Singin' the "No Internet" blues

Wow, friends...it's been more than two months without internet, and boy am I blue about it...

Sorry for the typos and mistakes and such on my most recent posts; I have to post when I can, which isn't very often, and I proofread as carefully as my moment in time will allow....

Ciao.

I know that I know

So.  Mm, I keep thinking about the Olympics.

Friends, everything that I write from this point forward in this post will be literally with all and from the very bottom of my heart.

I've made no bones about my past, and have nakedly related to you assorted vignettes of my past.  I know how I once was, and there was a long time when I ridiculed the very notion of God.  Then one night in the year 2000, I swore before three witnesses that if only God would tell me what the f*ck was wrong with my computer, I'd spend the rest of my life writing to glorify the Lord

The next night, I dreamed the first of three dreams that have forever changed the course of my life.  God showed me what was wrong with my computer...and much, much more.  I came to believe in Him...but in the decade that followed, there were times when I wondered about those dreams, and question if it was real.

I was wide awake when God told me to

"look at the park from the sky, and expect to see something in the shape of an eye."

and squashed from me every shadow of doubt.

Something is getting ready to happen.  I have no doubt.  It was folly for me to specify it would occur exactly during the timeframe of the Olympics.

But there is something sinister in the Olympic connections to

• the unsolved murder of Barbara Freyschlag (whose husband was out of town on USOC business) 
• the death of Florence Griffith Joyner (I found an address listing for her at 4450 Foreign Trade Zone Boulevard, Colorado Springs, CO 80925)
• child pornography (John Krimsky and Randy Ankenney are both pervs with close ties to the USOC and Bill Hybl)  
• The expensive USOC building boondoggle downtown
• The USOC''s connection to the Broadmoor and Charles Anschutz (speaking of -- that movie theater shooter was a student at the Anschutz Medical College at the University of Denver -- yeah, the ones who want to lease Memorial Hospital!)
• The USOC moving into Ent Air Station...in the middle of our town....
• The USOC's military connections in general (everyone involved in the Air Force and space technology.
• The former USOC building out on Foreign Trade Zone Boulevard (I know someone who ten years ago found boxes of "official product of the United States Olympic Committee" vitamins in one room, and behind the building came upon a store of empty green wooden boxes from England and labeled "rocket motors")
• The El Pomar Foundation who keeps doling out the charitable donations that enable all of this (you know, El Pomar is Spanish for "The Apple")
• They were going to call it "Olympic Park" before naming it "America the Beautiful Park."  

Sadly, the list includes Mitt Romney.

All I'm saying is that if there were ever to be some kind of USOC-related military coup type of event to go down, we the people of Colorado Springs are screwed.
Th
There is no doubt in my mind that

Back to school

Hi friends, hope all is well with you and yours.

Can you believe it...summer practically over, and the kids back to school already!  I dunno about y'all, but I had a really great summer: in addition to this and that miscellaneous adventure, I taught NINE kids to swim and rescued one child from the water.  Truly, there are few pleasures as rewarding as helping someone overcome their fear of water..

I know, I know, how cool am I?  *sigh*...feels like it's ending all too soon.

Hey -- wanna know who else is cool...and I mean, almost *too* cool for school?  This guy -- three guesses as to his identity:

Senior Picture of Mr. X

No, no...it's not Leif Garrett.









Here...maybe this picture will be more quickly recognized:

Junior Picture of Mr. X

I know, it's a tough one...but it's not that blond kid with glasses who joined the Brady Bunch in its last season.







Ok, ok...I'll reveal the grown-up face...

Mr. X talking about money

That's right...mom's District 11 boyfriend...mom's math boyfriend...yes, Alejandro himself:  Chief Financial Officer Mr. Glenn Gustafson.

I was at the library the other day, wandering around in the Carnegie Room, and happened upon the local high school yearbooks; I quickly riffled through the vast store of useless knowledge that fills my head.  "Didn't Glenn graduate in 1979," I asked myself, and grabbed that volume to take a quick look-see.

Hahahaha...I know I would have flipped over that fool while in school...wanna know how I know this?

GLENN'S EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITY WAS IN LATIN CLUB!

Mmmmmmm....Latin; *definite* mom's boyfriend material.

Anyway, a momentary lapse into lightheartedness from Spydra.  I know Glenn's sense of humor is such that he'll allow a small smile over this little prank from a middle-aged schoolgirl.

I'm glad no one has posted *my* old school pics...but yeah, so, enjoy.

Here's to a great school year, folks.

USOC: Olympic Hot Air

This is the building I discuss near the end of this post; this is a newly-built and gigantic complex out on the Banning-Lewis Ranch Foreign Trade Zone...right next to what used to be the USOC building out there.  The property is listed as being owned by the United States of America, and so I want to know:  why don't we know anything about it, why is it so intricately hidden, and what's going on out there???

I know, I know...I made predictions about the Olympics that as yet have not been realized. I did essentially predict that whatever was gonna happen was gonna happen during the Olympic closing ceremonies. Though I didn't watch the festivities, I'm presuming no calamity took place.

So, it appears I was mistaken. And I'm glad.

Allow me to say this: even though time has proven me mistaken as to the date...I do not retract a single word I've uttered about the USOC; the people in charge there, the sneaky crap that goes on there, the real faces behind all of those sweating bodies and million-dollar smiles -- are evil.

I hope that whatever I end up writing in this post will at the very least cast a deserved shroud of doubt over the USOC.

Here I go then. Wheeee....


ON THE OLYMPIC PRESENCE IN COLORADO SPRINGS.

Traveling from west to east.


USOC AND THE PYRAMID MOUNTAIN FIRE

Ok, not actually a building structure...but I found a sufficient number of USOC-oddities related to the Waldo Canyon fire that I'm going to go ahead and include it here.

For starters, the timing of the fire came right before the Olympics; as a matter of fact, the fire may have gone out right as the Olympic torch was coming to town. It was shocking, and caused all of us to look westward at the mountain with fear and trepidation, long after the fire was extinguished. I know that since the fire, I've heard several erroneous reports of fire on the mountain...

How can it be that zero headway has been made on determining the cause of the fire?

I mean, if you'll recall the 2002 Hayman fire, they were able to pinpoint the very campsite where that silly, lovelorn forest ranger set afire a letter from her ex-husband. I say "allegedly" because I never really bought that whole explanation -- I just never could accept the premise.

