I don't like it
The new design for the World Trade Center has been chosen. And I don't like it. It was explained best by my friend Frank, who put it much better than I ever could: "I finally realized why I didn't like any of the designs. They aren't the WTC. That's what I want. I want the towers rebuilt, one story higher than before."
As much as I hate to be area-centric, I honestly don't think non-New Yorkers can ever fully comprehend what the loss of those towers meant to NYC. Although I grew up on Long Island, about 60 miles from the towers, I went to the city frequently to visit family and saw them all the time. When such an integral part of your landscape is suddenly and violently gone, its destruction takes a little piece of you. A piece of your childhood memory is gone. And it hurts. It hurts a LOT.
My now-husband and I drove to NY to visit my family about 3 weeks after the attacks (a trip that had been planned for months), and thankfully for me it was dark when we crossed the bridge, and since we took the GWB to avoid Manhattan as much as possible, I'm not sure I would have been able to see them anyway, except on a very clear day.
However, I flew to NY last June for my father's 50th birthday, and it was much different. Since I flew, of course I got a beautiful aerial view of the city, sans towers. Almost a year after the attacks and I cried like a baby as we were landing. Same thing happened as I was perusing the finalists for the new design. I got through maybe 2 or 3 of the designs before I broke down. I glanced at the one that was chosen, but to me it doesn't matter. It's not the WTC.