The Freedom Tower

Today work was like a field trip. Well, besides getting up before the sun, driving into the city because the trains don't run early enough (upside: no traffic at 5am, not even going into the Holland Tunnel), and because field trips usually don't include heavy lifting or safety equipment. I'm also not sure of many field trips where you need special insurance or one where you have an extensive safety discussion to prevent concussions, falling off a 70-story building, or death. Other than that, totally was like a field trip.
If you couldn't already guess where I am, it's the top of World Trade Center Tower 1, or more affectionately known as the Freedom Tower.

As I write this on my crackberry I am currently 70 stories up; higher than any building in New Jersey (currently over my left shoulder) and 90% of all the buildings in Manhattan. From this vantage point the top of the Empire State Building is about eye level and looking beautiful on this fine, sunny New York morning.

In order to reach this height we had to take 2 separate hoist elevators to the 60th floor and then hike up 10 floors of exterior construction stairs. These stairs were outside the perimeter wall of the building, 700 feet high and encased in canvas. Basically my thoughts as I climbed the stairs with 30+ pounds on camera rigging equipment on my back was 'don't-look-down-because-there's-nothing-but-air-and-sidewalk'.

Just another day right?



Once we reached our destination, we entered back into the building and on to one of the derrick floors. This is where the ironworks do their work, welding, bolting, etc.  At this point, we weren't at the very top because not even the floors are complete up there. That's just the connectors, the cranes and the steel. These floors are well above the concrete work so this is not like walking on solid ground either. It's uneven, there's equipment and tools everywhere, there are places that are less weight-bearing and less secure, not to mention the holes in the floor for ladders or passing of tools between floors. 

This job is certainly never boring or lacking in challenges.



The purpose of today's shoot is to capture a hotel jump. The hotel system is a new innovation for the WTC project. It's a series of storage containers that contain climate controlled offices, bathrooms, dressing room and even a Subway restaurant! That's right here on the 70th floor of Tower 1 is the highest Subway in the world, and rising with the tower every 10 days.

How cool is that?


The reason for them is to eliminate time lost going up and down the building at lunch and breaks. Without them hundreds of workers would be traveling 15 to 20 minutes each way, up and down the tower for lunch, coffee and office work. This way they now have some creature comforts 700 feet up. And the other cool thing is that it's all self-sustaining. Besides food deliveries to Subway nothing needs to be brought up or down to these 'hotels'. Any waste from Subway or the bathrooms is composted.

TMI? Sorry. I think it's pretty ingenious.


So today we're here to film them rising the four 3-story hotel systems to top.


Side-bar....
Since I did 2 months of transcribing and sometimes return to my past of transcription when the need arises, I have become acquainted with all of the major characters involved in each project and each episode. Actually I would say acquainted isn't quite strong enough. I have listened to their life stories, I know the ins and out of their speech patterns (do they say 'like', 'um' or 'ya know' all the time?) and in some cases I've seen them talk about some of the emotional events in their lifetime. I know these people. However, I have come to realize that they do not know me. I once saw Ron Vega (mentioned in '') on the street walking to work and I nearly waved. That would've been awkward.

Today I saw a pair of the studdly ironworkers that feature prominently in the Tower 1 episodes. We've been following them for 18 months and I was the one who transcribed both of their sit-down interviews so of course I 'know' them. And of course, I found myself staring at them in awe of the strength and agility. Just a few minutes ago one walked past me and said, "what's up, Sweetie?" All I could manage was a weak "Hi". Of course, it was the married one, but nonetheless I felt like I had met some kind of celebrity. Lame I know. But have you ever seen George Clooney or Brad Pitt maneuvering tons of steel 100s of feet off the ground with little more than a harness? I think not.


Now back to our regularly scheduled program...

Parts of the day were uneventful but I will say that lunchtime was pretty exciting. Not only did we get to venture into the hotel system's Subway, but in order to get there we had to climb to the top of the building. And by top I mean TOP. Nothing between you and the heavens, only a 3-foot siderail along the perimeter and you could see for miles. Definitely the highlight. Although seeing a blimp pass by right at our altitude was pretty neat too.

