This past Wednesday, my article on one of the first major international 9/11 memorials was published in the Jewish Press. This memorial is the only one outside of NY to recognize each name of every 9/11 victim. I read about the upcoming memorial dedication on a list I'm subscribed to and decided that I wanted to cover it for a paper. The Jewish Press took the story but said they couldn't pay me for it. I pitched the story to a few other papers to see if I could get paid for writing the story. When no other paper got back to me, I decided to go with the Press even though I wasn't getting paid. I had never written for them before and I figured writing a good, important story would be a foot in the door.
Covering the dedication ceremony was no easy feat for someone with Cerebral Palsy. As a matter of fact, journalism probably isn't the best profession for someone with Cerebral Palsy, but I love the rush covering a story brings, so I deal with it, but my g-d, covering this ceremony was much harder than I thought it was gonna be. I had everything nice and planned out well before the ceremony. My husband was going to come with me to the ceremony so he could help me hold the numerous things I was carrying while I walked around and interviewed people. I also needed him to help me maneuver the memorial site which sits in a fairly undeveloped park in the hills of Jerusalem.
I hadn't been feeling well for a few days before the ceremony and I was hoping I would be OK the day I had to cover the story. Wrong! I woke up sick to my stomach and my husband was still coughing and sneezing up a storm. There was no way he could go with me to the memorial. It's OK. I can handle this on my own. I headed out the door hoping my stomach would behave itself.
It was an abnormally warm November day in Jerusalem which didn't help my nausea. As I and many others waited in the heat for the transportation to the memorial to fill up so we could finally leave, I made use of my time by asking Americans why they felt they had to be at the memorial. After 30 minutes or so, all the vans filled up and we were finally on our way. I was sitting in the media van with other journalists from various agencies. As we made the bumpy ride through the hills, I read the press release, went over my questions and listened to what the others in the van were talking about. I'm riding in the media van. How cool!! I hope I don't make a fool of myself by falling when we get there, or worse, by throwing up, because the bumpy ride really isn't doing my stomach any favors.
Upon arrival, we made our way toward the memorial site walking on a dirt road strewn with pebbles. I prayed I wouldn't fall. I struggled to find a comfortable position for my bulging bag while I walked. As we entered the site, baseball caps from the Jewish National Fund were handed out. I stifled a groan. I already had a head covering on. Great. One more thing to hold. Because I didn't want to be rude, I took the cap and held it in my already full hands.
We weren't able to be seated right away, so I walked around scoping out the people and the area. As I passed a few men in suits, I slipped on some pebbles. One of the men caught my hand. I was slightly embarrassed but thanked the man and moved on. Later I learned that the man was the CEO of the Jewish National Fund. I was mortified because I was interviewing him after the ceremony and he just saved me from falling on my ass!
By the time I found a seat, the only ones available that were easy for me to get to were directly under the sun, which was another strike against my churning stomach. I took off my head covering and stuffed my hair under the too big baseball cap, figuring the cap would provide more protection from the sun. I began to organize myself by taking out my notebook, tape recorder and camera, when I noticed that many people held small devices with earphones. Because the speeches alternated between Hebrew and English, a running translation device was handed out. I looked around to see where I could get one. They were being given out at the top of the stairs. I was in the middle. Oh crap. Thankfully, a woman from the PR company who organized the media for the memorial, read my mind and offered to get me one.
I felt like a juggler throughout the ceremony. I struggled to keep my tape recorder and the translation device on my lap as I scribbled notes while taking the headphones from the translation device on and off my ears as I needed. Because there was a running translation going, I couldn't just turn the device on and off. I also took pictures and video throughout the ceremony. Occasionally either the tape recorder or translation device crashed to the stone floor. As I picked them up and repositioned myself, I muttered a few four letter words which I hoped none of the 400 people at the ceremony heard. Several times I thought to myself who am I kidding? journalism isn't for me. I cant do this, I feel like sh** and this story is going to be a disaster. But I kept going. I hadn't eaten anything all day because of my nausea but suddenly I felt like I HAD to eat something or I'd throw up. Luckily my husband threw a bag of nuts and cranberries into my bag before I left. I felt weird eating at such a solemn occasion. This wasn't the movie theater. I looked around to make sure no one was watching me as I quickly munched on some food.
The ceremony ended with the playing of both the American and Israeli national anthems.
During the Star Spangled Banner, I saw several people singing along with their hand held over their hearts. Pick the Americans. I didn't put my hand over my heart but I did sing along to the Star Spangled Banner. I felt that was the appropriate thing to do as an American. I also hummed along to Hatikva. Even though I have been living in Israel almost three years, I still don't know all the words to the Israeli national anthem the way I do the Star Spangled Banner. As an Israeli, I felt immensely proud that Israel made such a beautiful, moving memorial for an attack that happened in America.With the ceremony over, I wanted to go down the stairs to get pictures of the sculpture and to interview people. By now, after constantly taking the translation headphones on and off while wearing a baseball cap that was too big, I had no clue what my hair looked like, although I had a feeling I looked a little disheveled, but I was too hot and sick to care. I just wanted to finish what I was doing and get the hell out of there. As I made my way down the stairs, an old woman was climbing up the stairs on the same side that I was going down. I needed the railing for balance, but so did the old woman. Out of respect I figured I'd slowly move to the other side of the staircase so she could make her way up. Of course I lost my balance as I moved across and almost went tumbling down the stairs, but I caught myself and waited until the older woman made her way to the top until I reclaimed the railing and finished making my way down the stairs.
After taking my pictures, (one of which was printed with my article), I went to interview the mother of an Israeli 9/11 victim. As I pushed REC on my tape recorder I saw that the tape needed to be turned over. I vowed to myself to buy a digital recorder already. As I fumbled with my recorder, the mother said "come, let me help you." That made me smile. What a typical Jewish mother. After fixing the recorder, she told me her daughter's story in Hebrew. Thankfully I understood everything she said to me. As she was telling me the horrible story of her daughter's death, I had a hard time keeping my emotions out of it. I felt like hugging her afterwards. After interviewing the mother, I interviewed the CEO of the JNF, who had caught my hand when I slipped earlier. Maybe he didn't recognize me with the baseball cap on, but I was glad he didn't mention my slipping.
I was thoroughly exhausted by the time I got home that night. I was a bit bummed because I felt my reporting suffered since I felt so sick, but I actually wrote a pretty good article which was very well received. I'm glad I didn't give up even though covering the story was very,very difficult for me.
Here is the link to my article & photo in the Jewish Press
http://www.jewishpress.com/pageroute.do/
Here is the link to some video I took of the ceremony
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