Home | Search | FAQ
Displaying 1-12 of 12 messages in this thread. |
| Posted By | Discussion Topic: Through the Eyes of a New Yorker | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Psycho Bitch | posted on 09-16-2001 @ 4:27 PM |    | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Jul. 01  | A friend of mine wrote this and emailed it to me. I thoought it was very touching and wanted to share it with everyone. For those living in and near New York I think it was easy for us to take the Twin Towers for granted. I know I did.... Some people think it is silly to wax nostalgic over buildings. When I was a kid, I disliked the twin towers so much because I wanted the Empire State building to be the tallest towering skyscraper in the world. When the tallest one was built in Chicago a few years later, I got over my hatred. In my late teens, the World Trade Center was one of my favorite spots in the city. Battery City Park (the Yuppie village) wasn't built yet. On the weekends, that area was desolate and beautiful. I felt like I had the whole city to myself. I was pissed when they started building and the area became chic. As a result, I was hardly in that area anymore unless I was underground going to the Path Trains to Newark, NJ. In the mid ninties, I met who was to be to be my buddies in soccer and eventually my friends, Jack and Brett. They lived right by the WTC in a lovely yuppie enclave in Battery Park City. Jack left only a year ago but I still went over to Battery Park City to see Brett. I was there at least few times a month. The weekend before the attack, I was crossing through the atrium on my way to Brett's and I laughed at the tourists taking pictures. I was so used to seeing that place, I thought it would be a waste of time to take pics. I smugly sauntered past the people and went on my way. Now, I will never have pics of the beautiful Atrium with the tall Palms inside and the Glass roof. Many wedding couples had their pics taken on the majestic marble stairs. You take things for granted. I always look out my window at night to see Lower Manhattan, it reminded me of the Emerald City from the Wizard of Oz, it was special. With the Towers gone, it just looks like any downtown city, nothing magical at all. I had to take my cat to the A.S.P.C.A. Animal hospital on the Upper East Side of Manhattan on Saturday, it was chilling to see so many photo printouts of missing loved ones on the subways and on the street posts. On my way home, my train passed through Lower Manhattan and the acrid smell of smoke still filled the air.... I'm feeling a bit better now, I will volunteer and try to make myself useful. My main regret is that I never went on my roof and took pics of the rosy sunlight glow on the Towers at sunrise, it was always beautiful.  And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. | ||||
| bluetarp | posted on 09-16-2001 @ 4:31 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Jan. 01 | It is suprising, the images our minds cling to at times like this. Most days, my drive to the places I work leads me down a hill to a view of the most magnificent skyline of any city. Now, it brings a mix of sadness, anger, and even hope for a better tomorrow. May this be the key event which leads to the end of this terrorism, so that the victims may not have died in vain. If you burn the flag of my country, I'll exercise my freedom of expression to adjust your attitude! | ||||
| CriticsLoveSnatch i know better than to ask for a status from you mean ol' mods I shall call him mini-FTL | posted on 09-16-2001 @ 4:33 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Oct. 00 | I can so relate to that. I have family all over the world, so when they come to NY, it becomes my job to play tour guide and show them around the city. Just this past summer, my cousin came from Israel to see New York. We did the usual tourist routine, and went to the statue of liberty one day. from the observatory you have (had) an amazing view of the Twin Towers and lower manhattan. Well he took tons of pictures there, and i just kinda watched, thinking that this view is something i get all the time, nothing special right? The day after the attack, i talked to my cousin. This was when i realized that i didn't have any pictures of the towers. I asked him to make doubles of the photos that he took that day from liberty island and mail them to me here. He agreed, and i'll probably have those pictures in a week or so. When i see those pictures, i'm just going to think how dumb i was to take something like that for granted, just because i lived so close for so long.  and thinking's just too much to ask and you're measuring your minutes by a clock thats blinking eights This message was edited by CriticsLoveSnatch on 9-16-01 @ 4:38 PM | ||||
| Canweseeyourstuff | posted on 09-16-2001 @ 4:37 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Oct. 00 | this makes me think i've lived on LI my whole life and only went to the WTC once in 38 yrs.I'm glad i did visit that one time but i am saddened by the fact that my 6 yr old daughter will never have a chance to visit that majestic building.We as New Yorkers take these sites for granted and as we see now nothing is forever so in the near future i will be taking my daughter to see all the wonderful things thaty NY has to offer.  | ||||
| SeeYouNextTuesday G.O.O.F.B.A.H.G.S. Elite Ninja Gaiden Infiltration Unit | posted on 09-16-2001 @ 4:52 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Feb. 01 | Until I started going to HS in Manhattan, a trip to the city from my usual southern Brooklyn haunts was a rare pleasure. I would never tire of the skyline, the stores, the atmosphere in general. I went to the top of the World Trade Center once, if I remember correctly, on a school trip or some such. Upon reflection, it might have been the Empire State multiple times... but having been just blocks away for three years, the World Trade Center mall became a place I frequently visited, usually for the huge Borders book store. Dozens of times, I'd sit around with my friends for a little while, checking out and heckling the latest release from TSR. "Eh, this psionicists handbook is a piece of junk... they made it completely retarded now,... its just like regular magic" or "Can you believe the invisible stalker has a picture in the Monsters Manual?" and the like. It's all gone now. All the rule books and beatifully bound versions of the Lord of the Rings and the piles of Star Trek books are all somewhere at the bottom of a pile of rubble.
