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This was one of a few pages in my old sketchbook that referenced the 9/11 attacks. It was probably done a couple of days after the disaster. Some gallows humor, as well as the usual feelings of anti-Osama revenge and depictions of the WTC. The angel who is bemoaning his boss was probably told to stay put in the WTC after the airplane hit, obeyed, and thus suffered the fatal result. I admittedly poked fun at Paul Bunyan (!) and structural experts on the WTC, as well as put forth nonsense about the pilots of flight 93 not being able to read a map straight, but there were more serious references as well: me being angry at the "Taliban" for attacking "my city" (New York, although I was living elsewhere at the time), a fly stinging a "sleeping giant" of a beast, and two items urging America to strike back.

The first thing it did was remove the TKTS stand in downtown Manhattan (it was in the foyer of the World Trade Center). We used to buy Broadway tickets there. Then 9/11 effectively banned us from Manhattan for a few months out of fear (of the air pollution, at least; perhaps some biological agents in the beginning). When I got a job the next summer, it was on the west side of Manhattan and I was able to get pretty close to ground zero. I marveled at how it changed over the next few years, but I remembered how the WTC used to look. As for the Pentagon and Pennsylvania, those were sideshows; it's obvious that most of the tragedy took place in Manhattan or on the airplanes themselves.

My uncle was perhaps the closest person I knew to the attacks (a few blocks away); he was in an office building at the time and didn't see much of the tragedy in person; however, he went uptown to get to his son afterwards and both fled Manhattan. Others that I knew had flights canceled due to the attacks. As for me, I had been shocked at this sudden turn of events, given that I had gotten relieved of penalties in court from a car accident the night before (and had thus been pretty happy BEFORE I heard about the attacks). The shock gave way to anger and a quite jittery feeling over the next few days.

9/11 also reared its ugly head again on the Henry Hudson 400th anniversary (Hudson had landed around September 11, 1609, and so a 9/11 anniversary cropped up around the same time as the Hudson anniversary.) I saw the ceremony from the WFC, on the rainy day of 9/11/2009, and noticed the "9/11 truthers" and other assorted characters protesting not too far from ground zero. (Then, of course, I went on to the happier festival surrounding Hudson's discovery of Manhattan, which was down on the Bowling Green, within a long walk of ground zero.)

News media

It was Grandparent's Day at the Chelsea assisted living facility, in East Brunswick. They had all sorts of American patriotic decorations about, due to the anniversary of the attacks, but Grandparent's Day is not related to the attacks and just happens to coincide with the anniversary. However, the 9/11 anniversary gave me an additional reason to go to the Grandparent's Day festivities (i.e., so I could avoid trouble by staying out of NYC).