Lighting the way

Tonight the towers of light were shining in the New York sky, shortly turning off as dawn approaches. I came out of a resFest film showing at the Tribeca arts center to suddenly realise the whole sky was lit up. The lights stream straight up into the sky, I’d estimate 4-5 miles into the atmosphere, and when you stand anywhere downtown the refraction of the atmosphere means it looks like the lights are ending right above you – a very strange effect. Not only that, but the bottom half mile or so is filled with insects playing in the light and creating an effect not like glitter floating in the breeze. Breath taking.

The sight moved me immensely, and I’m truely glad I got to see it so close.

In fact the whole day has been quite emotional, with tears flowing freely a few times. Being back in New York on this day for the first time has really brought everything home. In 2002 I stood on the Millenium Bridge in London looking towards the heart of the city. In 2003 I paused for a moment in Melbourne, a bright sunny day on Freeman Street. Three years on I stood a few hundred metres from the site, gawking like a tourist, remembering what it was like when I worked on the 96th floor and the people who died without warning.

At resFest we all laughed watching the Bushwhacked show, videos grouped by their political commentary on the Bush regime. So much anger directed at a President and his cronies. Many of the videos edited footage of Bush addresses together to give new meanings. The two that hit home most were the flipside of each other – one re-working the state of the nation address to say that America was an evil terrorist that must be stopped from using their weapons of mass destruction. The other, my favourite, re-worked Bush’s words to suggest we all live together in peace and lay down our arms. We can only hope that turns out to be true sooner rather than later.