25 Years Ago

9/11/2001 was 25 years ago. Unlike some days in the past that are pretty unremarkable, it remains starkly remembered by pretty much any U.S. citizen who lived through it. Terrorists struck multiple major landmarks to make a statement (spare me any conspiracy theories; it was our nation's incompetence that got us attacked, as opposed to some ingenious inside-job plan), resulting in damage to the Pentagon as well as the total destruction of the World Trade Center Twin Towers and Tower 7, with the others suffering catastrophic damage. I was in 8th grade, and we watched everything unfold on the televisions in our classrooms after it became apparent this was no singular accident (when the first Tower was struck, it was assumed to be some kind of mistake).

 9/11/2001 was a messy, weird day, followed by weeks of confusion from citizens and our Government itself. It provided the George W. Bush administration with enough support to not just go after the Taliban in Afghanistan, but to engage in a separate war built upon lies with Iraq, whilst also implementing the Patriot Act, one of the first small steps taken to chip away at individual liberties and put in place various kinds of mass surveillance programs that have only grown in size and scope since then. I'll often see folks look back at that day as tragic, but then have a weird nostalgia for 9/12/2001, discussing how we came together as a Nation and realized we needed to help and be kind to each other. Ya'll, that is some revisionist bullshit (as many will tell you).

In the days after 9/11, there were people who did good deeds; that is true. People in New York City tried to help with rescue efforts and clean-up; millions donated blood (even though much of it expired and went to waste). Lots of folks bought American flags to proudly fly from their porch. There was a swell of patriotism, but also Xenophobia and rage. People were talking about bombing various countries with weapons up to and even including nuclear weapons. Anyone who looked/sounded/seemed Arabic was viewed with suspicion and hatred, regardless of whether they were any form of Muslim or instead Sikh, Hindu, etc. Parts of America came together, yes, united in fury and bloodlust. It wasn't some magical time of unity--it was a time of trauma and anger. A time of pain as our Nation came to terms with how it was viewed by the rest of the World (not always favorably), and proceeded to use any International goodwill it could to wage all kinds of battles that at first made sense but then became increasingly questionable. I mean, remember the Axis of Evil and how it lumped a bunch of random, unrelated countries together like some video-game-esque ranking of boss battles? 

9/11/2001 was a tragedy, and the way many used it for political purposes or to make a buck was a travesty. I'm not so cynical as to ask, "Did the Terrorists Win?" as Rolling Stone just did. I will agree that America is more divided than ever, personal liberties keep getting eroded, efforts continue to be made to make voting harder (or votes simply not count), and so forth. America and its concept of freedom is an idea, however, and you can't kill an idea. You can try to twist and manipulate what America is into something unrecognizable that furthers your own goals. You can try to placate the populace with half-truths and outright lies, acting like everything is great when it really isn't. You can try to shut down any dissent or those who would question the people in power in America. You can do all that, but the idea persists that America is the land of the free and the home of the brave. Nobody can stop that, whether they be terrorists trying to instill fear, or people within our own Nation working on implementing laws and policies that are counter to the idea of, "Liberty and justice and for all." 

I've always said if I ran for political office (I have zero intent to do so, but if I did) I would ask Lee Greenwood for permission to play, "God Bless the USA," at events because even though the GOP has tried to claim it as some kind of anthem, it is a beautiful tune that rings true. I am proud to be an American and love this country and all it could accomplish. I don't want our country to suffer from forces outside or within. I won't forget 9/11/2001, because it was a day of shock, pain, and serves as a prime example of how, anytime there is something devastating that occurs--no matter how awful--there will be people ready to take advantage of the situation for their own means. It's been 25 years since 9/11/2001, and we have illustrated that America, the idea, cannot be extinguished. America, the country, remains as messy and troubled as ever, though.

