So today I went and signed the steel beams that will be part of the base of the NYC freedom tower.
The company that is making them is near where I live and they let the public sign one of the beams that was gonna be shipped off.
Apparently thousands of people showed up. I went, signed it, and took some pictures

This is a shot of the inside of the beam


another from the inside


And the outside of the beam

My real name and my screename are there (i didn't really sign footfungas on the beam I added it in PS)

I'll post some more pics later

That's great!!!
it's on the inside, so it won't be seen, correct?

the writing all over the beam. but the beam will be on the inside of the building.

that's awesome. Sort of like how they built parts of that naval ship out of recycled steel from the Trade Center. I take it that since there are beams being made that the plans for the buildings have finally been finalized and put into motion?

Neat stuff.

cool, maybe we should start a thread that everyone can virtually sign and then send it somewhere that I don't know of that would be the place to send such a tribute?

that is so cool! I'll bet it was nice to be a part of it. Thanks for sharing it.

I hadn't heard anything about that...interestingly, there are beams around here from the Towers, and there's one at Exchange Place that you can sign.

Serious note: About a month ago, I went down to the WTC "site"--not sure what it's called now. First it was the World Trade Center, then it was "the Pile," then it was "Ground Zero," then it was "the Basin" or "the Bathtub," and then it was "the Pit." I guess now it's called "The construction site of the Freedom Tower."

Anyhow, there's still a train station there, and not much else. But outside the pit there's such hustle and bustle all the time, with protesters, tourists, mourners, scam artists trying to sell you "relics," and so forth and so on. Normally when I am down there these days, I just hurry from the train platform (imagine being let off of a train in the bottom of a swimming pool) up the stairs and out and across the street, and I try not to take notice of the protesters and the scammers.

This past time, on my way back to my train, I had this cup of hot cider I had bought at a farmer's market, and I wanted to finish it before I went down and got my train, so I just stood right at the top of the stairs and just sort of...stood there for a really long time, waiting to see if I would FEEL something, you know? Like if I would cry, or mourn some more, or get mad at people for making it a site for politics, or whatever. There was a guy with a flute playing "Amazing Grace" over and over again, and lots of people taking turns snapping photos of each other in front of the giant hole in the ground (and why do these people feel like they should smile so huge in these photos?), and a guy trying to sell people photos of the people who jumped. And I just stood there and stood there, trying to make my mind and body as still as possible, no real reason, just to see what I would feel.

And after about ten minutes, I suddenly got this feeling that time is totally layered, and I felt like I could feel all the different eras that had passed right where I was standing. I started thinking about how at Christmastime, they would put these huge Nutcracker soldiers in between the arches of the buildings all around the plaza, and you would feel surrounded by giant toys as the businessmen hurried home, bent against the wind and not even noticing the Nutcrackers. There used to be a Krispy Kreme there, and I thought about how my husband always meant to buy a teeshirt there, but never actually did it. I thought about one time when I lost a contact on the subway, and then convinced the pharmacist in the WTC Duane Reade to sell me a replacement pair without a prescription. I thought about how, years ago, I took four paintings downtown and "displayed" them next to the Sbarro in the north tower while eating a muffin, and then said, "now I've had a show at the World Trade Center show," to my then-fiancee. I thought about how on the very night before they fell, the Century 21 clock said 81 degrees as we sat at the plaza for a few minutes before catching our train home. I just kept standing there and standing there, and these layers of time just kept sort of surfacing, even as all the hustle and bustle went on all around me. Obviously it wasn't all happy memories, but we've all had our noses rubbed in the unhappy stuff for five solid years now.

Whoa, just kind of went off there for a second. Maybe I should give up the paint and pursue a career in prose--who knows? All's I know is that's a lot of crap to read.

Great story there Queenie. I could literally envision the experience in my mind (and I've never even been there). Hope you gained something from it.

cool

Although I come from the other side of the world we were all horrified about what happened at the World Trade Centre and reading your stories one realises how many people have been effected and will continue to be effected for a long time yet. I wish you peace and a light heart!

HA! That's cute. Mason givin' QLT a hug.

Here Scion, just for you. your very own argh! guy!

Thank you for the story Tiff, it reminds me of a documentary I just saw minutes ago, it is called The Cruise and features someone called Timothy 'Speed' Levitch. It is worth looking into, as you will enjoy some of his thoughts about living in New York city.