9/11 A Shared Experience: New York

I was on vacation with my friend Mark at his family home in Maine.?We were enjoying the morning light on the lake, light unlike any other, when his mom Winnie called us to hurry and come inside.

The TV was on. ?We watched in horror as the first tower exploded in fire and within a few seconds the second plane flew into the second tower.?Home. Manhattan was our home. ?You can’t describe the feeling of incredulity when it is paired with shock and pain.?Now we call them reels – but it was a scene that permeated our psyche, our souls, it’s still easy to conjure now in full technicolor. ?We reached out to friends and family, to my co-workers at Goldman Sachs where I was a consultant – just a couple streets over.?All lines were busy.?

Winnie, a trained nurse and nutritionist, a woman who was born during the Great Depression and a child in WWII, snapped us out of our shock and sent us to work cooking, cleaning, planting, baking.?Anything to bring us back to the present. She personified grit.

We got through on mobile and phone networks, eventually.?Friends and family were fine.?My friend was cat-sitting for me in my St. Mark’s place studio.?Lower Manhattan, from 14th street to the South Street Seaport was a no go.?It took us five days to find a way back to New York.?No planes - airspace closed.?We made it back to the mutual relief of all, especially my cat-sitter, who had been unable to move from the area.?Friends shared their stories.?The sights, the sounds.?My Aunt who lives in DUMBO watched, in her words, “Ghosts walking over the Manhattan Bridge.”

?The shared experience of all in New York was painful and cathartic.?Leadership was challenged in those days – “get out there and shop” – keep the economy going.?There was fear.?There was anger, and disbelief.?You looked down 7th Avenue and an orange sky filtered through where the towers once stood.?There was an acrid unnatural smell.

?Every year, on this day, our team in Voice Technology from Goldman Sachs share the picture of us together taken a few days later.?We were led by the amazing Andrea Pane who built families not just teams.?She lifted us up with that rare combination of resilience, faith, community, and compassion.?We supported each other to go forward, help others, go on.?We bonded more than ever during that time.?We were forever changed.

?My other job was as a singer with the New York Choral Artists.?We were called by our manager to ask if we would volunteer for a performance with the New York Philharmonic, a tribute to the city, for the fallen, for healing.?It was Brahms Requiem conducted with all heart by Kurt Masur.?We, individually and as a city, sought shared moments of healing.?At the performance there was no fear to be together, in a public space, as every seat and space was filled in Avery Fisher Hall. ?When the philharmonic began the national anthem, it was the hardest moment in my singing career to sing through the anguish and be the necessary vehicle to offer the gift of music for healing. ?A co-singer next to me, grabbed hold of my hand, helped me breathe and exhale in song.?And New York, resilient as ever, as tough as its citizens, welcoming all if you put in the hard mile, embraced her community to go on, “If you can make it here, you’ll make it anywhere.”

?New York was the first place of arrival when my grandparents left Hungary and Montenegro registering their presence on Ellis Island.?As New York gave them opportunity, it did to me as well as an opera singer, musician, entrepreneur, free-lancer, opportunist. Just like my grandparents New York gave me the same package:?Opportunity, hardship, hope.?

And as we watched the plane crash into the World Trade Center, the Statue of Liberty still a beacon of all that America can stand for, for all that New York stands for, and I remember that concert.?I remember the power of community.?I remember the power of music, the arts. I remember a portion of Emma Lazarus’ poem etched on her tablet: “…Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore...”.

Fast forward 20 years.?Covid.?After 18 months of not being able to see family and friends in New York, as Stuttgart, Germany is now our home, we arrived into New York on July 2nd to the jubilant welcome of best friends.?We took my son directly to Walgreens where his first vaccination was scheduled.?And to the Eye of the Tiger playing as his victory soundtrack – the store manager celebrated with us – and told my son to choose any candy in the store – to celebrate his vaccination.

?There was one more celebration – checking my inbox for CommonTime, a message, “you’ve been accepted to be in a Positive Planet Accelerator group for women and minority women entrepreneurs who are making a difference.”?I met with Anna Nerezova from Positive Planet at Eataly, across from Madison Square Park. As we shared our collective beliefs of the power of the arts, artists, and arts education, we looked across the street.?And on cue there was the exceptional exhibition from artist Maya Lin “Ghost Forest” of dead trees resulting from the effects of climate change.?And I shared our mission and vision of CommonTime to connect artists from all over the world to educators and individuals all over the world to support the accessibility of arts education. Artists need to share their - and their communities’ - stories with learners globally.

?9/11 resulted in both positive and negative reactions.?Some lasting to this day, scarring from the act, pained at ignorant and deadly reactions of intolerance.?

?We need to be seeking solutions that are fostered and shared through communications, through finding our shared experiences that uplift and improve.?That heal more than hurt.?That seek new perspectives to solve problems together.?To create, not destroy. ?To share stories that empower us together.

?I’ve had great teachers in my life. ?New York is one of them. ?The lesson I will share from her is this - ?when we come together as a community, we heal as a community. ?

Christine Matovich is the Founder of CommonTime.online, an artist and arts educator currently living in Stuttgart. To find out more about CommonTime, visit us at:https//www.commontime.online