9-11

 Each year on the eleventh of September, a ceremony is held on Littlefield grid to remember the terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001 when planes were used to smash into the twin towers in New York, and the Pentagon. Another flight, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed into a field in Pennsylvania, rather than the intended target in Washington DC, thanks to the heroic efforts of the passengers. 

This year's 9-11 memorial event on LFgrid.

The story of that day, or better, the thousands of stories, personal testimonies and remembrances of the many and varied people who were caught up on the events, fill millions of pages both printed and on websites and blogs. Many of the stories are harrowing, some are inspiring, a lot are heartbreaking. Those events were so shocking that people who had only the most tenuous links to the buildings - maybe they visited one of the locations a day or two before, or knew someone who had once worked there - still feel a dramatic bond to the places and events of that autumn day.

Almost a quarter of a century later, and the recollections of bravery and loss are still tangible when you visit the RL site of the 9-11 Memorial in the real life city of New York, but if that is impossible for you, the the virtual venue on Littlefield is an unforgettable alternative. The photos in this post are all of the region 9-11 Memorial, on LFgrid.

Each year, anyone who wishes to can foregather inworld to pay their respects at the thousands who lost their lives. Grid owner Walter Balazic, and the builder of this sim Camryn Darkstone, alsong with notable grid residents like Xi Shi, script maestro Dirk Mathers, builder Toy McBride, to name but a few, were on hand to welcome locals and HG visitors in a hybrid Voice and written chat event. The sim is built with elements by Dirk and Walter as well as Ada Wong. 

The conversation was informal, respectful, relaxed, and interesting. Every time we reached a key moment in the chronology of the events that day, a message appeared in Chat. Along with marking those times, there was plenty of room for conversation, and we 'foreigners' were able to express how much we really enjoyed the build.

Govega Sachertorte@hg.neverworldgrid.com.8002: I am running a PBR version of FS and this marble on this waterfall build is really mirrored and shiny :) I feel like jumping in ... it pulls you in... I wonder if anyone jumps into the real one?

Xi Shi: let's hope not

Thirza Ember: the timed announcements on the sim are a really subtle and elegantly poignant idea, who came up with that?

Camryn Darkstone: Dirk did that

Walter Balazic: Dirk scripted it, we were doing it manually for years LOL I would just strike the bell but Dirk added the chat dialog and automation

Dirk Mathers: I remember discussing it with Walter

Walter Balazic: makes it much better

Builder Xi Shi, best known for the gorgeous Ruritania region on this grid which has featured several times in the past in this blog, is responsible for the lovely Tower of Voices dedicated to the brave people on board Flight 93. Set off in its own space on a small promontory, it's a beautiful symbol to their sacrifice.

During this year's event, people shared various memories of that day, now more than two decades ago, which some feel is beginning to fade in the minds of much of the US population. Camryn Darkstone spoke about her experience at the time. Her office was quite close to the catastrophe and she recounted seeing firefighters and other emergency workers coming in to the building where she worked to get a drink of water, and a moment's peace.  Her Memorial build is a labor of love, light, negative space, and serenity, be sure not to miss the Flights of Angels sculpture. The overall configuration of the sim required a lot of thought, to make it respectfully aligned to what was going on in the real world... but through the miracle of pixels, much more quickly than any real world builder.

Thirza Ember: did I understand you right, you built the region before the RL memorial was up?

Camryn Darkstone: Yes, that's right... I worked from architect's sketches and looking at Google Maps.A lot of it was guesswork... but it seems to have come out okay :-)

9-11 sits among a group of contiguous regions on Littlefield

These days, the 9-11 memorial region on Littlefield does not stand by itself, it's surrounded by other sims, giving it a bit of the feel of an oasis in a bustling cityscape. If you missed this year's anniversary event, be sure to mark your calendar for next time, or you can also just pop over any time and explore the many interesting details on the region.

HG Address: lfgrid.com:8002:9-11 Memorial