I wrote this 11 years ago today about what an innocent/ignorant/naive/self-involved (take your pick) American I was on that September 11th day. **** I remember the crazy woman on the platform shrieking about some plane crash just another New York moment in a sea that stretches across my lifetime then, “all subway service is suspended” and the sea gathers itself in my brain this one is different, this one is serious out on the street, people scurry with badges giving news of the news they have heard it is two planes, maybe three fires on the white house lawn? do I have to teach class today? or can I play in the sun and the blue sky and the crisp autumn air what does one do in New York without the subway? will I ever get a cab? I walk far from the emptying trains down Columbus Avenue I stop at a car with the driver door open on the radio now loud and clear they don’t quite know but, three planes so far and one still in the air we are frozen huddled around the door together and alone each thinking of who to call first how we will reach them and what we can do where will we be safe? in the park? on the Upper West Side? surely nothing can touch us up here among the baby strollers and the brownstones and the blue sky and the crisp autumn air
Posted on: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 20:10:53 +0000
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