The Words We Wrote After 9/11 – From the Revolt In Style Archives
Twenty-five years later, an original issue of Revolt In Style takes us back to the fear, anger and uncertainty that followed September 11, 2001.
Editor’s note: This feature contains archival material and explicit language. The original words are presented in their historical context.
Some magazine issues document a moment. Others become part of it.
Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, we found an original copy of the Revolt In Style issue created in their aftermath. Opening it again was like opening a time capsule.
The cover captures the emotion of the country at that moment – a young man surrounded by a torn American flag beneath the original REVOLT IN STYLE masthead.
Across the bottom appeared the words:
“Music • Culture • Fashion • Sports • And a Whole Lot of Patriotism”
It was direct, emotional and unmistakably of its time.
The original Revolt In Style post-9/11 cover.
An Issue Shaped by History
Inside the magazine, a section titled “Deep Thoughts – Rants and Raves From Our Staff” gave members of the Revolt In Style team space to respond.
These were not historical reflections written after years of debate and hindsight. They were immediate reactions from people still trying to comprehend what had happened.
There was grief, disbelief, fear, patriotism and anger. The writing was personal, imperfect and unfiltered.
That is what makes it important today.
A Letter From Our Editor
At the time, Thaddeus was the editor of Revolt In Style and my boss. His letter helped establish the editorial voice of the issue and captured his response to a country that had been changed in a matter of hours.
His perspective belongs at the beginning of this archive. He was leading the magazine while all of us were trying to decide what Revolt In Style should say about an event that felt almost impossible to put into words.
The original letter from Revolt In Style editor Thaddeus, published in the aftermath of September 11, 2001.
We are presenting his original words as they appeared in the magazine. They have not been rewritten through the safer lens of history or adjusted to reflect what we know today.
They belong to that moment.
From the Art Director
I was serving as Revolt In Style’s art director. For my family, the attacks were not something we experienced only through television.
My younger sister was close enough to the World Trade Center that she felt the rumble of the collapse and smelled the fires as they burned.
For several agonizing hours, nobody in our family could reach her. Cellphone service was out, information was scarce and our imaginations were filling in the blanks.
I wrote:
“The sound of sheer terror in my mothers voice when she called me to ask if I had heard from my sister was more than I could bear.
My Little Sister for christsakes.”
The fear quickly became anger, and that anger filled the rest of the letter. The language was blunt, profane and unapologetic.
It was written by a frightened brother who did not know whether his younger sister was safe.
Brian S. Terhorst’s original letter, written while serving as art director of Revolt In Style.
The Anger on the Page
Reading the letter today is uncomfortable in places.
That discomfort is part of the reason it should be preserved.
The emotions surrounding September 11 were complicated. People were grieving while events were still unfolding. Families were desperately trying to reach loved ones. Nobody knew what would happen next.
The letters in this issue were written inside that fear and uncertainty.
Twenty-five years gives us more history and perspective, but it does not erase the terror in a mother’s voice. It does not erase the helplessness of being unable to reach someone you love. It does not erase the relief of finally learning that person survived.
Why We Are Sharing This Issue
We are not publishing these pages to revive the hatred or rage of that moment.
We are sharing them because history should not always be cleaned up after the fact.
The original words show what real people were thinking before there was time to polish their reactions, reconsider their language or understand everything that would follow.
They are a record of who we were, what we feared and how we tried to make sense of something that had shaken the country to its core.
From the Revolt In Style Archives
Finding this magazine reminded us that Revolt In Style has always represented more than music, sports, fashion and culture.
It has also documented the people and events that shaped our lives.
This issue captured one of those moments.
Today, we remember the people whose lives were taken on September 11, the families who carried that loss forward, the first responders who ran toward danger and everyone whose life was permanently divided into a before and an after.
We also remember who we were when we first tried to put the unthinkable into words.
