The billowing pillow of dust and ash attempted to suffocate lower Manhattan, making breathing a difficult and, as would later be known, deadly proposition. People fleeing the collapsing towers of steel and concrete sought cover from the cloud wherever they could, using shirts as makeshift masks in a desperate search for a gasp of air.

In living rooms, office buildings and school houses, those watching also found their breathing labored as, before their eyes, 19 men turned commercial airliners into instruments of mass murder. Cherished symbols of American economic and military strength turned to rubble, killing thousands who simply went to work on a Tuesday in September.

Those working at The Daily Reflector shared those feeling of helplessness that fateful morning. Producing the newspaper's first special section since Pearl Harbor demanded a breakneck pace, one that did not allow for information to be fully processed. Only completing that extra edition afforded a brief moment to catch our breath, a respite that Sept. 11 exploited to overwhelm the senses.

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