In 2012 for a freshman final paper I wrote about the arrangements of names on Maya Lin’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Michael Arad’s National September 11 Memorial.
I recall, while writing it, feeling for the first time like I was doing research: finding and connecting obscure sources in dusty corners of the web (no time for physical archives, it was the night before the deadline). Until then I assumed everything true had already been written.
It’s a student paper and shows it: some vocab clunkers, and a title that makes me cringe how hard I stretched for a pun. Eventually I hope to revisit and rewrite it, but today (on the 25th anniversary of 9/11/01) I’m preserving <a href="./arranging-names/ingodwetruss.pdf">the original PDF as I turned it in</a>.

In 2012 for a freshman final paper I wrote about the arrangements of names on Maya Lin’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Michael Arad’s National September 11 Memorial.

I recall, while writing it, feeling for the first time like I was _doing research_: finding and connecting obscure sources in dusty corners of the web (no time for physical archives, it was the night before the deadline). Until then I assumed everything true had already been written.

It’s a student paper and shows it: some vocab clunkers, and a title that makes me cringe how hard I stretched for a pun. Eventually I hope to revisit and rewrite it, but today (on the 25th anniversary of 9/11/01) I’m preserving [the original PDF as I turned it in](./arranging-names/ingodwetruss.pdf).

Arranging Names

Sorting algorithms for 9/11 and the Vietnam War

Written on a Friday, September 11, 2026