Melodía J. Parker

Category: Commentary

  • It’s been 25 years…

    It’s been 25 years…

    It’s hard to believe, but September 11, 2001, was 25 years ago. I still remember everything that happened like it just happened a few minutes ago. For those who weren’t alive or were too young to remember this day, it was truly one of the worst days ever.

    I was 21 years old. I didn’t start my management career until the next month, October 2001. At that time, I was still working for a temp agency. I had just finished an assignment the previous week and was waiting for my next assignment. September 11 was on a Tuesday.

    The day before, September 10, I had spent most of the day looking for jobs. In those days, you looked in the “Help Wanted” section of the newspaper and sent out physical copies of your resume. I found several jobs to apply to, so I had a stack of resumes ready to go out on Tuesday morning. I stayed up to watch Monday Night Football. It was the New York Giants against the Denver Broncos. I’m not a fan of either team (Go Ravens!), but I love to watch sports. The game ended late. I stayed up a little later to read, then I finally went to bed. I don’t remember what time it was, but it was late. In those days, I used to listen to 98 Rock a lot, so I had my old Sony radio on the nightstand, tuned to 98 Rock. I drifted off to sleep.

    The morning show on 98 Rock then was Kirk, Mark, & Lopez. I was half asleep when I thought I was having the worst nightmare ever. I heard Lopez say that they were going to New York for breaking news. The New York affiliate reporter started talking, saying that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I couldn’t seem to wake up; I didn’t want to have a nightmare about a plane crashing into the World Trade Center. The reporter was talking to some people who had seen the plane crash. As they were recalling the crash, someone screamed in the background, “there’s another plane!” The reporter told everyone to move away; another plane hit the other tower. This is when I woke up.

    I quickly realized this wasn’t a horrible nightmare; it was actually happening! I ran into the living room and turned on the TV. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Thick black smoke was pouring out of both towers of the World Trade Center. I started thinking back to my last trip to NYC. When we were in the WTC, someone asked what would happen if a plane hit one of the towers. The person responded that airspace was restricted around Lower Manhattan, so planes weren’t allowed in the area, but if a plane hit, it was most likely an accident. However, if both towers were hit, it was an act of terrorism.

    Even before they said it on the news, I realized this was no accident, and it was an act of terrorism. I was extremely sick to my stomach, but I couldn’t look away. It seemed that on every station, they were repeatedly showing the second plane crash into the South Tower. I was becoming overwhelmed by the news coverage, but I still couldn’t look away, no matter how hard I tried.

    And the day only got worse from there. Another plane crashed into the Pentagon. After seeing the Pentagon coverage, I called my mom, who worked for the Department of Defense. I told her that the US was being attacked and that she and her coworkers needed to leave work immediately. They didn’t work at the Pentagon, but just in case these terrorists were going to crash planes into all government buildings, I wanted to make sure they all got out safely. My mom didn’t even know what was going on. A bunch of her coworkers were in the break room, gathered around the small TV. She heard someone say there was a plane crash at the World Trade Center, so she tried to pull up different news sites to see what happened, but none loaded. Not long after I called her, her workplace had dismissed everyone.

    The bad day kept getting worse. For the first time ever, the airspace in the United States was completely closed. Another plane crashed in the fields of southern Pennsylvania. Both towers of the WTC collapsed. The Pentagon suffered a partial collapse. Thousands of lives were lost.

    Life as we knew it had completely changed in one day.

  • If you’re running for office, don’t be an idiot.

    If you’re running for office, don’t be an idiot.

    I can’t believe I have to say this, it should be a given, but some people insist on being idiots: if you’re running for an office (any office), then don’t be an idiot. Ethan Wechtaluk (EthanForMD on social media) is one who decided to be an idiot. Let me tell you the sad tale of Ethan Wechtaluk.

    He didn’t have much of a chance anyway, as he was running in the Democratic primary for Maryland’s 6th congressional district. Though I’m not in District 6, I was well aware that the top two candidates there are April McClain Delaney and David Trone. It was really a toss-up as to who would win the primary since both are very visible candidates. At the time of this posting, Delaney is the projected winner. District 6 really could’ve gone either way to her or to Trone.

