by: Noelle Backer

Never have I felt more inadequate about sitting down to write this. I cannot think of what I might possibly have to say that could be remotely important. By the time this issue is printed and in your hands, it will be nearly a month after the tragedy of Sept. 11. Right now, however, it is just three days since it happened, and I can think of little else.

This morning I tracked down the last of a few friends who live and work in New York City — they were among the lucky ones who made it home safely. And I am among the lucky ones who have not lost family and close friends. But, somehow, it is hard to feel lucky when many close to you have lost family and friends, when so many Americans are suffering so greatly. Our own art director, Mike Ricci, lost his brother-in-law, Robert Fangman, a flight attendant on one of the highjacked planes. And somehow you feel like the effects have only just begun to be realized.

One thing I do know is that I have never, ever felt my own sense of nationalism so intensely. The last few days have been clouded by a heavy, heavy spirit among all Americans, but yet when I pass people on the street or in the stores, and even the toll collectors on my way over the bridge to and from our office, there seems to be a kindness, a comradery that is so loudly spoken in soft, though, saddened smiles, and in everyone’s eyes.

It is comforting and strengthening … and it also reminds me that life must go on. Business has resumed (for the most part) as usual, although economic experts interviewed on television last night were trying to explain the potential damage this tragedy could inflict on the financial community and the airlines.

Right now, it is too early (at least for those I heard trying to analyze the situation) to forecast the big picture, although considering part of the world’s financial center has been demolished and the entire commercial airline industry has been shut down, if only briefly, you can bet there will be some significant effects.

For now, it is all we can do to keep our minds on editing, fact checking, and tracking down photography to try to get this issue out the door, so that some of the information in it might help you get back to business as usual.

OCTOBER 2001: TABLE OF CONTENTS