The Weekly Wrap: September 13, 2026

I was used as a primary source this week.

I went into a writing class to introduce myself as their embedded librarian. I was there to talk about how I can help them navigate the information landscape.

I was unprepared when the professor, at the end of my introduction, asked me to share about my experience of September 11th. Her students, most of whom weren't even born in 2001, were doing exploratory interviews and writing about the tragedy. The class stared back at me. 

"The sky was so blue."

I was a senior in high school, sitting in my civics class, when a teacher rushed into the classroom and turned on the television. It was one of the few in the school that got cable. Then the second plane hit. I'm sure the teachers probably thought they should turn off the TV, but neither of them made a move to do so. The bell rang. We slowly packed up our things and went to our next classes.

The rest of day, information and rumors passed in the halls. I lived in upstate New York and most of my classmates has some connection to New York City. Some shared confidently, others in hushed tones. Few had cell phones so no one could, for certain, say what had happened.

I'm not sure what I did after school ended that day. Likely, I walked home, turned on CNN, and sat there until it was time to go to bed.

But the sky had been so blue.

It had been a perfect fall day. The first of the season. The air was crisp. A light breeze blew through the trees that were already changing colors.

The sky was so blue.

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• The world Norman Rockwell depicted was too idealistic. [The Atlantic - gift link]
• Should we bring back oral exams? [The Analog Family]

• Quick ways to make your day a little better. [Life Kit]
• Product testing is preparing for what is known and planning for what is not. [99% Invisible]
• The story of clothing consignment. [Articles of Interest]
• It always feels like somebody's watching me. [Code Switch]

• Fuze is a film with a creative set up for a heist flick. The plot design ends up being a twofer of tension that leads to the final chase. The film becomes a bit convoluted with the amount of people  involved but it makes sense. Also, the ending is not what you'd expect, and I mean that in the best possible way. [HBO Max]
• The husband tossed on the new Instadoc, Decoy Plane. In a tight 30 minutes, the show covers Trump's use of Air Force one as a decoy. The most interesting thing I learned is the flight attendants do the grocery shopping since they have security clearance. If you paid attention to the news at all, you don't need to watch this one. [Netflix]
• A much better documentary is For All Mankind. It tells the story of the entire Apollo program in the astronauts' and NASA staffers' own words. I love that it used nothing but archival footage to piece the history together. The filmmakers take all the Apollo missions and put them on one trip as the framing for the storytelling. It's a great structure. I was amused seeing the astronauts on the Moon. They were all like little boys playing in the sand while collecting moon rocks. [HBO Max]

• The husband whipped up salmon with sweet corn and tomato salad. He followed the recipe exactly and this one was delicious. The salmon came out with a fantastic crust. The spice of that was perfectly balanced by the freshness of the salad. We will be making this one again. [Real Simple]
• I thought I had enough corn in our freezer to add to my lunch meal prep of easy bean salad with herby salsa verde. I did not. So I omitted the corn from this one. The final result was good but would have been much better with the pop of sweet provided by the corn. I hate wasting herbs so I used a full bunch each of cilantro and parsley. The dish was quite green but also tasty. [Eating Well]
• I don't think I will make 20-minute balsamic mushroom and spinach pasta again. I appreciate that it was a quick weeknight meal, but the flavor was off. I blame the Worcestershire. I've never mixed that with balsamic vinegar before and I can't say I liked it. [Eating Well]