September 11, 2013.

New Yorkers Mark 12th Anniversary of Sept. 11

He saw himself standing there in the dim lamplight, with the smell of bugs and cheap scent in his nostrils, and in his heart a feeling of defeat and resentment which even at that moment was mixed up with the thought of Katharine's white body, frozen for ever by the hypnotic power of the Party. Why did it always have to be like this? Why could he not have a woman of his own instead of these filthy scuffles at intervals of years? But a real love affair was an almost unthinkable event. The women of the Party were all alike. Chastity was as deep ingrained in them as Party loyalty. By careful early conditioning, by games and cold water, by the rubbish that was dinned into them at school and in the Spies and the Youth League, by lectures, parades, songs, slogans, and martial music, the natural feeling had been driven out of them. His reason told him that there must be exceptions, but his heart did not believe it. They were all impregnable, as the Party intended that they should be. And what he wanted, more even than to be loved, was to break down that wall of virtue, even if it were only once in his whole life. The sexual act, successfully performed, was rebellion. Desire was thoughtcrime. Even to have awakened Katharine, if he could have achieved it, would have been like a seduction, although she was his wife.

Wednesday marks the 12th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, with events planned across the region to commemorate the tragedy.

But the rest of the story had got to be written down. He wrote:

The official city tribute will take place at the National September 11 Memorial plaza at the World Trade Center site. The names of the 2,983 victims lost in 2001 and the bombing of the site in 1993 will be read. Six pauses will mark when the planes hit the towers, when they fell and when the Pentagon and Flight 93 were attacked.

I turned up the lamp. When I saw her in the light----

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Govs. Chris Christie and Andrew Cuomo are scheduled to attend the ceremony, along with family members of the victims and other dignitaries. A list of those reading the names will be released Wednesday.