after reading my tribute to JACK CHARLES ARON, below. It's September 12 but there's no reason not to keep on reading-- read half a dozen a day, and you won't be finished by next September 11. Think about that.

And remember that for each name in the 2996 list there is (give or take a few) the name of an American or coalition soldier (sailor, airman, Marine) who has died in service in Iraq, and another 500 in Afghanistan. Their names are here.

Forgetting is not an option. Complacency is suicide-- and that's their "thing", not ours.

I listened breathlessly for Jack Aron's name to be read yesterday at Ground Zero-- he is the new September 11 reality for me. Many hours, and many tears, later I tried some escapism, blasting CD's at high volume in my car, among them the album of the Beatles' #1 hits. Far from being an avenue of escape, they became an emblem of what I had learned about Jack Aron, and "I Wanta Hold Your Hand" became about him. That brought the tears back. But strangely, about halfway through the album, when it got to the hits from the Beatles' later drug-filled, quarrelsome, bed-in crucify-me years, I found myself skipping through the songs and finally switching the whole thing off. Apparently I have lost patience with the self-absorbed decadence into which they descended, along with a substantial portion of the western world. We are still feeling the crippling effects of that plunge, and likely wouldn't be in our present new-fascist pickle if we had held the line against a lot of that stuff.

By the end of the day yesterday I had ceased being sorrowful and was back into anger mode. Not the most productive frame of mind, but at least geared up to continue doing battle in the year ahead.











This family's Two Towers, and the Third: STILL STANDING
-- as photographed on Ellis Island, where a hundred years ago their great-grandfather realized his "ambition -- happiness -- to come to America."

We ain't leavin', and we ain't givin' it up.