I mean, OK...SO TERRY LYNN HARRIS, DEMONSTRATING TOTALLY HEINOUS DISREGARD FOR THE PUBLIC, THREW ALL OF HER LEARNED CAUTION TO THE WIND AND FLOUTED HER OWN EMPLOYER'S PUBLICLY-ANNOUNCED FIRE BAN...JUST SO SHE COULD...uhmmmm...

W-WH-WHY'D SHE DO THAT, AGAIN, YOU SAY? 

Oh...yeah...because the grossly negligent arsonist forest ranger could assuage the boo-hoo-owie left on her heart after receiving an "Surprise, I don't love you anymore" letter from her ex-husband.

I mean, if it were me, and I was angry at my ex, and he wrote me a letter that caused me to feel despondent...well, I'd be more likely to wipe my arse with it before tossing it into a river, or a creek...or bury it...or I'd save that letter and make photocopies of it, and distribute it amongst....I mean, you get what I'm trying to say here: the premise they expected us to swallow was like...say... telling us that Fireman Marr, the forest-fire fighter who kept us all current and calm while the foothills were ablaze...its like asking us to believe Jerri herself ignored a fire ban and ignited an inferno because she sought to permanently forget being jilted by way of a Dear Jerri letter from an ex-significant other.

Well, since our "fire science" experts seem to be struggling with ascertaining the fire's cause, allow me to throw in my own opinion: no, the fire was not started by lightning.



The day the fire started, I raced to an area somewhat northwest of the Garden of the Gods --- this was right when the police began restricting travel on 31st Street. Unfortunately, I can't find the charger for my bleeping camera, so I can't post said video; but be that as it may, I remember quite plainly what I saw: things started out with one plume of smoke...but within short order, there were THREE plumes of smoke...coming from divergent places...i.e., there's no way the fire just hopped, skipped and jumped to the three areas that I saw burning. What I'm trying to say is that there's simply no way that the fire traveled and grew on all on its lonesome; to me, it was quite obvious that THREE fires were started by the arsonists -- because surely, it was at least a coordinated three-man effort.



Ya know...I was watching television during that press conference when all of a sudden the grayish-white smoke turned to black and the fire went crazy -- well, what caused that to happen? I mean, we all took Chemistry, didn't we?  Put some copper up to a flame, and it burns green.  I'm not saying that it's a simple matter of coordinating colors and determining source of combustion...but, *something* happened to accelerate the fire at that moment.

If you look at this video footage of it, notice how Mayor Steve Bach briefly exits center stage to pow-wow with Steve Cox and a bunch of other guys who look like their tee time is in thirty minutes; I mean, those fools are looking TICKLED PINK AND HELLA HAPPY, Y'ALL.

I KNOW I WASN'T FEELING THAT WAY; I WAS FEELING SCARED AND WORRIED BECAUSE MY HOMETOWN WAS ON FIRE.   And moreover, that happened LIVE ON THE NEWS; SO WHY CAN'T I FIND ANY VIDEO FOOTAGE OF THAT HAPPENING??  PRETTY DAMN CONVENIENT IF YOU ASK ME; INDEED, IF YOU HAPPEN TO HAVE VIDEO OF THAT HAPPENING, PLEASE SEND IT MY WAY, THANKS!

I guess what I'm saying is that a lot of what happened the day the fire broke out seems a little too...picture perfect...reminiscent of 9/11, in a way; orchestrated to bring about a state of shock and awe.

I am in no way waxing whimsical about what happened in Waldo Canyon; indeed, I think what happened was awful...but 'cha, y'know what?

Anyone old enough to read this has probably, on more than one occasion, has been unpleasantly surprised to discover smoke's been blown up their ass.  Yes, it is, sadly, so common an occurrence that one would simply have to shake his or her head at the trusting and the gullible who claim never to have experienced the creeping, gassy, oogie sensation in their rectum as it's being slowly and sneakily inflated with the hot smoky clouds of smoke that are produced when a mountain of bullshit acrid clouds that are produced by a burning mountain of bullshit and lies.

Am I the only one who finds it interesting that the fire started on PYRAMID MOUNTAIN??  I have spent my whole entire life here, and never heard it referred to by that name or any other...

Maybe I'm just not in the know.

Following are thee USOC-specific oddities connected to the fire:

According to this USAToday report,

COLORADO WILDFIRES FORCE USOC TO POSTPONE BOARD MEETING
The U.S. Olympic Committee postponed its quarterly board meeting scheduled for Thursday after 40 members of its staff were forced to evacuate their homes because of wildfires burning near Colorado Springs.Fire officials say an estimated 32,000 people have been ordered to leave their houses in and around Colorado Springs.About 200 people work at USOC headquarters, which is located downtown and was not in immediate danger Tuesday.Board members and CEO Scott Blackmun were scheduled to meet in San Jose, Calif. Among the topics: preparations for the upcoming London Olympics and early discussion about a possible bid for an upcoming Olympics. USOC spokesman Patrick Sandusky said the meeting had not yet been rescheduled.

So, in and of itself, maybe its not so strange...but I think it's strange when taken into consideration with *this* article from yesterday's Gazette:

WALDO CANYON FIRE: NUMBER OF HOMES BURGLARIZED REACHES 42
August 9, 2012Ryan Maye-HandyThe Gazette Colorado Springs police have confirmed burglaries in 42 homes and 43 cars of people who were evacuated during the Waldo Canyon fire. Those numbers are up from the last burglary report given by police on July 11, when 37 home burglaries and 28 car break-ins were confirmed.The first crime statistics were collected from June 23, the day the fire started, until July 4.The crimes generated outrage in the community and inspired an anonymous donation of $50,000 as reward for anyone with information about burglaries. Thus far two people, Belinda Wells-Yates, 38, and Shane Garrett, 36, were arrested on June 28 on suspicion of burglarizing one evacuee's home. Wells-Yates and Garrett were charged on July 11, and could face enhanced penalties due to multiple counts alleging that they are "habitual offenders."Police did not say if the burglaries were concentrated in any particular neighborhood. There have been no reports of vandalism to the police, however, in June some homeowners in the Pinon Valley neighborhood told The Gazette that their homes were burglarized as well as heavily vandalized while they were evacuated.

I guess I'm just saying it's an interesting number, is all. Forty. 40. I mean, the number of houses and the number of cars vandalized and/or burglarized is the same as the number of USOC employees that reside in the affected burn area. I don't mean any disrespect...but how much do you wanna bet that the same persons populate the burnt-down-house/burglarized-and-vandalized car/USOC-affected-employee subgroups? Talk about bad luck!

