Tuesday Afternoon in Tribeca: Looking Out at One World Trade Center from the Ninth Floor of Fiterman Hall

This semester the new Fiterman Hall at Borough of Manhattan Community College opened -- the old Fiterman Hall building was so heavily damaged from the collapse of 7 World Trade Center on 9/11 that it had to be demolished -- and we've been teaching our wonderful creative writing workshop there on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. On the Barclay Street side of the building on the ninth floor, they have some comfortable swivel chairs placed at the floor-to-ceiling windows, and on this very chilly, rainy/snowy afternoon before class, we watched the still-not-complete One World Trade Center and all the construction by the PATH terminal (just opened again after the hurricane) below.

Tuesday Afternoon in Lower Manhattan: Port Authority Police Bagpipers Commemorate September 11, 2001

At 1:20 p.m. we were coming out of the subway on Murray and Church Streets on our way to teach creative writing at Borough of Manhattan Community College when we stopped to watch and listen to the mournful sounds of the Port Authority police bagpipe band commemorate the dead of September 11, 2001.

Our class meets at the newly rebuilt Fiterman Hall, which opened two weeks ago, replacing the old Fiterman Hall, which was damaged beyond repair by the collapse of 7 World Trade Center.  It was very hard not to think about that day eleven years ago.