THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2006
SEPT. 11 REMEMBERED
9A
Exhibit displays Sept.11 memories
Photographers' remembrances of historic event at Dole Institute
BY ERIN CASTANEDA
Even though they each stand more than 10 feet tall, it's hard to notice the two steel beams from the World Trade Center towers because of an impressive American flag stained glass window drawing the viewer's attention away.
The flag and columns will set the backdrop for the traveling Associated Press photo exhibit "9/11 Five Years Later," which has been on display for two weeks at the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics. The last day to view the display is Sept. 12.
The exhibit features photographs taken of the World Trade Center on the day of the attack and at the same site in June 2006.
"It's chilling," Jean Bischoff, senior archivist at the Dole Institute, said. "To me, the most interesting thing is how all the photographers responded as humans."
A video telling the story of what
it was like for the AP photographers on that unforgettable day is on display. The photo screens were packaged in a container that will be mailed to various locations across the country throughout the year.
In the video, five or six photographers shared the sights, sounds and feelings they experienced while capturing the story and images.
In the chaos, dust and rubble, Mike Silverman, managing editor of AP, explained his dedication to the work that took the forefront of many photographers' minds despite the feeling of terror in their stomachs.
Former senior staff photographer Marty Lederhandler was 84 years old when the attacks took place. He described how he could not walk fast enough to be close to the towers so instead he went to the top of the General Electric Building to photograph the scene from above.
"It's a strange feeling. You look
at one picture with the building, and the current picture, no building. Just an emptiness in the sky." Lederhandler said in the movie
As the video plays on the screen, visitors can see the dirt and rubble still on the tower's columns. They were not cleaned or restored before arriving at the Dole Institute in April 2003. According to a statement prepared by Bischoff, they appeared exactly as they were when they were removed from Ground Zero. They were still coated with flame retardant foam, jet fuel and debris.
the four-foot-wide steel columns, which weigh approximately 1,500 pounds, were part of the perimeter of the towers. John M. Barson, World Trade Center engineer, stated in a letter to Stan Rolfe, professor of civil and environmental engineering professor, that one of the columns was installed somewhere between the 58th and 61st floors. The other tapered piece
came from one of the mechanical equipment floors, he said. There were three mechanical floors in each tower.
Andrew McKelvey shipped the columns to Lawrence from New York City. McKelvey worked with Senator Bob Dole and former president Bill Clinton on a Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund for children of Sept. 11victims. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg presented them to the Dole Institute. The memorial cases in which the columns are encased, were a gift from KU alumni Fred and Virginia Merrill.
Bischoff said the Dole Institute would soon make the plaque with the donors' name more prominent in the display.
kansan staff writer Erin Castanea da can be contacted at ecastanea-da@kansan.com.
— Edited by Kate Shipley
Liberty Hall to screen conspiracy theory documentary
BY DAVID LINHARDT
University of Kansas graduate Matt Toplikar isn't sure if he believes the conspiracy theories surrounding the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but he's passionate about challenging the government's official story.
Toplikar worked for weeks with friend Tim Hjersted to bring the controversial documentary "Loose Change" to Lawrence. The conspiracy film will be screened at 7 p.m. today at Liberty Hall, 643 Massachusetts St., on the fifth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center. Admission is $2.
"Loose Change" was originally created by three 20-something men on a Compaq Presario laptop with Adobe video software. The film uses news footage, declasified documents from decades past and open-ended questions to try to
debunk the government's version of Sept. 11.
"Movies are good about certain things, but even from our own research we think it might have gotten some things wrong," Toplikar said.
Filmmakers Jason Bermas, Korey Rowe and Dylan Avery finished the second edition of the film this year after Avery did much of the work on the original version, which cost only $2,000 to produce. The second version, which will be shown in Lawrence, cost $6,000.
USA Today attacked the film, but Vanity Fair magazine promoted it. The three filmmakers were in New York this weekend to promote their work and the pending third version, "Loose Change: Final Edition," which will arrive before the end of the year.
Avery's first idea was a short
story about him and his friends discovering that the government had covered up its role in instigating the terrorist attacks. He found that his research seemed to point to the story actually being true.
Bermas, one of the film's producers, saw the same vision of Sept. 11 that Avery did, though Avery and Rowe did not meet Bermas until they had already partially finished the first version of the documentary.
For the film to be successful, "we really need a college movement," Bermas said.
Bridget Franklin, a KU student activist, said she hoped the film didn't try too hard to take sides.
"I believe we could have done more to predict that Sept. 11 was going to happen," said Franklin, Topeka senior. "I think we were just too busy neglecting what's going on
in other parts of the world."
The showing has been promoted by Tribal Vision, an activist group in Lawrence, and by 911Truth.org, a sprawling consortium of challengers to the government's story of Sept. 11's events.
Janice Matthews, executive director of 911Truth's steering committee, is also a KU graduate. She said that though her organization wasn't directly overseeing the screening of "Loose Change" in Lawrence, she was thrilled to see students reexamining the events of Sept. 11.
"I'm just so angry," Matthews said. "We can't live in a country where people can't ask questions."
Kansan staff writer David Linhardt can be contacted at dlinhardt@kansan.com.
-Edited by Catherine Odson
Bush vows to never forget lessons from Sept.11
BY JENNIFER LOVEN ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — President Bush and his wife Laura stood in somber silence on Sunday after laying wreaths at the site where the twin towers of the World Trade Center once soared. He later pledged "renewed resolve" to remember the lessons of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
The Bushes set floral wreaths adrift in reflecting pools that mark the former location of the north and south towers at the beginning of a fifth-anniversary tour that will take them to all three sites of devastation.
fighters.
