The Twin Towers used to stand four blocks south of elementary school PS 234.
In June 2001, my children were in their last few weeks of 2nd grade and kindergarten.
My son’s teacher gave disposable cameras to her class of 7-year-olds.
They took photos of their school, their friends…
…and their towers.
That fall, we brought our children back to the schoolyard.
On Tuesday, September 11, the kids went to their classrooms. We stood around waiting to vote in the primary.
One father happened to bring his video camera.
A passenger plane flew low and loud over our heads.
We had no reference for what we heard.
Or what we saw.
The rest is history.
“All teachers with south-facing classrooms, please lower your blinds.”
— Principal Anna Switzer spoke into the PS 234 intercom on the morning of 9/11. Moments earlier, the first plane had crashed into the North Tower.
Miraculously, no one in the PS 234 community was physically hurt that day.
Even though all the teachers and children were right there.
In the years that followed, there was a disturbing surge in prejudice against Muslims.
In 2011, when the school invited alumni back to commemorate the 10th anniversary, I saw an opportunity.
“Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.”
— Malcolm Forbes