Of course, it begins, with me and two women sitting in front of a television set. In a vegan coop in the suburbs of Philadelphia, of all places. A third runs in, and (you have heard this one before right?), "Oh my god, a plane just smashed into the World Trade Center." We are against world trade, right? This could be cool! Change the channel!

It's all smoke and talking heads on the screen now. Osama Bin Laden. How the do they know that? Seems kinda early to know, but what do I know about the Middle East. Not much at the time, I have to admit. 

Blammo. Number two. Fuck! Girl one jumps out of her chair, grabs the hands of girl two and they merrily dance around in circles, celebrating the presumed death of world trade. They are really happy, like two kids on a playground that just got let out of math class. Have you seen that arm locking dance where two girls spin around and jump up and down. They were almost that happy. Then it dawns on me.

I still feel bad about being the wet blanket. 

This means we are going to war. Fuck! Really you two, sorry. I would have liked to celebrate with you. It seemed like you were having fun. I wish it did symbolize the end of world trade. That would have been better. I hope by taking such a somber tone I didn't somehow create a ripple effect that actually caused us to go to war. Maybe I am screwing up the logic of causation. Fuck!

Are we still at war right now? Fuck! There are still troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Fuck! What year is it again? I think I wrote 2010 on my last check for my cell phone bill. Does that mean they won't cash it? Fuck! I can't fucking believe we are still at war. Fuck, fuck, fuckity fucking fuck god damn diarrhea shit fuck!!

I want the flipbook because I like what your art project represents. I think I saw on your website or one of the reviews that it was an attempt to, "unravel the dominant narrative" about the attacks. I think that is something that needs to be done. We are expected to act and feel one way, reverent and remorseful, about September 11th, but not everyone feels that way. Personally, I am totally over it. It was 10 years ago! No one I know died. 

Plenty of other places in the world suffer larger and more devastating disasters regularly. Baghdad was a city (before the US bombed it flat) comparable to New York in population density, geographic size and economic importance to its nation. I don't see any Americans expressing reverence ten years later about all of the innocent lives destroyed in Baghdad because of the actions of the US military. This is something that needs to be thought about in a more critical way. I think things like your art project will make people question the knee-jerk reaction of bowing their head with respect for those who were lost without thinking about the rest of the world and the victims of US military aggression since September 2001.

Wow, that was a mouthful. But it does stir things up to write about this.

Ian