October 2, 2007

From Chris Durkin, Jenkintown, PA…

"thank you for watching the world change.

"some context; i am a news producer for fox tv in philly- and won a regional emmy for line producing our Day 2 coverage at WTC - so as you can imagine - i've read (and seen) volumes on the attacks since- but just wanted to say how special your's was for me in 'coming to grips' and understanding bit by bit as the years ago by - just what happened that day. it truly still has to be seen to be believed....best regards."

From Leona Seufert, Philadelphia, PA…

"After the terrible events of 9/11 I wrote poems and essays as a way to work through my emotions. In 2002 I felt that others could benefit from reading my works and started the website, The WTC Journal.

"Over the last 6 years I have posted countless poems and essays dealing with 9/11, the evolution of Ground Zero from pile to pit to now a construction site, and every anniversary I write about the past year's controversies. I have also posted my personal photographs and digital compositions relating to my writings' topics."

From Julie Fidler, Lancaster County, PA...

"I was 22 years old on September 11, 2001. My nephew was 2 weeks old. I was a newlywed. My husband and I had stayed less than 2 miles from the Pentagon the week my nephew was born -- we never dreamed what was to come. It should have been a wonderful time in my life, but when that first plane hit the World Trade Center, my world changed. Any semblance of innocence I had left as a young adult was ripped away from me.

"I am the only person in my family that is not a New Yorker. I was born here in the Amish Country of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. But I spent tons of time in New York, because my grandparents and relatives lived in Westchester County, in Yonkers. I will always have an image in my mind of those towers off to the right, as we drove over the George Washington Bridge to spend the summer with my grandparents. When we would go into the city to shop, or to my uncle's office in Manhattan, they always took my breath away.

"After 9/11, it took me a few years to get past it and move on. I lived in fear, and then I lived with paranoia, and eventually sadness. I don't know if it's possible to develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of an event you were not physically a part of, but I certainly felt very traumatized.

"Jump ahead nearly 6 years, and I don't live with that fear or sadness anymore, but I'm pretty sure that for the rest of my life, I will wonder when we're going to get hit again. The other shoe will eventually drop, pardon the overused analogy. It always strikes me that my nephew -- now in the first grade -- and his 11 month-old baby sister will never know a world without terror alerts and 'chatter.' It is so bizarre to me that the childhood I knew -- where, frankly, people only blew things up in the Middle East -- will never be known again... probably not ever.

"All this to say... last year, I started corresponding with Danny Suhr's brother, James. [Danny, a firefighter, perished on 9/11, and is mentioned in Watching the World Change on page 229.] I was taking part in a national blogging tribute, designed to make sure that every victim had a tribute written about them on the 5th anniversary. By the end of the project, I felt like I knew Danny personally. Since that time, I have had it stuck in my head that I want to write a book about some aspect of 9-11 -- mainly, where the survivors and families are now, and how they are handling life in this new world.

"This is not something I know anything about. I'm a Christian author. My first book was published when I was 26, and it was about marriage. I'm co-writing
another marriage book even as we speak. To step outside of that realm and cover something like this is so far beyond me, but... I can't get it out of my mind."