Contemporary essays, fiction, and opinion offered regularly by author Anne Brandt.






Question for the week
How might I punctuate the following sentence? Students, stop cutting in line(?)stop throwing food(?)and stop leaving trash.
Ten minutes to
write.
Less time to
read.
Sully
Posted: 01/16/09
This morning I flipped on the TV while I washed my face, brushed my teeth, curled my hair, and made our bed. Everyone was talking about Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger, III, the heroic captain of US Airways flight 1549, who ran into double engine trouble, landed his airplane in the middle of the Hudson River, and got all passengers off alive. After that, according to reports, he walked the plane’s length twice to make sure nobody else was on board before claiming the title of the last person to leave the sinking craft.

I had watched the news unfold yesterday, and every time the story was told tears welled in my eyes. How many times do airline landings or crashes or whatever other problems end in the same way? I bet none come to mind offhand. Sully is a hero.

But what attracted me almost as much was that one of the commentators on the show I was barely watching this morning(Can’t even remember the name.) made a comparison between President-elect Obama and Sully. He said that Obama is in the precarious position of having to make snap decisions, altering a dangerous course, alerting his passengers, and setting the craft called the United States down in turbulent conditions while saving all parties on board.

Maybe Obama should contact Pilot Sullenberger for advice.


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