DAY SEVEN:Sept. 17:
Subject: Today's news from NYC
It's Monday, the stock market has reopened and we're all chewing our fingernails wondering which shoe is yet to drop: a recession, another attack of some kind, US bombing of Kabul............
Late last night -- after midnight --- my pal Kathy called from California to let me know she'd made it safely home from New York. She urged me to take some time off, chill out. And she reminded me that a couple of days ago I'd lost it. I did again today. I can feel the emotional aspects of this creeping up upon me, like some nasty troublemaker hiding behind a curtain in my brain. I am increasingly irritable, and I have to talk myself down. I'm so anrgy about what has happened, about what I have seen, that the slightest altercation can turn into screaming. Well, it's only happened twice, but that's two times too many. All over the city an edginess is surfacing. It reminds me very much of the community of Coalinga, California, following an earthquake I covered for NPR some 13 years ago. With each passing day peoples tempers rose, altercations increased, and fistfights became more frequent. It's remarkably difficult to avoid misplacing one's anger in the midst of so many excellent reasons for rage. (And as my friends well know, I've never been shy on the anger front, anyway.)
I can't imagine how behavior in this town will change if the market tanks. As I write this, the Nasdaq and NYSE are looking ominous.
I am, of course, on deadline again today and must teach journalism students tonight at Columbia. So time is short. Perhaps later I will have a moment to provide some thoughts, but for now I'll refer you to these:
Ed Gargan's marvelous piece today about Afghanistan: http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-woafgh172369724sep17.story?coll=ny%2Dtop%2Dheadlines
And Tina Susman's piece about the Afghani refugees: http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-wocamp172369776sep17.story?coll=ny%2Dworldnews%2Dheadlines
More later. Be safe. Be defiant.
Laurie Garrett
