9/11 twenty years on

Of course this is all over the news, so I’ll share just a few links.

Fray: Missing Pieces, which was published just a few days after the attacks.

“On September 11, 2001, an unthinkable act of terrorism occurred in New York City and Washington DC. It left holes in our lives, holes in the skyline, holes in our spirit. These are some of the stories of those who were there. These are our missing pieces.”

History: 102 Minutes That Changed America. (YouTube, 1 hour 36 minutes)

“History’s Emmy® Award-winning, and critically acclaimed documentary chronicled the terror of 9/11 in real-time. It is a minute by minute account of the catastrophe unfolding, using footage from numerous sources, including personal camcorder footage, police and fire department recordings, and in-the-moment commentary from first responders and witnesses. This anniversary edition includes interviews and perspectives from those featured in the film, and people who can speak to the events that followed the attack.”

Anil Dash: Twenty is Myth.

“Every year, for twenty years now, I’ve written an observance of this day. Sometimes it’s for myself, sometimes it’s for the small cohort of folks who’ve checked back in with me on this day every year since then, a group which has shrunk a bit over the years. But this was the first year I thought, “maybe I shouldn’t do this anymore”. Because the events of that day are not remembered in society, or honored by our culture, in a way that resembles the feelings that I, and so many others, had in the moment. It’s degenerated fully into myth, some parts good, most of it pretty awful, and even taking part in the observances feels like amplifying this larger, destructive myth that’s been constructed.

It’s impossible to accurately represent the grief, the confusion, the absurdity of that day, let alone the months that followed.”