Flashbulb Memories in a Post-9/11 World
I was a freshly minted four-year-old on the morning of September 11, 2001. There’s not much I remember about that day, except a flash — I’m in my elderly neighbors’ kitchen in…
thelongtunnel
Looking Over My Shoulder
Sept. 12, 2001 was the first day of my politicization. You see, before that I had no reason to be afraid. I was born in Iran and came to the United States when I was about 4 years old. I had…
How 9/11 Convinced Me That I Had No Future in the Navy
On 9/11, I was a 23-year-old non-commissioned officer in the Navy and a few months away from getting discharged. My tour was almost over. I was stationed at Naval Air Station Oceana in…
Arab Americans Are Here to Stay
My family once watched the fireworks every Fourth of July. We lived in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio, and drove every year to watch the fireworks display in the park behind the local high…
Performing Whiteness After 9/11
Last week, I suddenly realized that I would be flying back to New York City on 9/11. I paused to unpack the fleeting panic that filled me. Why was I so afraid? Was it because if I spoke…
Closing the Gaps Between Servicemembers and the American Public
We have been a nation at war — sort of. Due to the longest wars in American history being shouldered by a tiny percentage of the population, the vital civil-military relationship has…
Coming to Terms with a Cultural Trauma
In the summer of 2001, I was twenty-six years old. I worked in a low-key academic staff position at a suburban Philadelphia university and spent my free time with friends. The headlines…
The Perils of Fighting a Conceptual War
Every year as we approach Sept. 11, I ask my friends, colleagues, friends of friends whom I just met for the first time: Do you remember where you were that day? The thing is, we all…
Doing God’s Work in a Post–9/11 World
José Martinez grew up a devout Catholic. He was an altar boy and lived by the rule of his grandmother in their large family. A Eucharistic pastor, she impressed upon Martinez and his…
“Never Forget” What?
I don’t remember September 11, 2001. My parents say I visited my preschool for the first time that day — the same preschool they picked me up early from just in case there was an…