9/11/2001 Was 23 Years Ago

9/11/2001 was a day 23 years ago full of shock, terror, and disbelief. Terrorists were able to attack the World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon via hijacked planes. One plane was retaken by passengers and crashed in Pennsylvania.  It led to wars, numerous political/social/economic changes, and impacted our Nation and the World in so many ways. We have a significant chunk of the population that wasn't even born then and learns about the day in history books. I remember being in 8th grade that morning and how confusing it all was thinking some accident had occurred before it became quite apparent the nation was under attack once the second plane hit the other tower. A dark day in history that saddens me to remember.

9/11...22 Years Later

September 11th, 2001 was a day that occurred 22 years ago. I remember it better than most days with that much distance between me and them. I was in the eighth grade and in my first class after homeroom (I forget the exact subject) when toward the end I heard a teacher come in and mention to the other that a bomb had gone off in one World Trade Center or a plane had hit it, "Or something." Then in our next class (I think math) we were doing work when another teacher came by to say that a plane had hit the first tower and then another plane had hit the other. From that point, pretty much every class was spent watching television with news about everything going on in the nation. We were all confused, upset, and it was a weird day. Then there was the Pentagon getting crashed into and the other plane that went down Pennsylvania when they fought the hijackers. As it became apparent all this hadn't been some weird accident but was a coordinated terrorist attack the Nation was forever changed by this massively traumatic event. Different generations have, "That thing," that happened which everyone remembers. It can be good, like when we walked on the Moon, or bad, like Pearl Harbor, various infamous assassinations, and so forth. 

For someone such as myself born in 1988, I'd say 9/11 is, "That thing," for me and other Millenials. Now we've got kids learning about it in history books, which is strange to see something I recall discussed by those who didn't even exist yet in the manner of it being, "Old," history. A lot of the World changed after the events of the day as, "That thing," in a generation often brings many ramifications. Now we are here, 22 years later. Some things are better and some are quite worse. That's how things often go with history. I just hope in another 22 years more things will be improved than worse. I think that's what every generation ponders in response to, "That thing," they face.

The Empty Shock Value of Johnny Ryan's Latest, "Porn Basket," Comic--A Review

"Porn Basket," is the title of Johnny Ryan's latest work. Released by Fantagraphics Underground (FU) imprint of Fantagraphics, it was limited to just 1,200 or so copies, and the store I ordered it from somehow managed to get a copy for me despite allocations due to a lot more folks than Fantagraphics anticipated wanting this. I've been a minor fan of Ryan's work for years. Sometimes he does something really clever and over-the-top in his works and other times it comes off as desperate to be edgy at the expense of some imaginary person clutching their pearls from offended sensibilities at Ryan's creations. "Porn Basket," is a sketchbook of sorts as opposed to actual comic strips. Everything just takes up a page or a two-page spread. The book also features Ryan, "Going there," as much as he can.

Ryan wants to offend everyone. Liberals, conservatives, white, black, gay, straight, Christian, Muslim, Jewish--anybody you can think of. If this means drawing a satanic symbol on a copy of, "Anne Frank's Diary," while it gets pooped on by Yoda, he'll do it. Well-known meme Pepe the Frog with an erection that looks like a World Trade tower being flown into? Ryan won't shy away from it. Abortion jokes? George Zimmerman as a surreal heroic figure punching youth of color? Ample Nazi symbols just for shucks? Ryan won't hesitate to show them. He's so busy often drawing really offensive stuff it loses any meaning. It's trying to be the wildest and disgusting thing possible but it's little more than empty shock value. Also, he really makes fun of Nickelodeon a lot, making me wonder what his beef is with that channel. Here is maybe the one safe-for-work strip he does at their expense (others are quite bloody or raunchy):

Ryan's going, "What horrible things can I put pen to paper for?" in this sketchbook and that's about it. There is no deeper meaning beyond, "Look at me making fun of Trump/Seth Rogen/Ruth Bader Ginsburg/Leonard Cohen/etc. or, "I have bugs shooting out the orifices of an infant while the parent screams in disgust, aren't I stinker?" Ryan is so busy attempting to disgust us the whole thing is just numbing in its inane grotesque presentation. You're just bored at a certain point, saying, "Oh, this time Ryan combined a 9/11 and bestiality joke by having a first responder at the WTC getting oral sex from an American Eagle. Whatever."

