Each day's awakening brings another flood of reminders and another flood of tears.
Her husband's portrait framed on the telephone stand. The hollow look in their children's eyes. The postcard her husband sent to show off his new workplace -- two gleaming towers piercing the sky above Manhattan.
Intensifying the gloom, the votive candle in front of the Virgin of Guadalupe, which had burned bright for 10 days, flickered out.
Morning after morning, it's been harder for Luz Maria Mendoza to convince herself that her husband, who hasn't made his nightly phone call from Brooklyn since Sept. 10, is still alive.
New Yorkers consider their city the capital of the world, and hundreds of foreigners from 80 nations disappeared in the cataclysm at the World Trade Center, making America's grief the world's.
The horror rippled around a planet linked more than ever not only by fiber optics and instant messaging, but also by flesh and blood.
It traveled across the Pacific to the northern Philippine city of Loaog, where 13-year-old Daryl Domingo was watching television when a frightening image flashed on the screen. He saw smoke pouring from the north tower, where his mother, Benilda, worked as a janitor.
"I knew that my mom was in there," he said. "My daddy cried. I cried. I hope she's just in a hospital."
The tragedy traveled south into Jonacatepec, a central Mexican town where Mendoza was left with her three children when her husband, 32-year-old Juan Ortega, went to find work in "el Norte."
Ortega sneaked into the US on Jan. 27, 2000, in an eight-day journey across the desert and headed to New York, where a friend lived.
He was delighted when he landed a job at the Fine & Schapiro deli to deliver US$6.95 London broil to busy executives in the World Trade Center. Tips were good, and he began to send home US$500 every two or three weeks. Every night he called his wife, to ask about the children, to ask about her.
Mendoza watched the horror live on television. Phone lines were jammed, but a friend of Ortega's called from New York. He had received a brief, frantic call from Ortega shortly after a jetliner hit one of the towers. And nothing else.
Life for the family has stopped. They wait by the phone, and they watch television hour after hour, searching among the faces of workers shown running from the collapsing towers in tapes broadcast over and over by news networks.
Mendoza insists she doesn't believe her husband is dead, rattling off possible scenarios -- amnesia, detention by immigration authorities, entrapment in an air pocket in the rubble. But her words give away her doubts as her descriptions of him shift between present and past tense.
On Friday, the US Embassy expedited visas for Mendoza and her brother-in-law, and the Morelos state government gave them plane tickets and US$1,000 for expenses. They were flying to New York this weekend -- to try to find out what happened to Ortega.
"Each day I wake up I ask God so much to make that day a marvelous one," Mendoza said. "We hope for good news, or even bad news. The doubt consumes me every day, and I need this nightmare to end, for better or worse."
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source