2004-12-25-Marilyn Forstot-Sept. 11 book |
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jewishsightseeing.com, Dec. 25,
2004 |
One of the selections in Glory: A Nation's Spirit Defeats the Attack on America is an essay by Sarah Sills of Brooklyn titled "Let me DO SOMETHING," in which she tells of her need—and that of countless other volunteers—to somehow contribute to the rescue and rebuilding process in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that demolished the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Her
solution was to collect and distribute items needed by rescue workers such
as power bars, saline solution, work gloves, flashlights, batteries and
socks. Later, she coordinated the delivery of meals to rescue workers. She
had, in fact, done something. I had a chance to browse through Glory today, December 25, while most of the rest of the world was preoccupied with Christmas. The book had been loaned to me by Marilyn Forstot, a journalist and romance novel writer, who had been part of the team assembling and producing it. Marilyn, who compiled the time line for the book and also copy-edited the various submissions "not so much for length but for grammar" said in addition to depicting "the pain that everybody was feeling," Glory will help historians comprehend "the feeling of people helping people, caring about people, and the whole country, even the whole world...drawing together. It was uplifting to see how good people could be to each other." I've
been on both sides of the journalism-historian equation. For most of my
life, I have been a journalist. Stories on this website stretching back to
1997 cover less than a fifth of those I have had the privilege to report over a
career that began as a UCLA student in 1962. Marilyn and I will be among four writers joining together
at 7 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 13, at our congregation, Tifereth Israel Synagogue, to
discuss books we recently have written. Gabriella Auspitz Labson will be
discussing My Righteous
Gentile. Howard Rubenstein will tell discuss his Maccabee: an
Epic in Free Verse based upon the Books of Maccabees. Co-sponsored by
the Sisterhood and the Men's Club and open to the entire community, it promises
to be an interesting evening. — Donald
H. Harrison |