Sarah Tuft

I like these photos because they remind me of why I feel alienated in Long Beach, NY. As a 9/11 volunteer who eventually wrote a play that I used to raise funds for charity, the use of the American flag as a symbol of hope now rings hollow for me. Where once I saw resilience (and all the other cliches) now I see willful ignorance and an American sense of entitlement so pervasive, even victims complain they didn't get enough despite having voted to slash federal aid. The same people who cry "Rebuild" and "We Shall Overcome" are now burning Christmas lights, using way too many plastic bags and idling in their SUVs - oblivious to the climate change that contributed to the disastrous storm surge of Sandy. I moved to Long Beach this spring after NYC out-priced me in a year of unemployment, only to be displaced by Sandy. I suggest they rebuild people's brains and then maybe their towns.