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Everyone has their 9/11 story. Here’s part of mine. It’s fairly mundane, but: On September 9, 2001, a Sunday, I went to an air show. There were fighter jets in the air and tours of jumbo jets on the tarmac. When I got back to campus I went to the university library and checked out three books–a book of Norse mythology, a copy of The Quran, and a guide to understanding The Quran.

Life is full of really bizarre coincidences. They’re usually fun, but sometimes they can dismay. I still have all three books (shhh!); I read The Quran, and I understand it fairly well, which is really too bad considering everything’s been turned on its head in the last decade.

When I got back to my apartment I went next door to visit my friend. I had asked him to procure a copy of Souljacker before its release later in the month (or rather the following year, as I’m in the US). He had, so I took it home and listened to it repeatedly for the next week.

Having listened so much to Souljacker in the days before and following 9/11, I associated the music with fairly depressing, stressful, pessimistic situations. And I was rarely enthusiastic about hearing it. It felt cheap and plasticky and a thousand miles from relevance. It’s just one of those weird associations, and it doesn’t make a bit of sense.

I’m listening to it now, though, and it seems alright. “Fresh Feeling” sounds like a lovely song for the first time in nearly eight years. “Jungle Telegraph” delights. And I just remembered how “World Of Shit” reminds me of a girl I had a crush on back in September 2001.