Living in New Jersey - and northern New Jersey, at that - at the time of the attacks automatically made my experience more immediate than the experience of 99% of Americans, and visiting the World Trade Center site and thinking too long about the whole thing is always an unsettling experience.
Having studied creative writing (namely poetry) in what I deem a pretty rigorous undergrad program for five years, I think I have a pretty strong aversion to abstract quasi-patriotic words/concepts like "courage," "bravery," "freedom," "tragedy" and the like - but talking about 9.11 is a strange exception in my literary brain. It's as if I can't use concrete words. I can only refer to that day in terms of abstractions, in terms of words you can't necessarily define - as if to be able to define it would be too painful, too raw.
I don't quite feel like getting into it here, so I'll let some pictures suffice.
Having studied creative writing (namely poetry) in what I deem a pretty rigorous undergrad program for five years, I think I have a pretty strong aversion to abstract quasi-patriotic words/concepts like "courage," "bravery," "freedom," "tragedy" and the like - but talking about 9.11 is a strange exception in my literary brain. It's as if I can't use concrete words. I can only refer to that day in terms of abstractions, in terms of words you can't necessarily define - as if to be able to define it would be too painful, too raw.
I don't quite feel like getting into it here, so I'll let some pictures suffice.
The PATH (Port Authority Trans Hudson) station at WTC obviously closed shortly after the attacks and re-opened only a few years ago. Thousands of people use it every day - and I might even say it's my favorite PATH station. Hopefully this image can give you an idea of its size.
The best place to view the "reconstruction" of Ground Zero is in the World Financial Center just west of Ground Zero. You can see they have made a lot of progress. (End sarcasm.) Personally, I think the whole site should just be turned into a simple park, but who am I to decide.
In addition to simply thinking about the attacks, the way the site has turned into a tourist attraction is unsettling as well. I appreciate that people from all over the world want to see where this event took place, but what I cannot forgive is the commodification of what is essentially a graveyard. While Patrick and I looked at the site through the World Financial Center's large glass windows, a woman with a European accent came up to me, asked brassly, "Is this where the attack happened?" and pointed out the window. I said yes, and she then turned to her group of friends and spoke loudly in her native language, gesturing to the scene. It was like she was asking, "Is this where King Kong was?" while pointing at the Empire State Building. I wanted to tell her to shut the hell up. But it wasn't worth it.
In addition to simply thinking about the attacks, the way the site has turned into a tourist attraction is unsettling as well. I appreciate that people from all over the world want to see where this event took place, but what I cannot forgive is the commodification of what is essentially a graveyard. While Patrick and I looked at the site through the World Financial Center's large glass windows, a woman with a European accent came up to me, asked brassly, "Is this where the attack happened?" and pointed out the window. I said yes, and she then turned to her group of friends and spoke loudly in her native language, gesturing to the scene. It was like she was asking, "Is this where King Kong was?" while pointing at the Empire State Building. I wanted to tell her to shut the hell up. But it wasn't worth it.
7 more images below the jump.
St. Peter's Church is directly across Church Street from Ground Zero. It's been called the "Miracle Church" because, having survived historical fires unscathed, it emerged even from 9.11 completely unharmed (but perhaps a little dusty) - even the trees came out intact. The church served as the unofficial headquarters of rescue workers, firemen and police working in the efforts post-9.11. Here is a lengthy article on the church from americancatholic.org.
Inside the church has been turned into a poignant and deeply touching museum and memorial to the rescue workers and those lost on 9.11.
The whole thing has become a type of altar for those who died; this is an example of the memorials that sprang up all through the building in the days and weeks that followed the attacks.
This was originally an exhibit about how police and firemen banded together immediately after the attacks; in the years that have followed, as a sign of solidarity, police and firemen from across the country continue to leave their patches here.
This sculpture used to sit outside the Twin Towers; it was recovered during the excavation and put on display in Battery Park. This is how it looks now; my parents have a picture of my brother and I, circa 1991, standing in front of the sculpture when it was at the WTC. My mom is still in the process of unearthing it, but once she finds it, I will love to juxtapose the two.
No comments:
Post a Comment