    However, a man named Ethan Wechtaluk really thought he could win the race. He prides himself on being a “Democratic Socialist,” but he’s no Mayor Zohran Mamdani! He latched onto talking points that are popular on social media, thinking this would make him “stand out” in the District 6 race. However, a false story about our governor, Wes Moore, had come out from the disinformation and misinformation bots. Ethan Wechtaluk decided that he would now latch himself onto this, since it was a hot topic for a short while before Governor Moore and others shut it down.

    Wechtaluk proudly posted his bad take on Threads, where he was rightfully called out by several people for posting lies about Governor Moore. I was one of the people who called him out. Instead of realizing he was wrong and apologizing, he doubled down on his stupidity and blocked everyone who called him out (and, yes, I was one of them). Since Wechtaluk decided to be an idiot, I decided that I would watch the District 6 race to see him get humiliated. And, yes, he lost badly!

    These are the results, at the time of this posting. I highlighted the loser in yellow.

    He didn’t even make it in the top three! This is what happens when you’re an idiot. He might have been able to fool 2,256 people, but that was all. I hope Wechtaluk learned something from this. He probably didn’t, but he certainly got humbled in the primary! He really thought he could beat Delaney or Trone! He couldn’t even get past Alexis Goldstein!

    Ethan Wechtaluk, this is what you get for being an idiot! Now, go try working on not being an idiot, so maybe you’ll have a better chance of at least being number three (since you’ll never be one or two) the next time you want to play politics.

  • It is the Kennedy Center forever, no matter what Drumpf tries to do!

    It is the Kennedy Center forever, no matter what Drumpf tries to do!

    I was “live Threading” all day on June 12, 2026, and into the early hours of June 13, 2026 (here, here, and here). On June 12, 2026, the illegal graffiti and vandalism on the Kennedy Center were to be removed by midnight, as per the final court order. I stayed with the live feeds for about 14 hours. I, along with millions of others, wanted to see that disgusting graffiti finally removed from the Kennedy Center.

    I had a feeling they were going to violate the court order. By 12 pm on June 12, 2026, they were nowhere close to finishing the scaffolding. It was clear what was going to happen as the workers kept taking long breaks. Then a pop-up storm came, and they were gone for several hours.

    By the time the deadline hit, midnight, they were STILL working on the scaffolding. Just how high does this scaffold need to be? Then, the tarps came down. The moment we had all been waiting for and tarps were deployed so that we could not see it. This was done on purpose. Drumpf threw a big tantrum when he was told his graffiti had to come off the Kennedy Center. He waited until the last possible moment to do this, remember the judge gave him TWO weeks to remove it, and he still chose to have it done at the very last minute. Then, to add insult to injury, the tarps were put up so that we could not see the removal.

    Drumpf was hoping that no one would see his name being removed. His name should have NEVER been put up there in the first place! As the judge correctly said in his order, the Kennedy Center is a living memorial to beloved President John F. Kennedy. Only Congress can change the name of the Kennedy Center. And because it is a memorial, Congress won’t change it. Despite the number of idiotic Drumpfers in Congress, there are more people with functioning brains in Congress who will not allow the Kennedy Center to be renamed.

    Now, just think about how Drumpf’s name was added to the building. They used a scissor lift truck and quite possibly caused irreparable harm to the building in the process. They didn’t care about the damage they were causing when they put the dictator’s name up. Then, when it is ordered that his name be removed, now he wants to use a big scaffold and tarp. It’s obvious that he’s angry that he was told NO for the first time in his pathetic life.

    I see people trying to defend the emotional support tarp by claiming it’s needed to fix the damage Drumpf did. I don’t believe that for one second. Drumpf likes destroying things, and he absolutely loves to see the aftermath of his destruction. Look what he did to the East Wing. He made sure he rubbed that in our faces. So, no, the emotional support tarp is because he can’t handle being told NO, and now he will make all of us suffer because he’s a big toddler.

    The emotional support tarp can’t stay up forever. It WILL come down. The Kennedy Center will FOREVER and ALWAYS be the Kennedy Center, no matter what Drumpf tries to do.