|
NPR Essays
Theatrical vs. Real-Life Tragedy
Broadway theaters -- dark since Tuesday, when real-life tragedy eclipsed anything the stage could offer -- relit Thursday night. To some, the idea of going to a Broadway show when drama seems to be on every New York street corner might seem bizarre, but NPR's Bob Mondello says he understands.
On All Things Considered Sept. 13, he talks about how the closure offered by theater allows us to return to a less-ordered "real" world with a feeling that life -- somehow -- makes sense.
 Listen to his essay | Read his essay
Sifting Tattered Artifacts of World Trade Center Lives
"At Chambers Street, where Hudson and West Broadway form the point of a triangular vest-pocket park, the sky is overcast with dust and ash ... The sidewalk is coated with a dusting of the stuff -- the pulverized remains of hundreds of offices, offices that employed as many people as you would see in a major league ballpark during a pennant race. And in the dust you find: paper. Some newspapers. Some magazines. But mostly, artifacts that document what people did for a living in those towers."
On All Things Considered Sept. 12, NPR’s Robert Siegel sifts the scattered remnants of some World Trade Center lives.
Listen to his essay | Read his essay
A Different Country, A Different Time
"Wherever you are waking up this morning,
you're in a different country, in a different
time. ... There is no more normal American life.
Schools close. The mail doesn't get
delivered. You wonder about family across
the country -- wasn't someone going to be
on a plane? The phones don't work, circuits
busy. And then when a call comes in, the phone ringing sounds
like an alarm going off."
On Morning Edition Sept. 12, NPR’s Alex Chadwick surveys the changed national landscape.
Listen to his essay | Read his essay
'When Is It Right to Begin to Get Back to Normal?'
"With so many lives lost this week, life, for the rest of us, has been on hold. After the initial shrieks and sobs, many of our voices were as muted as our skies. The streets -- in most places except Lower Manhattan -- were quiet, too. And a kind of limbo set in: motions frozen, or at least notched down to idling."
On Morning Edition Sept. 14, NPR’s Susan Stamberg examines how the nation is reacting to trauma.
Listen to her essay | Read her essay
|
