(EDITOR'S NOTE: Each Monday, the Sun-Gazette asks somebody in the area, "What's on your mind?" If you have a topic you would like to share, contact Alyssa Murphy at amurphy@sungazette.com; Savannah Dempsey at sbarr@sungazette.com; or Philip A. Holmes at pholmes@sungazette.com.)
While television shows often are meant to entertain, for one Williamsport resident, one show provided a chance to reflect. Kristina Solomon, 28, recently was watching one of her favorite shows, "Bones," on the Fox network.
The show is based on forensic anthropology and forensic archaeology. Each episode focuses on an imaginary FBI case file, concerning the mystery behind human remains.
This particular episode focused on the apparent murder of a homeless man who died about a week and a half after the 9/11 attacks. The man's death had been overlooked by the police because he could not be identified.
The man looked like he had been badly beaten, but investigators in the fictitious plot were able to determine that was because of the severe stress he put on his body while saving people at the Pentagon. That stress killed him slowly over 10 days after he saved three trapped people.
"I really appreciate how respectful the show's writers were with this still touchy subject and how they emphasized the fact, through the show's character, that it traumatized everybody and it's something we are still dealing with today," said Solomon, an aspiring writer.
In one scene, characters talked about where they were at the time of the attacks, leading her to reflect on where she was at that moment.
"I was a senior in high school and I remember first hearing about what had happened in the band hall before school started," she said. "Later that day, I had a chance to go to the library where the TV was on."
Solomon said she was supposed to be researching for class but found it too difficult to concentrate.
