Can Writing Be the Same After September 11?

Writing Board Hosts Annual Symposium

By Alyssa Gleason
Journalism Major

Is it possible to write meaningfully anymore? Is it possible to write about terrorism anymore? Has the power of language changed since Sept. 11? These were some of the questions discussed on Thursday, April 18, in the Coykendall Science Building Auditorium during the Writing Board's annual symposium. This year's theme was "Language as Power: Limitations and Possibilities Post-Sept. 11."

The lecture started with an introduction by Reva Wolf, an associate professor in the Art History department, followed by greetings from Interim President Steven Poskanzer, who told the audience, "Write with power and clarity."

He said he believes college students should write compelling arguments and be able to rigorously critique each other's work. He also said he is proud of New Paltz's 93 writing-intensive courses supported and encouraged by the University Writing Board.

The first speaker of the night on this topic was the James H. Ottaway Sr. Endowed Professor and Pulitzer Prize winner in editorial writing, Bernard "Buddy" Stein. Stein, editor of The Riverdale Press, said he believes a newspaper does its job "if the person who's reading starts mentally talking back to you."

Editor of the weekly Press since the 1970s, Stein started out by describing the neighbors of Riverdale who were lost in Sept. 11, detailing truly tragic and heartfelt stories that tugged on the audience's heartstrings. "When people suffer loss, they want to talk about it," said Stein.

Stein discussed many of the editorials he has written for his paper during and after the World Trade Center tragedy. In one he quoted poet William Wordsworth, saying how meaningful little acts of kindness can be. He also read from his prepared address: "We will not allow them to snatch away what is valued."

Because Stein is a community journalist, he described how his paper followed the stories of five detainees in his town after the Sept. 11 attacks. "If we don't insist we are brave people who are free, we'll be in a cave ourselves," said Stein. Arab shopkeepers in Riverdale were held behind bars for months because they had improper visas or green cards and they fit a "description." This detainment after the terrorist attacks can be paralleled to Holocaust survivors' stories of being "rounded up," Stein explained.

Stein concluded his remarks by saying "bombs and bullets are not the solution"; they only perpetuate more violence. "I say, God bless America." To answer the question of the night, Stein responded, "Writing before Sept. 11 is no different from after it."

Fellow panelist Robert Polito, director of Creative Writing at the New School University in New York City, and author of a book of poetry titled "Doubles," spoke next.

"Like everyone else, I was seeking comfort, inspiration, peace," said Polito, a poet and essayist. The audience received a pack of his handouts comprised of poetry and song lyrics that apply to Sept. 11. The first piece Polito discussed was "September 1, 1939" by W. H. Auden, which eerily contains references to the attacks that happened years later. Polito explained how many people received this poem as an e-mail forward because the references, such as, "Those to whom evil is done / Do evil in return," and "Where blind skyscrapers use," created flashbacks to the tragedies that befell Europe in September more than 60 years ago when Germany invaded Poland.

Polito continued his lecture discussing Bob Dylan's song, "High Water (For Charlie Patton)," which ironically was released on Sept.11. Dylan's lines, "Nothing standing there / High water everywhere," and the repetition of the line, "High water everywhere," drew a connection to the terrorist attacks.

Power and limitations are opposite qualities, explained Polito, in response to the limits of language. "We are all war correspondents now, but the grand searing gestures turn glib."

Polito also used Robert Frost's poems, "Hyla Brook" and "Design" as other creative writing examples relating to Sept. 11. "Design" focuses on a sort of crime scene, explained Polito, "You are not safe in science; you are not safe in history."

"Sixth Avenue was a scene from a monster movie," Polito said of his own experience on Sept. 11. He also talked about the many missing persons posters along the streets of New York City, saying that some were as plain as a wanted poster, but most displayed a formally dressed, smiling person, sometimes holding a baby, or pictured at a wedding or graduation. This showed the power of images as language, beyond writing, he said. Language can be silence or even gestures, as audience member Professor Peter Kaufman of the sociology department pointed out. They can be as powerful a force as language of other realms.

After the lectures, the forum was opened for discussion. A question about the nameless dead in Palestine and Afghanistan arose and the only answer Stein and Polito could collectively come up with was to be aware of it. While the theme for the night's lecture was the power of language, and if America has changed since Sept. 11, the idea of the failure of language arose as a possible cause of the tragedies. But the speakers said people blow themselves up out of desperation, hopelessness, or a sense of humiliation, not because there was a lack of language.

Both speakers pointed out that Americans need to remember that they are not the only ones who suffered and died on Sept. 11, which writers have the responsibility to remind everyone.