September 13, 2002. This is a somber page. I was in NJ on 9/11/01, only 25 miles away from the WTC. I saw the smoke with my own eyes from several locations in NJ and Queens NYC. I spent 9/12 through 9/16 in Queens and Manhattan, smelled the acrid smoke with my nostrils, tasted the world trade center and God knows what else on my lips. At the time, I was distracted by my desire to get home to Colorado.

In July 2002 I returned to the WTC site. Workers had just finished removing all the debris, and I wanted to see the pit myself. It was very surreal, difficult in fact to imagine the towers even existing. They were so huge, and now, nothing. Just a hole. I had even been to the top of them on the observation deck in November, 2000. Even that recent experience didn't help me grasp the magnitude of what had happened. I had also learned by this time that a high school classmate of mine was killed in the North Tower during the attacks. With all this, I was surprised that I had very little emotional response to what I was seeing. Surreal and un-graspable.

The first seven photos below share some of the images I saw in July 2002, from posters of the missing in Grand Central Station, to the pit and its iron cross memorial then recently erected by the debris removal crews, to other memorials in the vicinity of the WTC site.

I returned to NYC again on September 11, 2002 to participate in the Memorial Ceremonies. I was there in person for the morning ceremony at the WTC site. Some emotion around the events of the previous year started to appear when I heard Michael Sorresse's name read out loud for millions to hear. I watched some TV later that day and evening - and I'm now realizing my processing of this tragedy is just beginning. For the past year, the event has been stored away in some part of my psyche relegated to fiction stories.

On September 12, 2002 I went down to Battery Park to see the Sphere that was at the WTC site and damaged during the attacks. The Eternal Flame was lit at its base the night before. I then ventured up to Union Square to view the personal memorials there. On the day after the attacks in 2001 this was as close as one was allowed to get to the WTC site and thus became a prime gathering place and center for spontaneous memorials and sharing communal grief.

Many fewer people in Union Square on 9/12 a year later, but no lack of heartfelt sentiments. Seven photos are large format (1600 x 1200 pixels) so you may read some detail of these personal memorials and comments if you choose.

Sharing this with you is part of my process of integrating 9-11 into my own being. As I think about it, the number of people directly affected by the attacks is staggering - the 3000+ that lost their lives, the tens of thousands that fled the WTC and Pentagon that morning, the hundreds of thousands (maybe millions?) of family members and friends who knew someone who was there, the thousands of recovery workers of every sort that still work to this day to clear not only the physical but the psychological debris that may take a generation or more to heal. It is only with utmost respect for those whose lives were lost that day that I publish these thoughts and images.

41.9 KB July 3, 2002 Grand Central Station: WTC Missing Posters	33.7 KB July 3, 2002 Iron Cross Monument at WTC made from last beam removed	39.4 KB July 3, 2002 The Pit and Iron Cross	44.8 KB July 3, 2002 The Pit @ WTC	77.7 KB July 3, 2002 Memorial to FDNY and NYPD, south side of WTC	43.5 KB July 3, 2002 Hand written memorials, Church & Liberty St.
69.0 KB July 3, 2002 Memorials, Trinity Church (1 block away from WTC)	33.3 KB Sept 11, 2002 WTC Memorial Ceremony, Liberty Plaza, first moment of silence at 8:46 AM	60.6 KB Sept 11, 2002 Crowd at Liberty Plaza during WTC Memorial Ceremony	44.1 KB Sept 11, 2002 Liberty Plaza (corner of B'Way and Liberty)	28.2 KB Sept 11, 2002 "Fallen but not Forgotten" flyer underfoot during reading of names	46.2 KB Sept 11, 2002 WTC Memorial Ceremony, Church & Liberty. (As close as the public could get)
47.1 KB Sept 11, 2002 WTC Memorial Ceremony from Liberty St.	59.0 KB Sept 11, 2002 Trinity Church during WTC Memorial Ceremony	43.4 KB Sept 11, 2002 NYSE floor traders waiting for opening	40.4 KB Sept 11, 2002 NYSE facade	55.1 KB Sept 11, 2002 NYSE, traders waiting for opening	62.7 KB Sept 12, 2002 The Sphere from WTC, Battery Park
34.7 KB Sept 12, 2002 The Sphere and Eternal Flame	77.6 KB Sept 12, 2002 Eternal Flame, Battery Park	31.2 KB Sept 12, 2002 The Sphere	57.9 KB Sept 12, 2002 Sign at The Sphere, Battery Park	56.9 KB Sept 12, 2002 Union Square, Memorial Wall at First Anniversary	65.8 KB Sept 12, 2002 Union Square Memorials
408.5 KB Sept 12, 2002 Union Square Memorials	409.7 KB Sept 12, 2002 Union Square Memorials	414.8 KB Sept 12, 2002 Union Square Memorials	400.1 KB Sept 12, 2002 Union Square Memorials	402.3 KB Sept 12, 2002 Union Square Memorials	398.1 KB Sept 12, 2002 Union Square Memorials
35.1 KB Sept 12, 2002 Mike Sorresse's name, Wall of Names, Union Square Subway Station