My thoughts: There are so many cameras here, on 9/11/02, looking for something to film and nothing can possibly match the spectacle last year that they didn't plan & couldn't control.

Woman being interviewed by a guy with a tape recorder-
We came down here, to Union Square, and were engulfed in support, tears, everything all at once, and it was comforting...

Woman, to her friend-
'Urinetown, Cabaret, Chicago'. Ok, now plays, 'The Goat'...

Lady on line in Walgreens, across from Union Square, knowingly
...Oh yes, It's a vigil...

Guy on cellphone
"...ok, just call me when you're here, it's so crowded..."

Boy of color
Yeah, yeah, Hispanic, and Black, and White.... I hate that, for the simple fact that....

Someone-
...we won't sign an international agreement, we won't sign global warming, and WE expect....

My thoughts: this is so much more adversarial than last year. Everyone came here knowing what they wanted to say, what argument to make. Last year, it was hundreds of people with different opinions, from bomb the bastards to make love not war, but we were all equally confused and vulnerable. It was like we had all just had our skins peeled off and were equally befuddled as to what we should do next.

Random person
...that we somehow DESERVED, or EARNED what happened...

Other random person
...a female crossing-guard who helped-she helped save this guys life from Staten Island...

NYU Freshman in a Strokes t-shirt
What are you TALKING about, there is such a difference between uptown and downtown, and then there's downtown and really downtown...

Woman handing out petitions
...I mean, if our allies aren't in agreement
Girl, to petition lady
You mean-go against the UN?!?!!
Petition woman
Yeah, isn't that, like, a clue? I mean, hello?!?

Girl taping up some kind of sign, over by the garbage cans
...excuse me...

(I move, saying sorry)

Sign girl
I figure people will have to see this here. Here, this one's for you.

----------------

I wander away into the park, away from the center of the action, reading the piece of paper. It's an Einstein quote, a pretty long one, and it's ok. People have one life to live on this earth, we had better do good to others. Something like that.

I sit down on the ground. A lady comes over to me.
Would you like one of these?
I say: Uhh. Ok.
It's a brochure with the twin towers on it and the word WHY? In big letters. Out loud, I say, in spite of myself. Oh, is this about Jesus, oh GREAT! (it is.)

A couple, maybe in their sixties, he's black, she's white, both wearing white Proud to be an American! sweatshirts

I smile at them, and then immediately feel guilty for thinking that they're cute because they are geeky interracial midwesterners.

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