Innholdsfortegnelse for Jul-28-14 i The New Yorker

HOW TO REMEMBER Adam Gopnik’s article on the 9/11 memorial reflected my disappointment with the site (“Stones and Bones,” July 7th & 14th). The memorial possesses all the solemnity of a tourist trap. The major mistake was removing any evidence of the tragedy that occurred there. The reality of the crashing towers has been replaced with a trite water display. There is no sense that this is where thousands of people went to work only to lose their lives. A memorial that does not remind is a failure. At the Oklahoma City memorial, in contrast, portions of the Murrah Federal Building’s surviving walls stand beside rows of chairs that symbolize the victims. I was moved to visit the Oklahoma City memorial twice, because it evoked introspection, rather than the…

Famous people have been dying all week, and the Christmas tree juststopped drinking. Talk about omens. It’s impossible to get the venetianblinds to stay level anymore. Everywhere I look, people are running theerrands they won’t remember by this time tomorrow. I remember how,years ago, I had to cut the fishing line caught in the high branches besidethe Mullica River, sacrificing the lure that put a kink in my neck as Ihunched over my own lap to tie it. I fear my wife will decide to spend mylast decade on earth with a better man. I fear I’ll be a footnote to somebodyelse’s grandeur. I fear I’ll die as painfully as I deserve. One by one, the bulbsof the chandelier go dead above our dining-room table. I wish I could saythe…

Can I get used to it day after daya little at a time while the tide keepscoming in faster the waves get biggerbuilding on each other breaking recordsthis is not the world that I rememberthen comes the day when I open the boxthat I remember packing with such careand there is the face that I had known wellin little pieces staring up at meit is not mentioned on the front pagesbut somewhere far back near the real estateamong the things that happen every dayto someone who now happens to be meand what can I do and who can tell methen there is what the doctor comes to sayendless patience will never be enoughthe only hope is to be the daylight…