September 11 – twenty years ago

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...]

Always remember

The September 11 attacks killed 2,977 people and injured more than 6,000 others, not including the 19 terrorists responsible for the attacks. These immediate deaths included 265 on the four planes, 2,606 in the World Trade Center and in the surrounding area, and 125 at the Pentagon. We must always remember! The gallery at the September 11 Memorial Museum has photos of all but 10 people killed either on September 11, 2001 or February 26, 1993 when the World Trade Center was bombed (a total of 2983). It has room for 3,000 5-by-7-inch portraits, arrayed in 250 columns and 12 rows. Credit: Ãngel Franco/The New York Times … [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...]

Welcome the painterly printmaker, my friend, Ellen Pliskin

  I am fortunate enough to see a water-color painting by my dear friend and artist, Ellen Pliskin, every day. Actually I sometimes see and admire it several times a day because it hangs in my bedroom. After 9/11 Ellen painted a series showcasing the windows adorned with flowers and American flags around New York City in remembrance of the World Trade Center disaster. I am fortunate to own one from this series. Now I'm pleased to share about her silk aquatint monoprint exhibition that opened this week and will be on display through August 30 at: The Funky Monkey Cafe and Gallery 130 Elm Street (Watch Factory Shoppes) Cheshire CT If you live nearby - I sure wish I did - please attend the  Artist's Reception tomorrow Friday, August 8th, 7 to 9 pm. Her new works explore the monoprint process in portraying China's Forbidden City, the Colonial City of Colonia,Uruguay and the white villages of Andalucia. In these monoprints  she combines the two disciplines of … [Read more...]

Please visit the 9/11 Memorial and Museum

My husband Bob and I visited the 9/11 Memorial and Museum last Sunday morning. From the moment we stepped onto that site we couldn't contain our tears. The experience was that sad, powerful, and profound. The memorial consists of two pools that sit in the exactly spots where the World Trade Center towers once were with the nearly 3,000 names of those lost in the 1993 and 1001 attacks etched in bronze around the pools' perimeters. Thirty-two-foot waterfalls flow into the pools and then descend into a dark center, made to represent total emptiness. The 9/11 Memorial Museum, just opened in May, houses remaining artifacts from the towers, provides background about the events of September 11 and the days that followed, includes the attack on the World Trade Center in 1993, and memorializes the lives of the victims some of the very creative handmade quilts are enormous. The feeling of being in a cavern was overwhelming. I was constantly looking up at the hugeness of the … [Read more...]

Manhattan Beach September 11 Memorial

I had often wondered how our September 11 Memorial beams came to us. Our local paper, The Beach Reporter, solved the mystery for me this week. The article says Manhattan Beach resident, Jeff Neu, received the contract to recycle the steel from the World Trade Center, and he donated two red beams from the collapsed towers to the Manhattan Beach Fire Department. The memorial on the corner of Fifteenth Street and Valley Drive, in front of the fire department, was designed by Scott Yanofsky of the Terra Firma Group and dedicated on September 11, 2007. Yanofsky designed the placement of the beams to mirror the placement of the towers as they stood at the World Trade Center. A memorial ceremony is planned for tomorrow, September 11, 2011, at 8 am at the memorial site. Since I live just a few blocks away, on Valley Drive, I'll be there. Please join if you can. The Manhattan Beach September 11 Memorial Launching A Landmark I live in a land of landmarks the Hollywood sign, the … [Read more...]