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by TELSA MICHELLE CRONE

LOST RIVER, WV, USA - I'd like to start by saying that I am one of those people who wear their heart on their sleeve, who love fiercely and hurt profoundly. It's harder for people like me to shake some of the unfortunate images that have become such a part of our country's history. When I think about September 11, there are several pictures that come to my mind. People running down the street screaming, the burnt out shell of what was once a firetruck, and the collapse of the towers. But to me, and probably a lot more people -- namely the families of the victims in New York City -- the most haunting images of all are the ones of the people of the WTC jumping and falling to their deaths.

Up until the recent one year anniversary, I had only seen one or two photos. Not close-ups but the images were hard to handle looking at nonetheless. I knew that there would be TONS of coverage and replays of the events as they had unfolded on that terrible day. But knowing the America that I live in, the plane will hit the tower a zillion more times along with some of the other footage that we have seen enough of and certainly can do without.

This past September, I saw something that hurt me so deeply, that I haven't been able to get it out of my head. A man. Dark hair, wide eyed, black suit and tie, white shirt. And he is falling. I sat there with tears streaming down my face, and along with the sadness a feeling came over me that I wasn't expecting. Shame. I was ashamed to be witnessing the end of his life ...MORE




by STUART ALTMAN

NEW YORK, NY, USA - Imagine a commercial from Pepsi Cola that says, "You really can't tell the difference between our product and Coca Cola, but Coca Cola used to use Cocaine in their soda. So if you buy a Coke you're supporting drugs."

Of course after a few initial denials that they ever used cocaine, Coke Cola would respond, "It is true that we used cocaine in the product but that was many years ago when the company was young and irresponsible, we've learned from the experience and we have a much better product today." Coca Cola would further add that Pepsi Cola used to have Michael Jackson in their commercials. So when you buy a Pepsi, just remember, you're supporting Pedophilia.

Can you figure out which soda tastes better from those advertisements? Would you buy either one of those products? That's exactly the way I felt about this year's election...MORE

THE WORLD - From Darryl C., Hershey, PA, USA:

SUBJECT: Shelby Steele

Bravo, my brother, bravo! I read Prof. Steele's piece twice and it was only on the second reading that I could begin to discern what his argument was. The problem, as I see it, is that regardless of the merits of his claims it is preposterous to claim that blacks have lost or are losing their sense of themselves as individuals. I am genuinely surprised that Lewis Lapham would even bother to publish an essay that sheds, IMHO, absolutely no light on the problem of individualism and black identity. To borrow a phrase from the late, great Ralph Waldo Ellison, I knew that Steele was "buggy-jiving" when he wrote in such complimentary terms about Elridge Cleaver. This is the same Elridge Cleaver who once wrote that James Baldwin's real problem was that he wanted to have a baby by a white man or who wrote that before he raped white women he practiced raping black women. I suppose this is what Steele meant by "writing with real fire and eloquence."

Darryl C. ...MORE

DUBLIN, IRELAND - I was one of a motley group which included a German male with very thick glasses, a Castlemaine writer who looked like a farmer, a female poet from Cardiff exposing very attractive limbs and a Dublin publisher. It was at Listowel Writers Week 1999. A bearded man with a black beret, a neutral accent and cosmopolitan mien stood up to recite a poem; " The Ballad of the 46A."

Being slightly involved with the public transport of our Metropolis in general, and the Dun Laoire route in particular, I asked him for a copy of the tribute to what is now called "The Stillorgan Flyer". He sold me a copy of his "Comrade Dao Jones Reassesses Tienmen Square"' which includes "The.....46A" and thirty other satires.

And, so, for less than four quid I acquired a gem to be dipped into at any time and made the acquaintance of Sydney Bernard Smith.

Sydney was born in Glascow on 04th August 1936, at Tunberry Road and shortly afterwards the family moved to Victoria Drive West. This was to set the pattern of a life of address-changing of Joycean proportions...MORE

NEW ORLEANS - 13 November, 2002: I lead a boring existence by New Orleans standards. I have no tales of staying out until I got falling-down drunk. No injuries related to drunkenness. I'm not "passionate" enough, I guess, for getting all worked up and yelling at someone, breaking dishes, punching walls, knocking doors off their hinges.

I do the same thing every night after work: I stop at some other watering hole on my way home (mostly Molly's at the Market) and have a cocktail. Then I go home and either warm up leftovers or order delivery food. I write, if I'm not entirely exhausted or read and respond to my e-mail offline. If I'm tired, I might play a little Civilization II during or after dinner. Then I go to bed ...MORE

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