Parents who have visited theme parks with their kids know that riding the rides (even the scary ones) is the easy part. The greater difficulty comes from having to run the gift shop gauntlet at the end of the attraction before you can see daylight. It takes an act of parental super-restraint to get your family through all the tchotchkes without opening your wallet. Our boys are all teens now, but memories of such navigation at Disney and Universal are not soon forgotten.

Lance Robinson is a marine veteran from Pennsylvania who has visited 33 states since 2010, walking from city to city in memory of those who lost their lives on September 11th. He calls it a “hike of honor.”

There is a good chance that you will cry when looking at the many powerful images on display at the 9/11 Memorial Museum. There are the innocent faces of the murdered and the guilty faces of the murderers. There are eyeglasses that belonged to a person who will never get to see again and there are beaten up shoes of a woman who still walks today because she got out before the towers collapsed.

Despite what you may have heard, it was 9/11 family members who conceived the idea to bring the unidentified and unclaimed remains back to a repository and viewing room at sacred bedrock at Ground Zero.

Multiple mailings from both the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and the Coalition of 9/11 Families (an umbrella group of seven major family advocacy groups) solicited input from thousands of 9/11 family members, who responded with overwhelming approval. More.

The National September 11 Memorial Museum has won accolades for its exhibitions depicting the terrorist attacks and their aftermath, but it also has come under fire for its gift shop, a planned cafe and a recent reception for donors.

We have just witnessed the opening of the 9/11 memorial and museum at site of the destroyed World Trade Towers, an event that once more raises attention to how we Americans form our “collective memories.”

In a recent suggestive essay in the Journal of Social History, Stacy Otto argues that New Yorkers have mourned the 2001 tragedy as New Yorkers had mourned the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire in 1911. More.

The morning sky was as blue as it was when I first met Lt. Tom McGoff and his Engine Co. 217 crew more than 12 years ago - on America’s darkest day.

I took a deep breath and entered the National September 11 Memorial & Museum last week not knowing what memories might be triggered by the sights and sounds housed below ground, within the 110,000-square-foot space. More.

Earlier this month the nation watched the dedication of the museum in New York City commemorating the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The somber ceremony reminded us of how much was lost that day, not just to the city of New York but to all of America as we felt the effects of our homeland being so vehemently targeted by terrorists. More.