Firefighters, ocal policeman, DPS workers, and the county sheriff department officers climbed the Wells Fargo building in full gear. (William Vega/Borderzine.com)

Local firefighters climb into history to remember 9/11

EL PASO – The El Paso Fire Department thundered into downtown in the waking moments of Sept. 11, 2011 in full turnout gear and 80-pound tanks on their backs. But there was no fire at the 21-story Wells Fargo building on Main Street. Instead, they reflected on the memory of the firefighters who lost their lives 10 years ago during the attacks on the World Trade Center. “Today is the first year that we’re hosting this memorial stair climb.

Members of the UTEP community greet UTEP Police officers to thank them for their services as custodials of the community's security. (Jesus Sanchez/Borderzine.com)

The borderland changed forever after 9/11

EL PASO— The tragic attack on America  that happened thousands of miles away 10 years ago rippled through the border region, tightening up security at the checkpoints that divide Ciudad Juárez, México from El Paso, Texas. Students, professors, and faculty at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) gathered at a ceremony remembering and reflecting on the event on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. UTEP student Karina Lopez, who crosses the border often said that ever since that awful day the border checkpoints have been a hassle. “Traveling across the border became irrationally long. Security became so high and people became paranoid about crossing the border, when before it only took 15 minutes, now it takes up to three hours.”

Lopez says that in a sense, El Paso has changed since the 9/11 attacks.

The 9/11generation 10 years later

EL PASO — I was 14 years old and a freshman in high school when terrorists hijacked two commercial passenger jet airliners crashing them into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and another one into the Pentagon right outside Washington, D.C.

I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when that tragedy occurred almost 10 years ago. My mom was dropping me off at school when the radio station we were listening to was suddenly interrupted by an emergency news broadcast. They had just received word that an airplane had crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center. I was shocked and saddened because obviously I knew people had died, but what I did not know was how many more lives were about to be taken and how much devastation we were about to endure as individuals and as a nation. As I headed towards my homeroom class ready to watch Channel 1 News, as we always did every morning, most of us knew what had just happened.

Opera cantó el grito de Juárez contra el terrorismo

EL PASO, Texas — Un grito de paz y contra el terrorismo, a través del lenguaje universal del arte, fue uno de los objetivos principales del programa “Amor por Juárez”, presentado septiembre 11 en el Teatro Plaza, de esta ciudad. La iniciativa, de la Opera de El Paso, unió a mexicanos y estadounidenses en una jornada donde se derrochó talento, exquisitez y concordia. Destacó la llegada temprana de los espectadores, sobre todo de los más jóvenes, quienes abarrotaron las instalaciones. “Con la presentación de hoy nos unimos al dolor que sufren los mexicanos por la violencia en Juárez” dijo, la doctora Michele Stafford-Levy, una de las organizadoras. Y agregó: “También lo hacemos para recordar los sucesos terribles del 11 de septiembre de 2001”.