Reading today: I did! I read the newspaper!
Music today: U-M Marching Band "Fire Up, It's Saturday!" CD
TV today: ND vs. UM football... / MSNBC's retrospective of Sept. 11, 2001
-----------------------------------
GO IRISH! Now that's out of my system (I've been busting to say it ever since Doug swallowed his swear words at the end of the game, cuz I didn't want to make him mad).

On Friday I wanted to spend a small bit of time talking with my students about the significance of Sept. 11. I approach it from a "social studies understanding" point of view. We will not discuss "where you were" when it occurred, nor do I want to hear rumors or Internet stories repeated in class. But I attempt to get some knowledge into their brains - WHY certain buildings were targeted, for example. So I opened the discussion, and I was SHOCKED at what these kids don't know. Are parents not discussing anything with their kids these days? I mean, my parents weren't super-news-freaks or anything, but when something was on TV my brother and I felt comfortable asking, and my parents would discuss stuff at dinner. Here is a sampling of what the kids were asking / saying:
"The twin towers were hit because they looked like an "11", and that's why it was Sept. 11."
"They chose it because our emergency calls are 9-1-1."
"What's the difference between Saddam Hussein and bin Laden?" When I asked her to clarify, she said, "well, I guess I don't know why they're so important. What do they do?"
"Is the war over?" When I asked this girl for clarification, she said, "well, I thought the attacks on Sept. 11 were part of a war." (I think she meant a war we were already involved in).
"If you join the US military, are you in it for life?"
"Do our soldiers want to fight?" (the way this one was asked, I got the feeling that he was wondering if soldiers could refuse to fight).

Oh man. I mean, some of these questions could be pretty deep or lead to excellent debate. But because they're coming from 12-year-olds, I know they are, as a matter of fact, plain lack of knowledge questions. They don't KNOW. And they're not asking anymore. I could have spent all hour, probably two, just answering their questions. Because the other thing I like about 7th graders - once you get them to start asking, they are _thirsting_ for this knowledge. They want to know all kinds of things about what's going on in the world; but either they don't know who to ask, or no one is initiating the conversations with them. How scary! So they read forwards on their emails of urban legends, and think they're true.

I think every year, starting at the age of 12, people should be sat down and shown footage of the attacks on Sept. 11. They should be immersed in it - there's one video I want to get ahold of in particular, that was taken inside the WTC. They should hear the stories of the people who were there and survived; see the reactions as the towers fall; know the heroism of those who died, in Pennsylvania and the Pentagon as well. So there's no room for legends anymore.