Thursday, September 8, 2011

It's been a decade and the Memorial for September 11, 2001 opens this weekend.

My twin brother and I played basketball together. We stand about 6'-6'-1" tall. Our father would commonly call us the Twin Towers growing up. Obviously, this name was derived from the WTC towers in lower Manhattan, NYC. Oddly enough, these towers were also completed in the same decade my brother and I were born. A certain strength comes from knowing our father called us the Twin Towers- even today.

For the first time, I saw the towers on a summer trip in 1999, I was 23. The second time I saw, Ground Zero, on a protest trip- opposing the Afghanistan + Iraq wars in February 2003- in my opinion, both were clearly more about oil than capturing Usama Bin Ladin. On another trip, I saw Ground Zero in it's nearly completed clean up effort in the Fall of 2004.

'Ground Zero' is an out dated term of the past. This weekend embarks on the new name for the sight.

It is now called:

The World Trade Center and the National September 11th Memorial & Museum

Newly constructed buildings and Memorial park, NYC

Well Designed reflecting pool and waterfall where one WTC tower once stood

The Twin Towers- in Memorandum

I am eager to visit New York City again as the first time I visited people had their typical New York attitude- plain talking, tough, rude- hustle bussel - it's quite invigorating. After September 2001, the attitude was much less abrasive and one of the only places I've EVER been where I was waved to by a handful of strangers throughout my visit. I experienced this from complete strangers down the street on those sidewalks you see full of people commonly seen in movies, I waved back- quite a great thing as I recollect. My brother and I still stand tall, we're still Twin Towers.

For more info on the National September 11th Memorial + Museum, visit;

http://www.911memorial.org/