Remembering September 11

One of the things I remember is that I didn't turn on the news that morning, so I was blissfully unaware of what was happening as I got ready to go to my internship, rode the El from downtown Chicago to Oak Park, sat down at my computer and brought up the New York Times website. I read the headlines and lead article and tried to believe that what was happening was real and not a movie. I also felt sick to my stomach as I realized I'd stood in the plaza between the two towers, gazing up at them, a little over a month earlier. Then I headed to the conference room where everyone was huddled around the TV, and didn't do much else all day. (Andrea's still bitter that her prof proceeded with his 10:30 class that morning --a class on media and politics, no less--as if nothing had happened--no TV, no discussion, nothing).

Here's what I wrote a week later about living in Chicago in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks:

Today was the creepiest day to be in Chicago since the day of the World Trade Center attacks. As a blanket of mist rested against Chicagoans' faces as they walked to work, the foggy sky descended onto the city's sturdy skyline. All last week we wondered what it would be like without the Sears in the sky; today we found out, as much of the upper half of the massive office tower was shrouded in fog, disappeared behind thick terrestrial clouds. The Aon Tower, the white tube building meant in structure and appearance to emulate a World Trade Center tower, was similarly lopped off halfway up, as the clouds collided with it.

What has it been like to be in Chicago during and after the attacks on New York and Washington?

continued...

I also wrote this opinion piece for Chimes on not slipping into simplistic nationalism after Sept. 11.

Five years later, it's still shocking, it's still sad, it's still little cause to put faith in the U.S. government, and it's still a reminder that evil is still powerful and unpredictable, although it is not final.

(More here.)

Ground Zero today: (NYTimes.com)