STEVE SANDBERG

For the past twenty years, I had been a special education teacher at P.S. 224 in East New York, Brooklyn.  Working with children that have special needs has, indeed, been challenging.

My school overlooked the Belt Parkway; a view of the downtown skyline was often quite visible on a clear sunny day.  At 8:30AM on September 11th, the Twin Towers could easily be seen by anyone who ventured to the third floor of the school.  Then, everything changed!  The Twin Towers would soon be in flames and by the end of the day- NO MORE!

On that fateful Tuesday morning at about 9AM, radio reports echoed throughout the school.  Fear engulfed all, from children to adults.  Was this the beginning of the end?

By the close of school on that September day, the once proud twin structures that seemed to stretch endlessly to the sky, would be gone forever.  The memory of that day still haunts the very fibric of my being.

About a month after the September tragedy, I suddenly felt compelled to express my feelings artistically on paper.  I am not a trained artist.  My use of art would simply be for designing pictures that I would employ in creating original word search puzzles for student use.  Now I would begin drawing 9/11 pictures!