Month Six: February
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| Mott Street |
February brings the Lunar New Year, the year of the Black Horse. Lion dancers roam Chinatown, bringing good luck and chasing away evil spirits.
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| Flag scarves and fake firecrackers |
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| Lion dancers |
Firecrackers were banned several years ago, so children settle for white twisted snap crackers.
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| No tents on the Battery |
Farther south, the National Guard have left Battery Park; debate goes on about air quality in Battery Park City, and grants for nearby residents willing to commit to two more years downtown.
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Outside the Battery Park theater (still closed)
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| Reflection |
A friend living across from St Paul’s Chapel shows me his only view of the progress at Ground Zero: a blurred reflection in a neighbor’s window.
He talks us in to another, unoccupied apartment with a better view. Gray dust from the collapse is still matted into the window corners.
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| A field of trailers |
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| St. Paul’s |
The progress is impressive, though cranes still claw at the piles of broken beams. It’s hard to tell exactly, but it looks like they are now working three floors down.
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Steady progress
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Barge crane
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Heritage Trail marker
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The rubble makes its way on trucks to Pier 25, where it is offloaded onto barges bound for sorting at the Staten Island Fresh Kills Landfill.
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| Building the future |
More streets have been reopened near the site, and weekend crowds fill every new opening.
I notice an NYPD officer standing and flipping through a booklet of faces between scans of the crowd.
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| Checking faces |
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Watching
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Feel free to feel better
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Using airplanes to kill
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The other twin towers
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Olympics
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St. Paul’s Chapel wall
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New world disorder
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Got human rights?
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| Most victims |
Each week brings a new wave of posters and stickers.
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HEPA
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Shut down the WEF
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Defend your country
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| World Financial Center |
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| Disaster cards, with target |
Each week also brings a new wave of conflicting messages and images of Arab men.
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| Instant stereotype: just cut and apply |
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| Both missing from the 90th Floor |
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Remember her on Valentine’s Day
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Taxi map
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A Valentine from Puff Daddy
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Mid-month, Valentine’s Day brings another flood of emotional imagery, not all of it loving.
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| Grand Street |
And with it, more corporate tie-ins.
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| Tommy Hilfiger |
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| Brooklyn Bridge |
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| Pier 16 Ticketbooth |
A new city policy requires tickets for the viewing platform, to cut down congestion at the WTC site, and increase foot traffic at the neglected South Street Seaport.
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Ticket rules
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Map and platform ticket
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WTC Tickets
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| Pier 16 |
A maze of police barriers around the ticket booth awaits the weekend lines, but during the week the maze is empty.
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If you have time
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Reaching for space
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| Over the platform edge |
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| Pier 17 |
At 5:00 I turn in my ticket, and wait in line for my three minutes on the platform.
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| Faded |
Mayor Giuliani’s signature has faded and been overwritten.
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FDNYPD Forever
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Nine years ago today, the North Tower of the World Trade Center was bombed.
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| The platform at dusk |