The thing about all this is Ryan really can draw when he wants to. He can make things look realistic, cartoony, or just generally impressive. When he takes a moment to just illustrate a cool castle or show his chops it is a treat. Ryan is a skilled illustrator and when he takes a break from trying to be nasty (or even when he's being nasty) his stuff is usually gorgeous. Look at this amazing sketch of Marvel's Man-Thing for example:

Hence, within, "Porn Basket," we get all style (good drawing) and no substance beyond, "This is some nasty shit!" Ryan excels at drawing things like Trump being surprised at Hillary Clinton forcing him to give her a handjob with a secret penis or portraying a seal with a massive vulva that men can't resist masturbating themselves over, but other than being drawn with skill there just isn't much to this sketchbook. If you want to be able to repeatedly say while stifling a yawn, "Yeah, that's offensive," every time you turn a page in, "Porn Basket," you can try to find a copy in stores or via the internet. You honestly aren't missing much if you skip out on this though. It's for Johnny Ryan completionists only.

2 out of 5 stars.

20 Years Ago Today

20 years ago today I was in a Junior High English class where we read popular short stories and discussed them. The class ended at 9AM and a teacher came into the room and told our teacher how something had happened at the World Trade Center. There had been a plane accident, or a bomb, or something. It had just happened but it seemed it was being addressed. 

We headed into our math class and were getting started with a lesson when it was announced that another plane had hit the other World Trade tower. Clearly, this was no accident and America was under attack. After that, we didn't really do any of our classes the rest of the day, instead, any televisions in the classrooms were broadcasting the news about what was happening as we all tried to make sense of it. The news came in about the Pentagon as well as a crash in Pennsylvania. I was just dumbstruck by it all and the true gravity of what had happened didn't really hit me until the next day as the deaths were continuously being tallied up and the faces of those killed or still missing filled our screens. It made me feel sick.

There was of course a surge in patriotism and unity, people these days still say they miss how wonderful it was on 9/12 that everyone came together. This of course is using rose-tinted glasses as plenty of people were not included in the loving embrace of nationalism, with Muslim individuals still facing persecution in the U.S. to this day. There was some sense of hope that we were going to go to Afghanistan and get revenge. Then for some reason, the war started to encompass Iraq for no (truthful) reason. 

Eventually, we killed the mastermind behind 9/11, Osama Bin Laden, but we still found ourselves wrapped up in Afghanistan until recently when we essentially abandoned it back to the Taliban, fleeing a country that any other government has consistently failed to adequately, "Help," such as previously in 1919 (the British gave up), 1989 (The Soviets gave up) and now in 2021 (we gave up). The failure in Afghanistan does not have a sole President to blame as much as those of us who hate Trump (or others who like to throw shade at Biden) would like. This mess encompasses Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden, with everyone taking some blame, although I'd say Bush deserves most of the scorn for the attacks even happening and Obama gets out with the least of this stink upon him. We didn't know everything that would be to come 20 years ago today though. We were just hurting, so badly, as a Nation. In some ways, the surge of patriotism and jingoism wasn't a surprise even if some of it is incredibly cringe-inducing today.

Now we have children learning about 9/11 in history classes as something that happened before they were born. It must be weird for them to hear about this major event that for them seems so distant yet for many of us feels so fresh in our minds--the only other comparison I can really make when it comes to a National tragedy is much older Americans who recall Pearl Harbor or when JFK was killed. I remember that day though, 20 years ago. I couldn't have predicted all it would have led to and 20 years out we sure do have a lot more clarity and understanding than we did before, for better or worse. I wish 9/11 hadn't happened, that it could have been stopped, and that our World could be a lot different (I would hope in a better way) than it is when it comes to the global politics of having a, "War on terror," or such. It all did happen though (despite what conspiracy theorists might tell you) and the best thing we can do on this day is look back and remember.

