OT: Venting (very long) [and intro]

[ohtoresonate at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 26031

< de-lurking, I introduce myself at the end of this post >

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., blpurdom at y... wrote:

< snip >

> I noticed a baby picture of my daughter that I'd left lying on the 
> dresser.  I just stood there staring at it and crying, as though
she 
> were one of the victims in New York or Washington or on the plane 
> that went down near Pittsburgh.  

<sharp intake of breath>  Wow.  That reminds me of a shot in the 
movie Titanic, when we see the still-perfect porcelain face of some 
unfortunate soul's baby doll on the ocean floor.  Not only did I for
a split second thought it was actually a live baby, the thought that 
followed, that some child probably once cradled the doll in her arms, 
imitating her own mother, really had a viceral impact on me at my 
first viewing of that film, knowing Titanic's fate.

Many of the earliest CNN comments about the iconic power of the WTC 
towers as symbols of our invincibility also reminded me of that 
"unsinkable" ocean liner...and Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Ozymandias."

< snip >

> While that was 
> better (no garish logos, no dramatic music) Chris still couldn't 
help 
> noticing that these people who were getting "face-time" seemed 
> inordinately pleased with themselves for doing so.

I had the hardest time watching the Columbine High shootings
coverage for the same reason: that even 5 seconds of nameless, 
national fame was enough make some of the kids giddy...giddy 
enough to forget the lifetimes of grief that just befell members 
of their own community.  Their leering faces that kept popping in 
and out of screen in the background during interviews say so much...

> I was particular disturbed, however, by folks bringing up Pearl 
> Harbor and the US response to it.  The talking head in question 
> seemed very eager for the US to make a similar response now.  I was 
> very scared by this because one of the responses the US made to 
Pearl 
> Harbor was to put all American residents--citizens or not--of 
> Japanese descent into internment camps.  I dread the backlash which 
> is likely to come against Moslem and/or Arabic people in the US.  

I watched one of the families in my apartment complex fled with 
hastily packed boxes and ashen faces.  I didn't have the heart to ask 
them what was wrong.  Having heard on the radio about Muslim groups 
receiving death threats, I can only wish the young couple well.  They 
were cordial neighbors and didn't deserve to have their fellow 
Americans, in the name of nationalism, terrorize them in turn when 
they had nothing to do with terrorism.  On the other hand, I am
having the hardest time squashing the hope that once positively 
identified, the Masterminds-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named behind these 
terrors get decimated, despite my usual pacifist stance.

> What kind of rift in the 
> fabric of our culture is coming as a result of these events?

It is impossible not to see the parallels between current events and 
the books that brought us all together.  If we consider Wormtail to
be terrorist-like, is there a Sirius here?  I don't suppose that is
clear yet.  Considering that JKR is still in the process of writing 
the rest of the books, I wonder if and how her writing will be 
affected by what's happened, what may happen, and her countrymen's 
reactions to all this.  Hey, now I'm back on topic!

Oh To Resonate  < - - - never enough free time so it's back to 
lurking she goes

P.S. I owe this group an intro, no?

I live in southern California, was an English major in college, loves 
theatre, and my dream job would be to read for a living.  ;)

I have plans to attend a wedding in Edinburgh, Scotland.  For real
– the groom's name is *not* Sirius.  But at this point, I'm not 
sure I can go near an airport, much less go on a trans-Atlantic 
flight; otherwise, I'd offer to send postcards from JKR's 
hometown.  This *would* have been my first trip to Europe...


"The moment they start trying to move into each other's [pants],
we'll know they're fully mature," Professor Sprout told Harry 
[uhm...sort of] of the Mandrakes who had just threw their version 
of a kegger in CoS.