Journeys of the Questress - WTC
I Submit a Design
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The Way it Was - 1
The Way it Was - 2
Sept 19 - When Tomorrow Never Comes
Sept 27 - Oral Interpretation
Oct 5 - A Mile of Tears - Part 1
Oct 5 - A Mile of Tears - Part 2
Oct 5 - A Mile of Tears - Part 3
Oct 11 - Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
Oct 28 - Each Day I Search the Rubble
Nov 12 - When Spires Fall
Nov 19 - 911 The Rape of America
Dec 14 - Just A Thought
Dec 18 - A Sense of Place
Feb 2 - Final Pass to the End Zone
March 3 - Sitting on the Edge
March 14- Do You Still Remember
March 20 - Virtual Walk-Through
March 25 - When Will It End - Part 1
March 25 - When Will It End - Part 2
April 1 - Towers of Light
May 14 - View From Above
May 30 - Tunnel At the End of the Light
May 31 - Seventeen Hundred
Aug 9 - From the Margins Erased
Aug 30 - The Train Doesn't Stop There Anymore
Sept 9 - Ceremonies of Light and Dark
Sept 10 - Just An Anniversary
Sept 12 - September Holds Great Promise
Literary Reflections
Rebirth and Resurrection
The Winter Garden Springs To Life
The Winter Garden Springs To Life - con't
Underpass to the Past
Rebuilding Ground Zero
Under Hallowed Ground
Borders
Yahrzeit
What Will Fill the Void?
I Submit a Design
Footprints in the Dust
My Memorial Design Submission
My Memorial Design - Drawings
New Path Train Station
Path Station Tour
May We Never Forget
That Which Surives
War Without End
4th Anniversary
Footprints in the Dust
Void
I Miss 9/11
Time Comes Between Us
A Thousand Cranes
Fear Factor
Love Letters On The Wall
Empty Chairs
Sitting on the Edge of Forever
Walking the Perimeter of Emptiness
A Counting of Days
For Friends Absent But Not Forgotten
Stigmata
The Memory Keeper's Promise
Unbreak My Heart
Standing On The Edge Of Forever
Both Sides Now
A Memory In Time
The Gravity of Loss
The Survivors Rise Up
Flowers Will Bloom
The Fire Within Us
The Sentinel
Stronger Than The Storm
Between the Candle and the Stars
Ghosts
A Journey Through Remembrance
Canticle of Remembrance
Beyond the Crucible of Chaos
Journey Through Remembrance project
What See We Now
Forever In Our Hearts
Keeping the Flame Alive
The Rebuilding of Ground Zero continues
Does Anyone Care Anymore?
Where Is Our Story Teller of Pain
At Memory's Edge
Dust Thou Art and to Dust Thou Shalt Return
7x7x70
Heroes Never Die
The Flame Inside Our Hearts
The Year of the Heroes of 9/11
Déjà Vu
Remembering 9/11 in the year of COVID-19
Coronavirus Decimates Ailing Sept. 11 Responders
Touching From a Distance
That Which Survives 20 years later
2021 - 20 years later
Memories of Terror Return
Putin's Name Covered Over On Teardrop Memorial
The 9/11 Tribute Museum Closes
When Memories Fade Away
St. Nicholas at Ground Z is rebuilt
The Blue Wall of the Unidentified Victims
When Time Calls Your Name
When Art Gets It All Wrong

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I Submit A Design
Why did I enter the WTC Memorial competition? After all I am a writer not an architect. What chance does my design have against 5200 other submissions? But that is not the point. I didn't pursue this process to "win." I didn't pursue it for ego reasons. I pursued it for the survivors, friends and families of those who died. My central thought was to create a memorial that they and the deceased would want to see existing on that hallowed ground. I read and listened to all I could about what THEY, the real stakeholders in this competition, wanted as a memorial.
 
Impact
 
I felt that out of the thousands of entrants, there surely were others who felt as I did. Joining my energies with a such a consciousness, working to achieve the same ends, would place a positive force out into the universe. The old "butterfly flapping its wings starts a hurricane..." concept. We might all appear separated by circumstance, location, culture, skills, etc. but at the center we are joined by our common humanity and our souls. I pray, not that my design 'wins' but that those who are hurting, grieving, angry, lost, will be given a space where in which they can ultimately find some form of solace.
 
Jeff Jarvis shares a similar sentiment. I came across this transcript of his sermon at Pilgrim Congregational Church - June 2003. He relates, "I decided to submit one myself - not because I think for a moment that mine will be selected but simply because I felt I had to, partly out of selfish introspection as a step in a process of healing, and partly as a mitzvah, a deed that simply should be done."
"A filmmaker in New York named Greg Allen at first pooh-poohed the idea of this competition on his weblog but then he, too, decided that he had to make a proposal. And, in turn, he brought together a half-dozen more people and we sat in a New York restaurant one night comparing questions and concerns. And right there, I found fulfillment for the effort that went into this, for I found six people who put care and concern and love into this project, six people who worked hard at remembering."
"Oh, I'm far from alone. More than 13,000 people from 50 states and 90 nations registered to submit proposed memorials... Take those six good souls I met that night and multiply their good efforts now by thousands. This, too, came because of September 11th. This, too, is a change for the good."
 
An open letter to the WTC Grieving
 
Thus I have written this hypothetical letter:
 
From all the WTC Memorial entrants who designed their memorials based upon your pleas,
 
We listened. We took the time to hear the words of the friends and families of those who died on that tragic day. We sifted, incorporated, and then merged our ideas with theirs. We hope that our collective consciousness, focusing upon their wishes, will help ease your grief.
 
Perhaps when those thousands of images we have created flash before the judges, a positive energy will erupt. You, oh lost and angry and hurting, need such a force to envelope your souls. Hopefully from within our creative energies such a force has sprung. That it will speak to you and caress you. That it will bring you some comfort on barren days. And perhaps, it will be strong enough to give you a space, where in some soon to be future, you can gather and remember. In that remembering realize that though your loved ones are gone they will never be forgotten.
 
I wait
 
No word yet on which designs have been chosen as the 8 finalists. So I wait. Win or lose, I just hope that the judges get it right. That they choose the one with the best Karma. After all, when the last survivor dies, the REAL memory dies. So let us build a space where images and words will continue to not just tell a story, but evoke the essence of the tragedy that unfolded that day. 
                                                                                    c2003 Leona M Seufert