"When I decided to write a piece on the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, I got permission to go up on its catwalk. It was scary because there was nothing but thin wire to hold on to. This helmet brings me back to that moment; it's a souvenir from an assignment I loved. The guys who build the bridges are athletes and like athletes they have a short lifespan, even if they don't fall off. It's a rigorous job, the stress and strain; the injuries…back injuries, arm injuries, fingers getting cut off. And by the time they're thirty-five or thirty-six they retire. They're the men who put into reality what the engineer dreamed up. Like a tailor's design, the engineer's design is actually put into our vision and into our utility by very skilled people. These are the most elite form of laborers, men comparable to cathedral builders. They have no fame opportunities; they're not going to be famous like ball players or entertainers of any kind. But they do have, like artists, pride in what they do. And what they do usually outlives them by several generations. So my writing about these workers makes me feel useful to the reality and history of the people whose fingerprints are all over the bridges."