9/11: Unitie or Revenge

The views brought to my attention by the two authors for the New Yorker's Talk of the Town section, John Updike and Susan Sontag were very interesting and put my perspective on both of the sides of the devastation. Updike seemed to hold a more optimistic setting throughout, while Sontag sort of bashed Americans and took a more dark approach. Both of which there were moments where I agreed and disagreed with.

Updike really painted a vivid image of how a person not involved in the catastrophic acts of the terrorists and their actions. It seems to me as if he wanted everybody to feel a sense of optimism and that everything will be o.k. in the future, that may be true for actions in this country, but about a year and a half later we would be going into war with Iraq that is still waging now. Also there have been troops in Afghanistan for many years and turned out to be rather unsuccessful. In the end he tries to portray that it all will be restored and the country will only become stronger and for a tighter bond. Meanwhile Susan Sontag really shows how American in times of crisis leans on a very weak leg in President Bush and his actions seem to be scripted and weak, but it does serve as a wake up call that "being strong isn't all America has to do." Overall the two articles really put this whole series of events in perspective for someone who wasn't old enough to understand at the time.

Intro Blog

Hi, I am Alex Baxter, a senior at McFarland High School enrolled in A.P. Composition with not only a great teacher but my former baseball coach Mr. Kunkle. Mr. Kunkle has a great baseball mind; however, his favorite team is the Chicago Cubs a rival of my favorite team the Saint Louis Cardinals.

Along with school I enjoy playing baseball whenever I can that means playing for the school team coached by the great John Feldner and American Legion ball which is in the summer and not directly related through the school. I aspire to attend college in Saint Louis at Washington University to study either Chemical Engineering or Journalism. Another thing that I would like to do is see every baseball stadium in the United States, which I have been to six of them all in the Midwest and this summer I am going to be traveling east to Baltimore, New York, and Pittsburgh to see three more games.