• Join the community in remembering one of America’s greatest tragedies, the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, at the 9/11 memorial service in Anniston’s Centennial Park from 6:30-8 p.m. In Jack-sonville, there will be a “Healing and Remembrace” ceremony in honor of Maj. Dwayne Williams and other victims of the 9/11 attacks at 9 a.m. at Jacksonville City Memorial Cemetery. Williams, a native of Jacksonville, was killed in the terrorists’ attack on the Pen-tagon. (In case of rain, the ceremony will be held at Jacksonville First Baptist Church at 230 Seventh Street.)

• Give blood and go fast at Talladega Superspeedway’s Laps for Life

Blood Drive from noon-6 p.m. Donors will take a spin around the course in the official pace car,

as well as take a tour of the Interna-tional Motorsports Hall of Fame and pick up barbecue from Smoke N Hot BBQ. Register at redcrossblood.org or email donna.brittain@

redcross.org for more information.• It’s one thing being mean to folks, but

there’s something to be said for a good celeb-rity roast, like All Saints Interfaith Center of

Concern’s roast of Anniston coun-cilwoman Millie Harris at 6:30 p.m. at Classic on Noble. Harris will suffer goodnatured abuse

from Anniston Mayor Vaughn Stewart and Rev. Dr. Lee Shafer of

Grace Episcopal Church, among others. Tickets are $50 per person, which includes a three-course meal. To purchase, call Donna Barton at 256-237-1713; tickets will not be available at the door.

• Teen mangaphiles can take a trip to the Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County from 4-5 p.m., when the library’s youth department hosts its first monthly Manga Book Club meeting. Bring your love for Yu-Gi-Oh and FLCL (probably leave your love for Battle Royale at home), meet other manga fans and enjoy snacks provided by the library. For information, call 256-237-8501.

• Oxford’s Lick Skillet Quilt Guild hosts “Quilts By the Lake” from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday at the Oxford Civic

Center, offering up creations from talented local quilters, as well as vintage quilts from the Guild’s collection, a flea mar-ket, quilt giveaway, door prizes and a variety of crafting goods from vendors around the country. Visit lickskilletquiltguild.com for more information and a complete vendor list.

• Montgomery rock band The Heavy Chil-dren stop by Brothers Bar in Jacksonville at 8

p.m., with support from Pleasant Valley and Birmingham’s Thothamon. The Heavy Children play a brand of space blues (or intergalactic soul, depending on the track), with heavy reverb and echo on distorted

rock beneath the singer’s howling voice. Paired with Thothamon’s fantasy-inspired doom metal, it’s going to be a weird show worth see-ing. Must be 21 or older to see the show. Call Brothers at 256-435-6090 for more info.

If you’re looking to keep your feet on the ground, you might prefer a stop by Cheaha Brewing Company to hear the Steel City Jug Slammers at 6 p.m., who will play their brand of jug band blues and tunes from their new, self-titled album, released in July. Admission to the show is free. Call Cheaha Brewing Company at 256-770-7300 for show and menu information.

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LIFE & ARTSEditor: Lisa Davis, ldavis@annistonstar.com • Sunday, September 7, 2014 • Page 1E

The Anniston Star

FUNNY GIRLThe red carpet

without Joan. 4E.

Musical with a purpose. 3E.

Attracting monarch butterflies. 6E.

MEAN STREETS

ROYALTY

I NSI DE L I F E & A RTS

BY MARY ELOISE H. LEAKE

Special to The Star

Almost 13 years after the World Trade Center attacks, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum opened on May 21. In its sunlit steel-and-glass entry, two dramatic 70-foot-tall steel tridents from the wreckage stand steadfast, twin symbols of American grit and guts.

Descending into a dark-ening world beside these

battered, rusty icons, our tour group instinctively began to speak in hushed tones. Even children talked softly and reached for their parents’ hands. The respectful mood became somber.

At descent’s end, Foun-dation Hall felt like a sacred place. At WTC bedrock level, this vast room — seven stories below ground — contained few objects. Its emptiness felt heavy, almost tangible.