And now there's all of this talk about "flash floods"...which again are apparently affecting ONLY the burn region.

From the August 7, 2012 Gazette:

******CONTINUE EDITS HERE*****

UTILITIES: FLASH FLOOD DAMAGED A KEY BACKUP WATER PIPELINETunnel at AFA wasn't damagedby Mary ShinnA flash flood on July 30 seriously damaged a backup pipeline that takes water to treatment plants on the Air Force Academy.The pipeline is key because it provides secondary path for about 75 to 80 percent of the city's water supply to travel from Rampart Reservoir to the treatment plants, said Patrice Lehermeier, a spokeswoman for Colorado Springs Utilities.The primary tunnel from Rampart Reservoir to the Pine Valley and McCullough treatment plants on the academy was not damaged."A wall of water came from Rampart Reservoir," Lehermeier said.The water flowing at 800 cubic feet per second left pipes exposed and hanging in midair. Two creek crossings were destroyed, and parts of the access road washed away, she said.Utilities estimates repairs could cost more than $1 million, she said.The home of the year-round caretaker also was damaged. Water flowed as high as 5 feet around the outside of the house, Lehermeier said.The damaged home contributed to a response slower than normal for Utilities crews.

Hmm. A wall of water, huh? I dunno. Couldn't they just release a big gush of water from the reservoir and call ita flash flood, being sure to flood the caretaker's house to eliminate him as a possible eyewitness to shenanigans om wilderness?

I dunno...it just all seems so neatly packaged, somehow...and check out this picture of the Highway 24 evacuation area from I-25:




USOC BUILDING AT AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL PARK

Which brings me to the USOC presence within America the Beautiful Park.

Ahhh, the tranquility of being parkside. But America the Beautiful Park is possibly the least tranquil place in Colorado Springs proper that I can think of...knowing what I have come to know about it.

Hardly a pastoral setting -- located right smack dab between an interstate, a major highway, a coal-fired power plant, and train tracks...not to mention the hobos and the homeless and all the coal tar mucking up the soil over there -- isn't all of that dangerous to an Olympian's health?

So then what made the USOC want to move their "national governing bodies" to the "old gas building"? Why is that building referred to as the "old gas building"...since it was built in the 1990's and really isn't that old? What caused the city to stop using the "old gas building"? Where is the "new gas building"?

The building was used as a center to process Hurricane Katrina refugees...which for some reason causes me to shudder.

I dunno; when I take it all into consideration with its high, electronic fencing and its odd signs cautioning "NO SKATEBOARDING"...I am left to muse.

I guess the USOC didn't look at the building from the sky before moving in, and never noticed that the building makes up the albumen, or white, of the Eye of Horus that comprises America the Beautiful Park -- or maybe they did, and they liked it...

On the other side of Colorado is the infamous "Home of the United States Olympic Committee" rooftop mural -- what gives with that part of town and the USOC?

Julie Penrose Fountain

Anyway, my eight year old said to me on the Monday before the Olympics: "Mom, I bet the fountain will be going in time for the Olympics."

For, you see, no one that I personally know of had seen the fountain either turn or flow since July 4th two years ago...right after I'd published my piece REVELATION.

Oh, we went there to go check it out, believe me, and sought out updates, all of that -- regularly. The splash water that circulates at the bottom of the fountain flowed, but not from the fountain itself. Nor did the sculpture turn. Nor did the obelisks light up.

Park staff had given me varying accounts of" problems with the pump", "problems with the motor", and funding cutbacks (which I know is untrue, because a Gazette story from June of two years ago crowed then about how a Friends of the Julie Penrose Fountain fundraiser was so successful that operating costs were covered -- regardless of water restrictions, rate increases or maintenance -- for the next two years).

But when I went to go see for myself the day after my son's prediction, there they were: city utility workers, testing out the fountain before turning it on; on that day, only the fountain flowed, but the next day, the sculpture turned as well. Sometime that same week, the obelisks also began to light up at night.

Remember: the Julie Penrose Fountain makes a full rotation once every hour...making it a clock; it also has 366 jets, which adds a leap-year calendrical aspect to the timepiece mechanism. WELL THIS YEAR IS A LEAP YEAR FOLKS.

Wonder what time it is?

(Aside: Here's an image from the one dollar bill; consider the placement of the America the Beautiful Park eye with Pyramid Mountain.)


USOC DOWNTOWN BUILDING

Firstly, I guess I take all of the efforts to "keep" the USOC in town really rub me wrong. Here are the concessions that the city of Colorado Springs made in order to keep the USOC from flying the coop:
Well, so in addition to this and that and the other thing, they got the Lorig's building remodeled on our dime. Don't get me wrong: it's a nice building that really enhances the Tejon Street corridor...aesthetically, at least.

I say that because, despite its exterior good looks...when I look at it, I see a super spooky place.

I know someone who did work at the downtown building last year and encountered some sort of...*blockage* that required he and his partner to stand at opposite sides of a wall. As he made his way to the other side, he encountered a gate with an unlocked padlock hanging from it. The portico seemed somehow old...of another era; Upon stepping through, he was startled to see what appeared to be a small, oval shaped auditorium, with an oval of spot lights shining overhead. In the center of the room was what seemed to be a dentist's chair, this person recalled wondering: what on earth is this medical stuff doing in the center of an hidden auditorium deep within the USOC's downtown office building? Conducting his business quickly and leaving the room quickly as well, from that point on, the building's security personnel eyed him closely...

That story caused me to wonder, also.

Probably something to do with all of that "sports medicine" jazz...

Look at this from my perspective...that is, from my Dream Street 9/11 viewpoint. I had that dream in 2001. It started with me walking at the corner of Colorado and Tejon -- right where the USOC downtown building is now. I walked northward to the corner of Pikes Peak and Tejon...the "busy corner" of Colorado Springs -- the one right under the clock featured in my post "Owl's Vanity". I waited for the light to change and then crossed the street with a large group of people. Then, I heard a commotion, and saw what I have come to believe was an Olympic runner with long white hair and a torch, coming from the direction of the Antlers Hotel.

Well, first of all, like I said: when I had the dream, the USOC building was still the Lorig's building then. There is a business entity located at Pikes Peak and Tejon and owned by Randy Case called "Busy Corner, LLC." -- I crossed the street with a bunch of people...a busy corner! I didn't know that then...but recently saw reference to that corner referred to as such in a photograph from 1906!

