9/11 TWENTY YEARS LATER

There a number of things I will never forget in relation to 9/11. Twenty years later the horror of it all has not worn away, and indeed, I will never forget.

One month and one week prior to the attacks, I interviewed for a job with a company that was located on the eighty-third floor of One World Trade. 

The day my interview took place was one of the hottest days on record and a receptionist who identified herself as Margaret Mattic offered me a cup of water.

I was subsequently interviewed by Lashawana Johnson.

Ms. Johnson told me she enjoyed coming to work in the morning because she could shop for her young children.

Ultimately I did not get the position but when I heard the news over the radio as the first plane hit, I instantly thought of Ms. Johnson and Margaret Mattic.

Fortunately I had saved the contact information of a woman named Carmen who worked the night shift. I was able to reach her by phone and she gave me the sad news that everyone in the company who worked the morning shift had been killed.

To add to  Carmen’s horror, she witnessed the planes flying into the buildings because she had a view of the towers from her Brooklyn apartment.

I know of many people who perished including someone (Josh Rosenthal) who lived in the apartment building where my dearest friend VB was living at the time. 

Evidently that very morning he was joking about possibly being late for his job in an office on one of the higher floors of the towers.

Unfortunately for him he was not late in getting to work and perished with scores of others on that morning. The street where he lived was named in honor of his memory.

On a bittersweet note re 9/11, in the Dutch bulb supplier Hans van Waardenburg sent one million daffodil bulbs as a gift to the city. ... 10,000 initial volunteers joined the first planting efforts, and Mayor Bloomberg made the daffodil the city's official flower in 2007. 

Every time I see daffodils in the parks, public spaces, and tree pits, I think of those who lost their lives on that day; and I also think of those who now have 9/11 related illnesses. 

There are no words…

9/11: The 19th Anniversary

Today, September 11th, 2020  marks the nineteenth anniversary of the Nine Eleven terrorist's attacks. As I've stated in my prior entries re this tragedy, I interviewed for a job at One World Trade Center, just thirty-one days prior to the terrorists attacks: August 10, 2001.

Remembering Nine Eleven

It's already the eighteenth anniversary of the September 11th terrorist's attacks! As I've stated in my prior entries re this tragedy, I interviewed for a job at One World Trade Center, just thirty-one days prior to the terrorists attacks: August 10, 2001.

September 11th, 2017

The image posted above is of an ID card I received when I had a job interview on August 10th 2001 at One World Trade Center, thirty one days before the September 11th terror attacks.  I did not get the position I applied for, and this ID card is a stark reminder of how close I came to being there.

The woman who interviewed me, Lashawana Johnson, was killed in the attacks on that day, as was Johnson's colleague, Margaret Mattic. I've written about this and other situations related to the tragedy in bygone years here on Blogger.

I don't have anything new to add on the subject, except to reiterate my heartfelt sympathies for those who lost loves ones; for those who are haunted from witnessing the horror; and for those who continue to have health issues related to the event.

September the Eleventh: Ten Years Later

As most of followers of this blog know, as per my schedule, I do not normally post on Sundays. However, when I was walking home from my weekly volunteer work, I happened upon this American flag, hanging from a window of a brownstone that is located on a quiet street, and I thought I'd include it in my blog on this solemn day for anyone who happens to be stopping by the LLG (Last Leaf Gardener); for  my seeing the flag evoked other thoughts that I'd like to share — even though I have written about the events of September the 11th both last year on the ninth anniversary of the attacks, as well as yesterday (on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the attacks).

Presumably, the flag was hung in the window to commemorate the anniversary of the September Eleventh terrorist attacks which took place ten years ago today. Seeing this flag prompted me to wonder if the folks who had hung it from their window, had lost someone near and dear to them in those attacks; and also my seeing the flag caused me to remember that, in the aftermath of the attacks, and for a number of years to follow, someone had hung an American flag in a window of a building which is directly north of where I live and a building that my garden faces.

9. 10. 11

While many folks wanted to honor this day because of the sequence of numbers ("9-10-11"), with a celebratory event, tomorrow is a somber day for it is the tenth anniversary of September 11th, 2001. I live in New York City now, as I did when the attacks took place.

Moreover, I came very close to working in the World Trade Center (WTC), a fact that I discussed in a blog entry, which  I made on September the 11th last year; where I made mention of the names of two women, Lashawana Johnson and Margaret Mattic; whom I had met at a job interview which I had had with General Telcom Inc. — a company which had been located on the Eighty-Third floor of One World Trade Center. My interview was ten years, and one month ago today, and that is also when I received the WTC ID (posted below) which I also included in last year's blog post

Nine Eleven: A Dedication to the Memory of Lashawana Johnson and Margaret Mattic

It is a beautiful September morning, much like the September morning nine years ago when planes flew into the World Trade Center, where I had been just three weeks prior for  a job interview. The photo-id posted above was taken moments before that interview at General Telecom Inc.

It had been a brutally hot Tuesday morning, and upon my arrival at the interview, a woman who introduced herself as Margaret Mattic (the receptionist).

Another woman, Lashawana Johnson, who interviewed me was very young, and she told me how she loved coming to the World Trade Center early in the morning to shop on the ground floor for her three children before heading up to work. 

As soon as I heard the news that airplanes had flown into the towers, I imagined Lawansha was there since she loved early morning before heading up the elevator from General Telecom Inc. Lawansha had not hired me for the position, and she had let me know this by having someone from the night shift — a woman named Carmen — phone me to let me know I had not been selected for the position. 

Because this interview was only three weeks before the attack on the World Trade Center, I still had my notes on circumstances that occurred, and I still had my WTC ID, therefore, I was ultimately able to track down Carmen.