Maybe the first thing I should tell you is why I selected the photograph that greets you at this blog. I worked in World Trade Tower 1 from 1979-1981. Actually, the company I worked for was located on the 95th floor. I spent most of those two years working at a refinery across the river in New Jersey. But for the first six months, I spent a great deal of time in WTC 1 and the Wall Street and South Ferry areas of downtown Manhattan. That’s my personal connection to 9/11. In many ways, I like even better than the buildings the towers of light that were put in place of the buildings about three to six months after 9/11. It was a message of peace and hope to the world. It turned out our government listened to some other messages and now we find ourselves in a military, political and cultural quagmire from the Mediteranean sea to border of China, across the Middle East and beyond. Anyway, when they re-enacted the towers of light a few years later, I found a photographer who took stunning pictures.
This the wall paper on my computer, the graphic that greets you here, and the image I prefer to keep in my mind about that tragedy and its tragic consequences for this nation and the rest of the world.
I went to college in Manhattan (Columbia University), lived there for 12 years, and commuted there for another 10 years from Bucks County, PA. NYC is a part of my life. I am still trying to figure out how I might retire there.
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I feel better now. I’d been wondering why I didn’t know that St. Louis had such a fascinating skyline apart from its arch. Luckily, upon closer examination of this “ground level” shot of NYC, I could just make out one of the other two landmarks which would have told me the truth. I miss the towers.
Shannon: I miss them too. For a short while (1979-1981), I worked on the 95th floor of WTC 1. After the first six months in that job, I didn’t spend much time there. I was farmed out to an engineering site project across the Hudson in Elizabeth NJ. Some months after 9/11, I was on a plane on the runway at Newark Airport and I saw the original Towers of Light from my tiny window and cried very quietly. I published a short story about the towers and if you read that sort of thing (it is short), I’d be happy to send it to you.
Yes, please.