What about the Art on the Streets sculpture that's currently at the corner of Pikes Peak and Tejon? A running naked being with long flowing metallic hair...I'm sorry (and I realize this is coming from the same person who happened to look twice at the boat made out of black people sculpture that stood in front of the Terry Harris Judicial Building a couple of years ago -- more on Mr. Harris further down)...but is that not just a striking coincidence?

The Latin quotation on the clock face (which, by the way, was purchased in the late 70's or early 80's, I can't remember exactly) says, "While we live, let us live"...and the owl of that clock is looking right at that sculpture!

What does all of it mean...and again, what time is it, folks?

I add to all of this the whole Ray Marshall/LandCo scandal, which appears to be well on its way to being swept under the rug -- curious to know whether Ray Marshall is any relation to long time USOC executive Frank Marshall?

Listen, because this is just how it is: Terri Velasquez is right, she was fired in retaliation for not toeing the line on the misappropriations of monies going to the USOC's downtown building project. As far as I'm concerned, she points fingers at the Ray Marshall, the El Pomar Foundation, the USOC, and Bill Hybl... And I point my fingers at them, as well. Especially when I consider that the USOC sought to designate the Pikes Peak and Tejon area as yet another foreign trade zone -- I'm telling the truth, and will find you the link to the John Hazlehurst story in the Colorado Springs Business Journal.
The significance of the foreign trade zone connection comes later in this piece.


USOC OLYMPIC TRAINING CENTER COMPLEX

Well, for starters, Ent Air Force base was certainly unique. Such a strange place to locate an Air Force base -- I mean, what kind of an Air Force base lacks a runway? Why locate an Air Force base right in the middle of the city -- who made that decision when, and why? I'm gonna look at that a little closer...

I figure Ent Air Force base and Peterson Field Air Force base were born at about the same time. My dad retired from the Air Force; I still remember when it was Ent Air Force Base...remember my mom taking me to the commissary there. Why was Ent decommissioned?

Backed financially by the the El Pomar Foundation, Bill Hybl arranged for the USOC to lease Ent Air Force Base from ___________ for a $1.00...

As far as the Olympic Training Center...I was told a story by someone on the scene...of a female amputee in a wheelchair; it was obvious she was an athlete (though how, I do not know); two men hoisted her up and...well, I can't remember how the story ended, and the person who told it to me won't talk to me about it any more so...I'll let that story drop right there.

But it offers a gentle segue into my next observations.

Memorial Hospital

Because of what I had already come to know about the USOC, I suspected their involvement from the moment I first heard about the proposal to sell city-owned Memorial Hospital -- because of the Olympic Training Center's direct proximity to the hospital.

How convenient: these maudlin knuckleheads who wax ecstatic over Olympian triathlons and table-tennis are just as likely to be fervent proponents of "sports medicine" and "sports science". What a bunch of hokum anyway; a euphemism, for what all, I'm not entirely sure. But I feel like it has something to do robotics, and prosthetics and organ donation and cloning...doping and cybernetics. It came as little surprise, then, to learn University of Denver Health already has in place a $________ agreement with the USOC to provide sports medicine services to OTC athletes.

` It's easy for me to see that with Charles Anschutz as the University of Denver VIP...well, what can I say; he plunked down cash and bought the Broadmoor last year. So the connection should also be easy for you to see: the same people are behind all of this stuff, time and time and time again; the very richest and hungriest for money -- rabid and panting behind their bloodless smiles...

I'll say this: For all of its *presence* and *prestige* here in Colorado Springs, the USOC is all take, take, take, and given very little back to our community...so I can't see why we continue to give them more, more, more.


USOC BUILDING AT INTERQUEST PARKWAY

Whoops -- I almost forgot the office space leased by the USOC near the Interquest Parkway.


USOC BUILDING ON BANNING-LEWIS RANCH

Which brings us to our last Olympic building -- the one out at Banning-Lewis Ranch.

I haven't really been able to pinpoint why...but one of Frank Aries' number one promises was to build the "Olympic Hall of Fame" out on Banning-Lewis Ranch. That was thirty-odd years ago; but even the developers back then conceded that the Ranch would likely remain under construction for at least another fifty years.

So why would Frank Aries have even proposed building the "Olympic Hall of Fame" in such a remote site? Because so many people are sports-crazed that they'd gladly drive all the way out to Marksheffel Road for a chance to step the through storied halls of sports history?

Whatever.

I dunno if the Olympic building that Frank Aries promised and the Olympic building out on Foreign Trade Zone Boulevard are one and the same, but let me tell ya: the spookiest building of them all.

Because it sits on Foreign Trade Zone Boulevard - who names a street that anyway, sheesh. It bothers me that said street has been there and named such since 1984; it bothers me that the USOC has had its presence out there since 1984 as well.

We're talking about the middle of no-where back then, folks.

Ok, ok, I know -- there's all kinds of economic benefits to companies who decide to set up shop in foreign trade zones...customs and duties and all that jazz, I get it.

This is what I don't get though: how come the companies that originally located there are no longer there? Where did they go, and why -- was the economic benefit not the boon they'd expected? FYI, this is true of ALL the companies to set up their operations in El Paso County foreign trade zones: without exception, they all pulled up stakes and split town. We're talkin' Apple, Intel, Pentax, ______

And yet the USOC dug in their heels and stayed. Even though they closed their marketing warehouse and distribution operations there in 2001 (?) they continued to pay $60,000 MONTHLY in rent for that supposedly empty building until some time in 2011.

Which is when a company named Harris moved in, under what circumstances I do not know. I know that they're a defense contractor; I'd like to know if the company is in any way related to Terry Harris, former Colorado Springs City Manager and El Paso County Commissioner; Mr. Harris, as you'll recall from above, had the county courthouse named after himself pre-humously. I don't personally recall Mr. Harris's name from way, way back when, but suffice it to say, we're talking decades ago.

But I've no doubt that Mr. Harris is still sufficiently healthy and hale that he was aware a boat made out of black people was stationed in front of his namesake building for a whole year. Yeah...that's not something that would slip my attention, if I had an important building named after me; I'd pass by from time to time to make sure the grass was being cut and the windows washed and that there were no boats made out of black people decorating its courtyard...

But that's just me.

