Sept. 11

Today was Sept. 11 and since I work in lower Manhattan, there were reminders everywhere. My entire building took two moments of silence this morning, and in them, you could hear strains of bagpipes floating up 24 floors from the Police Plaza outside.

Rememberances aside, life bustled on as usual in the city. I had four interviews today (one of which involved dodging through a block-long protest of 9-11 conspiracy theorists to avoid being late) and so far, I've gotten excited about 5 or so of the positions. We have one more day of group interviews, then start the individuals and follow-ups, which should be more intense, since they'll just be one-on-one. We've been inundated with information about city functions and programs. I think I'm very impressed with the Bloomberg administration, although of course I've only heard from its proponents. It seems like he has taken on some of the city's most pressing issues and is making real efforts to combat things like homelessness, poverty, small business development and other such issues. Of course, my roommate Erika, who is a teaching fellow at a school in Brooklyn, sees the downside of his take on education, so there are two sides to every story, I suppose.

Oh, and speaking of interesting things happening on the way to interviews, this made half of us miss almost a complete interview. And we didn't even get to see or ride the cool train. Too bad...

Oh and one more thing: today we got a huge rainstorm and I got to watch it roll in from the 24th floor. It was raining so hard that first the river disappeared, the the far tower of the Brooklyn Bridge, and eventually the whole bridge was enveloped by sheets of pouring and rain and it looked like the world outside the plaza had completely disappeared. It was weird, but beautiful, and watching rain come from the sky and and continue to fall 24 more stories was a dizzying experience.

Anyway, sorry to wax poetic about the weather. Now, it's time for bed once again. Buenas noches,