Taking you there and back again

This story has touched everyone, and we knew it would from the moment we began covering it one year ago.\nCircled around our tiny television, we were paralyzed like the rest of the IU community. We worked on the story -- one eye on the computer screen, one peering at round-the-clock reports.\nNow it's Sept. 11, 2002 -- a year has passed, emotions have settled, American flags are fading in the sun and we're picking up the pieces. The stories have changed. The once unwavering support for the War on Terror isn't as concrete. Victims are angry and asking for answers. The financial back of our country continues to slump. In fact, many people are sick of Sept. 11 references.\nIt's the anniversary of the greatest tragedy of our lives. How are we to mark the day? We've been searching since March for an answer. On a day where most of the world will again stop and televisions in every language will pay homage to the 2,999 victims, we're taking you back to Sept. 11, 2001, and then bringing the story home.\nOur world has changed. We set out in these 12 pages to tell you how and more importantly, why, with a focus on those people you know. Reporters Elise LeBlanc and Emily Veach report on how a Lower Manhattan college rebuilt as destruction bared down outside its front door, while a series of stories talk about IU and how it ebbed and flowed with the rest of the world during the past 12 months. LeBlanc and Veach, who spent a week in New York along with photographer Nick Kapke, profile a city fire company that lost five brothers trying to rescue thousands of others when the towers collapsed. Reporter Josh Sanburn looks at how junior Jessie Moskal has coped with the death of her father in the World Trade Center, and reporter Holly Johnson talks to Bloomington firefighters who felt powerless Sept. 11, 2001.\nIt's all an effort to tell this national story with a local focus. There's always a Hoosier involved, as you'll soon realize. And this story that has changed so many lives, goes straight through ours.\nAaron Sharockman\nEditor in Chief