I was reading some long ago newspaper articles, and learned that Mr. Harris did indeed own land out there, in the subject area -- hmmm...verrrry interesting. Terry Harris would later become the head of the Colorado Department of Transportation...a position currently held by Les Gruen. Gruen, who was Richad Skiorman's campaign manager, btw, has had ties to Banning-Lewis Ranch that go back decades as well.

Hmmm.

Anyway, this is the building I'm talking about -- let's call it "the old USOC building" for ease of reference. I drove out there so I could see it for myself.

As I said, the "old USOC building" is now occupied by Harris. But if I'm not mistaken, even back in the day, there were all kinds of satellite dishes outside of it. Though a only a single truck sat in its parking lot, I knew instinctively that there was a group of people watching me...startled by the sudden appearance of a barefoot black woman...

Next to the "old USOC building" is the Widefield School District #3 transportation department...which is a curiosity in and of itself. I mean, why on earth all the way out there? What economic benefit would the school district enjoy, since it's not in either the import or export business?

Across the street from the "old USOC building" is what appears to be a vacant building that's up for lease; perhaps an old manufacturing site. The parking lot is somewhat overgrown and unkempt, and there are signs in the window that would lead one to believe the building had been abandoned some time in 2009...

I drove up to what appeared to be the entrance, and peered through the window, It was a vast and empty room...but I noticed that the floor was spotless -- not a miller moth carcass to be seen -- and the light was on.

The power was on! Why?

Instinctively, I felt my time to explore was running short. Standing there in the small, weird cul-de-sac, I looked out across the street and across the land...wondering. On the pavement sat a doll's loveseat...blue, and once-opulent; I thought to take it home, but dropped it when several crickets leapt out.

Both Foreign Trade Zone Boulevard and Aerospace Drive have "ROAD CLOSED" signs erected...but in places, it's quite obvious the road *isn't* closed. I looked up the small hill and wondered what was on the other side; I thought to quickly drive up and take a peek, but thought better of it since I had my kids in the car with me (I know, I know, I know...stop...)

And so we left. But I couldn't stop wondering about what was on the other side of that hill. The overhead glimpses I got through Google Earth were tantalizingly vague...telling me much, but not enough.

So I drove out there again, blindly snapping pictures as I drove, and hoping they'd come out...

So, the structure that caught my attention -- the reason why the roads were closed -- essentially can be seen only from Marksheffel Road. From Marksheffel, it appears to be a big dark brown barn. But I felt in my gut that it wasn't. The surrounding flora and fauna seemed to be where they were so naturally that unless one was *specifically* trying to view the building in question, they wouldn't; I had to make quick stops alongside the road to capture these images.

I was followed twice during that sight-seeing drive...by two separate vehicles. Both made sudden U-turns when I eventually reached Powers Boulevard.

When I got home and looked at the pictures, I was a little stunned. Clearly, it's not a barn -- not hardly; no, it'[s plainly a compound of some sort, and portions of it appear to be...underground?
Since then, I spoke with a soldier who sometimes works out at Schriever (once "Falcon" Air Force Base")

"Are you familiar with the USOC building out there," I asked. Yes, came the reply.

"God told me that building is really filled with ammunition," I said. "it is," came the reply with a nod.

"What's up with the building across the way," I asked. I was told that it's a vast platform elevator that drops down several levels and leads to an underground base equipped with more elevators.

"Why is the Widefield School District's transportation department located out there," I asked.

I was then told that -- and yes, it may sound fantastical -- but I was told that there's a seam in the middle of the parking lot there; the sides separate to grant access to a helipad; that there are soldiers, machinery and equipment in an underground base there sufficiently vast enough to store tanks, helicopters and airplanes.

"What's the construction happening on the other side of that small hill, where the road is closed?

"I can't tell you," came the reply. But I was told that military preparations were being made for some sort of civil unrest that was slated to occur somewhere around the time of the Olympics.

I asked if there seemed to be a UN presence -- the answer was "Yes."

I asked if there was a Chinese presence -- the answer was "Yes."

I asked if our troops were being trained to fire on American citizens -- the answer was "Yes" -- as well as how to survive a chemical attacks on our population.

Now...I don't know how much of what I was told is true; that person won't talk to me any further (I am just the life of the party sometimes, ya know...)...but I was told in the same conversation that our own soldiers are fearful that they'll be outnumbered by the enemy that's to come.

So, I feel that quite obviously from these pictures, whatever it is that's out there is a military compound of some sort. What do you make of this picture of a plane either landing on or taking off from the Foreign Trade Zone?

What the hell is going on out there?

I dunno, but it's not good.

To me, it seems as if Schriever and Peterson Field are joined via old mine shafts and tunnel; that there's a secret military compound in between the two Air Force bases...

But why? Why so quietly and sneaky? Why on the Foreign Trade Zone? And why is the eye of America the Beautiful Park looking dead ahead at it?

I can't answer these questions. But here's something I do know: the unsolved murder of Barbara Freyschlag is connected to the USOC; whatever was going on in the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce and the USOC at that time is what led to her death...and I'd be willing to bet that someone who sat on either or both those organization's board of directors hired the killer.
It is my recollection that the Prebles Meadow Jumping Mouse was in grave danger at the time...coincidentally in all of the areas around town where the USOC/Bill Hybl have since established a presence.

Was it a Prebles Meadow Jumping Mouse, perhaps, that was found next to the murdered Freyschlag's body, that morning when her husband returned from a business trip to Nevada -- with the mission to convince USOC bigwigs to locate the "Olympic Hall of Fame" in Colorado Springs back in 1986 -- and found her shot to death in the kitchen of their home...unmolested...no signs of burglarly or forced entry...just her, and a dead mouse, and some kind of antique handle to a pot or pan or some sort thing...

The dead mouse definitely signified something.

So...I dunno how long this is gonna turn out...if you have time to read it all, thanks for reading. I am going to post it right now as it is; I;ll add photos by and by through the evening, but it's important to me that I get this up before the Olympic closing ceremonies.

I don't know if something is going to happen tonight at the Olympic closing ceremony. But nothing changes my certainty that something is amiss, something is going on, something smells fishy, right under all our noses...and that the time of the end that's foretold of in the book of Revelations -- that time friends, is at hand.

If you don't believe all of the stuff I just wrote, check it out for yourselves. By the way, the land surrounding the secret military compound out there is all owned by either Randy or Lindsay Case.

Randy Case happens to sit on the Downtown Partnership...yes, the people responsible for placing the boat made out of black people in from of the Harris Judicial building; he also sat or sits on the city's Sustainable Design committee. Sustainable Design, in case you didn't know, is a euphemism for the Agenda 21 genocide that's already underway (see my piece on the Georgia Guidestones for more information).

