Epha Riche Presentation Director

For Sept. 11, 2002, we wanted to sum up the many events and emotions our readers had experienced since the terrorist attacks. So, we created a mosaic of the iconic images of the past year, just big enough to be recognized, that repeated several times and formed an American flag. The illustration, by staff member Sharon Ruble, was meant to trigger in readers their own memories and emotions from images they have seen over, and over and over since that terrible day. We planned early to have an 8-page, no ad section fronting the Sept. 12 paper with coverage of the commemorations. Our desire to stay intensely local and still communicate the gravity of the day led us to the wrap-around of the local image, because we thought that would speak more to our readers than a wire service image from New York, Washington or Pennsylvania. Staff photographer David Stephenson found the image we were looking for that night at Lexington's community ceremony, as those attending walked past row after row of folding chairs, each labeled with the name of one of the 3,000 people killed in the terrorist attacks. The photograph was essentially monochromatic, and publishing it in black and white enhanced the effect of the scene, which resembled a military cemetery.