by It’s performance week for me, and it’s a busy week in addition to being a sad week (see previous post). I’ve had all sorts of commitments this week and I’ve been running around and I will be continuing to run around. There’s been rehearsals, where I didn’t do too great, my apologies to the people in front of me (the people who stand in front of you are the ones who can really hear you) …
… and a conference downtown sponsored by WIRED. By the way, as you can see from this picture, I live on the wrong side of 1 World Trade Center. They’ve finished the point on this side. So beautiful and elegant, although not everyone agrees, of course. Also, last night …
… the 9/11 Tribute Center, where I used to be a volunteer, giving tours of the World Trade Center site, had an event which began at Fraunces Tavern, where in 1783 George Washington gave his farewell address to the officers of the continental army. Then we went to the Tribute Center …
… to a lovely night of storytelling, co-sponsored by The Moth (a storytelling organization in NYC). Various people with connections to 9/11, like survivors, first responders, and the children of firefighters who died that day, told their stories. I cried three times. It got personal for me a couple of times. Before I went to St. Paul’s Chapel to volunteer, I was one of the people who would go over to the West Side Highway to cheer the workers coming in and out of the site. Two recovery workers talked about what that felt like for them and it made me very, very glad I did it.
Here’s the thing: I will never forget one time cheering and a woman driving by in a car was sobbing, and trying not to sob, as she passed us by and drove into the site. I didn’t know if we had upset her, or if she was crying because she was moved. I swear to God, one of the storytellers last night looked just like that woman and she described what it was like going down into the site with all of us applauding her and the other workers. We hadn’t upset her.
