I have been extremely busy. Between school, the Statesman (the UMD newspaper on which I am the Outdoors Page Editor and "Assistant Head Copy Editor"), and work I simply have no spare time left.

That time I do have gets spent on self-education about WWII and the weapons of the period.

I will write more after deer season and when I figure out the html language a little more.

Where were you?
Tomorrow is September 11th, 2004.

Three years ago today, September 10th, 2001, each one of us was a significantly different person, in some way, than we are today.

I was in 12th grade, in a study hour in my high-school cafeteria. I heard from a friend of mine that the World Trade Center was on fire, both towers, and that it may have been a bomb. We were told that as many as 25,000 people could be in those buildings. It unfolded through the morning. I don't know what I saw live on TV or what was replayed.

I remember thinking that war was coming; but I didn't know exactly what that meant. I was 17 and, for quite some time, unable to come to grips with what had actually happened.

One thing I was into in High School was Choral music. All "choir boy" jokes aside, it is something I am passionate about. That fall, our choir (about 60 members) sang an arrangement of "The Prayer of Saint Francis" and, most significantly, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Our first performance of these songs was in a small town church, on 9/16/2001. I have never again been part of a choir singing with spirit and feeling like we were that morning.

Except one other time.

In April of 2002, a small chamber group from within the larger choir had the opportunity to travel to New York City, where we had a chance to perform in Carnegie Hall.

But of course, the 16 of us visited Ground Zero. Even to us small-town kids, the giant hole in the Big City was heart-wrenching.

We sang, hands clasped, The Star Spangled Banner and "Sing Me to Heaven," by Dan Gawthrop, a choral piece with very touching verse and a very ethereal and moving tone. Everyone cried. This is a link to a downloadable Mp3 of the song (not my choir doing it).

Listen to it, not as "classical music" but as a prayer. It will get to you.

I will cherish those memories forever. I feel blessed to have this personal and spiritual connection, through the music and the camaraderie, with that time and place. It leaves me with a sense of peace when I think of the attacks; anger, sorrow, and grief, yes. But peace, as well. Sacred music will do that to people.

If you feel compelled to share your thoughts and fears from that morning, please do so. You can post a comment on this page.

The Dissident Frogman strikes again

I tried to contact someone about the College Republicans Organization which I had seen represented in the hallway yesterday. I had been unable to stop and talk with them, so I searched for it on the UMD website... this guy's address is all I could find. Evidently it was wrong. But,so far, the mistake was worth it.

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:

I found this email address buried in a PDF file about student organizations -- I hope it's the right address to use for contacting someone involved with the College Republicans. If not, I'm sorry.

I saw the College Republicans in front of the Bookstore today, but I was unable to stop before my class and didn't make it back in time to talk to anyone. I am wondering how to get information about this organization. I am a sophomore in the English Dept. and I would love to get involved.

If this is not the correct place to look, could you please direct me to a better forum? I appreciate your help.

Thanks very much,

Tom Hazelton

REPLY I RECEIVED:

tom,
not the right address. i'm actually more left than liberal so i don't know how
you found my name referenced near republicans. i would love to help you contact
the college republicans, but since they are fascists (and this means actual
fascists, i'm not exagerating or joking around here) your interest in their
group means either you are a fascist or lack the critical thinking skills to
accurately asses the actions of the party that you would support. as such i
don't think that in good conscience i could pass that information along to you.
of course you could use the umd website to find this informetion, but this will
test your already suspect intellagence.

zebulon

ps: read the attachment, its bush vs Hitler


MY REPLY TO ZEBULON:

Mr.(?) Zebulon,

Thank you so much for your help. You did not direct me where I asked to be directed, but you reminded me soundly of why I need to contribute my energy and resources to the conservative cause. I sincerely thank you. And in case you were hoping that I was weakly deciding which organization or party to join and that you might convert me to your "mode" of thinking, I likewise cannot in good conscience let your words go unchallenged. In that spirit and that spirit alone I have included a basic list of my moral and political beliefs (notice, please, how they are the same thing).
I believe all people are created equal and deserve equal treatment under the laws of the state. I believe laws should be created through elected representatives and not appointed judges.
I believe that hard work leads to success and everyone should be held responsible morally and legally for their choices and actions. I do not believe that it is the responsibility of the successful to provide for those who cannot face their moral or legal consequences.
I believe that war is evil. I also believe, based on empirical and theoretical evidence, that it is sometimes necessary.
I believe that the freedoms afforded to all of us in our Constitution and Bill of Rights should be literally enforced and not changed except as social evolution requires.
I believe that it is not the government's responsibility to protect me from myself and I realize that it cannot always protect me from others. I realize that I assume a certain degree of responsibility to work to survive simply by being born.
If that's fascism, Mr. Zebulon, then I am proud to be a fascist.
Furthermore, I don't appreciate your condescending attitude towards my polite request. Intolerance of viewpoints other than your own narrow one is immature and does not earn the respect of your peers or especially your opponents.
Finally, your attempt to insult my intelligence was laughably and completely undermined by your failure to spell or punctuate correctly or to capitalize a single letter in your message, and by the fact that you sent two identical e-mails dated moments apart. And attaching outrageous `cut-and-pastes' from radicalist websites to your pointless e-mails is a poor method for recruiting. It merely shows me that you cannot speak for yourself and, based on the content, your absolute lack of a grasp on reality.
And now, despite your feeble efforts, I will find the information I was seeking anyway and do everything I can to prevent people of your mind from ever reaching a place of power in this country.

I grew up in a home without gender or race barriers. It's true that the elementary school I went to was rural and all of the students and faculty were white and probably Christian; but that was simply a matter of circumstance. There was no room for or even consideration of sexism or racism.

Now I am in college, in a much more diverse social environment. My knowledge and my understanding of the world (with the operative word being `my') have broadened my beliefs but not changed them from their moral foundation - that people deserve equal rights and treatment.

Now, unfortunately, I am beginning to realize that these gender and race barriers still exist. A line is drawn before me, a white, straight, Christian male, as the great oppressor of our time. It is illustrated in UMD's Women's Studies department, Affirmative Action programs, "Take Your Daughter to Work Day", the $240,000 memorial to three men lynched in 1920 in downtown Duluth, and even the memory (meaning more to me now) that there was no Minnesota science camp for me to attend as a 6-year old aspiring paleontologist because they were only available for girls.

I am not complaining about a lack of personal opportunity or trying to seem a victim. Neither am I saying that programs of this nature were never needed. Rather I believe that today programs like these often only perpetuate old crimes and injustices that few still dispute.

For an organization representing victims to perpetuate a crime demands a perpetual criminal.

In order to function at the most basic, ideological level, these organizations require sweeping generalizations and even stereotypes. Until they change the way they work towards their goals, they will continue to "teach" na?ve young people like the me of last year that there are distinct lines between races and genders.

Without a problem to fix they are no longer needed; perhaps it is time for some victorious sunsets. But obviously they must have some sense of self-preservation. Could that be why the civil "battles" are ever more ridiculous (for example, the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union suing the city of Duluth to remove the "offensive" Ten Commandments statue at City Hall)?

But they will continue "fighting" for "civil rights". And as long as they continue they need an adversary.

How about "equal treatment" instead of "special treatment"? I'm ready to try it. Are they?

What do you not understand about the words "Global War on Terror?"

"Global War on Terror" means more than finding and killing those responsible for 9/11. That's just vengeance and it won't solve the larger problem.

What it does mean is finding and confronting terrorists and terrorism where it incubates and eliminating it as a viable form of political or social change.

That's what terrorism is--it's not Holy War, it's simply an indiscriminately violent way to get a message or a cause broadcast through the world media in order to effect political or social change.

If we leave Iraq now, for any reason, we will vindicate every suicide bomber that has ever flipped his own switch, every airline hijacker , and every car-bomber who has walked calmly away from his impending violence. Every potential Osama Bin Laden and Timothy McVeigh will think, "Terrorism can make my dreams of change come true!"

And likewise, every time you march in an anti-war rally, regardless of your personal intentions, you are playing directly into the hands of the terrorists. What do you suppose one of the Syrian fighters in Iraq thinks when he reads about massive protests in Europe and in the United States? He is encouraged. He thinks that his message is being heard and that his strategy is working (strategy, by the way, which includes using little girls as body armor and crowded streets as battlefields).

In Somalia and in Lebanon we taught the terrorists to believe that if they kill enough American soldiers, we will give up and leave. We now have a chance to re-teach them. Let's change that belief.

Posted by royalwulf989 at 11:20 AM CST

Updated: Saturday, 13 December 2003 6:05 PM CST

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink