A Soldier's Perspective

D. Challener: "Leave the world a better place than you found it"

2996 was a project initiated by DCRoe, who took it upon himself to invite bloggers to come together, as a coalition in remembrance of the victims of 9/11. D. Challener was inspired to undertake this noble cause because, in his words, all he wanted was to help others. D. is just a normal guy like the rest of us, but his inspiration and perseverance to see this project succeed and bring such a diverse collection of bloggers together was everything BUT "normal".

D. Challener agreed to "sit down with me" for an interview. Everyone should take a minute to get to know him a little better, and when you leave here, go visit his new project website, dedicated to making 2996 an annual event going forward.

I stumbled upon the 2996 Project by pure luck and happenstance, much the same as a lot of folks in the early stages of the sign-ups. It instantly hit me with both barrels; first-what a perfect idea!, and second-how come nobody thought of it before now?

In its simplicity, 2996 would gain national notoriety through the likes of Michelle Malkin, and others, and would encounter all the naturally expected stumbles and pitfalls any venture on such a grand scale might endure. There were server shutdowns, crashed computers, bandwidth max-outs, and the like; D. Challener would have none of it though, and with the help of his fiancee Jeni and his good friend Tom, they got it done and saw their labors come to fruition.

I am proud to have 3 websites and to have done a remembrance of 3 of the victims there. I am humbled by the man they call D. Challener, and honored that he would give a little time so I could intrude on his privacy long enough to share him with you.

From four and six year old Ben and Noah to Michelle Malkin , D. Challener's toils and anxiety reulted in an awe-inspiring, solemn victory for those that participated, the Families, Survivors, and the memories of the fallen from that horrible day. As D. said in his intro to people interested in signing up for a victim's name:

2,996 is a tribute to the victims of 9/11.

On September 11, 2006, 2,996 volunteer bloggers will join together for a tribute to the victims of 9/11. Each person will pay tribute to a single victim.

We will honor them by remembering their lives, and not by remembering their murderers.

If you would like to help out, either by pledging to post a tribute on your own blog, or by offering your services to promote this cause, just leave a comment here and I’ll email you the name of a victim.

Then, on 9/11/2006, you will post a tribute to that victim on your blog.

But, and this is critical, the tributes should celebrate the lives of these people–kind of like a wake. Over the last 5 years we’ve heard the names of the killers, and all about the victim’s deaths. This is a chance to learn about and celebrate those who died. Forget the murderers, they don’t deserve to be remembered. But some people who died that day deserve to be remembered–2,996 people.

And with that, my instant-message-style interview with D. Challener (I was in Texas, he was in North Carolina):

haystack:: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
D. Challener:: I was born in Tallahassee, FL in '72, grew up in Hialeah, FL in the Miami area, and since then I've lived in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and not even 6 months ago I moved to Raleigh, NC.

haystack:: Where did you go to High School?
D. Challener:: Miami Springs Senior High School….go Golden Hawks. I graduated in 1988 about 2 weeks after I turned 16.

haystack:: 16? Wow…tell me how you managed that.
D. Challener:: Yeah, through a couple of flukes I managed to graduate 2 years early. OK…details…I went to a private school for Nursery through 2nd grade…When I was 4 I was getting in trouble a lot…picking on the smaller kids, stuff like that. So as punishment I was put in the Kindergarten class. But at the end of the year I was the best student so they just advanced me to 1st grade. Then in 4th grade I got placed in a class half full of 4th graders and half fifth graders…it was due to space constraints…
haystack:: Wow
D. Challener:: Since I tended to finish my work early the teacher started to give me extra work to keep me occupied…she left midyear to give birth and I just told the replacement I was doing all the fifth grade work. By the end they just figured if they put me in 5th grade I'd be a behavior case so they put me in 6th grade. I wasn't the real bad kind of troublemaker…just annoying. The extra work was just to shut me up.
haystack:: Excellent…

haystack:: So, where did you go to college?
D. Challener:: Well I wanted to go away to school, but at 16 my parents thought it would be best for me to stay local for a couple years, so I went to Florida International University in Miami, and since it was such a good school I stayed there. And please no jokes about FIU…the football brawl on Saturday was embarrassing enough.
haystack:: Florida International? Your alma mater made the news my friend…no jokes-promise…
D. Challener:: Yeah, I wish they could have made the national news for something positive…
haystack:: Anything special about your "big picture memory" from FIU?
D. Challener:: My college years are a blur. Being young kept me out of much of the fun of college. Also my dad died shortly into my sophomore year and I slipped into a bad depression. I basically coasted through college, both academically and socially.
haystack:: I am sorry to hear that. My condolences for your loss.
D. Challener:: Thank you. I was very close to him and I've never really come to terms with it all.
haystack:: I understand and have my own baggage with the loss of my father, but that is for another day my friend.
D. Challener:: Too true…that's never a short discussion

haystack:: Tell me, what did you leave college with for a degree and an ambition?
D. Challener:: My degree is in Communications…which was the umbrella name for several programs including Advertising (what I studied). Most of my coursework was focused on writing, so I had ambitions to be a copywriter.
haystack:: Advertising? My daughter is majoring in that as we speak…small world…have you put that degree to use in life?
D. Challener:: Not once.
haystack:: I have to admit, that makes me proud. I know a lot of people who do great things with their lives that have nothing to do with the student loan payments they spent years trying to finish off.
D. Challener:: About 2 weeks after I graduated (and while I was traveling to Cleveland for my Grandfather's funeral) Miami got smacked by Hurricane Andrew.
haystack:: I remember that hurricane.
D. Challener:: One of the side effects was that many, many small businesses closed, and advertising is largely peopled with small agencies, so jobs were hard to come by. I wound up in a grunt job working for the county, and since then I've scraped out a living doing computer work…mostly creating and managing large databases.
haystack:: Well, that is not a shameful occupation…lots of people wish they had a remote clue about that, but I understand.

haystack:: Of all the places you have lived, which did you like most?
D. Challener:: Hmmmm….that's a tough one. I'd have to say here in Raleigh would be the winner, although only having lived here 5 months might make my answer less valid. I can tell you my least favorite was Los Angeles.
haystack:: Oh, I can clearly understand why. I have traveled there on business, and I was not impressed.
D. Challener:: I like working with data….I have an innate understanding of it…and truth be told I'm more comfortable with data than I am with people.

haystack:: Who isn't? ha ha So, why are you on the east coast now?
D. Challener:: Well, when my fiancee and I decided to get out of LA, we honed in on North Carolina fairly quickly. She was born here, and we both have family in the state.
haystack:: An excellent choice…

haystack:: As an aside, are you a democrat or Republican…and I only ask because there is a stark contrast between the politics of LA and Raleigh…
D. Challener:: I am neither, both as a choice and by belief. I'm closest to a Libertarian (and I have been registered as a Lib and a Dem) but now I refuse to choose a side in party politics…I think the 2 party system is poison for a democratic system.
haystack:: There was no wrong answer…I just know that there is a huge Dem perspective in LA, and it effects your daily routine…in Raleigh, folks are more inclined to keep their voting habits to themselves, “thank you very much".
D. Challener:: Actually Raleigh is more liberal than I would have thought…being in the South and all…but the political landscape is changing here because it's growing so fast

haystack:: So, moving on…how did you get into writing?
D. Challener:: Writing…I sort of stumbled into it….
haystack:: Why?
D. Challener:: In the FIU advertising program I had to choose a specialty, and not knowing what to pick I chose copywriting thinking I could change it later. I signed up for Creative writing almost on a lark and I was hooked. In the last 2 1/2 years of college I took about 15 writing courses…most of them weren't fiction. I'd have to give much of the credit to the professors in the writing departments at FIU.

haystack:: How much of your life has it consumed?
D. Challener:: That was all back in '92….since then I've at least been dabbling ever since. I suppose at some point it was natural considering my obsession with reading. I've been in several writing groups…taken 20 or so writing courses….even ran a writing group. In a serendipitous coincidence only 3 days ago I applied to teach a beginning fiction course through Wake County's continuing education program.
haystack:: Wow-you take this pretty seriously, though you make it sound like it's a hobby obsession…are you looking to make it a paying profession?
D. Challener:: I'd like to….but now I'm taking care of a family of 6 and at least my first novel will have to be written on the side. And I am in the beginning stages of my first novel. Next month I hope to flesh it out by participating in my first NaNoWriMo.
haystack:: Novel…a great goal…got a story in mind? How crazy does it drive your wife?
D. Challener:: I do. I'm planning a slapstick fantasy novel. Well fiancee actually. I'm keeping my fingers crossed she'll be my wife next year. It drives her crazy that I don't spend more time writing.
haystack:: You are a lucky man…and it sounds like she is a lucky lady.
D. Challener:: I'm the lucky one…trust me. I don't deserve Jeni….not by a long shot.
haystack:: well, I wish you luck…when you find MS right, you cannot let her go…I, most of all, understand that
D. Challener:: Yeah…I let Jeni go once…I don't plan to make the same mistake again.

