"You are a herald for your generation....Thank you for using your
voice to help us make sense of that dark day, and forge a new
beginning."--Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a letter to Helaina Hovitz
Helaina Hovitz was twelve years old and in middle school three blocks
away when the World Trade Center was attacked. Her memoir encapsulates
the journey of a girl growing up with PTSD after living through the
events firsthand, chronicling its effects on a young girl at the outset
of adolescence and following her as she spirals into addiction and
rebellion, through loss, chaos, and confusion.
The events and experiences that are now common knowledge to everyone
were a very real part of Helaina's life and are still as vivid in her
memory today: the sickening thud of falling bodies hitting cars, the
crumbling towers, running for her life as she tried to get home, her
universe literally engulfed in a cloud. Hundreds, including Helaina,
were stranded in the neighborhood, also just blocks from the towers,
without phones or electricity or anyone to help. For fear of subsequent
attacks, not to mention the toxic substances in the air, everyone was
urged to stay inside their debris-filled apartments.
Anyone who has survived a horrific event knows that just because a body
remains in motion does not mean everything will simply "go back to
normal." The chemistry of the brain and the body changes, impacting our
relationships, our choices, and how we experience the world around us.
Yet, we rarely find out what actually happens to people as they try to
move on from a life-threatening experience--especially children, who are
just beginning to develop an understanding of the world around them.
It would take Helaina more than a decade to overcome the PTSD -- and
subsequent alcohol addiction -- that went misdiagnosed and mistreated
for so many years. In many ways, After 9/11 is the story of a
generation growing up in the aftermath of America's darkest day. And for
one young woman, it is the story of a survivor who, after witnessing the
end, got to make a new beginning.
