Wednesday, September 11, 2002

By Karen MacPherson, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

On the day terrorists attacked the United States, Christine Pisera Naman gave birth to her third child.

Monroeville resident and author Christine Pisera Naman, with her son Trevor, says that maybe the children born on Sept. 11, 2001, will "help us remember those who were lost, as well as to help us remember the things we should fight to hold on to."

The Monroeville woman cradled Trevor in her hospital room as she watched the televised horror unfolding in New York, Washington and Somerset County.

Feeling sad that her son had been born such an infamous day, Naman suddenly had an idea. Perhaps Trevor and other babies born on Sept. 11, 2001, could be the faces of hope who would show the world that all goodness was not lost that day. After all, poet Carl Sandburg once wrote, "A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on."

Inspired by the idea, Naman, 38, spent months combing the Internet for information about other babies born across the country last Sept. 11. She contacted their parents, gathered a photo of one baby from each of the 50 states (she used Trevor for the Pennsylvania entry) and put them together in a book.

The result is the just-published "Faces of Hope" (Health Communications Inc., $9.95). It's a rather modest book -- a paperback, and the baby photos are in black and white.

It's also an overtly sentimental book. Naman expresses two brief "hopes" for each child, such as "I hope you give to others" and "I hope you do somersaults."

For Naman, the process of putting the book together was cathartic. She jokes that the 50 babies featured make up the "largest play group going" and she would like them to meet as a group at least once.

"I think it's something hopeful," said the stay-at-home mother and writer who is now working on two other books as she cares for Trevor, Natalie, 5, and Jason, 7.

Naman says the main point of her book is to celebrate the light that these babies have offered in a time of darkness.

"Certainly they were not born to replace anyone," she said. "That would be impossible. But maybe they were born to help us remember those who were lost, as well as to help us remember the things we should fight to hold on to. Things like peace, hope, freedom, courage, kindness.

"I feel that babies born on Sept. 11, 2001, have already done something great with their lives," Naman added. "And I have a feeling they will do even more. ... Hope was born in every state that day."

(Note: The book can be ordered by calling 1-800-441-5569 or going to www.hci-online.com. It is also available on Amazon.com.)

Karen MacPherson can be reached at kmacpherson@nationalpress.com or 1-202-662-7075.

Correction/Clarification: (Published Sept. 11, 2002) An incomplete phone number was listed in a story Wednesday about "Faces of Hope" (Health Communications Inc., $9.95), a book with photos of children born on Sept. 11, 2001. The number is 1-800-441-5569.

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