9/11 Museum

[Chazro]

I hope I don't regret posting about this. 9/11 is such a personal subject and I know no one can or will ever forget. Years ago on Jazzcorner I remember posting something to the effect (it was yrs ago) that I was upset that on the anniversary of the attack (may have been the 1st...), that nobody mentioned a word about it. I was than attacked by some of the regulars ("I don't come here for THAT", and "this is the one place where I'm not constantly being bombarded with the anniversary messages...", stuff like that). I have VERY thick skin, but I'll admit, these responses bothered me. So much so that I never posted again on the corner. I'll admit that I cruised by and lurked....I kinda missed the place. With the advent of Jtalk, I saw it as an opportunity to come back into the fold and it's been cool. While I remember the nature of those comments, I can't recall who made them so they may, or may not, be here on Jtalk. Don't matter!

I'm totally OK with the 9/11 Memorial Museum. Saw a special about it months ago and it's been done correctly IMO BUT....there's a few things that don't feel right. 1st, that they're charging $24 for admission. The Pearl Harbor Memorial is free. PH's run by the federal gov't whereas the NY one is run by the state (or is it the city?). I read the guy running it is making 200+k a year, and it has 100's of employees. They could have gotten college interns who probably would've done a better job for free! I don't know, I hate that anyone might be profiting from it. 2nd, that the unidentified remains are part of the museum feels morbid and exploitive , not to mention it seems horribly uncaring to the families of the unidentified, many of whom protested the day the remains were brought to the museum a few days ago. Lastly, I'm sorry, but I heard that there was music piped in behind Obama when he was making his speech there today. I don't know, but that rubs me the wrong way, seems Disney-esque. I've never heard of ANY president making a speech at any time with theme music playing. Maybe it's just me. I hope I haven't offended anyone as that isn't my intent, just sharing my feelings with you guys.

[tippy]

I don't let myself have too strong of feelings about it. I'm not sure having the museum right where it happened is the best thing. If I was connected intimately with Ground Zero, that is had an intimate perish there, including the clean up workers who died of lung diseases afterward, I don't think I would appreciate the spectacle. (Interestingly I work with someone, that is, in Utah, who sent his shepherd there for search and rescue and the dog died of complications from his exposure too.) The $24 fee is ridiculous imo. When I lived in New York, it was (and still is) commemorated every year with the reading of names and was carried live on tv (usually when I was at work). I like the fountains although I guess they are expensive to run. That off-kilter museum entrance is kinda "quirky" - I think I thought it was some kind of temporary contract manager's office. I don't know if I will ever have the opportunity to go back to New York again, but if I did, I would visit the fountains, the museum would only make me cry uncontrollably I think. I don't think I would feel good about doing that in front of tourists. I think subconsciously that day made me want to keep my world as small as possible, because the gravity of ever losing someone in that manner was just too overwhelming for me to bear. There was no body count when I was finally able to get home on that day, just the knowledge of this impossibly massive destruction that could be viewed from two plumes of smoke and the knowledge of the complete obliteration of a lot of people. It made life seem very, very cheap. And I thought of all my closest relationships, including my family, as fictions. I also thought of how much crap I had in my apartment and what to take because I wanted to walk, feet planted on the earth, one step at a time, home, West of the Mississippi. The place continued to burn for many weeks. I don't remember how long, but I think it was for something like for at least two months. After that I forget. I went down there about 3 weeks later I think because my acupuncturist was down there and I saw the lacy cathedral-like facade and a red hot beam (forget what it's properly called) being removed sizzling and smoking like a hot coal. I also understand the importance of having remains and knowing where and how your loved ones died. I mean specifically - a picture of their last moments so you could at least in your imagination be there for them, of as much as possible exactly what they went through. I remember someone making fun of a Haitian father for rejoicing at finding his son's remains after the tragedy down there and I could only think, "you just don't know, at the end of the day, what a wonderful thing that truly is." As weird as it sounds. There were spiritual candles burning in the lobby of my apartment building in Astoria for about a year I think. I worked on 5th Avenue two blocks from St. Patrick's cathedral and could hear the bagpipes and watch the processions from 17 floors up on the rare occasions that they found a body - usually a firefighter or police. It was strangely helpful to witness that tangible grief of people who were at least, thankfully, found.

[LennyH]

WOW. I'm pumped to see such long, thoughtful posts on this board!

I'd like to read them but if I don't get off the PC right now my wife will kill me. Tomorrow.