July 19, 2003

memorial in Santa Monica

A week or two ago a small plane dove into a smallish apartment building in the Fairfax district just a few blocks from where we lived for seven years, demolishing the building and killing some of its residents. We still live within walking distance. We drove past there on our way home the day after the crash. The street was cordoned off, police patrolled the area.

This past Wednesday an elderly man lost control of his car and drove full speed into the crowded Santa Monica farmer's market, killing several people and injuring many more. Before we discovered the Sunday Hollywood market, we used to attend the Wednesday one in Santa Monica. It's the best in the city. Many farmers have booths at both markets. I recognize faces and names from the news stories of vendors in shock. We'll go to the market tomorrow morning. I wonder what we'll see in their faces.

Small tragedies, you could say, but so very close to home.

Last night I happened to be in Santa Monica, walking on the Third Street Promenade on my way to hear my college classmate Merin Wexler read from her (very good) collection of short stories. A clump of people stood and watched dancers. Another clump stood and listened to live jazz. Another clump stood silently, acknowledging an impromptu memorial that has grown daily since Wednesday. I took some pictures on my way to the reading, more on the way back.

This is my way of standing witness.


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Comments

How very odd! I just spent an hour or so today reading through your various journals (via Holidailies) and losing myself in them. Then, I got an email from a former classmate saying that our 6th grade English teacher had released a book of short stories worth checking out. Curious what ol' Ms. Wexler is up to these days, I googled her name and your page came up again! That is pretty freaky, I think. Needless to say, she didn't last long at our school. Many of the girls were mean to her and she, unfortunately, didn't really know how to handle them. When she'd cuss back at them, they'd just be more rude. I imagine that if she continued teaching it was for a slightly older set?

Posted by: craige at December 16, 2003 11:29 AM


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