I don't know if it's the adrenaline of the whole situation but I am totally enamored by this whole experience.
And Bonus, it's been a gorgeous day! However, now that I am home 16 hours after I left the house I seriously need to go to sleep and stay asleep until a decent hour.

Symptoms of Workaholism

I have come to realize that in this difficult world of interning and PA-ing, a highly competitive industry, that it is easy to begin overworking. I currently find myself sitting on a PATH train bound for Hoboken at 8:10pm on a Friday night after 10+ hours at the office with the prospect of a few more work-related emails and phone calls tonight, a few hours of work tomorrow and plans to show up early at the office Monday for a shoot.

I have also made no social plans for the entire weekend. True that's mostly due to my need to rest and kick this nasty cold of mine but I cannot help but notice the total lack of balance and continuity that such a statement brings about. If I'm so sick and tired why did I volunteer to assist one of the producers with their rough cut script? Couldn't that time be better spent carousing?

There are very apparent warnings signs of alcoholism as described by many medical professionals. However, I find that there is a lack of research done in respect to another American plague: workaholism.

Clearly if you can be a "workaholic" then you can suffer from "workaholism".

I have taken it upon myself to aide in the diagnosis of these undetected cases of "all work and no play".

In order to demonstrate the realities of this epidemic I have taken an excerpt about signs and symptoms of alcoholism and reversed certain key words\. For example, every time the word 'drink' or 'drinking' appears I have replaced it with 'work' or 'working'. Likewise, for a sentence like "person is shirking their responsibilities in order to drink" I would change it to "person is shirking their drinking in order to work". Because a true workaholic frequently blows off their friends and social events in order to work.

So here it is.....

Signs and Symptoms of Workaholism

There are many signs and symptoms related to working problems. Workaholism is considered a progressive disease, meaning that the symptoms and effects of working become increasingly more severe over time.

Those who over-work may begin to show early signs of a problem, then progress to showing symptoms of work abuse; if working continues, they may later show symptoms of workaholism or work dependence.

Early Signs of a Problem

Early signs of workaholism include frequent overtime, an established pattern of heavy working and working in dangerous situations, such as when driving [One word. Bluetooth.]. Other early signs of workaholism include black-out working ["Oh, wow I didn't mean to miss - insert landmark event (Example: birth of my first-born child)- I lost track of time!"] or a drastic change in demeanor while working, such as consistently becoming angry or violent.

Symptoms of Work Abuse

The main symptom of work abuse occurs when someone continues to work after their working reaches a level that causes recurrent problems [Too much time at the office and not at the gym? Anti-social?] . Continuing to work after it causes someone to miss fun, drive-work, shirk drinking or get in trouble with the law [Embezzlement anyone?] is considered work abuse.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, IV, defines work abuse as working despite work-related physical, social, psychological, or occupational problems, or working in dangerous situations, such as while driving. The World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases refers to "harmful use" of work, or working that causes either physical or mental damage in the absence of work dependence. In other words, work abuse is any harmful use of work.

Symptoms of Workaholism

For someone who is a workaholic or work dependent, the symptoms include all of those associated with work abuse (above). But workaholics also continue to work in spite of all the problems it has caused in their lives [Divorced? Loner? Diet of takeout and delivery? Wealthy but no time to use money? A year worth of vacation days banked up?].

When work abuse reaches the work dependence stage, the person also experiences at least three of seven other symptoms, including neglect of other activities, excessive use of work, impaired control of work consumption, persistence of work use, large amounts of time spent in work-related activities, withdrawal symptoms and increased tolerance of work.

Yikes. No thanks.

So if you have positively diagnosed yourself as a workaholic suffering from workaholism here's your treatment.
1. Turn off your laptop/blackberry/smart phone/work cell/pager/PDA (however the office contacts you)
2. Find a friend  - provided you haven't completely cut yourself off from all of them (maybe you should call them before you turn off your phone)
3. Have friend (replace 'friend' with 'local bartender' if necessary) remind you how to have fun. *
4. Do yourself a favor and don't switch from one addiction for another.

*if you or your friend are at a loss, try alcohol. Other "holics" swear by it.

