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[9/11] Music as Healing
Sep. 11th, 2013 12:43 pmI was working at Yankee Candle that day, and I've already posted about what I did, what I felt, and so on...I've also posted about the song "11" that my friend Bruce and I recorded under the jeb! moniker a few months later. One thing I haven't talked about, however, is how I got through all of it on a personal level.
Those of you who know me, know me well as an obsessive music nerd. I may not have gotten a degree in it like![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
emmalyon (though I love that we can have nerdgasms over songs we hear and go into minute detail as to why), but I've been collecting and listening to music since my age was a wee kid. I've also made compilations--I still call them that, rather than the more often used "mixtapes"--since I started taping stuff off the radio, and started making my own real mixes around 1988. These compilations often reflected the mood I was in at the time and became a way for me to sort out those emotions and thoughts on my own.
In 1991 I created a compilation called Desert Storm: Sailboats of Ice on the Desert Sand, a highly-charged mix that reflected my anti-war feelings at the time. Considering I was a sophomore in college at the time, one can understand that this particular playlist might be a bit overwrought and self-righteous (Ending with Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction"? How heavyhanded can I possibly get?), but it seemed to help me get over the anger and confusion I felt at the time.
A bit over ten years later, and exactly ten days after the events in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington DC, I put together another compilation to help me sort things out. I needed to put things in some sort of order so I could process what happened then, what some may have felt, and what might come next. I had to do this on my own, with no outside influence. I knew that if I followed the news I'd get overwhelmed; if I read the pundits, I'd only get pissed off; if I reacted to emotion and wished for vengeance, then I wouldn't be true to myself.
I had to process this in my own way, and music, as ever, helped me through it.
( Playlist below...serious triggers here, just so you know. )
Those of you who know me, know me well as an obsessive music nerd. I may not have gotten a degree in it like
emmalyon (though I love that we can have nerdgasms over songs we hear and go into minute detail as to why), but I've been collecting and listening to music since my age was a wee kid. I've also made compilations--I still call them that, rather than the more often used "mixtapes"--since I started taping stuff off the radio, and started making my own real mixes around 1988. These compilations often reflected the mood I was in at the time and became a way for me to sort out those emotions and thoughts on my own. In 1991 I created a compilation called Desert Storm: Sailboats of Ice on the Desert Sand, a highly-charged mix that reflected my anti-war feelings at the time. Considering I was a sophomore in college at the time, one can understand that this particular playlist might be a bit overwrought and self-righteous (Ending with Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction"? How heavyhanded can I possibly get?), but it seemed to help me get over the anger and confusion I felt at the time.
A bit over ten years later, and exactly ten days after the events in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington DC, I put together another compilation to help me sort things out. I needed to put things in some sort of order so I could process what happened then, what some may have felt, and what might come next. I had to do this on my own, with no outside influence. I knew that if I followed the news I'd get overwhelmed; if I read the pundits, I'd only get pissed off; if I reacted to emotion and wished for vengeance, then I wouldn't be true to myself.
I had to process this in my own way, and music, as ever, helped me through it.
( Playlist below...serious triggers here, just so you know. )
