Participants exit Montclair Remembers 9-11 as church bells toll "America the Beautiful"
Montclair musicians and clergy put on a beautiful service at the First Congregational Church of Montclair tonight to remember 9/11, beginning with with a performance by the Schola Cantorum on Hudson and ending with a candlelight procession to church bells tolling “America, the Beautiful.”
Among the highlights were a performance by Montclair High School’s Passing Notes, remarks by Mayor Jerry Fried and Bloomberg commentator Jonathan Alter, and a moving talk by Diana Stewart, a Montclair resident who lost her husband in the attacks.
Though the remarks and music were by and large hopeful, Alter took the opportunity to criticize the government for failing to take advantage of the unity of those early post-9/11 days.
“In the weeks after 9/11, we comforted each other, bridged our many differences and pulled together under one flag,” Alter said.
And what did our government do with that precious unity? At the exact moment Americans were willing to sacrifice, we did nothing to lessen our energy dependence on the very countries that spawned the terrorists’ destructiveness. We went to war under false pretenses against a country that had no connection to the attacks against us. We allowed fear to be exploited for political purposes and too often put our put our deepest values in deep storage. We failed to tap the idealism unleashed across the country to launch an era of national service.
Diana Stewart, whose husband Michael died on 9/11, showing an urn with Ground Zero soil, devised by Montclair psychoanalyst Donna Bassin as a way for 9/11 families to deal with lack of their loved one's remains.
On the plus side, Alter said, we managed to avoid another major attack on American soil, lower Manhattan prospered rather than declined and American leadership prevented a “national spasm of violence against Muslims.”
Mayor Fried, for his part, told the audience that “the valuable lesson we can learn and teach our children [is ] that the goal is not just life or prosperity, but truth, beautiful, community and love.”
The evening was produced by Outpost in the Burbs.
Was Alter the “star” of the evening? If not, then why mar this story about en a very moving event with his words? Alter said nothing to heal, inform or speak to the loss most of us carry.
Diana Stewart, it was reported elsewhere, offered very moving words.
Why not highlight her?
Who cares about a partisan hack like Alter?
“then why mar this story about en a very moving event with his words? ”
Because journalists report on what actually happened, they shouldn’t filter out unpleasant things. Besides, we need to know when assh*les like Alter mar such events.
In support of the good prof, Alter’s remarks sound simply awful as well as awfully partisan. (An “era of national service?” What is that? Didn’t military enlistments spike after 9/11 for a good while? Come to think of it, has Alter himself ever been in the military? In the Peace Corps? Why do I doubt this of such a clear careerist?)
But I also wish Alter hadn’t wheezily referred to our “energy dependence” on certain countries known to have sheltered terrorists. According to the Petroleum Institute’s figures, this assertion just isn’t ever true. I won’t repeat the breakdown of where we get our foreign oil again, but Nigeria and Canada and Mexico are all always bigger players than Arab nations. Also, most of the Alaska pipeline’s crude is apparently sent to Japan, because transport costs to there are in fact cheaper than they’d be to, say, the Bayway refinery here in Jersey.
Would it even be asking too much to inquire if Alter himself cycles to work on a regular basis? Or at least is seen around town pedaling alongside Mayor Fried?
Specific credit should also have been given to President Bush, rather than in the vaguely delineated usage of “national leadership” which Alter used (which could mean anything from Derek Jeter to Nancy Pelosi to George Clooney), for helping calm anti-Muslim sentiment after 9/11. More than once, starting from the very day after the planes hit, Bush made very clear that these heinous deeds were not the logical result of Islam in general, but rather of a twisted few.
Just because the guy lives in town doesn’t mean the town has to give him so many choice opportunities to spout off predictably and boringly every time out of the box.
Very good.
But I was under the impression that “reporters” were not merely recording an event, but choose what part (what angle) to present. It’s a shame when this choice is filtered through bias or allegiance to an authentically local pundit.
Alter shows the former, and it seems as if b-net the latter.
That said, the videos were very nice- those Passing Notes kids are VERY good!! And the candlelight service must have been very moving.
I think you report the most newsworthy aspects of an event. I think anyone spewing partisan politics at what should have been a somber memorial is worth reporting.
Like it or not, the events of 9/11 caused major political upheaval in our nation, and in others. They are a part of 9/11 now just as much as the towers falling. If I have to listen to official after official telling me the terrorists hated us for “our freedom,” then you guys can listen to one guy in Montclair talking about how we “put our deepest values in deep storage” after the attacks. (I’ll add here that it’s funny Alter, who said after 9/11 that we should torture, would make a comment on how 9/11 affected our values. Little projection, no?)
