Politics Corner September 11

   

I was in the honeymoon phase. It was a little awkward because we both had impossible schedules. I had gotten home around 4 AM. I was just getting used to calling it home. I saw him off to work around 5 and fell blissfully to sleep. Not for long. He called and told me to turn on the television. What channel? It doesn't matter.

I switched it on just in time to see the second tower hit. It was surreal. There's a tower already on fire. There's a plane and another tower and the plane disappeared and then the shape of plane came out the other side.

Like everyone else I was in shock. No idea why or who. Just we were targets. I was very aware that then US Senator (and future neighbor down the hall) Herb Kohl lived on top of our building. We're on a bluff next to Lake Michigan. At the time there were no other tall buildings around us. Easy target if whoever was doing this continued. And they did. The Pentagon and Flight 93. I dressed and walked to my regular coffee house. The seating along the wall was church pews and I fell in with my congregation. 

I knew too many people in NYC. Jen lived in Brooklyn but she worked in downtown Manhattan.  David lived in Brooklyn but I didn't know where he worked. Tommy was Lower East Side. Cathy was in Tribeca. None of them were answering phones or email. Nothing. It was weeks later that I heard from Jen that she was on the train and almost downtown when the first tower was hit. The train stopped. All trains stopped.

The air was full of the World Trade Center and everything that was in it. When Jen emerged from the subway it looked like the end of the world. It was a new world but we didn't know it yet. She joined the human river flowing north to the bridges away from Manhattan. Away from the unthinkable. It was a very long walk to Park Slope and she had plenty of time to try not to think. She had so many more people to be concerned about.

Rules.

I've never had much use for rules here beyond "No Personal Attacks" and that one is always in force. Today (and yesterday) has been full of retrospectives and memorials. Those of us who remember, and especially those who still mourn, are shellshocked.

This space was created so those who wanted to ignore politics could enjoy a mostly politics free WOT, while those who love politics can hang here. Today has been not just any day.

Please do NOT post footage of the explosions or aftermath. Descriptions etc. are fine. Opinions are always welcome. Hell, I'll even tolerate conspiracy theory.

Any post of Falling Man will be considered for the ban hammer.

 Political Discussion Welcome