Renaissance and September 11

On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was working in a Washington, D.C., office two blocks from the White House. Most of us were glued to the television, watching the smoking towers in New York. I took a break from the TV for a quick trip up to the roof, where I could see smoke billowing from the Pentagon. There was a report, which turned out to be false, that a car bomb had gone off near the State Department--which lay between me and my children; between me and home. We heard that the White House was evacuating, and that it was not safe for the President to return. And a friend far away in Maine messaged me over the internet to "take cover" because another plane was reported to be on its way to Washington. I did not personally lose anyone that day, but I felt the losses of others, and I will never forget.

In the following days I did the kinds of things we all did. I planted flags in my front yard. I walked through barricaded streets near the White House to get to Mass at St. Matthew's Cathedral in downtown D.C., part of a noontime crowd packed shoulder-to-shoulder and overflowing down the steps to the street. I stocked up on water and canned goods. I filled out countless "in case of emergency" forms for my children's schools. I even bought those silly anti-radiation pills.

But not long afterward, I felt a need for something different. I talked the kids into spending a Saturday visiting the National Gallery of Art. I needed to see artworks so fine that they could only be achieved through a lifetime of dedication. I needed to see evidence of creativity, and I wanted them to share it with me. It was a wonderful day.

Now, six years after the 2001 acts of hatred, we exhibit an awakwardness about September 11. We're self-conscious. Are we remembering enough, mourning enough, forgetting too much, recovering too fast? Bin Laden himself tries to stoke the memories in his own, twisted way. But my psyche doesn't need the reminders. I don't mourn that way. I have to move on. For me, focusing on creation and beauty is the best repudiation of the destruction and hatred that took primacy that day.

I would love to see a new and very different commemoration of this date. It should be a national day of art and creation. Let orchestras unveil new symphonies. Let poets recite special, new works. Let cities across the country host arts fairs, with awards for new creations. The White House could award medals for finest American creation. This wouldn't be a day for rehashed, Live-Aid scale music festivals; it would be a day for Bono and bohemians alike to unveil new works, whether they be commemorative of September 11 or evocative of something else entirely.

Creativity would be the perfect, and very American, way to rise above the destruction.

The tragedy at Virginia Tech

Just a few months ago, my family toured the campus at Virginia Tech. We walked acrosss the parade grounds, learned about the "Hokie stone" that clads the buildings, ate in the dining hall, all part of the visitation routine that has become a rite of passage for American families with a college-bound kid. Yesterday, as I watched the news reports from Virginia Tech and the number of dead increased by stunning leaps--two, twenty two, then thirty three--I thought of the VT acceptance letter sitting on our kitchen counter. My daughter had already decided she would attend a different school next fall, but many of her friends will be attending Tech. Our family now knew this school. Most of these victims are only the age of my own children, and this giant American trauma hits home with us. Indeed, one of my children may yet be fortunate enough to become a Hokie someday.

Today, though, I found myself stuck on the idea of those young victims, murdered just as they were launching their lives. I thought a parent's most horrible thought: What if our children don't grow old? What if this is all there is?

There is so much pressure on teens to get into college these days; high school is anything but the carefree life of Happy Days tv or Archie comics. It's competitive and demanding and consumes their lives even outside the classroom. Even charity work becomes little more than a crass opportunity to accumulate "service hours" necessary to fill a school requirement and impress college admissions officers. But none of us ever knows which morning will be our last. We who are middle age or older understand this. And it's too much to for us older folk to accept the truth that even our strong, healthy college-age children (not to mention the brave youths in the military) face the same mortality.

I'm sure there will be changes that come about from this massacre. Life will become a little less free on campuses. Metal detectors at the doors, maybe. Administrators will try to seal off the outside world a little more, just as high school campuses have. But I'm thinking another change is in order. Maybe we need to acknowledge the roulette wheel. We need to make sure our children have the time to savor their youth and vitality, even if it costs them a few points on their SAT. Even the young can't afford to put things off.

New home construction plunged in October

Sure, the news that construction of new homes fell dramatically in October is disappointing to people who've invested in publicly traded builders. It may even ding the overall economy thanks to fewer construction-triggered dollars being spent on new draperies and Home Depot splurges. But to this owner of an older home, it sounds like good news.

It tells me they buildup of for-sale home inventories will ease sooner than it would have if builders kept throwing new condos and houses on the market. It tells me prices will firm up faster than they would otherwise. I don't know when that firming up will happen--but turning off the spigot of new supply can't do anything but hasten it.

Blog blanked out

Unfortunately, the blog seemed to have disappered into the Ether yesterday. If you can read this -- we're back!

Jumbo loan limits won't shrink in '07

Good news today for people who will be looking for a mortgage in 2007. There's no fear that falling home prices will force more home buyers into higher-priced "jumbo" mortgages. Why would falling prices drive up the interest rate? Because only loans for amounts below the government-set jumbo threshold qualify for the cheaper financing made available through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Normally, that threshold rises each year to account for rising home prices. But since home prices have fallen so far this year, there's a very good chance the government would be in the unusual position of lowering the jumbo threshold for 2007, thus driving more borrowers into higher-priced loans. To avoid disrupting the mortgage market, the regulators have decided that even if a lower threshold is warranted for 2007, they will keep the current limit of $417,000 in effect through 2007. That means buyers close to the current cutoff point don't have to rush to the closing table to wrap up their deals.

The announcement came this afternoon from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), which is the regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-founded but shareholder-owned corporations that buy mortgages from lenders and repackage them as securities for sale to investors all over the world. Fannie and Freddie are allowed to buy only mortgages up to that government-set loan limit, and they tend to carry interest rates that are between 1/8 to 3/8 percentage point cheaper than larger, jumbo loans.

Next year at this time, OFHEO plans to even out the accounting. If home prices rise between October, 2006, and October, 2007, any decrease in the loan limit deferred from this year would be subtracted from the increase in the loan limit that would have been authorized for 2008. But if prices were to decline for a second year, the loan limit for 2008 would be cut by at least what would have been called for in 2007.

Credit for saving energy at home

Thank you to Shirley Rooker of WTOP Radio's Call For Action program for mentioning an item posted earlier on Razziblog about federal tax credits available to home owners who install energy-efficient home improvements. Here's a replay of that posting:

Federal tax credits of up to $500 are available for certain energy savers purchased during 2006 and 2007. Tax credits are even more desirable than tax deductions because they directly reduce the amount of tax you owe. For example, a $100 tax credit cuts your taxes by a full $100, but a $100 deduction shrinks your taxable income and will pare your actual tax bill by only $28 or even less.

You can get a tax credit for up to 10 percent of the cost of buying (but not installing) new insulation, storm windows and doors, and on new windows that carry the Energy Star certification. (The tax credit on windows is capped at $200.) Credits ranging between $150 and $300 are available for qualified furnaces, boilers and central air-conditioners. And you can claim a credit of $300 for a new, qualified water heater.

For all improvements except new windows (for which the Energy Star seal is enough evidence), you will need to ask the sales person for a copy of the manufacturer's certification that the product complies with the program's efficiency standards. A smart salesperson will have it at the ready! Keep that certification on file with your records; you don't have to send it in with your 2006 tax return next spring. Links to IRS documents fully explaining the rules are posted on the www.energytaxincentives.org website maintained by the Tax Incentives Assistance Project, which is a nonprofit coalition of groups including the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy and the Alliance to Save Energy.

Next from Apple: iLost

News today is that those clever folks at Apple have unveiled new iPods, including a music player that's only as big as a matchbook. And I thought the pocket-size nano was bound to meet its doom in the washing machine....