September is always a sad month for me – the anniversary of our son’s death on September 23, 1999 and the anniversary of the World Trade Center tragedy on September 11, 2001. Tomorrow it will be twenty years since suicide terrorists piloted planes to crash into the twin towers in New York City. If you've not been to the memorial there, I urge you to go. Flight 93 was headed to destroy our nation's Capitol also on September 11. Paul Murdoch and a team at his Los Angeles firm, Paul Murdoch Architects created National Memorial’s Tower of Voices to mark the site in Western Pennsylvania where United Flight 93 struck the earth on that morning, the passengers voted to take over the plane and divert it from destroying the Capitol. Everyone onboard was killed. An architectural rendering for “The Tower of Voices,” designed by Paul Murdoch Architects, in collaboration with a team of engineers, acousticians and one composer. (bioLINIA / Paul Murdoch Architects ) The tower is outfitted with … [Read more...]
A September 11 story – redux
September is always a sad month for me - the anniversary of our son's death on September 23 and the anniversary of the World Trade Center tragedy on September 11. How fitting that the Flight 93 National Memorial's Tower of Voices was just finished by Paul Murdoch and a team at his Los Angeles firm, Paul Murdoch Architects. It marks the site in Western Pennsylvania where United Flight 93 struck the earth on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, killing everyone aboard. An architectural rendering for “The Tower of Voices,” designed by Paul Murdoch Architects, in collaboration with a team of engineers, acousticians and one composer. (bioLINIA / Paul Murdoch Architects ) The tower is outfitted with 40 aluminum chimes, one in honor of each passenger and crew member. *** Flight 93 came into focus in our California community shortly after the crash when my friend and jeweler was asked to repair and clean jewelry recovered from the crash site. Here is the story I wrote several years ago … [Read more...]
Got poem?
It's been a while since I've shared some of my poetry with you. The following pieces have been published in the Story Circle Network's True Words section of their quarterly journal. I've had a wonderful response to my poems from Story Circle, certainly motivating me to keep submitting. And, as I've said before, I'll only post poems here that have been already published so as not to lose an opportunity to get any unpublished ones accepted. So many contests and journals won't accept poems if they have been published elsewhere - even on a personal blog like this. I hope you enjoy these four: Nadia We sat across the table covered with a crisp white cloth. Her face glowed in the light, her radiant smile punctuated by deep, long dimples in each cheek. Simply dressed in black slacks and a white sweater she looked comfortable in her own skin. She spoke confidently in English. And, when speaking her native Italian, she spoke slowly so we could understand her words. At … [Read more...]
A September 11 story – redux
September is always a sad month for me - the anniversary of our son's death on September 23 and the anniversary of the World Trade Center tragedy on September 11. Today a visitor's center was opened at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, PA. It tells the story of the heroic passengers and crew members who tried to take control of the flight rather than let the hijackers fly it into the U.S. Capital. Flight 93 came into focus in our California community shortly after the crash when my friend and jeweler was asked to repair and clean jewelry recovered from the crash site. Here is the story I wrote several years ago about that recovery work. Flight 93: The Jeweler's Story In El Segundo, CA, known as one of the last lazy 50s style home towns in the country, 3,000 miles from the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93 on September 11, 2001, Brenda Newman completed the delicate, intricate and sad work of restoring and repairing the bits and pieces of … [Read more...]
A September 11 story – redux
I posted this story last year. I don't think it hurts to post it again. In memory.... Flight 93: The Jeweler's Story In El Segundo, CA, known as one of the last lazy 50s style home towns in the country, 3,000 miles from the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93 on September 11, 2001, Brenda Newman completed the delicate, intricate and sad work of restoring and repairing the bits and pieces of jewelry and artifacts recovered from the scene. Newman is an elegant woman. Tall, slim, toned, with short reddish-brown hair softly feathered around her face, she is dressed for business in a tailored pantsuit. Most remarkable about her attire are her jewels a huge emerald and diamond ring adorning her ring finger on her left hand, a ring with a large diamond surrounded by pave diamonds on her right pinky finger, a gold and diamond watch, hoop earrings with large square solitaire diamonds embedded in them and a whimsical pearl pin perched on her jacket near her shoulder … [Read more...]
A September 11 story
On this tenth anniversary of September 11, it seems fitting that I share a story about my friend, Brenda Newman, who played a huge part in restoring the jewelry recovered from Flight 93. Flight 93: The Jeweler's Story In El Segundo, CA, known as one of the last lazy 50s style home towns in the country, 3,000 miles from the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93 on September 11, 2001, Brenda Newman completed the delicate, intricate and sad work of restoring and repairing the bits and pieces of jewelry and artifacts recovered from the scene. Brenda Newman Newman is an elegant woman. Tall, slim, toned, with short reddish-brown hair softly feathered around her face, she is dressed for business in a tailored pantsuit. Most remarkable about her attire are her jewels a huge emerald and diamond ring adorning her ring finger on her left hand, a ring with a large diamond surrounded by pave diamonds on her right pinky finger, a gold and diamond watch, hoop earrings with large … [Read more...]