Sept 11 2011 - (back to Ground Zero)

I worked on Sept 11th for the first time in 10 years. I wasn't home to hear some of the reading of the names. In fact, I went uptown twice. It was a relief not to have passengers who would be disappointed because we did not pass "ground zero". I could point out the cultural institutions that were having special exhibits related to the 10th anniversary and I will list them in a separate post.

I never found the time to organize a Central Park walk but I did find the time to make some charitable donations.

That evening, I broke a rule of mine and paid to hear an author of a book speak at the 92nd Street Y. (Maybe I am finally beginning to get over the fact that the Y dismantled their 30,000 volume library of extraordinarily ordinary books. Many were written by the authors who have spoken at the Y for the last 130 odd years).

The speaker was Joel Meyerowitz and the book was Aftermath:World Trade Center Archive 2011 edition. I had seen many of the large scale photos at an exhibition many years ago and two years ago, large scale prints from the Legacy: The Preservation of Wilderness in New York City Parks project were on display at the Museum of the City of NY. Those prints became my escape from winter. I invited my high school friend to come since she had provided the hospitality 10 years ago.

Joel Meyerowitz is an extraordinary speaker as well as an amazing photographer. I can accept his use of the term Ground Zero. The name was totally appropriate during the entire recovery effort. I have already stated my own feelings about the term here.

I returned home in time to listen to the NY Philharmonic play Mahler's Second Symphony to honor those lost on Sept 11th on PBS. This was not the first time the Philharmonic chose Mahler's Second as an uplifting piece of music in the wake of an international tragedy. Leonard Bernstein made the same choice a few days after President John F Kennedy was assassinated. I posted Leonard Bernstein's justification of his choice on this post last year.