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Sep. 11th, 2002 08:26 amI firmly believe that the first city that you see is the city that you compare all other cities to in the fuure. The idea of a city leave such an impression on the human. The concept is in many ways truly staggering. My first city was New York. All other cities pale to me in comparison.
As a child, I would often go with my parents into the city. We’d drive the hour or so east and north from our New Jersey home to go see my grandparents or to go site-seeing. School time trips were almost always into the city to see cultural exhibits and roam the museums. The landmark that we were almost there was the city skyline. The twin towers were a major part of that feeling. It was how we knew we had reached NY and not some other wannabe town.
In college I spent two summers working at the Liberty Science Center, a science museum in Liberty State park in Jersey City. From its walls you can view the Statue of Liberty and on the drive to work I would see the towers and know I was almost there. I’ve taken the Colgate Ferry from the shores of Jersey to the World Trade Center. The basement of the building was often used for cultural exhibits and demonstrations…usually free ones at that. They strung a giant series of strings up there once, and made the world’s largest stringed instrument. One person was needed to pluck each string. It’s hard to think of that space being gone.
I’ve been back to NYC since September 11th of last year…but I refused to see it as the same city of my childhood. The skyline of the city, seems empty without the twin towers. The city has a sense of unreality to it. It simply isn’t right. I haven’t gone to ground zero though. The city doesn’t seem the same, because quite simply it isn’t.
As a child, I would often go with my parents into the city. We’d drive the hour or so east and north from our New Jersey home to go see my grandparents or to go site-seeing. School time trips were almost always into the city to see cultural exhibits and roam the museums. The landmark that we were almost there was the city skyline. The twin towers were a major part of that feeling. It was how we knew we had reached NY and not some other wannabe town.
In college I spent two summers working at the Liberty Science Center, a science museum in Liberty State park in Jersey City. From its walls you can view the Statue of Liberty and on the drive to work I would see the towers and know I was almost there. I’ve taken the Colgate Ferry from the shores of Jersey to the World Trade Center. The basement of the building was often used for cultural exhibits and demonstrations…usually free ones at that. They strung a giant series of strings up there once, and made the world’s largest stringed instrument. One person was needed to pluck each string. It’s hard to think of that space being gone.
I’ve been back to NYC since September 11th of last year…but I refused to see it as the same city of my childhood. The skyline of the city, seems empty without the twin towers. The city has a sense of unreality to it. It simply isn’t right. I haven’t gone to ground zero though. The city doesn’t seem the same, because quite simply it isn’t.
