The consequences of September 11th, 2001

It's been nearly four and a half years since that fateful morning. But the events of that day are still causing havoc in people's lives to this day. Today, I went to get my haircut at my neighboorhood place, Tom's on Cortland. Tom's is expensive, but what you get is more than just a haircut, Tom, Richard and the third stylist (a woman who's name I forget) are therapist and Bernal Heights knowledge of all gossip (and oh so willing to share) all in one. It's high entertainment for the time one spends getting their hair done. Each of the three people in the place have cut my hair and are worth the extra few dollars it is to get it done there instead of the less "professional" places. It's all about keeping money in the local economy too, right?

Richard is my man today and he, as usual, is respectful of my initial silence. About halfway through my haircut (not too short Mom, I know how you like it a bit longer and I've gotten many compliments lately since I let my hair grow out not as a conscious decision but I've just not done it until today when I was totally fed up with the thickness and length of my hair) I asked Robert how he was doing. He promptly tells me that in July, he's leaving Tom's on Cortland to move to France. Turns out eight years ago he started dating a French national who was visiting the US. They had a pretty good system going where his boyfriend would visit for three months, return to France for a month and then begin the cycle again. After 9/11, US immigration cracked down on the type of visa that the boyfriend was using and renewing. So Richard's sister offered to marry the boyfriend and then have the boyfriend come and live in the US permanently. All was well until they were caught by INS for lying. Since then, the boyfriend has been deported back to France and there is no way for him to ever get permanant resident status, let alone citizenship in the United States. Turns out, it will be easier for Richard to move to France because he and his boyfriend can become domestic partners and Richard can hopefully get dual citizenship and even become a member of the European Union.

So there you go. The unintended consequences of 9/11.