"Around the USA" and "Life During Wartime"

Today on Barbelith: Around the USA – “”Yesterday was September 11, and it was one of my best friend’s birthdays. We’d been trying to talk her into ditching her classes for the day but she’d have none of it. So I rode the el with her to work – it was my first day temping at at Chicago’s NBC tower. We were both pretty tired and didn’t say too much on the ride, but as I got off, I wished her a great day.” and Life during wartime: “Here in America, we’re awash in red white and blue and flags flying from currency exchanges, taxicabs, suburban homes and government offices. As if they were Christmas carols, The Star Spangled Banner and God Bless America can be heard on every radio and at every corner. And our president talks of ‘War’, of a ‘Crusade’. ‘This will not stand,’ he cries.”