September 2011 issue of Esquire contained exceptional writing by Scott Raab... as well as an interesting one page piece of musings from C.J. Chivers.
The Raab story is "The Memorial" and the seventh installment in his "The Rebuilding" series about the World Trade Center since 9/11. In October of last year I read part six "Good Days at Ground Zero" and his work is both emotional and conveys an extremely real view of the people working at the WTC site.
Pulled out of the latest story and put as a heading is this from Raab...
"People talk a lot about the "healing process." Well, this is New York. In the aftermath of a tragedy of monumental proportions, the healing process has been noisy and rude, with elbows out, redolent of greed, power, and the darker forces that drive human existence. And most of the shouting has been about how to make a fitting monument to what happened here. But in a hundred years, all the shouting and all the politics will be forgotten. What will be remembered is what is built here, now, on these sixteen acres."
-----
Also in this issue of Esquire was the "What I've Learned" installment featuring war reporter C.J. Chivers. I'm drawn to anything resembling wisdom from a writer, but also to someone willing to put themselves in dangerous situations to write about a conflict (with Sebastian Junger being another guy who does this).
