Dichotomy: It Was a Matter of Time and Place

(Temporarily Offline)

When major life events like the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon happen, everyone remembers what they were doing and where they were. Quite simply these are defining moments of our lives. The years since the attacks have not diminished our shared and deeply felt experiences.

Dichotomy: It Was a Matter of Time and Place was not only an attempt to document these moments but to juxtapose our shared experiences. While most of us were affected by the horror of what we witnessed and felt, our lives will continue in much the same way as before. Not to minimize the intensity of our reactions and feelings, but we are witnesses and chroniclers of that day. Other lives, however, were forever changed or extinguished by their location in time and place.

Dichotomy, unlike other “where were you when it happened” sites, makes a distinction between these two types of experiences. People were asked to post their stories from 9/11 from these two different vantage points: those who experienced the attacks directly in New York, Washington, or Pennsylvannia (and those whose loved ones were affected) or those who witnessed the attacks via the media. One account from each is juxtaposed next to each other to accentuate and illuminate this difference.

Witnesses and Participants. Each of us experienced 9/11 in a very personal way.