haystack:: How much sleep do you lose fussing over the perfection of a piece?
D. Challener:: It depends on the piece really. On my website you can find one story called "Run for Your Afterlife" that is almost exactly in it's rough draft form, but then I've been working on "Re-Entry" another short story for years.

haystack:: What caused this(writing) to become such a passion for you.
D. Challener:: I really don't know why it's such a passion. I've tried to stop a few times, but it just doesn't work. For the right piece I can lose a lot of sleep….Maybe I'm just made for writing…it's one of the few hobbies that insomnia is a plus…

haystack:: How did you conceive of 2996; can you describe where you were/what you were doing that made this just "hit" you as something you needed to do
D. Challener:: The shower…:-)
haystack:: Awesome.
D. Challener:: Like many whose minds never quite rest, the shower is a great place for me to think…although that's kind of a simplification of how I came up with it…
haystack:: Now, give me a false image…like you were in the shower singing a Queen song off-key and BANG-it hits you!
D. Challener:: Hey…I never sing off-key. I'm actually a pretty good singer. Anyway, on my blog I wrote a short tribute for the 20th anniversary of Challenger. And I don't remember why but back in May I was trying to think of what I might write on 9/11. And I came to the conclusion that I wasn't a good enough writer to write a tribute to that many people…. So I thought…What if I write a tribute to just one person? But then who to pick? And then I thought….it'd be great if I could write one, and other people could write the others….that'd be cool. And then I went ahead and announced the idea on my blog.

haystack:: I can see how this would immediately overwhelm you. So what did you go through in trying to figure out how to pull it off? Did you have help…suggestions…kibitzing?
D. Challener:: I bounced the idea off of Jeni in a couple of different forms…her response was the same each time…"Sounds like a lot of work".
haystack:: How did you cope with such a large task?
D. Challener:: Well at first it wasn't all that much work…
haystack:: How did you balance your career and your personal life in addition to managing the entire Project?
D. Challener:: In the beginning all I had to do was find the list of names, convert it into a database and answer 10 or 15 emails each day by assigning each one a name. Luckily after around 700 signups I got a volunteer to write a sign up application to help with the sign up busywork. The balance wasn't all that hard until September. The contract position I was in was typically between 20 and 30 hours each week, and the insomnia helped take care of some of the time for 2,996. It helped that Jeni was very supportive of 2,996…in fact she's the one that came up with the name.

haystack:: Going in, what did you know of "blogging"? I mean, did you go in knowing a blog coalition would help pull this off or was it just a wing and a prayer like so many things that seem too daunting and then wind up becoming historic?
D. Challener:: Very little. I started blogging in August of 2005 and honestly my blog was (and is) read by very few. When I posted the idea for the tribute I expected it to fall flat, if for no other reason because I posted on my own blog, which is a very small corner of the sphere.
haystack:: Which blogs do you have or participate in?
D. Challener:: I have one blog called Rough Draft (www.dcroe.com/blog) and I participate in a writing blog called Write Stuff (www.take2max.com/writing/)

haystack:: When the project started to seem more than just YOUR brainchild, did it take a life of its own?
D. Challener:: That happened on….oh…well I can't remember the date now…but when Katie Favazza emailed Michelle Malkin about it and Michelle posted about it on her blog…Up until that point I had been micromanaging the whole project. That day I realized I was likely in over my head.
haystack:: I remember that day…I was watching at your place and Katie’s…and Michelle's…that was an awesome day my friend. How did you handle that…Did you get help?
D. Challener:: My memories of that day are largely centered on the technical aspect of 2,996. I remember sending an email to Tom Dilatush (he's the guy that wrote the sign up app) telling him we might get some extra traffic…
haystack:: Nowhere NEAR what you thought MIGHT happen I bet.
D. Challener:: At the same time he was writing me to ask what was going on….at first he thought it was a denial of service attack because the traffic spiked so quickly.
haystack:: I can picture it…at one of my blogs someone did a liveblog event at the House over a vote, and the walls came tumbling down as well…
D. Challener:: True…my knowledge of the political blogging world was minimal…and not only did I not know how large that sphere is, I also didn't know Michelle was going to post about it.

