New York City is the kind of place that inspires strong emotions in people. Some hate it, citing big city snobbery and the crazy hectic pace and the usual city complaints of “dirty, noisy, dangerous”. Others, especially New Yorkers themselves, see it as the center of the universe, a thriving, diverse center of culture, cuisine, intellectuals and the arts. But whatever people thought of New York City, something shifted on September 11, 2001. When the twin towers fell and New Yorkers committed completely selfless acts of heroism in the wake of a tragedy, the city became something more than what it had been. Being a New Yorker became a badge of honor and there was a pretty booming business selling patriotic paraphernalia emblazoned with New York themes.
I was not yet a teacher on September 11th. I was completing my graduate program in education in Boston, a city that held its own share of the grief, pain and even blame for the tragedy. In the years that followed, I’ve worked in Massachusetts and New Jersey, places where student understanding of the tragedy ranged from complete oblivion to devastating loss of a loved one. In a classroom, it is incredibly hard to reconcile the needs of a grieving child with the need to respect a parent’s wishes that their child not be made aware of a tragedy. As the years have gone by, things have shifted. The marking of the date has moved from a very personal and almost delicate management of something our students lived through to a slightly bland celebration of patriotism. I don’t mean to offend by calling it bland, but I must admit that it is incredibly difficult for younger students to understand why we are marking the date without explaining why. And it is very difficult to explain why in a way that is not scary, because it was scary. It was one of the scariest things I have lived through.
This month rather than go blandly patriotic for you, I’m going to honor New York, an amazing city that suffered an incredible tragedy and has never lost its magic. I have lots of wonderful books for you, but if you are impatient or simply want to maximize your New York reading exposure, I can strongly recommend that you visit Storied Cities. She reviews books about all cities, but has a deep and thorough collection of New York City books under her New York City tag.
Thanks for mentioning my blog (even though I haven’t posted in a while). I hope people looking for NYC books will find something useful. I moved to NYC just before 9/11 and so I never really knew what a pre-9/11 NYC was like but it’s safe to say it’s a pretty amazing place.
What a lovely idea. There’s a growing movement to make September 11 a day to do community service and to reach out and connect with others rather than focusing only on mourning or recalling the events. It always surprises me when the kids at my schools don’t really have a memory or understanding of that day. Time passes so quickly.