I tired (rather successfully) to avoid most of the September 11, memorials, ceramonies, tribues, news specials, in depth special reports, and such. I've just had ENOUGH. We "remembered" on the 1 month anniversay last October, we "remembered" again at the 6 month anniversay in March. Most of the "remembering" I saw happening (from the morning ceramonies in New York to the Kennedy Centers Gala Celebrity Bash) seemed so fake and "staged."

I have a classmate, whose friend was killed in the WTC. She got together with family and friends yesterday to just BE -- not eulogize, or remember. They didn't go to Ground Zero. They didn't watch the garbage on television. They didn't light candles and promise to never forget. Instead they hung out, had a drink, enjoyed being together for a couple hours, and flew home. She came to class yesterday straight from the airport. Her stories about the day, were more real, honest, and refreshing than anything I heard from the media yesterday.

The other real, honest, refreshing, healing, moment came in the poem that someone else from my class shared . . .

SELF EVIDENT yes,

us people are just poems
we're 90% metaphor
with a leanness of meaning
approaching hyper-distilation
and once upon a time
we were moonshine
rushing down the throat of a giraffe
yes, rushing down the long hallway
despite with the p.a. announcement says
yes, rushing down the long stairs
with the whiskey of eternity
fermented and distilled
to eighteen minutes
burning down our throats
down the hall
down the stairs
in a building so tall
that it will always be there
yes, it's part of a pair
there on the bow of noah's ark
the most presigious couple
just kicking back and parked
against a perfectly blue sky
on a morning beatific
in its indian summer breeze
on the day that america
fell to its knees
after strutting around for a century
without saying thank you
or please. . .
- Ani DiFranco