“Windows of Hope”, “Taste of Brooklyn”, “Concert for New York” – some World Trade Center- related benefits have been more directly related to the attack than others. In October, more than one hundred and fifty art dealers organized group shows of donated work under the name “I Love New York”.

It ain’t classic literature, but Meera Syal’s story of three childhood friends from North London’s Southeast Asian community isn’t bad either.

At a 25th wedding anniversary party last summer, I sat next to Katha Pollitt and found myself defending her divorce. Pollitt, a smart, volatile columnist for The Nation, had just read The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce, the latest installment of Judith Wallerstein’s study of children whose parents split up in the 70s, but had not yet written her damning critiques of it.

Last June, less than a year after I signed my first Brooklyn lease (for what neighbors said was a renovated crack house), Harvey Lichtenstein quit his job as a director of the Brooklyn Academy of Music to lead the BAM Local Development Corporation.