John Updike & Susan Sontag - "Talk of the Town"

John Updike and Susan Sontag's articles in "Talk of the Town" (which consists of numerous other articles by other writers on the same subject) cover the 9/11 terrorist attacks and what they have meant to us as American citizens.

John, as someone who was there to witness the destruction, gives a first-hand account of the shock of the situation. Accustomed to just sitting at home, listening to stories of the unstoppable American war machine just like nearly every other American, the sight of seeing the fight brought to our shores is a terrifying and unshakeable feeling, yet still somewhat remote and optimistic, like it's just another episode on that tv show we call the news, like everything's not as it seems, like there's still a way for us to pull through. And as the towers crumple and collapse, the haunting realization hits us that this is reality. But at the end, he emphasizes that while this is an alien concept to us, it's not one we're incapable of facing. Life may be getting more difficult (and dangerous) for us, but we're still a strong and unified group of people, and even if our government fails us, the wrath of an entire civilization is something to behold.

Susan takes a closer look at the politics of the situation. She criticizes our head political figures for trying to coddle us into thinking that this is nothing more than a noble crusade against heartless, cowardly rats instead of recognizing this war for what it is: a war, where we fight those who have a vendetta against everything that the superpower that is America stands for. She goes on to say that if we are to be a true, strong democracy, then we need to truly comprehend what is going on; we need to know exactly what our government is doing, what the consequences of their actions are, and how those consequences affect us.

These were both pretty compelling essays, and I feel like I agree with both of them. Ever since Pearl Harbor sparked our involvement in WWII, we really hadn't had any kind of major, public attack of such a magnitude on our shores. And while I can understand the concept of wanting to keep order, it should never be done at the expense of the people.

About Me

Hi, I'm Shea Prewett and I will be a senior this year in McFarland High School.

I moved here from Topeka, Kansas in the summer before 6th grade. I used to hate writing as a kid, but the migration to computers for writing essays made things easier. Combine this with liberal amounts of time spent on message boards where things like proper sentence structure and grammar can make a world of a difference on how valid your opinion. This seems have made me into someone who can actually enjoy taking my thoughts and putting them into writing (if you can call it that) in a valid and comprehensible form. (and also a little bit of a Grammar Nazi) I still have a disposition against handwriting, however, and when I'm writing about something I don't care for I tend to lose interest and not exactly put out my best work, but overall English classes have been some of the most fun for me in High School.

For sports, I'm currently in Cross Country and Tennis. I'm far from the best at either, but Cross Country keeps me in great shape and Tennis is loads of fun.

When I'm not in school or sports, I spend a good chunk of my time, (read: most of it) playing video games and exploring the internet for anything that piques my interest, be it entertaining or enlightening. I believe that at the end of the day, everybody tends to gravitate towards what they enjoy the most, and what people enjoy the most is usually something they're good at (not sure whether people enjoy it because they're good, or whether they're good because the endorphins drive them to become more experienced at it, though), and for me, I'm probably better at manipulating a controller than just about anything else.

While I've never taken the time to make a blog before, I'm looking forward to the experience of writing and seeing how people react. So, here we go!