September 11, 2001, was a Tuesday. Among many things, it was a Tuesday.

It is a day inscribed in history: four planes were crashed in a coordinated act of mass murder that ended many lives and affected the histories of this nation and many others. Repercussions are still echoing. Every year since 2002, a “Tribute in Light” has illuminated the sky above Lower Manhattan. (Seen above.)

Personal details from that day 15 years ago are etched in almost every American’s heart and memory. (For me, the memories are such that I do not visit them often. I do not feel the need to do so here or today. I had moved from New York to Iowa in May 2000, so I had lived in that great state for a year and a half. I was everyone’s token New Yorker there for the next couple weeks, had my arm touched and even had my hand shaken as if I was some sort of something from “there.” All of it was welcome. I never felt so strange and alone before.)

In mainstream media, Tuesday is the day of the week that albums are released, books are officially published, films debut in theaters.

Among the albums that were released to stores on that infamous date in 2001: Mariah Carey’s soundtrack to her movie of the same name, Glitter; God Hates Us All by Slayer; Nickelback’s Silver Side Up; Ben Folds’ solo debut Rockin’ the Suburbs; The Blueprint from Jay-Z (“H to the Izz-o, V to the Izz-A”); and “Love And Theft” from Bob Dylan.

Dylan’s album includes the song “Mississippi” and a personal favorite, the droll shuffle “Po’Boy”:

Time and love has branded me with its claws
Had to go to Florida, dodgin’ them Georgia laws
Poor boy, in the hotel called the Palace of Gloom
Calls down to room service, says send up a room …

 
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Ground was broken for the Pentagon Building on this date in 1941. Sixty years later, it was attacked. One year after that, on September 11, 2002, the section that had been damaged was re-dedicated and opened.

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Chile’s socialist president, Salvador Allende, was deposed in a military coup and died on this date in 1973.

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Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb’s career hits record in Major League Baseball with a single, hit number 4192, on this date in 1985. In a coincidence, Ty Cobb’s final at-bat came on this date in 1928.

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Nikita Khrushchev died 45 years ago today. John Ritter died on this date in 2003.

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D.H. Lawrence was born on this date in 1885. Ed Sabol was born 100 years ago today. The late Betsy Drake was born in 1923 on this date. (She died in October 2015.) Tom Landry was born on this date in 1924. David Broder was born 87 years ago today. Ian Abercrombie was born on this date in 1934. John Martyn was born 68 years ago today.

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Senator Daniel Akaka is 92 today. Earl Holliman is 88. Arvo Pärt is 81. Robert Crippen is 79. Tom Dreesen is 77. Brian De Palma is 76. Theodore Olson is 76. Lola Falana is 74. Mickey Hart is 73. Leo Kottke is 71. Amy Madigan is 66. Virginia Madsen is 55. Kristy McNichol is 54. Moby is 51 today. “Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?”:

 
Harry Connick, Jr. is 49. Maria Bartiromo is 49. Ted Leo is 46. Markos Moulitsas is 45. Ludacris is 39.

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