I learned this disturbing tidbit of information as well. Did you know that the Committee of 300 is also known as the *Olympians*?

Friends...I love you. Honestly, I do. I have asked God so many times why He's shown me these things, and the only answer that comes to me is that I happened to write well enough and be brave enough to put it all down and post it up for you to read, and know, and perceive and understand. I am posting this now, unillustrated and unproofread, for you, and every person in the city of my heart and my life...Colorado Springs, Colorado, in the United States of America...the land that I love.

Regardless of your faith or lack thereof...all of these things are foretold in the Bible. I'm Christian -- far from perfect; I'm a sinner. Be that as it may, I was baptized last year, at the same church I went to pay my last respects to Mitch and Sue Christiansen. What if baptism is the traffic signal at that busy corner...what if there's but a small amount of time left for you to cross the intersection with me?

God opened my eyes to all of this. I pray that your eyes too will be opened. Get your mind right, and your houses in order; love one another and seek the Lord for a desperate time is upon us. If any of what I have written on this blog has ever resounded in you, then consider that it may be the call of the Holy Spirit that resides within each and every one of us. Take a chance on the Bible...take a chance on Jesus...and when that day comes, and it's coming friends, I can see it right upon the horizon...

...don't accept the mark.

In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray I have done the Lord's bidding. Amen.

USOC: Goldfingers

So…are ya following the Olympics?  It should probably go without saying that I have been -- following the Olympics, that is.   

I still remember when Nadia Commenici took the Olympic gold for gymnastics back in 1976 -- it was electrifying, and I'm sure I was still doing cartwheels and roundoffs for months after; now, 36 years later, a young black American girl named Gabby Douglas takes home the gold medal for gymnastics?  Pretty compelling television, in my book. 


I missed the Pistorious race, unfortunately…although as I understand it, I'll have another chance to glimpse this bionic man.  Allow me to say this, and I mean no disrespect:  I think it's bullshit times two that Pistorious is allowed to participate in the "normal" Olympics.  I mean…the whole thing is just kinda crap, if ya ask me.  How is it that someone with bionic legs is permitted to participate in the "normal" Olympics against folks with "regular" legs?  Why isn't that person limited to participation in one of the several "special" Olympics? 

I dunno, it just seems kind of unfair...while we're all celebrating his overcoming adversity, what's the message that's being sent to all those young boys and girls with old-fashioned legs? 

Take the triple-jump event, for instance:  what if the participant is a double-amputee with special pogo-stick legs -- what's the difference in the two scenarios?  What if the world's fastest person had Down's Syndrome -- in which Olympics would he or she participate?  I mean, aren't Miss America contestants barred from having plastic surgery and/or implants?  What's the difference in all of this? 

Since we're on the topic of skin games:  I happened to be up early one morning, and caught the last hour of the women's marathon race or whatever it's called (I can't remember) -- talk about watching paint dry -- I mean, WOW was that some boring television.  

I'd have fallen sound asleep had it not been for my outrage,  inspired by the skimpy "uniforms" worn by the US and Chinese runners (both of whom failed to place, despite their aerodynamic attire); honestly, I'm not kidding when I say I was astonished and embarrassed by the utter absence of and want for modesty. 

Go figure -- it's hard to rationally explain many Olympic Oddities, and the Olympic organizers are a strange group of people.  In the same year they allow headscarves for female Muslim participants, they allow bikinis for female cross-country runners; how does that make sense?  

What about the Olympic Horse Jumping event -- do both jockey and horse receive a medal?  If the jockey tests clean, but the horse tests positive for doping, are both disqualified…or can the jockey get a different horse?   

Where are the horses?  Don't they count, too?

How is a horse different from a motorboat?  I'm presuming you do know that motorboating was once an Olympic sport.  MOTORBOATING.  

Boy oh boy, I bet that made for a real humdinger of a pickup line:   

"Can I buy you a drink, doll?  I once took home the Olympic gold, you know."  

"Wow, a gold medal!  In which event?" purrs the object of attention, stirring her drink with suddenly piqued curiosity. 

"'In which event?' she asks.  Take a good, long look at these forearms, baby -- what event do ya think?  Why, I'm an Olympic motorboater, of course.  It wasn't easy; it took years of practice, and I spent thousands of dollars on my Evinrude.  But enough of this chit-chat.  Come on up to my place, baby:  I'll give you my autograph and let you touch my medal…" 

So silly.

They're considering adding pole-dancing as an Olympic event.   I dunno if it's true or false, but my son tells me there's an Olympic Chess event.   Let that sink in. 


Well, if chess really is an Olympic event, then why not Olympic Monopoly (oh wait, we already have one of those here in Colorado Springs -- see my next article on the USOC).  How about Olympic Jenga?  

I'd like to suggest an event:  Olympic Typewriting…or "Keyboarding" as it's now called.  The event would be judged on various merits:  there'd be the "technicals"….in which each participant is handed a one-page manuscript written by Mike Moran (former United States Olympic Committee communications director); whoever types it fastest and most accurately wins.  Do you understand how challenging that'd be?  Each typist would have to squint and count the numbers of dots in each of Moran's many, many ellipses………..need I say more? 

