Victoria Noe

Award-winning Author, Speaker, Activist

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Ground Zero

A Long Time Ago and Yesterday

A Long Time Ago and Yesterday
Sep 06, 2016 by Victoria Noe
That's how someone described 9/11 to me today: a long time ago and yesterday.

There are moments that are like that. They seem so long ago it's hard to summon specific memories. But at the same time, they feel like they just happened.

Instead of writing about it again, I decided to share this post from writer Damon DiMarco. I'd just read his book about 9/11 when I (almost literally) ran into him at Book Expo America in 2011. He graciously agreed to write this for my blog for the 10th anniversary. It still resonates today.

 

From One to Eleven: The Essence of Grief Bring them back, God, please bring them back. This is the essence of grief. Not the secret we shared with a...

Friends Shut Out on 9/11

Friends Shut Out on 9/11
Sep 12, 2014 by Victoria Noe
Across from Zuccotti ParkYesterday was the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. I've attended the observances in New York twice: the 9th and 10th anniversaries. This year, I attended again. And my, how things have changed.On the two previous occasions I was here on 9/11, there were accommodations for the general public (i.e., anyone not a family member): loudspeakers on Broadway and around the site so the crowds could hear the prayers and names read. On the 10th anniversary, Jumbotrons were set up so we could watch, as well. This year...not so much.As is my habit, I got down the lower Manhattan early, so I could scope out what was going on. I had to keep reminding myself that I...

The New 9/11 Memorial

The New 9/11 Memorial
Sep 14, 2011 by Victoria Noe
There aren’t a lot of quiet places in New York City. So when I considered the building of a 9/11 Memorial on the site of the World Trade Center, I was skeptical. With the West Side Highway on one side, and Manhattan high rises, stores and construction on the other three, the Memorial seemed doomed. It would be swallowed up, a place where grief would be distracted by jackhammers, sirens and car horns.I was wrong.Yesterday I visited the new 9/11 Memorial. By now you’ve probably seen photos of the two waterfalls, in the footprints of the towers, and the futuristic building that will serve as the entrance to the Museum when it opens next year. The final design took years...

The Buddhists and the Brits Commemorate 9/11

The Buddhists and the Brits Commemorate 9/11
Sep 14, 2011 by Victoria Noe
Bagpipers and Pipe & Drum Corpsat the British GardensWhen most people think of 9/11 observances, they think first of New York, then Washington, then Pennsylvania. They think in terms of Americans remembering the loss of American lives. They think in terms of solemn, patriotic ceremonies, naming the names of those who died; perhaps displaying those names on programs or engraving them in stone. They wave American flags and banners.And while it’s true that most of those who died that day were American citizens, the victims represented 93 countries.The British, to no one’s surprise, conduct a formal ceremony in a tiny slip of park in the middle of Wall Street, called the British Garden (now renamed the Queen Elizabeth 2 Commemorative...

Friend Grief and the 10th Anniversary of 9/11

Friend Grief and the 10th Anniversary of 9/11
Sep 05, 2011 by Victoria Noe
And now, as they say, a programming note: I will be writing from New York City starting September 7th, on the 10th anniversary observances of 9/11. I’m there for two reasons: First, one chapter in my book covers people who lost friends on 9/11; some of those stories also pop up elsewhere in the book. Second, one of my high school classmates died in the South Tower, and I’m going to hear her name read at the Naming Ceremony (hopefully, pronounced correctly this year), and to see her name engraved on the new 9/11 Memorial.I’ll be looking at the anniversary from a number of different perspectives: how the arts and different faiths are observing it, for example. You can expect...

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