It it still hard to wrap one’s

mind around the details of that day, when 19 al-Qaeda terror-ists commandeered four planes to wreak physical, emotional, political and economic havoc in New York City, Washington, D.C., and beyond.

The WTC’s North Tower was hit by Flight 11 at 8:46 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001. The South Tower was hit by Flight 175 at 9:03 a.m. The South fell at 9:59 a.m.; the North at 10:28 a.m. Those killed by the plane crashes and their aftermath, including the six people lost in the 1993 WTC truck bombing, total 2,983, including 441 first responders.

S A C R E D G R O U N D Z E R O

Anniston writer tours the new

9/11 memorial and museum

Joe Woolhead/Special to The Star

The new 110,000-square-foot National September 11 Memorial & Museum uses authenticity and scale to evoke emotions and enhance memories. Please see 9/11 | Page 6E

Topping out at a patriotic 1,776 feet, One World Trade Center dominates the New York skyline. It is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. While

not a replacement for the original World Trade Center, it gives New York City a new iconic skyscraper and touts the Big Apple's resiliency after the 9/11 attacks.

Mary Eloise H. Leake/Special to The Star

The new 110,000-square-foot muse-um, designed by Davis Brody Bond and constructed within the WTC artifact itself, uses authenticity and scale to evoke visitors’ emotions and enhance their memories.

In Foundation Hall, the North Tower’s 36-foot-tall “Last Column,” weighing almost 58 tons, is dwarfed by the space. Covered in tribute mem-orabilia, it is a poignant archive of the catastrophic attack. Its “funeral” and removal signaled the end of nine months of Ground Zero recovery efforts.

Standing nearby is the triumphant slurry wall of the WTC. Fulfilling its duty, it prevented the Hudson River from flooding lower Manhattan after the buildings’ collapse.

In this reverent atmosphere, large artifacts speak silently but powerfully. Lying on its side, a single steel girder — now curled — looks as if it is resting after the onslaught. Entangled, distort-ed metal splayed on a wall looks like an abstract sculpture; its creation was the direct result of Flight 11’s impact. The crumbled granite of the 38-step “Sur-vivors’ Staircase,” which once provided an escape route for many fleeing the

havoc, is now flanked by stairs and an escalator. No one will walk on it again.

Reminiscent of the two 9/11 Memo-rial footprint pools outside and above the museum, artist Spenser Finch’s moving work, “Trying to Remember the Color of the Sky on that September Morning,” is an enormous rectangular grid covered with 2,983 paper squares. Using watercolors, the artist handpaint-ed each square in a different shade of blue. In the midst of the paper squares is a quote from Virgil, “No day shall erase you from the memory of time,”

each letter formed of steel from the fall-en towers.

Behind the artwork is the Reposito-ry, which is not open to the public as it may contain DNA samples from the 40 percent of victims whose families still have no closure. The work to identify these remains continues, although not here.

FDNY Ladder Truck 3 displays scars of that day, its rear shredded and its cab hacked off. At 9:21 a.m., Capt. Patrick Brown, using a still-working office phone, reported that he and his 11 firefighters were on the 35th floor of the North Tower, sending down burn victims and other civilians. Charging upwards to battle the fire, none knew they would be memorialized as heroes.

Moving into an enclosed maze of galleries, the atmosphere changes, but remains quietly deferential. Here visitors are plunged into an intense-ly detailed history of each attack’s timeline and aftermath. Newscasts, videos, audio, photographs and phone messages vie for attention. Emotions became fragile upon spotting an archi-tectural model of the World Trade Center, a small red teddy bear, police badges and many MISSING posters. On display along with airplane parts and dirty yellow high heels was a Chelsea Jeans’ shop window with an eerie dis-play of sweatshirts still covered by gray layers of dust and ash.

Drawn to a burn victim’s small gold watch, I noted with relief that she lived. Only 18 survivors were pulled from the WTC wreckage — none after Sept. 12.

The controversial al-Qaeda gallery profiles the terrorists. The placement of their 19 small pictures does not rise to eye level.

Amid the displays, a burned and torn American flag lies crumpled in a case, recalling the one defiantly raised by three firemen on a 20-foot-tall pile of debris that fateful afternoon.

