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September 11^th’s Week in Review

1 February 2003

Last weekend hearing the words “September 11^th” as part of a documentary made me realize how it has become an integral part of our vocabulary, used almost unconsciously. The following is an account of my hearing in conversation or radio, and seeing in print, the words “9/11” or “September 11^th”. I have tried to record the time and the context as accurately as and as agreeably as possible, without extraneous detail.

Sunday 26 January 2003
	On Catholic.net, in an article headlined, "The Day They begged for Priests"
00:29	In a Trektoday.com BBS posting about two particular episodes of Star Trek Deep Space 9

Monday 27 January 2003
00:10	Heard on BBC radio report on the impending Hans Blix report
15:00	"Stories from 911" as a subtitle to a book seen at Pages bookstore on Queen St West in Toronto
17:00	Completely unrelated paragraph in the book Citizens by Simon Schama, referring to September 11 1792
20:08	David Frum speaking in an interview on TVO
21:20	In an article by Christopher Hitchens on Slate.com

Tuesday 28 January 2003
12:30	Walter Mead, writing in The Globe and Mail, includes "Sept 11." three times in his commentary article with the headline "How Bush Grasps the World".
13:55	"9/11" seen in a graphic from a CNN screencapture of the memorial service in a Google.com image search for the Ground Zero architectural proposals (prompted by an article headline in Artsjournal.com).
14:36	David Collenette, Minister of Transport, speaking during Question Period broadcast live on CPAC, said "September 11th 2001"
20:13/14	"September 11th" was said three times in the space of two minutes during the Newshour special on the 108th Congress on PBS

Wednesday 29 January 2003
01:14	“9/11” heard in an interview on the State of the Union address with Alexie Simingtiger (not sure if that’s spelled right) broadcast on the BBC World Service.
13:44/46	Isabelle Devos, speaking about her “Insecurities Project” in a CBC Newsworld interview said, “September 11th” twice in two minutes.

Thursday 30 January 2003
03:14	“September 11th” was said in a voice over and in print on CBC News. The story involved the Privacy Commissioner’s report on the Federal Government’s proposed security legislation.
13:31	From Google.news: “September 11 relatives relive trauma → Expatica → 1 hour ago → 30 January 2003 HAMBURG → Five relatives of victims of the September 11 attacks offered tearful testimony at the Al  Qaeda terrorism trial in Germany”
13:34	Headline on CBC.ca: “Witness → Tonight’s documentary, ‘Security Threat’ shows how far security demands have threatened our privacy and curtailed our civil liberties since Sept. 11th”.
14:33	Headline on GlobeandMail.ca “Privacy under ‘unprecedented assault’ Radwanski accuses Ottawa of ‘using’ Sept. 11 to become Big Brother”.
16:40	Google.news “Ridge Touts Border Security Plan → Washington Post - 2 hours ago → New homeland security chief Tom Ridge, telling America’s enemies: ‘We are coming after you,’ set out his plans on Thursday for tightening security at US borders and preventing further Sept. 11-style attacks.”
16:46	Headline on CNN.com “9/11 families confront terror suspect in German court”

Friday 31 January 2003
	Rick Groen’s review of the movie The Recruit in The Globe & Mail: “Certainly, there can be no doubt that the setting here is post-Sept 11”.
16:12	George W. Bush, speaking at his press conference with Tony Blair, “After September 11th 2001 the world changed…” Tony Blair, speaking a minute after, said, “…his leadership since September 11th…”

Saturday 1 February 2003
	This week’s issue of The Economist, in an article envisioning the world in 2033 mentions “September 11th”.
	Shuttle Accident: CNN reporter in front of the White House mentions “September 11th”
	I visited Sasha at Mercer Union and told her about Shuttle Disaster II. We went on the internet to watch videos on CBC.ca; Sasha and I began to talk about how it was like September 11th, the news coverage being on all channels. Notable comment by Sasha regarding our use of the net to follow the story, “…the internet wasn't very good during 9/11…”.
	Later I was browsing in Pages bookstore and my eye caught Noam Chomsky’s 9/11 book.