September Eleventh Essays -- Art Tragedy Terrorism Terrorists Papers

September Eleventh I see the three bodies in his painting as people falling from the 110th floor of the South Tower. I see the broken debris and splintered wood as pieces of steel and glass collapsing to the ground, taking firefighters and innocent people with it. By Jennifer Karey In 1986, John Boak created a painting that depicts the horrible event that took place in Cripple Creek, Colorado in the early morning hours of June 5, 1904. An explosion destroyed the Independence train depot in a matter of seconds, killing thirteen men and injuring twenty others. In Boak's work, that horrific moment is captured as if looking up at the patchy night sky as the debris and people seem to fall down to earth. While Boak's intention may have been to portray this event accurately and capture it in time, this intended message is lost in the aftermath of September eleventh. The image no longer represents the image of a small town explosion almost a millennium ago, but rather rekindles recent memories of the events that shook the country only one month ago. While 2001 has proven to be a year of fear, anger, uncertainty and terrible destruction, the years between 1893 and 1904 were equally chaotic for the small mining town of Cripple Creek, Colorado. Tensions began to grow between mining companies and workers over their long hours and low wages. In response, John Calderwood, a former coal miner, established the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) in 1894. Calderwood and five hundred men formed a union in February of that same year. Their demands were simple: three dollars' pay for an eight-hour day. The conflict went on with neither side willing to compromise. Non-union workers and union workers competed for jobs as companies refused t... ...p://www.boakart.com> Boak, John. "Re: Harry Orchard blows up the Independence Colorado Train Depot." Email to Jennifer Karey. 14 Oct. 2001. Jameson, Elizabeth. All That Glitters. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1998. Jenkins, Sally. "Manhattan Cleaning Up the Day After Attacks." The Washington Post (2001). 12 September 2001 < http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/articles/A18284-2001Sep12.html> Langdon, Emma F., The Cripple Creek Strike: A History of Industrial Wars in Colorado. New York: Arno Press, 1969. Powell, Michael. "New York: A City Turned Upside Down." The Washington Post (2001). 12 September 2001 < http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14164-2001Sep11.html> Sedivy, David. Mr. Sedivy's Highlands Ranch History. 11 October 2001. Highlands Ranch High School. 12 October 2001 < http://mr_sedivy.tripod.com/co_hist.html>