9/11/2009: Arlene T. Babakitis

Arlene is remembered as a bright, energetic mother of two, born and raised on the Lower East Side of New York City in a family that understood and taught their children the values of hard work and independence. She got her first job at the age of 16, and a couple of years later began her main career as an employee of the Port Authority of NY/NJ.

Her elder sister, Evelyn Pettignano, remembered Arlene in a NY Times article from Sept. 2002:

Mrs. Babakitis and her older sister, Evelyn L. Pettignano, were pregnant with their first children at the same time, and would take the PATH train together to their jobs in Manhattan. "When you see two pregnant women walking together, you would really see the looks," Mrs. Pettignano said. "I have to admire her as a mother. She wanted the best. She was always there, giving."

Her tenure with the Port Authority would last for 30 years and lead her to a post at the World Trade Center, before her untimely death on September 11, 2001.

Her niece, author Melissa Pettignano, recalled her love of staying active in a recent article for the Hudson Reporter, and also related just how close Arlene may have been to surviving the disaster:

Before she died on September 11, 2001, Secaucus resident Arlene Babakitis loved to exercise. But according to her niece, writer Melissa Pettignano, her weight loss regimen “had a bit of a twist. My mother, my aunt, and I would exercise together. Like, we’d walk around the track at the high school – and then we’d go out for ice cream.”

...

According to those who were in the stairwell with her who survived, she stopped walking down after emergency workers told her it was safer to stay in the burning building and wait for help to arrive. After no help came, she eventually began walking again. Babakitis made it to street level just as the building collapsed.

“The time she spent waiting made all the difference,” noted Pettignano. “Another five or 10 minutes, who knows, maybe that’s all the time she needed to get to safety.”

Ms. Pettignano has taken the memories of her aunt and used to help write a book entitled "Suzanne Lantana", a collection of stories about the experiences and views of a young girl. Details can be found here.

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This post was made as part of Project 2996, an online blogging effort spearheaded by Dale Challener Roe, aimed at keeping the memory of the events of 9/11/2001 alive by memorializing, one blogger at a time, all 2,996 victims of that day's horrendous attack on the World Trade Center. Anyone wishing to view any of today's other memorial posts can start at the link above, which displays a linked list of all the participating blogs. Please take some time and visit as many of them as you wish.

The Original Guitar Hero

R.I.P. - Les Paul, 1915 - 2009

"I cannot imagine life without Les Paul."
-- Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar

Project 2,996 for 2009 - Bloggers Needed

My apologies for not being around much, friends...As usual, life has been getting in the way.

But for this, I will try again.

I have signed up to hopefully participate in this year's Project 2996, wherein bloggers of all stripes create a mass-posting by each dedicating a post to the memory of one of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

More information and links for the project will be forthcoming as I learn more. Keep yer ears up.

UPDATE - August 15, 2009: I will be researching and memorializing Arlene T. Babakitis. Anyone who has information which they think will be helpful in this effort is gratefully invited to leave note in the comments to this post. I may not be able to respond right away, but all comments WILL be read. Thank you.

Room...ten-HUT!

I am pleased as punch to share the following moment with you all... My son graduated from the Boot platoon in the Tri-State chapter of Young Marines a couple of weeks ago. (If you're scratching yer heads: Think of it as Scouting ala the USMC, and he just moved up from the Cub Scouts.)

Bear with me, if you please, whilst I bask in the moment.



For those keeping score, he's the handsome gent second from right in the front rank.

A Change of Scenery

Folks, I am here to announce a change.

From here on, the focus of "Stander's Point" is going to shift to more personal (and, frankly, more enjoyable) topics and will be shying away from politics and other such claptrap. It will also be updated on a less frequent basis.

For those who prefer news and views on current events, please feel free to visit my new second home, Adult Supervision Required, wherein my political (and most likely crankier) side will be more fully unfettered.

Thank you very much for your kind attention.

SIX-BUUURRRRGH!!!

Now This Takes Balls (Well, Okay...Just One)

One of the prettiest things to grace the White House all year, the annual Christmas Tree, is up in the Blue Room as we speak.

Every year, an artist is chosen from every district of every state to decorate an ornament to be hung on the tree. Folks, there are some real beauties in the roster.

What's that...you say there's one missing?

Hmmm. Well, whaddayaknow. You're right.

Lessee here...Yep, it's the one from Seattle, WA.

Gee....I wonder why it didn't make the cut?

"Oh, dear," said Seattle-based artist Deborah Lawrence, who created the red and white ornament that salutes Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) and his support for a resolution to impeach the president. "This doesn't really surprise me. But it's disappointing that I won't get to see it on the tree."

Laura Bush asked all members of Congress to pick artists from their districts to decorate ornaments, presumably highlighting local landmarks and heroes. Lawrence, 55, used the opportunity to honor McDermott, a strong critic of Bush. The collage artist glued tiny text on the nine-inch ball thinking no one would actually read her embedded "subversive" message.

Okay, so she tried to be sneaky about it. Alright, I can see getting a private laugh out of slipping a curve ball past the ump.

And she might have gotten away with it, too. All she had to do was not go bragging about it...

Yeah, right. She's an artist AND a liberal. You do the math.

But Lawrence shared her secret protest with friends, and the news quickly spread. "An artist doesn't always get this kind of attention," she told us. "It took on a life of its own, obviously. In a way, I'm speechless."

Oh, if only.

Awright, enough about her.

Here's the official White House photo list of the ones that remembered what they were doing this for.

My personal favorite?

Why, the State ornament of West Virginia, of course. It's purty.