Comments on: The Day of the Cockroach

By: Jeff Dieffenbach

Jeff Dieffenbach — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 15:50:32 +0000

My 9/11 story, aboard, but never aloft, American Airlines Flight 195:
https://deepbrook.com/portfolio/11september/index.htm

By: wilson

wilson — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 18:37:08 +0000

A twisted form of nostalgia and of ritual operate in the current media coverage of 9/11, including the blogs. Eyeballs are important. Follows are the the only easily accessible, current, and worthy pieces I have found today: “What We Forget When We Remember 9/11” at The Conversation and “Can America Ever Move Past 9/11?” at Salon. Nicholas Spangler, now of Newsday wrote a remarkable essay about 9/11 in 2001, then only 25 years of age and a student. You would need to have access to an academic library to find the digital rendering. Strongly recommended. If you have absolutely nothing to do and don’t know what to do next, you can go to Salon and search “Patrick Smith?” And have a nice day!

By: Penny in Amsterdam

Penny in Amsterdam — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 15:47:50 +0000

Nothing to add, Patrick. Thank you.

By: BigDumbDinosaur

BigDumbDinosaur — Tue, 04 Nov 2025 03:10:52 +0000

A sad note to all this is we as a society have yet to address why the 9/11 attacks occurred. Bill O’Reilly once famously opined that the world has a Muslim problem (he was vilified for saying so). I can’t say with any authority that it does. However, the ideology that fueled the attacks has become a major problem in much of the world. Yet we continue to bleat about inclusion, diversity, etc., and the attacks on non-Muslims continue. At some point, airport security will become complacent and another 9/11-style attack will occur.

By: Chris Hesler

Chris Hesler — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 07:06:18 +0000

Terrific writing, Patrick. This is why I keep coming back. My brother watched the first jet from a traffic light on the West Side Highway. He and a cabbie looked at one another as if to ask, “Was that real?” A hologram to promote a movie was his first thought.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 12:17:32 +0000

Diverted to Charleston?

What an interesting coincidence. Reading up on John Ogonowski, he served his tour in Vietnam from there.

By: Raoul

Raoul — Sun, 29 Sep 2024 05:04:08 +0000

Interesting analogy between 9/11 and Covid. Let’s see, the “liberal” response to Covid saved millions of lives, the “conservative” response to 9/11 lead to half a million needless deaths. I put the term in quotations marks, because there was nothing liberal or conservative about each response. And at least in the beginning of both crisis, the population overall was supportive of the ongoing approaches. Both situations represented emergencies that required some type of response and in both instances the powers that be overreached. But really the problems with analogies are their simplicity, there are many emergencies that occur every year that require responses and essentially we can just hope for the best and learn for the future.

By: wilson

wilson — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 23:48:06 +0000

Apparently the pilots are even using AI to write their blogs.

By: Dick Waitt

Dick Waitt — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 17:37:34 +0000

Well written…

By: Larry Horak

Larry Horak — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 16:33:06 +0000

Day of the Cockroach…excellent literature, appreciated by a road warrior typically sitting in the cheap seats in the back 200 plus times every year since 2000…thank you Patrick!