James B. Stewart and Tom Junod on Writing About 9/11

The Press Box

The Ringer

Sports

4.4 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 2 September 2021

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Twenty years have passed since 9/11. Writers Tom Junod and James B. Stewart stop by to remember and reflect on the events of that day. Bryan talks with Stewart to discuss his 2002 New Yorker piece, "The Real Heroes Are Dead," which follows Rick Rescorla—former soldier, officer, security specialist, and hero who helped save thousands of lives on 9/11—through his love story with his wife, Susan (0:53). Later, Tom Junod stops by to talk through his 2003 Esquire piece that focuses on the infamous picture of "The Falling Man." They discuss how the story came about, why finding the identity of the man in the photo was important, and how the story is received years later (27:40). "The Real Heroes Are Dead" https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/02/11/the-real-heroes-are-dead "The Falling Man" https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a48031/the-falling-man-tom-junod/ Host: Bryan Curtis Guests: James B. Stewart and Tom Junod Associate Producer: Erika Cervantes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Emmy Award-winning producer, actor and comedian Larry Wilmore is back on the air hosting a podcast where he weighs in on the issues of the week and
0:07.6	Interviews guests in the world of politics, entertainment, culture, sports and beyond. Check out Larry Wilmore black on the air on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
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0:45.1	Hello media consumers. This is the press box podcast Brian Curtis of the ringer here along with producer Erica Sirvantes.
1:00.0	As you know, we're just a few days away from the 20th anniversary of the September 11th terror attacks that brought down the World Trade Center and killed nearly 3000 people.
1:10.1	I wanted to use today's podcast to revisit two magazine stories.
1:14.1	There were written about people who died in the attacks and that have lodged themselves in my mind since I first read them.
1:21.1	Story number one was written by James B Stewart.
1:24.1	In 2002, Stewart was a staff writer at the New Yorker and he learned about a man named Rick Ruskola.
1:31.1	Rick Ruskola was a Renaissance man. He was a playwright. He was a Vietnam veteran.
1:36.1	And finally, he was the man in charge of security at Morgan Stanley Dean Whitter in the World Trade Center.
1:42.1	On 9-11, Ruskola led thousands of his co-workers out of the South Tower to safety and then died after the buildings collapsed.
1:50.1	Now, Ruskola's story was truly heroic.
	...

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