An excellent look at a tragic day from the view of those living so close to the world trade center. It reflects how neighbors grew close through suffering the events of 9/11.

Good use of minimal music; when used it captured the sobriety of the thoughts.

Friends who live in lower Manhattan have given me heart-stopping renditions of their experience of 9/11. Still, these voices from 109 Washington, a couple of blocks from the World Trade Center, knocked me for a loop, put my stomach in a knot, brought tears to my eyes. The first segment sets the scene from a neighborhood point of view. We get a sense of how things were before the towers existed, and a feel for what it was like living in their shadow. The narrator, who lives in 109, acquaints us with the other eight in a relaxed, friendly, downright neighborly way. We get to know their voices, and a little about them and how they came to live at such an odd outpost from normal Manhattan life. We hear about their morning activities the morning of September 11, and the surreal quality of all that followed the very loud sound that drew them to their windows, onto fire escapes, down to the street. One man, speaking of the north tower, describes it as looking like “a garden torch and somebody had lit the upper part of it. And I don’t think anyone thought the tower would fall or anything else would happen.” Some residents clung together, or found each other through the dust. Eddie, from apartment 13, was already at work in New Jersey, unsure whether his building was still standing. One of the women, Lesley, from 7, I believe, describes being on the street when the second building fell, turning to see “a rolling wall of solid debris...and you didn’t know if it was going to reach you.” It’s wonderful to have an audio oral history from a diverse mix of humans who that day shared a street address, and now share an experience beyond imagining. There’s a books worth of detail contained in this hour of woven voice. The plaintive sounds of the rooftop chamber concert the cellist in apartment 9 organized a year later are used sparingly, but to good effect. While this is not the most highly polished production, that somehow feels just right. It’s beautifully put together and a valuable, moving way to remember that day in New York, this or any year.