November 9, 2001

2:16 PM

The Black Day, indeed.Some amazing pictures in a classy site about Sept. 11. I read in the SF Chronicle (but can't find a link) that he set this up and sent it to a couple of friends, and now it's getting thousands of hits a day.
posted by aacheson (14 comments total)

thank you aacheson. it probably sounds horrible, but it's amazing how even the passage of 8 weeks dulls the memory to some degree; the pictures help to vividly re-focus the mind on what happened; as is often said of the holocaust, we must never forget.
posted by davidmsc at 2:47 PM on November 9, 2001

It's a good memorial, but is there any chance the phrase "The world will never be the same" can now be retired to a home for tired clichés (and quasi-truisms).
posted by liam at 3:03 PM on November 9, 2001

What a coincidence...I was just re-reading the original WTC thread from 9/11. Revisiting history as it happened. Eerie.
posted by msacheson at 3:04 PM on November 9, 2001

Thanks- I feel like I kinda needed that. After reading that article about Father Mychal Judge yesterday, I realized that most of the thoughts I'd been thinking about the Current Situation were somewhat removed from the initial tragedy. I'd been distracted by jingoism and war efforts and white powdery substances and flash movies about dancing Osamas. I lost sight of the fact that we lost thousands of people whom in spite of all the things that have been set in motion, we will never bring back. No doubt the gov't has better information than I do, but as far as I know, I'm not so convinced that blowing the hell out of Osama and Afghanistan is going to do justice, or make anyone the least bit safer. I'm convinced that what's going on now in Afghanistan is basically a very expensive, very violent form of flailing about.

Earlier today, I was actually looking for photos from 9/11, and I watched the videos one more time. I wanted to get back to what brought us here, the thing that isn't hawkish or sensationalist- the profound feeling of, "Holy shit. That isn't supposed to happen. That's a plane, that's a building, the twain are never supposed to meet and oh my God, people are dying" that you have because you're a human being and not a flag-waving war machine. Thanks for the link, aacheson. It helped.

Anyway, I know it's hard to say anything that hasn't already been said, but the wound was sort of reopened for me recently, and I needed to share. Thanks for listening.
posted by MonkeyMeat at 3:05 PM on November 9, 2001

I agree. I feel sick all over again. Call it whatever you want, but it is hard to look at those pictures and worry a whole lot about what Zinn or Chomsky are thinking.
posted by Mid at 3:05 PM on November 9, 2001

Oddly enough the one of the photo got me the most. It reminded me of the closing paragraphs of James Joyces'
The Dead:
"snow was general all over Ireland. it was falling on every part of the dark central plain, on the treeless hills, falling softly upon the Bog of Allen and, farther westward, softly falling into the dark mutinous Shannon waves. It was falling, too, upon every part of the lonely churchyard on the hill where Michael Furey lay buried. It lay thickly drifted on the crooked crosses and headstones, on the spears of the little gate, on the barren thorns. His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead."
posted by Zootoon at 3:58 PM on November 9, 2001

The one of the cemetery I meant of course.
posted by Zootoon at 3:58 PM on November 9, 2001

"There's a gulf of difference between making us bloody and making us fall." - Leonard Pitts Jr.

a new quote for the reference books
posted by ZachsMind at 4:02 PM on November 9, 2001

msacheson: Me, too -- scanning through that 9/11 thread just gives chills up & down spine...click down, and each successive post calls up the barely-hidden agony that has been slowly receding. That MeFi thread is a keeper.

BTW: msacheson and aacheson -- any relation?
posted by davidmsc at 10:17 PM on November 9, 2001

I wonder how all those photographers feel about their images being used without credit. It's just stealing, isn't it? You publish *after* you get credit, not before.
posted by Mo Nickels at 7:15 AM on November 10, 2001

I wonder how all those photographers feel about their images being used without credit

Many of the photographs seen on the BlackDay site are also in the Post's gallery and are credited.
posted by hockeyman at 9:27 AM on November 10, 2001

I sat and went through those pictures, one by one....midway through, my son, still in his Air Force JROTC uniform from the Memorial parade today, sat beside me.....he had seen a lot of what happened, realtime, at his high school that day.....

We didn't say a lot to one another...we didn't need to.

Yes in one sense life seems to be closer to normal.....but my son knows...and so do I........
posted by bunnyfire at 12:10 PM on November 10, 2001

Photographs capture the reality, which is without question moving and heartbreaking, but somehow these pictures hit me even more deeply. Not only do we see the horror and despair, but there's also a message of hope and resiliency. I made this one by John Cole my Windows wallpaper for three weeks after the tragedy. It's more imposing when you stretch it bigger across a 17 inch screen. Uncle Sam's hat in his hand, fist down but ready, and he's looking out over the Atlantic with resolve and certainty. It just says it all for me.

Here's some of the better ones, if you don't want to trudge through the whole stash.

To arms! To arms!
Now we hide
Rise of the Phoenix
Do precisely what I wanted..
Plucked but a feather from a sleeping giant..
The True Twin Towers did not fall.
Bird's eye view
This wasn't in the brochure was it?
From the mouths of babes
They made it
Silver lining
Looks familiar
If it looks like a rat...
Walk a mile in your shoes
Slow on the uptake
Driving the point home
posted by ZachsMind at 3:58 AM on November 11, 2001

davidmsc, Yep, we're related. He's my hubby. :)
posted by aacheson at 9:19 AM on November 13, 2001