New Mexico Remembers 9/11

The terrorist attacks of 9/11 seared themselves into America’s collective memory. Non-stop images of collapsing towers, airlines flying into buildings, and a low-flying jet plunging into the Pentagon cannot be forgotten. Recordings of phone conversations between doomed passengers on United Fight 93—who knew about the previous attacks—and their loved ones on the ground, play over and over in our ears. In the subsequent days and months, much was said about New York and Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania. It was as though the rest of the country disappeared. The media people seemed to ignore the reality that the United States was attacked, that people in states like Missouri, Oregon, Alabama, or New Mexico were also terrorized. Aftershocks of the event spread far and wide. This anthology captures the 9/11/2001 experiences of New Mexican writers. Some witnessed the event first-hand. Some were still in school, or out of the country. But all of them now live in The Land of Enchantment, the state snuggled between Texas and Arizona. The talented contributors to New Mexico Remembers 9/11 offer enlightening, sometimes heart-wrenching prose, thoughtful analysis, and evocative poetry. What did they see? Do? How have they coped since then? What did they tell their children? How did they get home? Who got angry? Who retreated into themselves? As we approach the twentieth anniversary of the attacks, readers of these stories and poems will understand New Mexico may have been physically far from the devastation, but its heart was just next door.