haystack:: Tell us about the help you got-who would you like to name, how did they help?
D. Challener:: I've been trying to piece together a post of who to thank regarding 2,996 and it's difficult because on 9/8 my laptop died so I lost an awful lot of my notes….First, I'd have to thank Tom. If he hadn't written that sign up app I'd never have gotten everyone signed up…then Jeni, because she did an awful lot of work without taking credit. I also owe a good 50 bloggers (maybe more) for all the publicity they gave.

haystack:: Where and when did you figure out that it had become something outside your control; that it had a life of its own?
D. Challener:: A life of it's own….I realized that a couple of days before 9/11…
haystack:: So, you really didn't have enough TIME to panic…
D. Challener:: When I announced that my laptop had died I started getting all kinds of offers for help….then on 9/11 the walls came crashing down when the 2,996 site went down I lost track of all the people that offered help, jumped in an helped, etc.

haystack:: You know dc…your project taught me a real fundamental truth about human nature…
D. Challener:: What's that (the fundamental truth)?…
haystack:: We all have hearts of gold, we just don't always know when to call that up from within ourselves…and we usually need a reason to do so. What you accomplished on one level could be fairly considered no big deal yet, if you look closely, you see that you gave us a reason we could all get our feeble little brains around and "do the right thing" in honor of our brothers and sisters. I will always be indebted to you for bringing that out in so many of us with a voice and a way to have it be heard.
D. Challener:: I can't argue with you there. Some of the people involved in 2,996 have amazed me in all they were willing to do to help.

haystack:: What has been the most inspirational story you read from the project
D. Challener:: 9/11 is really a blur to me, even now. Not only was I tied up trying to get the site back up, but I also didn't have a computer, and I was frightfully ill that day. The most inspirational? That's a hard one… I remember quite a few interesting coincidences, but the one that made me feel the best was one I read a couple of weeks ago….
haystack:: Yeah? Tell me about it.
D. Challener:: A 9/11 widow contacted the person who wrote her husband's tribute and wrote a long email about how she printed out the tribute and gave it to their daughter (now 13 I think). And the daughter said that it helped her deal with the anniversary. I guess to me the most important thing was knowing that some of the families were aware or became aware of 2,996 and were touched by the tributes people had written. I think my one big regret about the whole thing is that I wasn't able to get in touch with the family of the victim I wrote about. Tom made quite close contact with the family of his victim and even forged a bit of a friendship. One of the hardest things about 2,996 for me were the people that signed up to write a tribute and then didn't. I still feel very much like I failed those victims that didn’t get a tribute.
haystack:: How many didn't do it?
D. Challener:: About 360 I think in the end. There were more that dropped out but by double assigning about 400 names about 40 got covered.

haystack:: You posted, after 9/11 came and went, that you wanted this to be annual. What has the response been to that?
D. Challener:: Incredible actually. I have a group of people involved in making 2,996 permanent. It's being organized on the 2,996 forums. Right now someone's writing the HTML for the new site, and then we're going to work on getting on the logistics. There are some people who were extraordinarily passionate about 2,996.
haystack:: That is very good news…any details you want to get "out there" for now, or you want to wait til you have more specifics?
D. Challener:: Well nothing's being kept secret, but I don't have anything to announce either. The blog is at project2996.com/blog/ and the message board is at project2996.com/phpbb/. The planning is all very public, and that's where it's being coordinated. I think all in all I was just the first person to consider what, as a blogger, we might want to do for 9/11. I think the reason it was such a big success is that there is a big undercurrent of discontent… over what happened to these people and how their deaths have been politicized…

haystack:: I will be honored to sign up again sir.
D. Challener:: And I'd be honored to have you again…

