NYC soundoff.

Oliver Stone's new film, World Trade Center is being released in the next few days.

It's currently hotly debated in the city I call my home. Some people aren't ready. A lot of others angered at the fact that profit is being made from the movie. And the rest say more power to them.

Personally, I can't bear to even think about it. I remember that day as it was yesterday...

I wore gray slacks and a black ribbed t-shirt.
The weather was amazing that day. Sunny and warm.
It was a lazy Wednesday and I was thinking of what to have for lunch during "Campus Life" time at the Union.
My second class of the day was ARS 154, Introduction to Drawing, a class I had chosen to fulfill my art requirement for graduation.
It was there when I heard the news. My friend and former prom date, Rafaella, were in that same art class.
From there, we headed back to our dorm; at the time we lived in the same building, she on the second floor, I on the third.
Our first thoughts as we accepted what was told to us was...it must be some sort of fluke accident. One plane into one tower. Must have been an accident.
As we walked across campus, everyone began to walk faster, even run to their destinations. We ran back with the crowd.
Raff rushed to the second floor and I told her I'd just drop my gear off at my room and come back down.
When I walked into my room, my roomate, along with my other Delta Chi brothers were intently watching the news.
Second plane into the second tower...it wasn't an accident.
Shock and the most insane of thoughts came to all of our minds.
I tried to call my mom at work...my sister at school...circuits were busy.
Called my cousin...to see if her older brothers were at work that day. Both of them worked in the second tower.
Still busy.
Panic sets in and all of Stony Brook is put on alert.
The campus is right by a major goverment research facility 50 mi. from NYC, Cold Spring Harbor Labs.
Time stood still that day.
The trains back into the city were stopped. All of NYC is shut down.
There is no way back home for all of us from the city.
The reports on the news can't even comprehend the confusion...the pain...the images.
Reporters from every station breaking down as they reported from the front lines.
Fear and anger spread across campus.
We're told to stay at the dorms until further notice.

I've never expressed how I felt or what even happened on that day on any journal I've ever written in, personal or public. Years later, I still can't articulate anything coherent about that Wednesday. But as this movie is coming out...I feel that I need to let something out. This is more than a "story depicting real events". This was life for me 5 years ago. For my family, it was panic and then relief that our relatives were okay. This directly affected everyone I knew. After all this time, I still can't find the right words.

New York is my heart. Can't picture myself anywhere else.