BY ANDREW MORKES, FOUNDER & AUTHOR OF THE “NATURE IN CHICAGOLAND” BLOG
UPDATED SEPTEMBER 2025
It’s hard to believe that 24 years have passed since the terrible events of September 11, 2001. At the time, I was working as a managing editor at Ferguson Publishing Company in downtown Chicago. My now wife Amy and I were going to be married the next month on October 20. I still lived in Beverly (on Chicago’s South Side) in a one-bedroom apartment next to the Metra tracks (boy, I loved that apartment). My dad had only been gone four years, and my father-in-law Jim was still alive. In the weeks before and after 9/11, Amy and my days consisted of meetings with wedding folks, planning our honeymoon in Hawaii, searching all over the North Side of Chicago for a condo to buy (I bet we looked at 40 or so properties in the course of a year), and going to work. As a young couple, there were a lot more bar nights on Southport and Lincoln Avenue, concerts at Metro and Schubas, and general merrymaking with friends and family than there are now—with everyone spread out all over the country and immersed in family and life responsibilities.
But time moves on. Life is different now in so many ways for us—and probably for you, too. Twenty-four years of life experiences (both positive and negative) tend to blur the past. I’ve kept a journal for more than 30 years, so I thought it would be interesting to take a look at my entries for September 11 and the week or so beyond. It’s amazing to see what we knew and didn’t know during those first days. There’s nothing groundbreaking in what I wrote, but the entries provide a look back at America just after the hijacked planes hit the World Trade Center.
Tuesday, September 11, 2001 (writing at 1:00 p.m.)
Terrorists hijacked at least three commercial jets this morning and crashed them into landmarks in New York City; Washington, DC; and possibly near Pittsburgh. Two planes were hijacked and crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. Another plane was crashed into the Pentagon. The National Guard has been brought into New York City. All aircraft in the United States have been grounded until further notice. Most major cities are on high security alert. All federal, state, and local government buildings in Chicago are closed. Many of the city’s skyscrapers, such as the Sears Tower, have also been closed and evacuated.
My employer sent us home at 9:20 a.m. since our building (downtown) is so close to possible terrorist attacks. It’s a beautiful, sunny day in Chicago, which makes it even odder given the carnage that is happening in New York City and Washington, DC. Our train car was silent and still as we waited to leave the LaSalle Street Metra station to head out of the city.
As of this writing, both towers of the World Trade Center have collapsed. The Pentagon is on fire and supposedly there is one hijacked plane still in the air. I can’t imagine the number of people who have been injured or killed by such a sickening attack on innocent people who are simply trying to make a living or riding a plane for pleasure.
Thursday, September 13, 2001
Nearly 5,000 people are missing at the World Trade Center. The Army Reserve—as many as 50,000 people—are about to be called up. The security zone around the White House has been expanded. There is a feeling (and evidence, according to media reports) that more hijackings have been planned. Tomorrow has been declared a National Day of Mourning.
Wednesday, September 19, 2001
No survivors have been pulled from the wreckage of the World Trade Center since last Wednesday. More than 5,000 people are missing, lost in the rubble of two towers, once 110 stories high and now crumpled into about seven stories of debris. American flags are everywhere—in windows, waving from cars, on people’s clothes, as graphics at the bottom of TV screens, and on baseball fields and in the stands.
Postscript
On such a news-breaking day, I normally would have been glued to the TV, but as soon as I returned home from downtown on 9/11. I headed to Cap Sauers Holding Nature Preserve, one of my favorite nature destinations in Chicagoland. I needed to immerse myself in nature to blunt the pain and sadness of that terrible day. Nature didn’t heal me that day, but it briefly took my mind off of the evil of the terrorists’ actions and the suffering that many were experiencing across the United States. Here’s an entry from my journal on that day:
On such a horrible day, I am far away from the carnage, the city, and the 24-hour news cycle—at least for a few hours. I’m deep in Cap Sauers Holding sitting on a downed tree near a quiet creek, listening to the cicadas and birds, watching tiny minnows swim in the water, and feeling a million miles away from reality. I could’ve sat glued to the TV at home, but I decided to hike in the place I love on a rare weekday before the cold and snow comes. It’s beautiful here, and I’m happily alone. I’ve seen many frogs, squirrels, chipmunks, deer, crayfish, and birds. I’m very sorry for all the people who have lost their lives, been injured, or who have lost loved ones, but there is nothing I can do right now but pray for them.
I still pray for those who lost their lives or were injured on 9/11, as well as the families who have gone almost 25 years without their loved ones. These people will always have big holes in their lives where a beloved family member once resided–and that’s very sad to contemplate. I hope that the next 24 years and beyond are more peaceful than the last 24 years.
If you’d like to learn more about Cap Sauers Holding Nature Preserve (a place of solace in both bad and good times), check out my articles about this Chicagoland gem.
Cap Sauers Holding Nature Preserve: The Wildest Place in Cook County
10 Thoughts About Cap Sauers Holding Nature Preserve and Fall in Chicagoland’s Forest Preserves
Copyright (text/photos): Andrew Morkes
Copyright (photo, Jasper Johns): Shutterstock
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ABOUT ANDREW MORKES
I have been a writer and editor for more than 30 years. I’m the founder of College & Career Press (2002); the author and publisher of “The Morkes Report: College and Career Planning Trends” blog; and the author and publisher of Hot Health Care Careers: 30 Occupations With Fast Growth and Many New Job Openings; Nontraditional Careers for Women and Men: More Than 30 Great Jobs for Women and Men With Apprenticeships Through PhDs; They Teach That in College!?: A Resource Guide to More Than 100 Interesting College Majors, which was selected as one of the best books of the year by the library journal Voice of Youth Advocates; and other titles. They Teach That in College!? provides more information on environmental- and sustainability-related majors such as Ecotourism, Range Management, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Built Environment, Sustainability Studies, and Sustainable Agriculture/Organic Farming. I served as a member of the parent advisory board at my son’s school for five years.
In addition to these publications, I’ve written more than 70 books about careers for other publishing and media companies including Infobase (such as the venerable Encyclopedia of Careers & Vocational Guidance, the Vault Career Guide to Accounting, and many volumes in the Careers in Focus, Discovering Careers, What Can I Do Now?!, and Career Skills Library series) and Mason Crest (including those in the Careers in the Building Trades and Cool Careers in Science series).
Here’s a list of the environmental-focused titles that I’ve written:
- Nature in Chicagoland: More Than 120 Fantastic Nature Destinations That You Must Visit
- Wind Turbine Technicians (Great Careers Without a Bachelor’s Degree series)
- Environmental Scientists (Cool Careers in Science series)
- Renewable Energy Careers (Cool Careers in Science series)
- Environment (Getting Started series)
- Solar Power Technicians (Careers in Infrastructure series)