The museum’s “In Memoriam” exhibit lies underneath the footprint of the South Tower. No matter who the 2,983 people were — white-collar port-folio analysts or blue-collar mainte-nance workers — each vivid head shot on the walls is the same size. Multime-dia and interactive displays allow visi-tors to get to know each person better.

Instead of a grid of faces, this dis-play leaves images and names that can become etched into your soul. As I left, memories of their lives trailed behind me like a kitetail.

Mary Eloise H. Leake is a freelance travel writer living in Anniston.

Page 6E Sunday, September 7, 2014 The Anniston Star LIFE & ARTS

9/11

Continued from Page 1E

Monarchs depend on gardeners

ROYAL BLOOMS

BY NORMAN WINTER

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Though the southward butterfly migra-tion is just beginning, we are already having a banner monarch season in Savannah, Ga., and elsewhere in the South compared to recent years. For this we are most happy and hoping everyone starts to see this trend. Our spring and summer growing season was superb.

There was no missing the bright orange native butterfly weeds as you drove across the South. They stood out like blazing lan-terns in patches along the roadside. This spe-cies known as Asclepias tuberosa is native from zones 3 to 10, and hopefully you saw some in your area. This is just one of several milkweed species that are the lifeblood of the Monarch butterfly.

Why are they the lifeblood? This is the only species on which the monarch lays her eggs and which the colorful caterpillars then feed. Don’t let the weed name deter you. The orange flowers will certainly enhance the landscape, but watching the life cycle of the monarch that follows is something that the whole family will remember.

When the monarchs come to feast on the nectar, you may not even notice them laying eggs. The resulting caterpillars seem to be starving creatures literally stripping the leaves and flowers, making the plant look like a pencil cactus.

The caterpillars will grow from tiny to huge in what seems like days. Then about the time you think the plant is dead, new growth will appear and soon you’ll notice even more butterflies. Congratulations: You’re a proud parent. While these milkweed species are so important as a larval food sources you will also notice other butterflies and even hum-mingbirds feasting on the nectar.

If your garden center doesn’t have but-terfly weed plants for sale or other milkweed species, they may have seed packets. You can also collect seeds from plants this time of the year. Watch closely because the seed-pods will split open as they mature, and the seeds will become airborne. Ours are flying about as we speak. Transplanting from the wild is not recommended because they have long taproots and because our wild areas need to keep them. Collect seeds from your friends or gardens that might allow this kind of access.

Growing from seed is simple: The small seeds should be lightly covered with soil that is kept moist until germination. Once planted in the garden, they are considered drought-tolerant and should be watered sparingly but deeply when needed. Fertilizer needs are low — just give them a light appli-cation in the spring with the emergence of new growth.

When you see caterpillars feeding, remember not to spray an insecticide. Instead think of this as a backyard wildlife habitat. Better yet create a butterfly garden, and get certified with the North American Butterfly Association. You’ll be the coolest garden around with an official Certified But-terfly Garden sign.

Wherever you live there are native milk-weed species you can grow. Start your search now to be ready for spring. In the South, where our growing season is long, we can still plant to create a fall butterfly garden. You’ll be doubly happy with plants that not only are beautiful, but serve as a larval food source for monarch butterflies while provid-ing nectar as well.

Photos by Bill Wilson/The Anniston Star

A princess flower blooms in a vibrant purple with spiral stamen.

ABOVE LEFT, FAR LEFT: Mary Eloise H. Leake/ Special to The Star LEFT: Jin Lee/Special to The Star

ABOVE LEFT: These two tridents, located together at the base of the World Trade Center, with-stood both jarring collisions and the subsequent building collapse. FAR LEFT: The Survivors' Stair-case allowed hundreds of men and women to escape the devastation. LEFT: A piece of impact steel is displayed at the museum.

Photos by Jin Lee/Special to The Star

ABOVE: The Last Column, covered in 'MISSING' posters, personal notes, spray-painted first responder's identities and pictures, was the last piece of the wreckage to be removed from the site. BELOW: An interac-tive exhibit details those who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.