email598.xml

email598.xml

born-digital

email

unknown

yes

2002-08-24

Hello! Today at about 12 noon, we flew over New York Harbor and alongside
the East River...my first trip back to NYC since the events of September
11th. The past gazillion times I've made this flight, I was always
face-to-the-window, eagerly awaiting the fabulous view of Manhattan below.
But today, I was hesitant.....I thought it interesting that this time, no
announcement was made by the pilot to look out the left side of the plane at
the awesome sight. But I had to look....and as I did, my first thought was
that the city looked no different than another large, American
city...without its signature twin towers, it could have been Pittsburgh, or
Cleveland. Even the skylines of Chicago and Dallas, with their own
signature towers, Sears and Reunion, had a more distinct skyline than that
of today's New York City. Very strange.

But as we headed closer to the island and passed over its southern end, my
heart sank. A gaping whole, piles of brick and stone....and yes, smoke
still rising. I had managed to keep my piece of mind over the past few
weeks by completely disconnecting myself from the media and any conversation
dealing with the topic of the NYC disaster....but seeing it below me brought
back the overwhelming feeling of despair that I experienced several weeks
ago. I wiped away the tears as I stared below....and I could see others on
the plane doing the same.

Walking through LaGuardia snapped us all out of it, as it appeared to be the
same, bustling airport of yesterday. Awaiting my cab, the sounds of horns
honking and the borough of Queens buzzing around me was very comforting.

Heading down the Long Island Expressway toward the city presented me with
another, always-anticipated view, the "long" view of Manhattan, with
downtown to the left, uptown to the right, and midtown directly in front of
me. Again, the view was different. Normally, it's like a giant Alexander
Calder mobile....most of the components (in this case, the skyscrapers)
concentrated in the middle (midtown) and the right side (uptown)....and way,
way, way over to the left, the twin World Trade Center towers serving as
giant counter-balances.

This time, however, something else caught my eye.....the Empire State
Building. Funny how the twin towers demanded our eyes' attention all these
years.....pulling our gazes away from the Empire State Building, which is
DIRECLTY in front of you. And the Chrysler Building (which has always been
my favorite of NYC's skyscrapers). These 2 NY divas seemed like relieved
first and second runners up in some past beauty pageant, finally allowed to
reclaim their former titles, usruped from them in the 1970's by the twin
towers.....yet this time around, they were aged and wrinkled and
worn....somehow not wearing their titles very well. But I have to
admit...it WAS kind of nice to see the Empire State Building once again the
tallest building in the city....standing proud and tall right in the middle
of the city....with all the other buildings to her right AND her left
bowing in respect. I got a big smile on my face. "You GO, girl!", I
thought.

As soon as we crossed under the river and surfaced in Manhattan, I asked the
driver to let me out early....blocks before my intended destination. I
wanted to walk through the city for the remaining 6 or 7 blocks....and I'm
so glad I did. The heartbeat of the city was still there....the people were
back to business as usual.....I could smell the familiar smells of food
cooking on the street, the familiar sounds, the wind blowing down the
corridors. It made me so glad to be back in NY......this city STILL kicks
ass!!!!!

Love you all! Kanani

October 1, 2001

My view from the plane today