Uploaded September 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Twenty-five years ago, I was living in New York City, playing in a band and still chasing the rock-and-roll life I'd imagined since I was a teenager. We had released a record that summer. We had a tour scheduled to begin on September 12, 2001.
It never happened.
I can't say 9/11 caused everything that came afterward. Life isn't that simple. But looking back now, I can see it as both a reaction and a retreat—the beginning of the end of one version of my life and the start of another I couldn't have imagined.
I left my job, spent nine months writing songs in a tiny space under the stairs of our Brooklyn apartment, made a record with Jay Bennett, became a father, left New York, moved back to West Virginia, wrote a novel, ended up at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, became a teacher and eventually somehow became a YouTuber.
Through all of it, one thing kept returning: the need to create.
This is a story about what I remember from September 11, 2001, what happened to my life afterward, and what I can finally see from 25 years away.
All This Useless Beauty
Jason T. Lewis
‼️ Important links:
jasontlewis.com/newsletter
jasontlewis.com/music
jasontlewis.com/books
jasontlewis.com/mygear
jasontlewis.com/amazon
Become a channel member: jasontlewis.com/membership
Subscribe to my music channel: bit.ly/3zqmH6C
+++++++++
🎬 I used Gling to edit this video.
Try it for free here: gling.ai/?via=thejasontlewis
Twenty-five years ago, I was living in New York City, playing in a band and still chasing the rock-and-roll life I'd imagined since I was a teenager. We had released a record that summer. We had a tour scheduled to begin on September 12, 2001.
It never happened.
I can't say 9/11 caused everything that came afterward. Life isn't that simple. But looking back now, I can see it as both a reaction and a retreat—the beginning of the end of one version of my life and the start of another I couldn't have imagined.
I left my job, spent nine months writing songs in a tiny space under the stairs of our Brooklyn apartment, made a record with Jay Bennett, became a father, left New York, moved back to West Virginia, wrote a novel, ended up at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, became a teacher and eventually somehow became a YouTuber.
Through all of it, one thing kept returning: the need to create.
This is a story about what I remember from September 11, 2001, what happened to my life afterward, and what I can finally see from 25 years away.
All This Useless Beauty
Jason T. Lewis
‼️ Important links:
jasontlewis.com/newsletter
jasontlewis.com/music
jasontlewis.com/books
jasontlewis.com/mygear
jasontlewis.com/amazon
Become a channel member: jasontlewis.com/membership
Subscribe to my music channel: bit.ly/3zqmH6C
+++++++++
🎬 I used Gling to edit this video.
Try it for free here: gling.ai/?via=thejasontlewis
