The World Trade Center buildings in New York have been struck by jets and have subsequently collapsed. The Pentagon was hit by another jet. A fourth jet was apparently hijacked and crashed in Pennsylvania. All planes and many other forms of transportation have been shut down for the day. The news is aflame with speculation on which organization is behind the attack.

I went home at lunch and saw the video of the second jet striking one of the Trade Center towers. I watched the video of the collapse of the towers, and could not help thinking of movies like "Independence Day" and "Armageddon," where similar horrifying scenes were served up as entertainment. I listened to NPR throughout the morning (and now, as I type this), and hear the war drums begin to pound.

And I think, "here, it (maybe) begins."

Pearl Harbor has already been invoked. Experts interviewed on the news openly talk about 'trading off' civil liberties for increased security. Numerous remarks have been made about the war that will occur, even though we have no idea as of yet against who or what to strike. It's not difficult, given how far such things have already progressed, to predict that soon, various security agencies will gain broad powers to do what formerly they had to at least pretend they didn't: tap phones, monitor communications, arrest and detain people who fit a certain profile or simply are of a certain ethnic background.

Where will it lead? A national security card, such as has been previously discussed, that would become the de facto 'papers' to be shown to any authority figure who demands it at any time in any place? Restrictions on travel? National censorship? Detainment camps for Palestinians or just anybody who looks like an Arab?

Today's events have horrified and sickened me. The people who knowingly initiated those events deserve to die. But as the jingoistic war drums thunder in the coming days, I hope more than just Pearl Harbor is recalled. I hope we remember the racism and hatred that was unleashed in those days against Asians, Germans and Italians, and the camps that were opened on U.S. soil simply because, in our desire for vengeance, we could not see beyond skin color. I hope we remember that our vengeance has never been that precise, and that, if we pursue it, we will probably kill innocents, and that the blood of the guilty will not wash their blood away.

And I hope we remember that what we give away today, we may never get back.

posted by Gary at 5:34 PM

9/9/2001

One of the many pre-wedding rituals is now out of the way. My bachelor party, held last Friday, was a fun evening, featuring good company, pizza, beer, and some interesting uses for whipped topping. More than that I cannot say, at least until I see the pictures. (Kristyn, meanwhile, had her bachelorette party yesterday, and, from what she's told me, had just as good a time.)

We have just six days to go, a fact that does not seem real to me. Am I not sitting in my usual chair, typing away on a more- or- less peaceful Sunday, putting off the chore of cleaning up the bathroom? Is that not my coffee before me, promising to drug me in a State- sanctioned manner? Do squeaking toy piggies not get underfoot as I walk to the refridgerator to obtain lunch?

("Yes, Socrates, it is clearly so.")

It will be strange to return to everyday life after all this is done. I wonder if I'll remember how.

posted by Gary at 12:58 PM

9/8/2001

It's not often that I get to shill for a publication in which one of my stories appears, but I can do so now. The most recent issue of Outer Darkness (#23) features my third print publication, a not- for- the squeamish horror/science fiction short story titled "The Body in Motion." If you've ever wondered what my writing's like when I'm actually trying, this is something you might be interested in. (And if not, there are six other stories in that issue, one or more of which may please you if you like dark fantasy or horror.)

For a single issue (specify #23), send $3.95 (which includes postage) to: Outer Darkness; Dennis Kirk, Editor; 1312 N. Delaware Place; Tulsa, OK 74110.

posted by Gary at 11:11 PM

8/31/2001

My grandfather and my grandmother (on my mother's side) eloped.

Last Sunday, when Kristyn and I were visiting my folks, my grandmother casually revealed that this happened, about sixty years ago, in response to some joke I made about how simpler it would have been for my fiancee and I to elope. It surprised me, though I don't know why it should have -- there's a lot about my own parents that I'm still learning, like details of their lives before they got married, what they were like as teenagers, and so on. I think about how much experience they have, how much will disappear when they go because they've never talked about it, or I've never asked.

So much time we spend together, and so much yet to learn. Maybe it's time to start on that family tree project I've had in the back of my mind for a dog's age or two. Something that'll give me an excuse to ask for those stories.

posted by Gary at 5:50 PM

8/30/2001

They never understood about the nanobots in his body. They did not repair, strengthen, bond, or defend the wounds they swarmed upon. They merely recorded their location, and broadcast it to local space.

They never saw the computer that recorded the locations and measured the age of the wounds. They never saw the vectors it calculated or the lines it drew through dimensions of length, width, breadth, and time. They never saw the pattern, the new sacred symbol emerging from the now- lifeless body.

The old sacred symbols would live to serve another day.

posted by Gary at 6:09 PM

8/24/2001

posted by Gary at 7:32 AM