So here’s the 9/11 truth, at least when it comes to how I got to make pictures at Ground Zero on September 11th. It took me 12 hours to get from Philadelphia to midtown Manhattan, by train, sometimes hiking and even hitchhiking.
I was exhausted in every sense, it seemed like every path was blocked, and I found myself turning back, surrendering to the thought of a hotel room in Times Square with a shower and a king size bed.
I thought I might try to get in again on the 12th, but we now know that a complete federal lockdown was in progress, with National Guard troops on the perimeter and only FEMA photographers permitted inside – for the next year.
But no sooner had I turned back when I ran into Chris Brennan. His face said “How could you?” – and he shamed me into taking “one more shot.”
About two hours later, by the end of the longest day of my life, Chris and I would be among the very, very small number of journalists who saw Ground Zero after the smoke cleared enough to breathe but before the barbed wire went up the next day.
His remarkable performance deserved more attention then and there but much of his reporting was lost in the chaos of the newsroom that day.
Finally, we have a chance to hear his story - beginning at my expense, however truthfully.
I feel honored to have been invited to spend September 11th lecturing on one of my photos from 2001 in this incredible exhibit at The Hyde Collection in Glens Falls, NY. Thanks to Cathy DeDe, Managing Editor of The Chronicle in Glens Falls for this article posted Thursday (1,2).
I was in New York yesterday and the bin Laden news prompted me to take my first walk around Ground Zero in perhaps a couple of years. I stopped at many of the locations I had photographed on 9/11 and took new pictures with my iPhone.
In the top photo, FDNY firefighters carry a body into the lobby of the Dow Jones Building at the World Financial Center, which was being used as a temporary morgue late on the 11th. Yesterday, it was shiny and clean again.
For the most part, the visit was a cathartic experience, and it was good to see so much progress at last, but some of the commercial advertising nearby was still hard to swallow. I understand the appeal of carrying on with business as usual, but this will always be a sacred place for me.
RT @tsagov: Advisory: Children who “opt-out” of scans will be told Santa is dead. #tsa #tsagov Serisouly, we still have these? AP Exclusive: Color-coded terror alerts may end http://yhoo.it/geZ3eB Foursquare Takes on the TSA With “Baggage Handler” Badge http://on.mash.to/fiuNBO RT @warpafx: Shoe bomb, underwear bomb, toner bombs, liquid/gel explosives – failures, but we pay anyway. Non-bomb success: 9/11 reuters slideshow: Anatomy of a patdown http://reut.rs/fNnkgb Lie detectors next? Hahahahaha. RT @AP: INTERACTIVE: The new airport security measures: http://apne.ws/fUKK30 The terrorists won: Young boy strip searched by TSA http://youtu.be/XSQTz1bccL4 #video Boing Boing » TSA roundup: pilots get exception, Obama response, Clinton “wouldn’t submit,” Al Qaeda moves on http://bit.ly/dyV4zd Amputee forced to remove prosthesis, expose residual limb, be separated from 4yo son http://bit.ly/aN1ICh Everybody loses except the security industry. Boing Boing » How TSA screeners feel about junk-touching http://bit.ly/c4P6lu RT @USATODAY: Body-scanner makers spent millions on lobbying http://usat.ly/bYBObb Chance of dying from airport backscatter radiation about the same as chance of getting killed by terrorists. http://bit.ly/cOzRPD Agency’s enemy is terrorists, but travelers wonder why they’re made to feel the target http://apne.ws/9n8SA1 -SB TSA chief: ‘Invasive’ airport security policies here to stay http://usat.ly/at7Jys RT @nicolosi: Does the TSA ever catch terrorists? If they do, for some reason they won’t admit it. @Slate http://slate.me/8YmPpX “Don’t Touch My Junk”: The Rap Video http://bit.ly/9qhwDs TSA security groping leaves 61-year-old bladder cancer survivor soaked in own urine http://bit.ly/d6LmwS Elementary school teacher re TSA “I didn’t really expect her to touch my vagina through my pants” http://bit.ly/aSki0c onthemedia: The TSA and ‘Don’t touch my junk’ and what it might mean when activism begins online. http://bit.ly/csQ2fH TSA Forces Cancer Survivor Flight Attendant to Pull Out Prosthetic Breast During Patdown http://gizmo.do/dbP6N2 Soldier: And I can take over the plane with nail clippers? http://bit.ly/9x4OYR #boingboigbestfortsamadness Capt. Sully: “I don’t want anybody but my wife and maybe my doctor touching me in…” http://bit.ly/apESmK #video What will happen at TSA checkpoints if the next incompetent goofball “bomber” hides the explosives – um – “inside” his body? Y’know I’m just stating to feel bad for everybody involved. RT @jayrosen_nyu: Keeping us safe http://jr.ly/78ih RT @Michael_Yon: Stand up, America! Enough is Enough! I got handcuffed and still refused.. http://bit.ly/dCKABN RT @EliseAckerman: Orlando’s Sanford Airport shows backbone, kicks out the TSA http://gizmo.do/dpevXd AP: Airports consider congressman’s call to ditch TSA. http://apne.ws/970vWI Check out this awesome “Don’t touch my junk” story – http://tinyurl.com/272nboo TSA day continues: RT @slashdot: TSA Pats Down 3-Year-Old http://bit.ly/bZT3TM TSA day w/ Has Airport Security Gone Too Far? http://on.wsj.com/c2hqCS and mom blogger’s TSA – Sexual Assault http://bit.ly/b4TuW6
So here’s the 9/11 truth, at least when it comes to how I got to make pictures at Ground Zero on September 11th. It took me 12 hours to get from Philadelphia to midtown Manhattan, by train, sometimes hiking and even hitchhiking.
