The webinar will be available at 911memorial.org/webinar. Log in at any time beginning Friday, September 10 to view the program on demand. You will learn about 9/11 through personal stories from 9/11 family members Cait Leavey, Brielle Saracini, and John Spade, first responders from the FDNY and PAPD, and a student on 9/11, and ask questions through a live chat with Museum staff. The webinar will be interpreted in American Sign Language and captioned. An audio description and Spanish subtitles will also be available.
Library staff invite the public to stop in to see the posters, view the documentary, and share their personal memories of this day.
I vividly remember that day as a new middle school teacher. It was in the middle of our second period language arts class that the math teacher came and knocked on our classroom door and told us to turn on the television. As I watched the horrific live coverage with my students, I began to wonder if this is really something they needed to see. I didn’t want them to be upset. Their first reaction was this must be some sort of action-movie . . . was it really happening? Soon our principal gave an intercom announcement for the school to hold a moment of silence and to send prayers for those trapped and for the first responders. For weeks following, our school sang Lee Greenwood’s song “Proud to Be an American” as part of the morning announcements. The newspaper had published a full spread page of the American flag, and every window in our school was covered with this flag that we had saved from newspapers. Students had many feelings about what had happened and across the back wall of our classroom, we had a long sheet of bulletin board paper where students could write their thoughts and share memorial tributes to the lives that were lost. I will never forget the anxiety driving home and seeing long lines of cars waiting to fill up at gas stations. I was particularly worried about my cousin who lived in Manhattan. Thank God that she was safe! I have a gold charm of the Big Apple with the twin towers inside that was given to me by a friend who visited New York years before the attack and I always wear this on 9/11 to remember the lives lost and the bravery of heroic fireman and Port Authority Police. We must never forget and encourage each other to stay strong when faced with terrible times . . . even today as we are faced with a different war, the war on the pandemic. - Suzanne Moore, Wilkes County Librarian