OT: 9/11 Remembrance

As we all know, this Sunday marks the 10th anniversary of the vicious attack our country suffered at the hands of a band of religious extremists. Anyone care to share any thoughts, threads from other sites, or anything of significance to commemorate the anniversary?

I'll start things off. Here's a link to a slide show from ASME featuring over 100 magazine covers from the last decade related to the 9/11 attacks. Even Mad magazine puts on its patriotic Alfred E. Newman face (#41). Of course, that pales in comparison to Stuff magazine's cover featuring gorgeous Brooke Burke in a red, white & blue bikini top (#44). Or the remains of Bill Biggart's EOS camera, featured on the cover of American Photo (#54). I hadn't heard this before, but apparently Biggart was the only working photographer killed in the attacks. Then again, IMHO, no magazine can top the collection of artful, thoughtful New Yorker Magazine covers sprinkled throughout the slide show. Anyways, enough from me, check it out for yourself here: http://www.magazine.org/asme/covers.aspx

Random thoughts...
I'm old enough to remember some momentous events in recent history: The Kennedy assassination(s), the first moon landing, the end of the Berlin wall, and of course 9/11. As a kid growing up in northern NJ, I remember watching the WTC going up. A month after the attacks I went to NYC, and as the train I rode from Philadelphia to NY came up out of a tunnel, I looked across the Hudson, and saw they were gone. I still can't describe how that feels. I didn't lose any relatives or friends there, but I lost 343 FDNY brothers that day... Nothing (except the death of my father) has impacted me personally as 9/11 has.
On 9/17, the annual Fallen Firefighters Memorial Ceremony will be held in Colorado Springs, and as I have for many years, I will put on my "photojournalist" hat, and photograph the ceremony. We had to build a whole new wall at the memorial just to have room for the names of all the FDNY 343... I'm sure that recalling 9/11 will be the centerpiece of this years ceremony.

As for the magazine slide show...EXCELLENT.
This Sunday, most of the newspaper cartoonists will put aside the "funny" and devote their strips to 9/11.

I was just telling someone that despite living an hour or so from Manhattan for 15+ years, and going to the top of the Empire State building at least a half dozen times, every time i went to the WTC the wind was too stinkin' windy, and the observation deck was always closed. So i never got to the top, which was something i always wanted to do. I'm gonna have to get out to the memorial some time.

Thanks Todd. Those are some amazing covers.

Thanks Todd. The magazine covers are great.

Thanks Todd! It's interesting to me looking at this and other retrospectives for the anniversary. On 9.11.01, I was in Grant's Pass, Oregon getting ready to guide a commercial Rogue trip the next day. As luck would have it, our passengers were all Oregon locals who didn't have flight issues. We asked at pre-trip if they still wanted to go, and they said, "Yes, please!" So I spent the next four days in wilderness, never did really see any footage or many photos. Even after the trip, our guidehouse only had radio, no TV, so I got most of 9-11 by words, not images. I never did have the heart to seek out any video footage, still haven't seen it to this day (still don't have TV). I'm not sure if or how that's influenced my perspective on events, but seeing the photo retrospectives this last week, I can certainly say that the images are powerful, and strike right home as I see them for the first time ten years after.

10 years later....still overcome. The anger has faded; the sadness remains. My heart goes out to all of those who lost their loved ones.

Thanks Todd.

I still remember having dinner at Windows on the World over 25 years ago. As a 13 year old it was awe-inspiring to walk through the mirrored entry way with giant geodes lining the hall. It was surreal to eat above the city and see helicopters flying below you. It was also the first time I had ever been to a restroom where someone was in there to hand you a towel when you were finished (I think that might have been the coolest thing to me).

I had just got out of the military 9 months earlier when 9/11 went down and remember struggling with my role in civilian society. Still do some times.

Thanks for the link.

Great covers of a life changing event. I remember telling my wife that things would never be the same and that our kids would grow up in a different USA than we had. The events of 9/11 affected every citizen in this country, whether or not they lost loved ones and friends in the actual attacks.

Todd, thanks for posting this. I made my first trip to New York City last year. The first day we were there, we had to go see the site. I held it together pretty good until I got inside St. Paul's Chapel of Trinity Church. It is one of the oldest churches in New York and even George Washington has worshiped there and it is located near Ground Zero. This church was used during the disaster as a safe haven for first responders who needed a place to pray and sleep during the events on 9/11. Several stores about the heroes and badges o f the first responders was there and I don't think there were 10 dry eyes in the place out of a hundred....and this was 9 YEARS LATER. I will never forget the stories I read and all the people from all over the country that flocked there to lend there help and support.
There is also a beam that was found that fell from the towers that stayed in the shape of a cross. People used it as a sign of faith and scripted in lost ones names as well as left moments. The cross was posted in a temporary place and will be moved to a permanent location once the museum is finished.

Hope you don't mind a shot or two of my experience attached to this. Here is the sign that hangs on the cross.

The beam in the shape of a cross.

Just one of the many tables with pictures of lost ones at Trinity Church.

and one of many walls with badges from volunteers from all over the country.