MIKE MORAN: WHEN THE OLYMPIC GAMES COME TO AMERICA AGAIN

August 31, 2011 by AroundTheRings

Like moths to the light of a summer evening’s patio lamp, they are attracted to the prospect of an Olympic Games bid, American cities with a real shot, others without a clue, and individuals and political grandstanders seeking sound bites and attention…………and so it is again this summer, as the United States Olympic Committee goes about its mission of repairing its fractured relationship with the International Olympic Committee, ruptured by a decade of dysfunction and the actions of individuals unworthy of the moments they were accorded. As USOC Chairman Larry Probst and CEO Scott Blackmun crisscross the globe on a weekly basis as ambassadors of a revitalized and committed partner and friend of the IOC and the International sports community, as well as carefully addressing the sensitive topic of the USOC’s share of U.S. Olympic television rights and sponsor fees, they are forced to deal with continued pressures and sometimes baseless media reports related to future Olympic bids. The USOC has repeatedly stated its position on any future Olympic Games bid, which is that it will not submit an American city by the September 1 deadline for the 2020 Olympic Games, and that there were no plans at this time to consider a 2022 Olympic Winter Games bid…………in accordance, the USOC notified Los Angeles, New York, Minneapolis, Chicago, Tulsa and Dallas last week of its decision after each had expressed interest in 2020………..“With such little time left, we don’t believe we could pull together a winning bid that could serve the Olympic and Paralympic Movement,” said USOC spokesman Patrick Sandusky. That message did not, apparently, reach some in Las Vegas, and what happens there did not stay there yesterday when a Vegas group, reportedly headed by a Texas developer named Chris Milam, sent a letter to the IOC, asking the body to bypass the USOC and its decision and allow the city to enter a bid for the Games. The IOC wasted no time in throwing cold water on the Vegas bid by letter and supporting the USOC. Now, media reports state that a possible Denver 2022 Winter Games bid is being threatened by “an international dispute” between the USOC and the IOC over the revenues issue, following a decade-long Denver effort to secure a bid. The subject now has even unearthed former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm, one of the most prominent among the attention-seeking individuals from growth-control, environmental protection and anti-spending camps who torpedoed the 1976 Denver Olympic Winter Games under the mantle “Citizens For Colorado’s Future” that got a piece of legislation banning any state funds for the Games on a 1972 ballot which passed with a 60% supportive vote. The IOC responded by stripping Denver of the Games and turning to Innsbruck, which staged a success story instead. The 1976 Denver Winter Olympics venues included Alpine skiing: Beaver Creek; Nordic skiing/ski jumping: Steamboat Springs; Speed-skating arena: next to Mile High Stadium, Denver Luge complex: near Stapleton Airport; Olympic Village: University of Denver campus; Opening/closing ceremonies: Mile High Stadium……………..Despite the embarrassment of becoming the only city ever to turn back the Games, Denver remains a superb candidate for a time when the USOC feels it is appropriate to bid again. In fact, Denver actually bid again for the Winter Games, a story apparently lost in the vortex of media reporting and hyperventilating. On June 4, 1989, in Des Moines, the USOC selected Salt Lake City as its candidate for hosting the 1998 Olympic Winter Games. Salt Lake’s competition in the final balloting was Denver, Anchorage and Reno-Tahoe………the excellent Denver bid was led by Mayor Federico Pena and television executive Roger Ogden, and included several of the ill-fated 1976 venues and a proposal of a $14 million television fund-raising campaign for the USOC, which was big-time dollars at the time for the organization………..this time around, the effort embraced environmentalists and some of the former critics in the campaign. Vail-Beaver Creek was chosen as the site for Alpine skiing and Steamboat Springs for Nordic skiing. Breckenridge was the venue for Freestyle skiing, and Denver would host ice hockey and figure skating at McNichols Arena, speed skating at Denver University, and curling at the South Suburban Ice Arena. Ogden said at the time that Vail Associates might foot the bill for the construction costs for the luge and bobsled runs in the city, and that negotiations were underway with DU to possibly build and indoor speed skating arena with corporate support. In Des Moines, USOC President Robert Helmick allowed each city to make a thirty-minute presentation to the USOC Executive Committee and site selection team chaired by Sandy Knapp of Indianapolis, which had made visits and inspections of each candidate city in May. I watched each presentation and heard the Denver team address the sticky subject of what had happened in 1972 and if it might still affect the IOC voters should the USOC choose Denver again as its candidate city. In the end, Denver was eliminated on the first ballot, and Salt Lake chosen over Anchorage in the next round. Anchorage had been the USOC candidate twice before, and its officials were enraged. The USOC also stipulated that Salt Lake City would be its candidate again for 2002 if the city failed to win the 1998 Games, which is exactly what happened when Nagano won the 1998 race and Salt Lake came back to win a first-round triumph for 2002………….but here we have Lamm again today, telling the Denver Post  that the city should be careful about a future bid. “The history of the Winter Olympics has been soaked in red ink,” Lamm said. “But I know that those five rings are so glittery that they can distort people’s judgement.” Lamm apparently does not read about the Games much these days. The 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, which once hoped merely to break even on a $1.3 billion budget, wound up with a $101 million profit, organizers said. Fraser Bullock, chief executive officer of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, said the surplus was almost double the $56 million projected in April, two months after the Games ended. A statement from the SLOC said the profit grew through unused contingency funds and cost cuts on venue restoration. There also were savings on ceremonies and litigation. The extra money will help finance U.S. sports programs and keep the venues from the Winter Olympics in shape for training and competition. And, if my memory serves me well, when Lake Placid was having problems with snowfall ahead of the 1980 Games, representatives of Colorado and then Governor Lamm, offered to host the Olympic skiing events if no solution was found. The Lake Placid organizers implemented the first artificial snow-making effort in Games history and it went off without a hitch. As we enjoy our summer day in Colorado, we are reminded that our state is the envied model of the nation in sports and sports business.Over one million spectators enjoyed the prestigious USA Pro Cycling Challengelast week and millions across the world saw a beautiful Rocky Mountain vista. The state’s ski areas have exploded in growth and popularity, and Denver is among the best sports cities in the world. Colorado Springs is the home of the USOC and 22 of its elite sport national governing bodies. The Games will again come to America, maybe to Colorado one day in the future, and one hopes that Dick Lamm has to stand in a long line for his Curling tickets.

There'd be a speed segment, i.e., race.

Then there'd be the interpretation segment of the competition:  each typist would have to decipher and make sense of a fourth-grader's handwritten essay paper draft.  For the artistic portion, participants would have five minutes to think up and type a one-page essay on any one of a list of topics: 

Surely, a controversy would arise concerning the fairness (or lack thereof) surrounding the gold medal win by a little black spider from Colorado Springs:  "...but Judge, of course she finished faster -- she was typing with eight legs!

USOC -- Olympic Dream Street 9/11

[originally published in may 2011; updated today]

usoc coincidence confluences...starting with its building in the eye of horus park

Dream Analysis Quiz

• Do you dream often or rarely?  
• Are your dreams scary or groovy?  
• Do you dream randomly, or do you have recurring dreams?  
• Do remember them vaguely and fleetingly, or vividly and forever?
• Are you ever able to take control of your dream, and turn it from a nightmare to an awesome dream?  
• Have you ever spoken to a loved one from whom you were separated...and afterward felt an inner peace?
• Have you ever had a dream that came true?
• How do you feel about dreams -- are they just the detritus of the day, replaying itself as you slumber...or is there ever a deeper meaning to a dream?

I guess each dream varies...as does each dreamer.