Besides, anyone inviting Jonathan Alter to speak at one of these events knows what he’s going to say, and anyone who goes to one of these events at which Alter will speak knows what they’re in for. The audience for this thing wasn’t you two.
“The audience for this thing wasn’t you two.”
So a memorial for 911 in Montclair isn’t for everyone in the community, but only people of a like-minded political stripe?
hate to break up the really cool echo chamber going on here, but i had to point out my inspirational quote for the day:
“According to the Petroleum Institute’s figures”…
p.s. I would have also considered comments like “the terrorists hated us for our freedom” to be equally in bad taste. In short, the memorial should have only focused on the victims and our memory of them – something we could all agree on. Partisan political jabs should have been avoided at all costs.
p.s. I would have also considered comments like “the terrorists hated us for our freedom” to be equally in bad taste.
Good for you. But I did hear that kind of sentiment issued yesterday countless times, and I don’t recall anyone complaining that it wasn’t appropriate.
Jcunningham, one does not have to “endorse” the petroleum industry to accept its figures on both production and the source of our imported oil, which are well regarded as honest and up to date. I suggest you seriously try and get along without oil and its many products someday. You won’t get very far.
Similarly, I doubt very much that Jonathan Alter lights his home with whale oil left over from the 19th century and heats it with wood he’s cut down himself. The guy is loathsome. A sort of Montclair staple at certain types of events, yes (and his willingness to be in attendance and “to say a few words” says volumes about his own desperate need to be taken seriously), but that’s not necesssarily a good thing.
The issue of “energy dependence” had nothing directly to do with the events of 9/11. it was carried out by a group of religious fanatics whose main goal was, and still is, worldwide domination and installation of a medieval era Caliphate.
That said, I DO remember reading and hearing a number of high profile Bush/Cheney supporters breezily stating that Iraqi oil would pay for the cost of the war several times over, which never turned out to be be true….and of course neither was there any connection between Iraq, Al Queda and 9/11, so Jonathan Alter is totally correct on that point.
ROC is right. Partisan speeches and/or “observations” should not be a part of these types of gatherings. For that reason, any “specific credit” for President Bush (or for President Obama, President Clinton, etc.) would not be appropriate, as such statements would inevitably politicize the event.
I don’t know much about Alter and I’ve only read/seen him on a few occasions. While he doesn’t strike me as especially compelling, the over the top animus directed towards him here seems a bit, well, over the top.
ROC is right. Partisan speeches and/or “observations” should not be a part of these types of gatherings. For that reason, any “specific credit” for President Bush (or for President Obama, President Clinton, etc.) would not be appropriate, as such statements would inevitably politicize the event.
But those types of comments were made yesterday and all weekend at 9/11 events, and no one seemed to care. Clinton made some comment about Bush keeping us safe, and the audience applauded. My point was that some political statements seem OK, and others don’t.
nick, I’m not speaking about comments made at various weekend events. The article dealt with the Montclair event and remarks made there. I too heard many things over the weekend that were jarring and, in my view, inaccurate. That’s another issue. Here, I’m commenting only on the Montclair/ Alter contretemps.
And my comment was on the prominence his quote, and speech in this article.
I agree that it is the reporter’s job to tell us what happened at an event, however what weight or focus they give to any moment IS an issue.
Here, we were told of the “moving talk by Diana Stewart,” but then are confronted with Alters divisive words. This is my problem. I could have been informed of this idiot’s comments without it being the focus of the story. Unless of course, THAT is the point the reporter was trying to convey.
During my banishment, I read stuff here and at that other site. I found the community here to be as vibrant as always, but the writing and coverage over there far superior. Compare the coverage of this event and you’ll see what I mean.
… But I just watched the video again, and is a great addition to the story here.
Alter’s comments were papered-over in the patch reporting as:
“Alter lamented that we “haven’t moved forward at the same pace” and challenged us to do better for our society and our world.”
Challenged us to do better? Please. A “tone” argument about the reporting isn’t, in my opinion, worth having because, try as they might, Galant can’t climb into the prof’s perception to get the tone perfectly, absolutely, razor-edgely, prof-worthy.
Suffice it to say, interest is in the eye of the beholder. I, for one, find the quote and its utterance at what was supposed to be a memorial, telling, notable, outrageous and news worthy.
try as she might….
Prof, Cathar and RoC:
Since, by your comments, you were all there at the event, you will recall vividly what emotions were stirred there, and what messages of hope and strength were expressed by all of the speakers.
All of us who were involved in arranging this event feel very strongly about the issues surrounding 9/11 as well as the 10th anniversary. I’m sure that you three do, also.
Thank you three for your contributions to the event – your attendance was welcome…right?