They uttered no words at the ceremony, and walked hand-in-hand on the floor of the cavernous pit, after a slow procession down the long, flag-lined ramp from the street level four to five stories above.
The Bushes then attended a service of prayer and remembrance at nearby St. Paul's Chapel and stopped by a rebuilt firehouse to greet fire-
"Laura and I approach tomorrow with heavy hearts. It's hard not to think about people who lost their lives." Bush told reporters after meeting with relatives of 9/11 victims at a visitor center near the firehouse. The original firehouse, on the rim of the pit, had been destroyed in the attack.
"Tomorrow is a day of sadness for a lot of people," Bush said. "I vowed that I'm never going to forget the lessons of that day. ... So tomorrow is also a day of renewed resolve."
They were the first stops of nearly 24 hours of observances at the three sites where terrorists wrought death and destruction and transformed his presidency. Nearly 3,000 Americans were killed in the attacks.
On Monday, the anniversary, he was to visit with firefighters and other emergency workers at a firehouse in lower Manhattan; attend a ceremony at the field in Shanksville, Pa., where one of the hijacked planes hurtled to the ground; and participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Pentagon.
He also was to speak to Americans during a prime-time address Monday night from the Oval Office.
Accompanying the president and first lady at ground zero were New York Gov. George Pataki, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Rudy Giuliani, who was New York mayor at the time of the attacks.
Across New York, residents marked the day at other ceremonies large and small. From a service of remembrance at St. Patrick's Cathedral in midtown Manhattan to a chant at a Buddhist temple on Staten Island, New Yorkers observed the somber anniversary with prayer and reflection.
Bush and his wife wore grim expressions as they took their places for the interfaith service at St. Paul's. The 240-year-old Episcopal church, across the street from the site, escaped damage and became a center of refuge for weary rescue workers.
Sitting next to Bush in the pew was Jane Vigiano, who lost two sons in the attack — Joe, a policeman and John, a firefighter. Sitting next to Laura Bush was Bob Beckwith, the retired firefighter who handed Bush a bullhorn on the president's first ground zero visit.
On their way in, Bush and his wife greeted Arlene Howard, the mother of 9/11 victim George Howard, a New York Port Authority police officer, with a kiss on the cheek. Bush keeps Howard's badge as a constant reminder of the attacks.
I was sitting in homeroom at my school and the news was on TV. I watched in shock as they described the first plane hitting the towers and then out of nowhere the second plane hit. The only thing going through my mind as I witnessed this was, "Oh my God, I hope my father is ok!"
My dad worked only two buildings down from the World Trade Center and I was terrified that something bad had happened to him. After homeroom was finished I gathered in the choir room with a bunch of my friends. We were all using our cell phones to try and contact our parents, most of whom worked in New York
City. I finally got ahold of my mother and she came to pick me up at school. She had heard from my father who was heading towards the ferry since the subways were shut down. We drove to Newark to pick him up and I will never forget what we saw. The towers were on fire and smoke was everywhere. Newark was a traffic jam, because everyone had to get out of New York City through the ferry. People were standing on the streets waiting for their loved ones to come home. I started crying when my dad finally found us and got in the car.
He was coughing and was covered in soot, but he was alive. He was lucky and I thank God everyday that he survived such a horrible tragedy.
Anna Phillips, Kansas City, Mo., sophomore
Sitting in class that day I had to come to grips with the fact that my mom was in New York. My mom travels a lot in her job so this wasn't rare, but that day was different. She was staying in the Marriot World Trade Center. I called my dad, and he
Samantha Hersh, South Orange,N.J., senior
assured me that she was ok. The truth is he didn't know. He thought she was on Long Island, but she wasn't. She was standing under the towers when the first plane went in and when the first tower came down. Everything that happened that day was her story. But her being there, and the week it took for her to get home is mine.
Craig Frint, Belleville freshman
When 9/11 happened, I was in boot camp for the Marines at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego. MCRD San Diego is right next to the airport in San Diego. Everyday we would run by the airport and hear the planes take off. That morning, we thought there might be trouble when we heard no planes taking off.
The second sign was when we were on our way back to where we stayed was all the other men who where at training were in circles. We
were sent to take a shower and change clothes and then our senior drill instructor came and told us what had happened. At first we were shocked, then we all felt the anger.
A couple days later, we were shown some pictures and the anger instensified. We used that anger and trained to become Marines even harder. I'll never forget that shock or the anger. 9/11 changed the lives of everbody in the United States, but for me, it was a change that helped me become a Marine and defend the United States.
The Kansan asked members of the University of Kansas community to submit their reflections about the events of Sept. 11 and how our country has changed since that time. Selected submissions are printed below. All submissions are available online at kansan.com/sept11.
SEE SEPT. 11 ON PAGE 10A
KU
HALL CENTER
FOR THE HUMANITIES
The University of Kansas
HUMANITIES LECTURE SERIES 2006-2007
All events are free and open to the public. No tickets are required.
NURUDDIN FARAH
Somali Novelist
Tuesday, Sept. 12 • 7:30 pm
"The Fork in the Fork of the Road"
Woodruff Auditorium, Kansas Union
Supported by the Sosland Foundation of Kansas City
"A Conversation with Nuruddin Farah,"
Wednesday, Sept. 13 at 10:00 am, Hall Center Conference Hall
This series is co-sponsored by Kansas Public Radio, and partial funding is provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
For more information contact the Hall Center at 785-864-4798, via mail at hallcenter.ku.edu or visit our Web site at www.hallcenter.ku.edu
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