Wednesday, September 19

18:47 :: Rage

It's ironic how the first hate issue I've personally encountered since the World Trade Center tragedy is, in fact, not against me. Nor is it against someone who is of Middle Eastern descent or Muslim or even just plain brown. Walking down a hallway at my school, one of supposed well-educated fellows, I stumbled across the writing on the wall: Of name calling in the anti-Semitic tradition, toward a friend.

And now, realizing everything we may want to do toward such an issue is virtually futile, I think I'm going to go home and sleep.

This world's gone sick, yo.

16:54 :: Housed

52nd Street and Seventh Avenue: Sheraton New York. 33rd story of the 50 story hotel. But, believe it or not, it's still not as nice as my dorm. There's something about a home that defeats all else.

I'm without a computer, so it's a bit hard for me to update now. Not only that, school has opened up and my life has once again accelerated its pace. Weekends? What weekends?

Yah.

Sunday, September 16

03:43 :: Awkward

Missing. Missing? Missing. Scatterred across the streets of New York in the aftermath of el shit are posters declaring the missing status of family members. From subway stations to bus stops, from post office boxes to the local diner's windows, faces stare at you as you walk by and/or past them. Rushing past it, it's quick to think, "Hey, it's futile. Just give it up." But giving it a quick thought, doing the old To-Kill-A-Mockingbird "put yourself in their shoes" routine, turns the situation around a nice clean minimum of one hundred and fifty degrees. "That could my my brother." "Mother." "My wife." And then it strikes you: This did happen. It's not another MTV Special. It's not Breaking News on CBS Up To The Minute when nearly everyone is asleep or when the world is waiting for a new day to begin.

Shit has happened. We have to live with it.

Location Status: Thursday night, I stayed with some good family friends in Jamaica, Queens. Last night and tonight, I'm staying at University Court on 25th Street and First Avenue. I have received notice from NYU that our dorm/apartment will not be opening up for a few weeks as the city still has not given it its clearance. Until then, the university has decided to house us in hotels in Midtown Manhattan. We've received $200 to spend on necessities as well as free replacement textbooks.

It's funny: Initially, I didn't feel like I was going to be affected by this in terms of living my life. But now, as I find myself without a home, I'm finally understanding we're all victims. Obviously, some are victims in a higher degree. It just so happened I was a lucky victim, as I lived a whole five blocks away.