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Reflection on Sept. 11
What are you thinking about today?
Are you mad? Are you sad? Are you both? Are you thinking about something else, or feeling another way? Are you thinking about it all?
I become angry when I think about terrorists flying airplanes loaded with people like you and me into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and into the ground in Pennsylvania.
I’m angry at the men who did it, and I’m angry about the way we responded to it, how we wasted rare national unity on the destruction of war when we could have used it to build a better way.
I’m angry about the way we have let fear guide our path.
I think about the people who fought back on the plane that crashed before hitting its target, and the cops, firefighters and others who ran into the burning buildings.
I hope I would be that brave.
I don’t feel deeply about the people who died at first. I didn’t know them.
Then I put myself in their shoes, in the shoes of their family members and the people who loved them.
I think about my daughters having to live on without me.
Then I can cry a little.
What are you thinking?
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Internet aids newspaper’s efforts to be immediate
The Daily Reflector strives for immediacy.
We aim to tell you what’s happening today, better yet, what’s happening now. The Internet helps us do that.
Tropical Storm Hanna, thankfully, proved to be a minor storm. But it provides a great example of how we deliver up-to-the-minute coverage.
At any point during the storm’s approach, readers logged on to reflector.com to find out where the storm was and what people were doing about it.
Reporters and photographers funneled information from the phone and field onto the site as soon as they found it out.
We were able to augment our comprehensive print coverage with audio, video, photo galleries and tracking maps updated every three hours.
More than 60 entries over five days in our breaking news blog covered everything from emergency declarations to shelter openings.
And we wrote about branches down, traffic lights out and Port-O-Potties blown over, prompting some funny comments from people who aren’t to fond of East Carolina and The Daily Reflector.
Truth is, by the time Hanna blew through, it didn’t leave much classic storm news to report.
Hopefully, our news on potty damage, as well as reports from fans and players as they geared up for the game, left no doubt it was time to paint in purple.
Hanna, perhaps, is dramatic example of what readers find on the Web site. It doesn’t have to be a big storm.
Every day, visitors find new reports and features: We scramble for crime, wrecks and fires; oddities like big 50-yard metal tanks moving down the road catch our eye; our camera’s shoot high school football crowds, ECU volleyball and soccer games and almost every community event; and we’re building a staff of bloggers to offer even more information.
We’re putting a lot of energy into reflector.com because we think it’s good for the community, and good for the paper.
The effort finds its way back into print in an all-in-one package that you don’t need electricity to read.
I’m watching ECU handle the Mountaineers while a I write this. It’s looking really good in the third quarter.
So I need to wrap it up.
In a little while, we’ll begin posting reports on the outcome.
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... read the full comment by nick_roltro | Comment on Reflection on Sept. 11 Read Reflection on Sept. 11
orcac4t
... read the full comment by cobocbasdom | Comment on Internet aids newspaper's efforts to be immediate Read Internet aids newspaper's efforts to be immediate
Да, такой блог стопудово надо раскручивать как только можно - что б как можно больше жителей интернета о нем узнали! :)
... read the full comment by интeллигeнт | Comment on Internet aids newspaper's efforts to be immediate Read Internet aids newspaper's efforts to be immediate
This comment is for Bobby Burns only: (Pleas Reply Bobby!) I was approached by one of your photographers during Senior’s Day at the Fair for my picture sitting on one of the benches on the Midway OK to make a long story short, talking to the gentleman
... read the full comment by Bill Burrows | Comment on Reflection on Sept. 11 Read Reflection on Sept. 11