9/11 Memorial and The High Line

You must understand the whole of life,

not just one little part of it.

That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies,

that is why you must sing and dance, and write poems,

and suffer, 

and understand, 

for all that is life.

~Jiddu Krishnamurti 

October 15, 2013

September 11th Memorial 

It was another absolutely gorgeous day in New York. I'd made a 10:30 visitor's pass appointment online, to go into the memorial. I highly recommend planning ahead, because the line for people without an appointment was very long, and even with an appointment, you still have to go through security, and there is a line to get through that, appointment or not.

South Pool, looking toward the Freedom Tower ...

South Pool

World Trade Center South

First Responders

Flight 175

Pentagon

Flight 77

Flight 93

Healing does not mean going back to the way things were before,

but rather allowing what is now to move us closer to God.

~Ram Dass

Light reflecting off the Freedom Tower, still under construction ...

When we leave this world, how much we have loved will be our true legacy.

It is the only thing we leave behind and carry with us.

~Anne Siloy

North Pool, below, looking toward the unfinished museum ...

North Pool

World Trade Center North

Flight 11

February 26, 1993 

Freedom Tower, winged "glass" exterior

Freedom tower reflection, on the face of the soon to be museum.

The memorial was beautiful and moving. I'm glad I went, though it all felt very surreal. So much went through my mind as I walked around. I remembered the times I'd been there before, when the towers were there … in 6th grade with my parents, with my friend Lynn at Windows on the World, with Larry to see views of the city below … 

The thing that was a bit strange, was that some of the visitors, were smiling in front of it and taking pictures, like it was a tourist attraction. These were just a few, though. Most people were very respectful, knowing what happened there, and that it is really a sacred space. 

I watched some of the school kids walking around, thinking how strange it is, that to them it's history. It's another event, that they have no memory of. It happened before they were born.

The 9/11 Museum hasn't opened, but this video is a 3 minute preview of it, and the work that has been going on.

For information about the memoir l or to get a visitor pass, please click here, for the website.

The High Line

October 15, 2013

From the High Line website:

"The High Line was built in the 1930s, as part of a massive public-private infrastructure project called the West Side Improvement. It lifted freight traffic 30 feet in the air, removing dangerous trains from the streets of Manhattan's largest industrial district. 

No trains have run on the High Line since 1980. Friends of the High Line, a community-based non-profit group, formed in 1999 when the historic structure was under threat of demolition. Friends of the High Line works in partnership with the City of New York to preserve and maintain the structure as an elevated public park." 

Section 1 of the High Line, opened in June of 2009. Section 2, in June 2011.

The appearance of things change according to the emotions,

and thus we see magic and beauty in them,

while the magic and beauty are really in ourselves.

~ Kahlil Gibran

The Diller - Von Furstenberg Sundeck and Water Feature

Section 1 of the High Line had opened before my last trip to New York, in 2010, but it was January, snowing and cold, and I just didn't make it. This time, with the spectacular weather, it was the perfect time! 

I met my niece Rachel, and my friend Lisa (who lives in Brooklyn) for lunch, after going to the 9/11 Memorial. Then, Lisa and I headed over to the High Line. It really is a great public space, with a changing landscape, as you walk along it … with places to sit, relax and enjoy the landscaping, as well as views of the city and the Hudson River. 

Lisa ...

Here's a quick 4 minute video, about the history of the High Line, narrated by Ethan Hawke

The High Line is on the West Side of Manhattan and runs a mile and a half, from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking district, through the gallery district, up to West 34th Street. 

Every thought you have

makes up some segment of the world you see.

It is with your thoughts, then, that we must work,

if your perception of the world is to be changed.

~A Course in Miracles

Lisa took this shot of me, on the High Line ...

 

Perception is not passive; it is an act of creation.

Your choice of perception forms

not only how you experience yourself, but your entire reality.

~Story Waters

 

At the Chelsea Market Passage (above) we took a right, and lo and behold … a place to have a beer in the sunshine!

So we did!

I did a blog post about visiting Lisa, in the winter of 2010, in Brooklyn. 

She makes documentaries, primarily in Africa. 

There are links to all of that info, in this post.

To give you an idea of the size of the High Line and the neighborhoods it goes through, click here for the map.

For the High Line homepage, click here.

Blessings and light!