Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Reflections from Minnesota on the 25th anniversary of 9/11 September 9, 2026

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:01 AM
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A Faribault firefighter rings a bell at the September 11, 2025, commemoration at the fire station. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2025)

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AFTER the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America, that event remains, for me, as close as my memory, writing and photos. As close as the stories retold annually. As close as the local commemoration held each September to mark this American tragedy.

On the campus of Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, a plaque honors alumnus Ann N. Nelson, who died on 9/11 in the World Trade Center. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

September 11, was, indeed, tragic. In the thousands of lives lost. In the sense of security shattered. In the trauma inflicted on all of us old enough to remember.

This young girl was not even alive when 9/11 happened. But here she is at the 2025 anniversary commemoration at the Faribault Fire Hall. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2025)

Some were not yet born. Some were too young to remember. But for others like my mom, 9/11 marked a second monumental moment in American history. Shortly after the 2001 attacks, she compared September 11 to the 1945 attack on Pearl Harbor 60 years earlier. Mom was only nine then, an impressionable kid with no understanding that Hawaii was an ocean away from Minnesota and not, as she thought, several towns distant from her home. I could still hear the lingering fear in her voice even six decades later.

My son drew this picture of a plane aimed at the twin towers a year after 9/11 for a school assignment. A then-third grader in a Christian school, he needed to think of a time when it was hard to trust God. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted graphic)

I often wonder if my young son, just seven at the time of 9/11, understood the distance separating us from death and destruction in New York City, Washington DC and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. He was home sick from school that morning when my husband, Randy, called to tell me about the first plane slamming into the World Trade Center. I turned on my television to witness the second plane hitting the second tower.

I recall thinking how surreal this all seemed. How was this possible? What was happening? My eyes remained riveted to the TV screen.

I reconstructed a tower using the same blocks my son and his friend used on September 11, 2001, to duplicate what they saw on television. These are also the same airplanes they flew into the tower. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

On the living room floor, my son and his friend, whom I was caring for that day, played. Soon they were stacking wooden blocks, blasting toy metal airplanes into the tall towers. Blocks scattered across the carpet.

I should have been the responsible mom and caregiver and switched off the TV. But I couldn’t. So I tried to explain to the boys the reality of what we were all seeing without scaring them. Was that even possible when I, as an adult, could not fathom the seemingly impossible?

Faribault firefighters paid special tribute to fallen New York firefighters on a memorial sign posted at the fire station and photographed in 2011. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

The passage of 25 years dims the sharpness of those early impressions. But I remember feeling deeply unsettled. Scared. Could the Mall of America, a symbol of American capitalism an hour from my southern Minnesota home, be the next target? Anything seemed possible.

In the early evening of that fateful day, I recall looking skyward, searching for planes. There were none. They’d all been grounded.

I remember listening to President George W. Bush address the nation, reassuring all of us. In part, he said, “Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.”

In remembrance of 9/11, an American flag hangs over a highway in Hastings, Minnesota, on September 11, 2018. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

On that day and subsequent days, I felt a strong sense of unity among Americans. We were united in shock, in grief, in determination, in resolve to stand strong as a country. It was remarkable really, the way we stood together in singular purpose of defending democracy.

I wish now, 25 years later, that we could reclaim that sense of unity. Not through another tragedy, but rather through an understanding that we are all human, that life is precious, that we are all interconnected no matter who we are or where we live in the United States of America.

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TELL ME: What are your memories of 9/11? I’d like to hear your stories from that day.

FYI: The Faribault Fire Department will hold its annual 9/11 commemoration at the fire station on September 11. Attendees should arrive around 7:30 a.m. for the 7:46 a.m. ceremony.

© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Reflecting on 9/11 from Minnesota September 11, 2022

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 10:45 AM
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My son drew this image of the attack on the Twin Towers for a class assignment some 20 years ago. To this day, this drawing illustrates how deeply 9/11 impacted even the youngest among us. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted image)

TODAY I REMEMBER, honor, grieve.

I remember the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on our country, my heart heavy with the weight of loss. Nearly 3,000 individuals died on that day when terrorists hijacked four planes—two hitting the World Trade Center twin towers, another crashing into the Pentagon and the fourth slamming into a field in rural Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Twenty-one years later, I recall exactly where I was when I learned of the attack. I expect that is the same for most every American, that moment in time forever locked in to memory.

I was in my living room with my 7-year-old son, who was not feeling well and home from school, and his friend, whom I was caring for that day. My husband called from work to inform me of the events unfolding in New York City. I switched on the television and watched in horror as the second plane targeted the second tower.

I reconstructed a tower using the same blocks my son and his friend used on September 11, 2001, to duplicate what they saw on television. These are also the same airplanes they flew into the tower. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

Perhaps I should have switched off the TV, not exposed two young boys to the horrific scenes. But I didn’t. Soon Caleb and Sam were building towers from wooden blocks and flying toy airplanes into the stacks, the blocks cascading into a pile.

That visual sticks with me and in many ways reflects how, even in Minnesota, far far away from the epicenter of death and destruction, the impact on ordinary life was experienced. Something as simple as two children playing on my living room represented reality.

On the campus of Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, a plaque honors alumna Ann N. Nelson, who died on 9/11. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

I recall, throughout that day and in the weeks thereafter, feeling unsettled, wondering if more attacks would follow. It was a time of uncertainty and certainly of fear in our country. But it was also a time of unity. We were united in our horror, our grief and in our determination to stand strong as a nation. At least that’s my observation.

