Knowing that I had been in Manhattan during the terrorist attacks on September 11th 2001, a family member in maybe 2003 or 2004 gave me a elegantly framed New York Times front page with super-sized font saying "U.S. ATTACKED. HIJACKED JETS DESTROY TWIN TOWERS AND HIT PENTAGON IN DAY OF TERROR." Somehow it angered me. I thought it was insensitive. I was thinking "WTF!?" Only not in acronyms.

I declined the gift, something I never do.

I understand what the family member was trying to do, what they were trying to communicate to me- that they loved me and wanted to acknowledge this historic event, and my brush with it as a resident of Manhattan. I get that. Admittedly, I should have been more graceful and just accepted the gift; nonetheless, I don't want to be reminded of an event like 9/11 on as frequent a basis as a wall hanging would provide me.

I have been reticent to talk about 9/11 because it was such a horrifying day, and I am not a pundit, or a talking head that must talk about it. So I have elected to be rather silent about it. The photos that I took that day I have never shared with anyone before. I have posted them here on violet.com, and hope that I can field any and all comments or questions about that day that anyone may have.

I have just launched violet.com; I know there is plenty of content out there, on many different platforms. I want to use these initial posts to convey to my earliest of supporters that I am committed to quality content, constantly pushing for new insights, and a meaningful dialogue.