haystack:: Have any doors opened to you in your professional life because of this project?
D. Challener:: No. I've honestly taken steps to separate my own blog from 2,996. I didn't really want to "profit" from it….I didn't keep my name off of it, but aside from the initial couple of posts (before I started the 2,996 blog) I kept it off my blog… I've had a couple of positive things since then (I got published for the first time) but it'd be hard for me to attribute it to 2,996

haystack:: Well, from one aspiring writer to another, the question really pokes at whether this has inspired you further to write based on what this has done to you, personally.
D. Challener:: It has. Although the subject matter isn't terribly inspiring for my own writing, seeing so many people join in for one of my ideas had helped me write more….that is after the hiatus I took right after 9/11.
haystack:: Right. You'll be happy to know this is the last formal question…Where does D. Challener go from here?
D. Challener:: Jeni just shouted over my shoulder…"To Bed"….
haystack:: She sounds like a good, sensible woman… tell her hello and thank her for giving you up for this time interviewing.
D. Challener:: Well…dcroe continues to look for permanent employment….continues to write….I'm hoping that the increased attention from 2,996 will help keep me writing more often….Hopefully I get published again in the near future–I've gotten a lot of good feedback on my 90% completed story…
haystack:: Well, your project caused me to look slightly differently at the world and it inspired me to do quite a few pieces in the tone of how we should all be treating each other…YOU did that man…
D. Challener:: Well that certainly wasn't my intention, but I can't call that anything but a nice side effect….Several questions ago you asked me about my politics and I said I refused to participate in the 2 party system…
haystack:: Yes.
D. Challener:: As Americans we have an awful lot in common, but I think we focus almost exclusively on what separates us….I think people who support Bush and can't stand Bush can both be patriots….I don't particularly like Bush, but I think he's a patriot who's doing what he thinks is right…..Change the name and I thought the same thing about Clinton….
haystack:: Yes…but that is all lost on the body politic in the run up to election day…both sides want the power and choose to distinguish themselves, one from the other, solely to garner votes
D. Challener:: That's exactly it……we put ourselves into this chess game…and we're the pawns…and we forget that we're all on the same side…..But….absolute power and all……
haystack:: Even if it is at the cost of the soul of their opponent or the constituents they suggest they are trying to represent.
D. Challener:: 2,996 introduced me to about 3,300 blogs I've never read before. And even though I disagree with most of them on one point or another I still think most of us are on the same side…..I guess in that sense I really am a writer…I can almost always see the logic of someone else's argument….I don't think there's ever been a party for my beliefs…but that's ok….I've never been a joiner….:-)

haystack:: Well, I am a conservative…NOT a republican…I even did a blog on my resignation from the R party which I sent to Mehlman and Bush…but that topic is for a different day my man-this night is DCRoe's…now that I have exhausted my prepared question list, what would you like to say from your own heart and mind?
D. Challener:: Seems like a good place to steal a line from Bill and Ted…."Be excellent to each other…" but I'm pretty sure that's the Sudafed talking….:-) If you can't tell I'm not one for statements…
haystack:: Nice one, but at this time of night with your defenses down, surely you have some quip or tidbit you think sums you and 2996 up…
D. Challener:: Actually I think 2,996 sums me up pretty well. All I've ever wanted to be thought of as is a nice guy who tried to help others. If the fame doesn't come I'll still sleep well….just leave the world a better place than you found it. I'm not sure if you've read my most recent blog post but I'm fighting some nasty respiratory stuff now, so it's probably about time for me to take a breathing treatment.
haystack:: I have read it, and I understand, and I will sign off and give you back to Jeni.

haystack:: Here's my parting shot to you two.
D. Challener:: Go ahead
haystack:: haystack believes that in all men(and women) there is fundamental good. Often, some event needs to occur right before our very eyes to draw out that goodness. 9/11 drew that from us…the events between then and now have allowed many of us to recoil into our shells of self-preservation. DCRoe and the 2996 project gave us a chance to poke our heads out and remember those that fell and how it made us feel. And it renewed the commitment in many of us to never forget.
D. Challener:: Amen brother (and in that there is none of the sarcasm that often defines me). G'nite brother….I'm sure we'll speak soon.
haystack:: We will, and thank you for the time. God bless you and yours.
D. Challener:: Thank you as well. Don't forget to hit "Save"
D. Challener has left the room.