| ||||
| Psycho Bitch | posted on 09-16-2001 @ 10:40 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Jul. 01 | I am ashamed to say that I had never been to the top of the World Trade Center. A friend of mine had his birthday party at Windows on the World a few months back but I chose to go somewhere else that night. I truly regret not going when I had the chance. The last time I was in the WTC was 4 days before this tragedy. The first thing I thought about after I saw them collapse was all the people I saw there every day as I walked through the concourse on my way to the NR uptown and how I would never know if they made it out safely. I have such a vivid picture of all the places I walked past every day for 6 months and that I will never see it again. It's still so unbelievable. And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. | ||||
| Leaking Nipples | posted on 09-16-2001 @ 11:22 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Mar. 01 | I really do regret never going to the WTC. I, like all of us, assumed it would always be there. As soon as things calm down in New York, I'm going to the Empire State Building ASAP. I've always wanted to go there more than I wanted to see the WTC. I'll just have to wait a while until I can go see whatever they rebuild. I just hope it is bigger, stronger, and more beautiful. P.S. How about taking it easy on the tourist's with their head's in the sky from now on. They might be annoying, but after this, it just gives you a new perspective.  | ||||
| Psycho Bitch
| posted on 09-17-2001 @ 1:42 AM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Jul. 01 | I know I will never make fun of another tourist again. They have an appreciation for our city that we've been missing out on all this time. From now on I will cherish every piece of history that New York holds. Hey, maybe we should organize a board trip to the Statue of Liberty or Ellis Island or something ;) Maybe take one of those sightseeing ferries around Manhattan ..... And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. This message was edited by Psycho Bitch on 9-17-01 @ 5:47 PM | ||||
| CriticsLoveSnatch i know better than to ask for a status from you mean ol' mods I shall call him mini-FTL | posted on 09-17-2001 @ 1:50 AM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Oct. 00 | quote: my extensive experiences with tourists has taught me one thing - the statue of liberty is the biggest waste of time EVER. you wait about 4 or 5 hours in line that day, waiting for the ferry, waiting to get into the statue, waiting to go upstairs, the best part of the day was being on the observatory and looking out at the twin towers, which sadly isn't even doable anymore. its the one thing i dread doing whenever more tourists from turkey or israel come to see new york. then again, maybe thats because i've done it 10 times lol and thinking's just too much to ask and you're measuring your minutes by a clock thats blinking eights | ||||
| Unicron | posted on 09-17-2001 @ 2:15 AM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Mar. 01 | A few months ago, my niece who is 4 asked her dad if they could go to the top of the towers. His response, while months ago seemed to be just a cute lil remark to his daughter, was painful to remember. He said, after much badgering and pleading by his daughter, "Don't worry Colleen, they're not going anywhere, we'll go next summer when Michael is older." Everyone in the NY/NJ/CT area took it for granted, that those majestical towers would always rule over the New York City skyline. It is painful to see ever-present tower of smoke, acting almost like the ghost of the towers and the people that worked there. The Empire State Building is once again the tallest building, but no one wanted to see it regain it's title like this, in this way. Hopefully, In the years to come, new towers will be built, new towers that will be bigger, and better than those before it, and they will act as a memorial, for all those who are now gone, just because they were going to work.  This message was edited by Unicron on 9-17-01 @ 2:26 AM | ||||
| WookiePoolParty | posted on 09-17-2001 @ 5:01 AM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Mar. 01 | I've been living in Manhttan now for over a year. And one of the things on my list was checking out the Brooklyn Promenade at night. Everyone says it's beautiful, romantic, all these things. Well, I put it off and never went. I went tonight. Eerie. Will that view ever be considered "romantic" again? I suppose that it will, it's still majestic, but something so imple and innocent is forever changed. James John Maceiko Jr. United States Citizen Resident of New York City, Manhattan  | ||||
| Psycho Bitch | posted on 09-17-2001 @ 5:49 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Jul. 01 | CLS, I was kidding :) And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. | ||||
Displaying 1-12 of 12 messages in this thread. |