Makes the prospect of Carpal Tunnel totally worth it...

So I realized that although I have eluded to my current job. I haven't actually described what the project is.... In March I was hired as a transcriber for the upcoming Discovery Channel documentary series "The Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero".


On the surface my job sounds pretty dull: watch footage, type exactly what people are saying, repeat. But with a project like this one, it doesn't bother me at all. It's like my contribution to the cause; I'm a crucial cog in the mechanics of making such an important series. I'm doing my part in service of the stories of heroism from that day and telling the public about what's been going on down there for the last 9 and a half years. You really wouldn't believe some of the stories I've heard straight from the source.


I started this job the first week of March and the first interviews that I had to transcribe were with the Memorial Museum chief curator, Jan Ramirez, and with the Memorial Project Manager, Ron Vega.


Talk about moving. Ramirez spent her hour interview telling her own tale of 9/11 and how she became the curator, complete with scouting visits to the still smoldering pile in search of artifacts not already collected by authorities for the purposes of criminal evidence, personal property or corporate property.


"I'm happy to say [some artifacts] were saved, and, in fact, I'm even more happy to say will be shared in the Memorial Museum. And the artifact that particularly comes to mind, um, is the bike rack. I remember rounding the corner on Vesey Street, which was less damaged side of the side to the North and there was this bike rack. It was coated with dust and there were these gnarled tires and maybe 8 bikes chained there and it was just that moment of people. First, it put people at this scene and you didn’t know their fate. No one had come back to claims these bikes. And it just struck us as such a poignant kind of evocation of what we were all feeling and, you know,  the concern for the missing" 


She went on to talk about other personal items that had been donated to the museum collection. Items that had been returned to families by the NYPD Property Clerk's office and they, in turn, placed in the care of the Museum. One story in particular struck me. A wife of a victim came in and present Ramirez with a wallet. 

"It was for her that moment of truth that he had died. And it wasn't just because the wallet contained his driver's license, his library card, his social security card and his actual evidentiary name, address, social security number and so forth. It was because when he had proposed to her, he had given her a two-dollar bill, he had said, "This is our second chance at love. We're two of a kind. I'm going to have a two dollar bill, you're going to carry a two dollar bill and everyday we go through our wallets and we pull out this oddity, this two dollar bill, we'll think of each other." And in the wallet was the two-dollar bill and that was what she needed to know that he had died."

Ron Vega was a very different yet equally poignant interview. He knew no one that died, but he worked for the City of New York on 9/11 and his team was dispatched to bring equipment and supplies to the site after the first plane had hit. They thought they would need scaffolding and things to keep debris from falling on passerbys while they sorted out the fire, etc.

Of course, we all know what happened after that. 

Although he was originally summoned as part of an assignment, Ron Vega has been at Ground Zero every day since 9/11. He is one of the many volunteers who is dying because of the exposure to the deadly toxins in the air and yet to this day he refuses to leave the site.

"I don't think it will be fully known until these [TV] programs like this come out, how much was done to find their loved ones. And s, that's the signs of hope. Basically, you meet people that finally get it, and instead of like regretting- if they haven't found any of their loved ones there's always that resentment, like you didn't try hard enough- once they get what we did, how hard we worked, how if it could be found, we did find it and if it wasn't found, we inhaled it, and they live in us. There's no doubt that if technology gets better and they cut open these lungs, they're gonna find someone's loved one there, a microscopic particle of them. So, that gives me hope."

 


Most of the interviews are more about the science, the technology and the engineering behind the new structures, but every so often I can be found glued to my computer screen, tissue in hand, tears in my eyes, riveted by the incredible stories that we've managed to capture on film.




Although most days were spent in my cubicle with my keyboard, I did have the odd opportunity to go out into the field. Three times I have been in Tower 7, the final building to fall on 9/11 and the first to be rebuilt. We filmed a number of sit-down interviews there.


Then in early April, I was granted my first trip on to the actual site.

Do you like my uniform? Florescent colors are hot. And those safety glasses... nicceeee.

Bedrock.... Bedmud?