Flashback Friday OutKast Edition Volume 5: Big Boi and Dre Present...OutKast

Intro

It was the year after OutKast's fourth studio record, "Stankonia." Late 2001 was a scary damn time as September 11th had changed the World (more on this later). OutKast gave us an LP that wasn't exactly a greatest hits album or new material. They had subtly tweaked some of their older tracks and gave us three new songs that were each interesting for a variety of reasons. It was the first-ever OutKast album I bought because I figured it would be a solid introduction to the group when it came out that year and I wanted to start checking them out. It was titled, "Big Boi and Dre Present...OutKast." Whatever you categorize it as, it was a stellar time.

Big Boi and Dre Present...OutKast

The album opens with Andre 3000 posing as, "Uncle Jesse." An elderly man who wants to share the legend of a group called, "OutKast." They made amazing music and supposedly if you listen, "Real still," you can still hear them out in the forest at night yelling, "Hootie hoo." Then when he tells all of us to be quiet, a loud fart sound effect happens. It is the sole skit on the LP and as a fan of fart jokes I have to admit I find it funny. From there we segue into a new track, "Funkin' Around," which offers one of the first hints how the next album--"Speakerboxxx/The Love Below," would be quite different as Andre says how he's been yelling, "Hip-Hop is dead,"to the puzzlement of others who ask him to prove what he means. Around, "Stankonia," it was apparent Andre was growing bored with rap, and he makes it clear here on, "Big Boi and Andre Present...OutKast," before making good on his threats to do something quite different next LP. Ominous tidings aside, "Funkin' Around is good fun." 

After that, we get a sampling of some big hits and arrive at the LP's big new single that absolutely tore up the charts and helped make Killer Mike quite well-known (he'd been around but this is when he blew up). Yes, "The Whole World." A song about everything from post-9/11 racial anxiety, to general societal stress, romantic complications, and it all sounds very melancholy but the dark lyrics are accompanied by a killer sing-along chorus and some of the most energetic horns you'll ever hear.

OutKast and Killer Mike

The rest of the album is full of other popular tracks including some questionable inclusions. How, "Cumblin' Erb," made it onto this album but, "Hootie Hoo," (also from the first LP) did not will always puzzle me. Also, as if to drive home the point of how, "ATLiens," was supremely weird, only one track from it, "Elevators," manages to be on this pseudo-compilation. The close of this LP provides a song that offers a solid hint of just what kind of direction Andre 3000 would at least be moving in.  "Movin' Cool (The After Party)," is a smooth jazzy track that sounds like practice for, "The Love Below," with its mixture of Andre (and guest artist Joi) singing. Big Boi throws in rap verse, but this song is Andre starting to make it clear what direction he's moving in.

Conclusion

"Big Boi and Andre Present...OutKast," is many things at once without being a single concept. It is a bit of a greatest hits LP even though it came out before what many consider OutKast's best album with their best hits. It is a compilation that includes new tracks. It is a great way for new fans of OutKast to get a feel for the group while longtime fans can find interesting aspects within it worth mining when studying the group (I just did, after all). Whatever you want to say it, "Is," we can all agree it is a great piece of work.

19 Years Ago Today

19 years ago I was in an eighth grade English class in West Virginia when a teacher came into our room and told another, "Something is happening to the World Trade Center." It was thought a plane had hit one of the towers or a bomb had gone off. Then in the next class I went to--a math class--it became apparent something awful was going on as we heard the other tower had been hit by plane--this was no accident. Everyone was confused and not sure how to process everything.

Some years later I moved to New York and met people who actually had lost loved ones during the attacks of 9/11/2001. It was tragic and we should always commemorate the day. Some online have pointed out there is a bitter irony to how some of the same people wrapping themselves in the American flag today and talking about how tragic the deaths of 9/11 were are the same people saying the many, many more deaths from COVID-19 that could have been prevented with more Government action are, "Not a big deal." Both 9/11 and the impact of the pandemic on our country were caused by intelligence failures and those at the higher levels of power not taking necessary action. I don't say any of this to diminish how tragic 9/11 was, just to point out some people have a lot of cognitive dissonance and hypocrisy if 9/11 brings them to tears but COVID-19 doesn't.

