9/11 Remembered, 20th Anniversary
When the Sept. 11 attacks occurred, I was in California. In horror, I watched one of the towers collapse on live television. My family friends Don and Sue Jenner lived in Tribeca on Greenwich Street, walking distance to the World Trade Center. They also both worked at CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community College in lower Manhattan. When I was attending college on Long Island, the Jenners were like an aunt and uncle to me and often invited me into the city. I was always so grateful for their warm hospitality which belied the stereotype of frosty, uppity New Yorkers and made NYC feel like a real home to me. When staying with them, we attended Trinity Church Wall Street, and everyone I met there was also so kind and friendly to me. Don and Sue Jenner at World Trade Center in front of Borders Books, 5 WTC, 1990s I was terrified for everyone. I felt a mixture of relief and a strange survivor guilt after learning my “aunt and uncle” and everyone I knew from the church fared better than many.