We were in what will be the basement of Tower 2 and the foundation of the Transportation Hub, 150 steps (about 10 stories) below street level (I know because I counted on one of our treks back up to street level). I can now say that have have been below the level of bedrock in New York City.

Although I looked like a pack mule with a backpack on my back and one on my front, had completely clean and unscuffed work boots that stuck out like a sore thumb and the dorkiest looking glasses (reminiscent of high school chemistry goggles). It was still an awesome experience. Construction sites are like obstacles courses only with power tools. In another life I want to be a carpenter.


Now for those who are not familiar with the site let me give you a brief overview of what it will look like. The major elements are the Memorial, the Museum, Tower 1 (aka the Freedom Tower), the transportation Hub, the vehicle security center and then towers 2, 3, and 4.




The Memorial
The Memorial takes up 8 acres of the 16 acre site. The major feature is the 2 "Reflecting Absences". These are two man made waterfalls (largest waterfalls in the country) that are the exact location and dimensions of the 2 original towers. Around the pools will be bronze panels with the names of the victims etched into them. The remainder of the 8 acres is park space with paths, benchs, and trees. This will be  fully functional and open to the public on 9/12/11, after a special opening and ceremony with family members of victims and first responders on 9/11/11.

Plaza

                               The Museum

Museum Atrium/Pavilion viewed from the Plaza

The Memorial Museum, as you may have inferred from my comments above, will house artifacts of the day that tell the story of 9/11: the events preceding, the day of and following. They are calling it a "living museum" because it is still so raw and present in our everyday lives, as was made perfectly clear by the death of Osama bin Laden and the reactions around the globe, most notably however, right here 2 blocks from my office at Ground Zero. The Museum space is actually beneath the Memorial in what used to be Concourse and retail space beneath the original Towers. The only structure within the 8 acres of Memorial will be that of the Museum Atrium, the entrance for visitor's to the Museum.






Tower 1
Tower 1 will be the tallest building in North, South and Central America standing at 1776 ft. Get it? 1776, 'Freedom Tower'. Those crafty architects. Simply put it's a tall office building with an observation deck. However, I have watched an incredible amount of footage explaining all of the design and engineering decisions that will make this building the greenest, most technologically advanced, safest and most meaningful building in the world. The little nods to the original towers, the intense scrutiny of the stairs and elevators, and sheer strength of this building are what make it so awe-inspiring. Next time you drive toward the city or look at the skyline take a look for it. It's at about 68 stories and rising. It's already the tallest building in Lower Manhattan. Look out Empire State Building.

Looking down into Transit Hall from Museum Atrium

The Hub
The transportation hub has be classified as the 'modern day Grand Central' but there is so much more to it. It's the gateway to Ground Zero and the entry point for hundreds of thousands of visitors and commuters to Lower Manhattan. It's not just an impressive physical space (and believe me, it's incredibly beautiful), it's also a symbolic sign of rejuvenation and vitality returning to Lower Manhattan and the World Trade Center. One of the major reasons why it has taken so long to build at Ground Zero was because the MTA refused to shut down the 1 train because they had just opened a brand new South Ferry station shortly after 9/11. That means that in order to complete all of this construction they needed to dig around the 1 and 9 (9 train used to run here too) 'box' while the train continued to run right through the site. Can you imagine trying to support and excavate under a fully active train line with a subway coming through every 4 minutes? Nightmare. Not to mention it's next to the museum underground, beneath the Memorial and the Plaza, and has 4 towers sprouting up around it.

Puddle where Tower 3 will be with Tower 4 rising just south.

The Towers
Towers 2, 3, and 4 are all underway at this point. 4 is already up to about the 35th floor and they've just begun the 'curtain wall' glass facade. Each of these buildings will provide approximately 1 million square foot of office space to Lower Manhattan. Can you imagine that? Including Tower 1 there will be over 4 million square feet of function commercial space infused into Lower Manhattan. These buildings, like Tower 1, also have special nods to the original towers and the Memorial site as part of their design structure.

I think that's enough for now. I don't want to bore anyone. Besides I have to keep some for next time! So stay tuned because I know there will be more to tell, including my trip to the Memorial and Museum Atrium.