This is the former album cover of Nonesuch Records' recording of Steve Reich's 2010 composition WTC 9/11, a work for string quartet and tape about the 2001 terrorist attacks. According to a Washington Post article, it resulted in some serious controversy. Many objected to the album's use of the photo for commercial purposes; Reich ended up changing the album cover, to keep it from drawing attention away from the music. But how insensitive is it to use an image of a tragedy to market a work in memory of that tragedy? Minus the context of monetization, the image is respectful. It has been digitally faded and given grainy stripes to signify the age of the event, but the image is still very clear -- its presentation implies that 9/11 is a thing of the past, and a thing of the past that will not be forgotten. The text is written in a direct and solemn font face, stating the bare minimum needed to convey it meaning so as to avoid poisoning the image with distractions. In the same way that the album cover centers around an image of 9/11, the music itself is based on (and includes) recorded samples of air traffic controllers speaking in the heat of the attacks, and heartbreaking interviews about the event years after. So why the adverse reaction to the cover?
Is it because the image is for commercial reasons? Back in 2001, newspapers and TV channels certainly profited from 9/11's existence and employed images of the attacks, but there is nothing wrong with this as long as the event is given the treatment it deserves. Steve Reich's work is just as respectful, if not more so, and he is making money off the music because he is an artist who needs to support himself. It is illogical and rather demeaning to say that monetary gain makes his statement less genuine.
(For the interested, there is a video of the composition being performed on YouTube. It is 17 minutes long.)
Pictured is an artist's impression of Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons. which was very recently confirmed to have liquid water under its surface. This discovery gives me hope in that we're gaining more and more knowledge of our wonderful and mysterious solar system. But what does this have to do with the American Dream?
...nothing, really. The American Dream is about the individual pursuing happiness, and not so much about the greater good or specifically knowledge of the world around us. The Dream is about what we can gain for ourselves right here, right now, and the discovery of liquid water in Enceladus isn't really contributing to that. This I perceive as an incompleteness in the Dream.
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