Perhaps today, on the 21st anniversary of 9/11, we can temporarily reclaim that sense of unity which has seemingly vanished. We can, whether in Minnesota or New York City, pause to mourn those who died, to support those who grieve personal losses and to reflect on this memorable moment in American history.

TELL ME: Where were you when you heard about the 9/11 terrorist attacks? And how are you feeling today?

© Copyright 2022 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Reflecting on September 11 in photos from NYC, thoughts from Minnesota September 11, 2020

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 4:13 PM
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My son drew this picture of a plane aimed for the twin towers a year after 9/11. He was a third grader in a Christian school and needed to think of a time when it was hard to trust God. To this day, this drawing by my boy illustrates to me how deeply 9/11 impacted even the youngest among us.

 

SEPTEMBER 11, 2001. The date is forever seared into our memories as the day terrorists targeted the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and a jetliner flying over Pennsylvania. When those planes crashed. When those towers fell. When fires raged. When thousands died, we grieved. Individually. And collectively as a nation.

 

On the campus of Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, a plaque honors an alumni, Ann Nelson. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo 2019.

 

Yet, as a Minnesotan nearly 1,200 miles removed from New York City and D.C. and Pennsylvania, I did not experience the same depth of fear and grief as others much nearer to the target sites or with loved ones lost.

 

I reconstructed a tower using the same blocks my son and his friend used on September 11, 2001, to duplicate what they saw on television. These are also the same airplanes they flew into the tower. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo.

 

Sure, I remember where I was—at home with my kindergarten age son and another boy in my care. I remember how the boys stacked wooden toy blocks and then crashed toy airplanes into the two towers, copying the scenes played and replayed on television because I could not bring myself to shut off the TV.

I recall, too, the eeriness, the feelings of uncertainty and worry and disbelief.

 

The Faribault firefighters pay special tribute to the fallen New York firefighters on their memorial sign. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo.

 

But none of this, none of this second-hand experience, compares to those who lived it and saw it. Like NYC photographer Keith Goldstein, a gifted creative whose work I follow on his blog, Far Earth Below. Keith excels in portrait photography. On the street, not the studio. Real. Everyday life. Raw and emotional and difficult sometimes to view. But honest in every way.

Keith was there on 9/11. He saw the devastation, destruction, death as he headed from his East Village home toward the towers. He found himself unable to photograph the horror unfolding before him. But several years later, as construction began on the Freedom Tower, he lifted his camera to undertake a project, “Looking On, Watching the Building of the Freedom Tower.”

The photos of people watching construction of the tower are signature Keith Goldstein. Honest. Emotional. Real. Every time I view Keith’s work, I wonder how he does it. How does he manage these focused, powerful images without his subjects noticing his presence? It’s a gift, a talent honed from years of experience.

That talent was recognized by Olympus Passion, which published a portion of his “Looking On” project in November 2018. Keith shared that publication on his blog today and I invite you to study his images and read the story he wrote about his 9/11 experiences. I expect you will be as impressed as I am by his work and the insights his photos provide.

I invite you also to continue following Keith’s photo blog. I appreciate how his images show me a world far removed from my Minnesota home. A world much different. Yet, a world I need to see because, even though my life and world are much different than his, we still live in this place called America.

Keith is as kind and decent and caring as they come. We’ve communicated occasionally via email, so I know this to be true. Several years ago he gifted me with a colorful print on aluminum of an immigrant vending t-shirts. My choice of photos. Choosing an image proved challenging. But I wanted a portrait. Signature Keith.

As different as we are, we are connected by our love of photography. And by our desire to share the world we view through our cameras.

© Copyright 2020 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Remembering: Boys, blocks & 9/11 September 9, 2011

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:09 AM
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THROUGHOUT THIS WEEK I’ve contemplated the post I would write about 9/11. And not once have I deviated from my initial idea.

So yesterday I headed to the basement and started digging through totes in search of building blocks and toy airplanes. I found the blocks, but not the planes. Those I discovered later while rummaging through my son’s upstairs bedroom closet.

Ten years ago, on September 11, 2001, my boy was only seven years old. He was home from school that day, not feeling well, when my husband phoned with news of the first plane crashing into the first tower.

I switched on the television. Typically I don’t have the TV on during the day and would not have known about the terrorist attacks until much later.

From that moment on, I could not take my eyes off the screen even though I worried about exposing my son and a younger boy in my care that day to the news coverage. How would they react? And did they truly understand the gravity of what was unfolding in our country?

I attempted to explain the situation, to tell the boys this was “real” and not some television show. They continued playing with whatever toys they had out at the time—I can’t recall.

But clearly they were listening and watching, for soon the two pulled a box of wooden building blocks from the toy box. Then they pulled out the toy airplanes.

I watched as my 7-year-old and his friend constructed teetering towers, then smashed those miniature planes into the towers. Blocks tumbled across the living room carpet.

I reconstructed a tower using the same blocks my son and his friend used on September 11, 2001, to duplicate what they saw on television. These are also the same airplanes they flew into the towers.

They repeated the action: Build the towers. Fly the planes. Smash the towers. Build. Fly. Smash.

I could have cried over the loss of innocence—mine and theirs.

WHAT ARE YOUR PERSONAL memories of September 11, 2001? Please submit a comment and share your story.

© Copyright 2011 Audrey Kletscher Helbling