Back from NYC

I have just returned from a week-long national writing conference in NYC. I presented my research to other colleagues, caught up with old friends and colleagues, and explored the city when I found the time. I had never been to New York before and so I was really excited. Our conference was at the Hilton in Manhattan and so we had a wonderful location, in the middle of everything and right near Times Square and Broadway. I'll post some pictures lately, but for now, I'll just tell you about one experience--the trip to the World Trade Center site.

My friend Beth and I went down to the World Trade Center site. I don't know if you have been there or not, but it was a harrowing and eerie experience. I don't really know what I was expecting. But I'll tell you what occurred:

We walked up to the area where they have built a small memorial to the people who lost their lives in the WTC. The names of each person is printed on a plaque and around the names are pictures, not of the victims, but of the mourners. I was surprised (and a little embarrassed) how emotional I became. One picture, in particular, moved me to tears, and I tried to hold back the sobs. The picture was of a police officer in a long line of other police officers. He was in the act of saluting, tears were coming down his cheeks, and he was in the middle of a sob. This picture showed real anguish. The emotion of the picture stirred emotion in me. I continued looking at the pictures and then went to this pillar that describes what they hope to build in place of the Twin Towers. The new building is nice and has a lot of meaning (the base of the new tower will be the same as the two towers put together and the top will have part of it as tall as Tower 1 and part of it as tall as Tower 2). Another thing that stuck out to me about this particular memorial was the silence. Even though it was raining and we are surrounding by the city sounds of the street, silence still permeated the area.

And then when I looked up and over the towering fence around the site, all I saw was a bunch of empty space. Though I never saw the actual towers, the empty space brought me back to that awful, terrible day. The day that we should never forget. Not only for those people who lost their lives and their families but for all of America. There are some remains of the building still standing in the empty hole, which goes to show you how long this whole reconstruction process is taking. Construction workers and their vehicles are everywhere, and the dust and the dirt still remain. How long will it take to get this old stuff out of here before we can get to the new? When will we heal from this ordeal? Ever?

Many of my colleagues at the conference didn't want to go see the site--and didn't. Either they weren't ready or they thought it was too political or they didn't want to be "depressed," as one of my friends put it. I'm glad I went, though, even though it was hard to see.