19 years ago we dealt with a horrendous tragedy. Almost 20 years later we are now in the midst of another terrible and tragic event. I mourn for those lost in 2001 and those lost now due to acts of terrorism then and the pandemic today. I just hope that we can come together as a Nation in 2020 the way people claimed we would back in 2001. We seem more divided than ever now, and that is one of the saddest things overall out of all this--the lessons we didn't learn.

9/11/2001 Was 18 Years Ago

It was 9/11/2001. I was living in West Virginia at the time and in 8th grade. I was in my first class that morning after our initial Homeroom that I can't quite remember the subject of--it was English-related but had more to do with reading literature than learning grammar or such. The class had just ended and someone said how on the news they were saying one of the World Trade Center towers had been hit by a plane, a gas leak had gone off inside, or some other freak accident, people were not sure. Not too much later in my Algebra class we were told that the 2nd World Trade Center tower had been struck by a plane, and clearly America was under attack. The day all that happened felt like simply too much to take in and I was unsure how to respond. I just felt numb and confused. Then the Pentagon was hit and one other plane crashed Pennsylvania, the passengers had fought-back against the terrorists aboard. It was overwhelming.

The next day is when it really hit me, as all the images of sheer terror played-out on the television screens, collecting what had been recorded of towers falling, people running and screaming, the death-total rising...it made me and pretty much everyone else in my school cry as basically every class had the news on with us watching instead of doing our classes. Eventually the Principal had everyone just shut the televisions off in our classrooms because it was just bringing everyone undue stress and misery, but whether we had our T.V. screens going or were browsing the still-quite-basic-compared-to-today internet, something had changed for the many of us who had never lived in an America which had suffered an attack from a foreign entity on our home soil--the last time that had happened was Pearl Harbor decades ago.

Some years later I would move to Upstate New York, some hours from the city, and meet people who had lost loved ones on 9/11. My heart would ache for them then, and it still does. It was an awful day and thinking back to it 18 years later it is weird how some parts of it feel incredibly distant and other memories of that day feel immediate. Many politicians have used 9/11 for political gain while not actually caring about those affected, and countless civilians (famous like Jon Stewart and non-famous alike) have worked tirelessly to care for those first responders who now years later suffer health ailments from exposure to all kinds of chemicals, dust, and debris in the wreckage of the Towers and Pentagon.

9/11 has at times been reduced to more of a talking-point and some people like our so-called President Donald Trump would rather make the occasion all about them than the thousands of people who died or lost loved ones. Trump make everything about him however, and it would be hoping for too much to think he'd realize a day like 9/11 is about a lot more than one person (even a huge narcissist like him). Some people will never learn. There are still those who try to make all kinds of conspiracy theories sound true about that day, ignoring the simple and depressing truth that there was no master plan, it was just a huge intelligence failure on a massive scale that illustrated how vulnerable our Nation could be if someone really wanted to hurt it, but again, some people will never learn.

Now there are people who will be old enough to vote this year who only know of 9/11 from their history books or watching old footage, that is how much time has passed. I won't claim there was some lesson to learn or try to make foolish silver-lining claims about how it, "Brought us together," or other platitudes, because it shouldn't take a terrorist attack to make a Nation feel unified. It was a tragedy and the best thing we can do is honor those we lost and try to prevent something similar from happening again. The most darkly ironic thing is that now, 18 years later, our Country may be at its most divided since the 1960's and we are facing an epidemic of homegrown terrorists committing mass-shootings at an alarming rate.

It isn't Al-Qaeda we most need to fear now, it is our own hatred towards whoever we think is, "The other." 9/11/2001 was 18 years ago, but humankind's ability to hate one another is unending, be it foreign powers flying planes into our buildings or our own citizens shooting-up public places. I have no solution, the only thing I can do is hope that eventually love can win-out over hate, because as Martin Luther King Jr. put it, "I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear." I hope eventually the burden of hate can be cast-off by more of us, because it seems all-encompassing in our Country right now. I can only dream and do the best I can to spread more love than hate.