My answers to those questions are:  Rarely do I dream, and rarely do I remember them; I am often bemused by my dreams, and whenever possible, I tell my husband about the dream as soon as I can.

From the Harris Burdick Mysteries

When I was a teenager, I used to have a recurring dream of being picked up by a wind that suddenly died, and left me falling -- I usually awoke immediately before impact, and can't remember ever dreaming that I actually died.  One night I dreamed it occurred to me while I was sitting in like one of those dark-blue, hard plastic school chairs.  As I began to fall, I managed to take hold of the fear that would always overtake me, and to my surprise, stopped falling; after a bit of a wobble, the chair and I rose high up in the air.  The night was still and dark, the stars twinkled all about, and the full moon shone sweetly as I flew over the Atlantic Ocean...actually landing in Holland and visiting with family there before waking.  I never dreamed the falling dream again...and was amazed many years later, when I came across this picture that my now 18-year-old son showed me during 4th grade parent-teacher conference night.

I believe that sometimes, you dream what you dream because something is weighing on your mind; at other times, you might be feverish or on some sort of medication; but there are other times when a dream can heal a hidden hurt within you, and still others when your dream is a portent.

There's a really amazing site called "I Dream of Obama" -- I encourage everyone to check out what types of dreams others have had, and felt moved to write about.

The Bible states that sometimes, God communicates with us when we are dreaming; some of the most amazing stories in the Bible arose from a dream…dreamt by ordinary people who recognized it for what it was, and then wrote it down for posterity.

I would say that I clearly remember only about twelve of my dreams; more than half of those dreams were prophetic in nature, and six of them were what I refer to as "God Dreams" -- prophetic dreams wherein I knew while I was dreaming that I was  communicating with spiritual beings and/or witnessing supernatural occurrences.

I had a dream on September 10, 2001…the night before the Twin Towers came down; I'm not sure what it all means, but because I dreamed it on the eve of this disaster, because it was so vivid, and because of its subject -- which is near and dear to my heart, my hometown, the City of Colorado Springs and the people who reside here -- I am sharimg that dream with you now.

The "God Dreams" are always scary in a way; only one more official "God Dream" to go, which I will detail in an upcoming post; suffice it to say it featured a former president, it was terrifying, and it had something to do with America the Beautiful Park.

* * * * * * * *

In the dream, it was late in the afternoon of a fine Colorado Indian summer’s day.  I was walking north on the Tejon Street sidewalk, past the old Lorig's building (now the downtown USOC building) and Hibbard's, with a gait like that of a woman in a Sheer Energy commercial.

I’d just passed by my old haunt The Ritz – where I’d behaved scandalously on nights without number -- and remember pausing for just a moment…toying with the notion of stopping in for a drink.  Thinking better of it, I continued walking until I reached the crosswalk at Pikes Peak and Tejon. 

I stood waiting for the light to change with a large group of people. It was a lot like in New York City, where whole crowds would cross the street all at once.  The traffic, too, was much brisker and heavier…again, reminiscent of New York City.

The light changed, and all of the pedestrians crossed the street.  I moved through the intersection and continued walking north on Tejon.  I had just passed the Wachovia Bank building (probably just a weird coincidence when I learned that the listed owner of that building is "Busy Corner Property Management").

I began to hear a commotion taking place somewhere behind me -- first a honk, then several honks, and people shouting.  I thought nothing of it at first, but the sound of tumult grew louder – more shouting and honking, and now the squealing of brakes and the screeching of tires.

Wondering what was the matter. I saw there was a sudden traffic jam in the intersection of Pikes Peak and Tejon.  Vehicles were stopped haphazardly…and the drivers of the vehicles all stared at something approaching from the west, their expressions wide-eyed with horror and panic-stricken. 

Following their gazes, I at first saw nothing.  But then, coming around from a westerly direction was what I described at the time as a “crazy, naked white man.”  His face was clean-shaven, and he was running…a long, white-blonde shock of hair flowing behind him...and a massive erection that reached past his head. 

Valkyrie Installed in Colorado Springs Downtown!!June 21, 2012Valkyrie, powder coated steel, 116″ x 117″ x 95″, 2008 has been selected from 85 entries to be one of twelve sculptures installed in downtown Colorado Springs for a year long exhibition.The sculpture is part of the 14th Annual Art on the Streets exhibition in Downtown Colorado Springs. Stop by the corner of Tejon and Pikes Peak downtown for a look and enjoy this picture as well.

He made not a sound, but had a wild and intent look on his face as he thrust and gestured toward the people stopped in the intersection.  People shouted and blared their horns at him, and several attempted to rush past him where he stood, but he prevented them from doing so, blocking them with his terrifyingly large member.

He touched several unfortunate people as he ran about; I knew instinctively that the people he’d touched with it were as good as dead.  Somehow, I also knew that the people who’d just made it through the intersection were safe.

“Oh, I hope those people will be alright,” I thought to myself.  “Thank God I made it through the intersection when I did!”

[note -- i have come to believe that what i thought was an erection was actually an Olympic torch]

* * * * * * * *

I shook off the weird nightmare, laughing with my husband that the crazy naked white man might possibly be one of Mom's as-yet-unknown boyfriends ("you will know him by his penis...")  I woke up the kids and started getting them ready for school; I turned on the t.v.. and saw the first tower burning. 

At first I just stood there, transfixed, doubting my eyes.  Just two short years earlier, we’d lived and worked in New York, and come to love it as our second home.  Just two short years earlier, my entire family had stood at the top of one of those towers, smiling and waving for the camera on a beautiful Indian Summer Day.

I screamed for my husband; recognizing something in the shrillness of my cry, he was instantly up, awake, and by my side.  We watched with horror as the second tower was hit, and I cried, “Oh my God, Oh my God, oh my God!!!”

I stared hard at the television, barely able to comprehend what I was witnessing.  Then the first tower came crashing down, and the whole family was crying and sobbing out loud, holding onto each other and hugging each other tight. 

My husband and I held hands, tight and whiteknuckled -- both of us practically incoherent with terrified astonishment…and when the second tower came crashing down, we collapsed against each other, moaning and weeping.

For months afterward, I scarcely believed what we’d seen was real.  Finally, I called a friend in the City, and asked him if it was true.  He said it was; the story he told of crossing the George Washington Bridge covered in ash became like the negative of a photograph, etched in my memory.

But now, nearly ten years later, the only fact of which I am certain is that those two buildings did, indeed, fall.