11 20 204 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Library of Congress Stories Description An account of the resource A collection of more than 200 user-submitted stories gathered from the Library of Congress's "Witness and Response" exhibition staged in 2002. LC Story LC Story: Story Where were you on September 11, 2001 when you heard the news? (Please share your experience of learning of the events and what you did afterwards.) I was driving to work, about 5:30 am on September 11. I work and live in Southern California and what was first reported as a small plane apparantly misdirected into the World Trade Center, quickly became the larger jet we all learned about. I immidiately suspected terrorism and when the second plane hit (I was at work by then and watching the TV in our office) I knew. In fact, the jihad declared by Islam had come home. I called home and alerted my wife to turn on the TV. Coming from a Jewish background, the impact of this was immediate. Now my friends and co-workers might see things in a different light. LC Story: Memory What is your strongest memory of that day? The fear for my family and that I could not protect them. Second, it was another reminder that, indeed, we may be living in the "end times." LC Story: Affects How do you perceive that the events of September 11, 2001 have affected this country and/or you personally? Recognizing that the world would never be the same. It's one thing to see it in a distant land, on TV, but it's "them" not "us". Now it's us. We may be headed into a very long and dark time in America. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource lc_story118.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-12-17 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 67.119.153.136 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Library of Congress Stories Description An account of the resource A collection of more than 200 user-submitted stories gathered from the Library of Congress's "Witness and Response" exhibition staged in 2002. LC Story LC Story: Story Where were you on September 11, 2001 when you heard the news? (Please share your experience of learning of the events and what you did afterwards.) On September 11, 2001 I was on holiday in Scotland with my Mother. I'd taken her there for her 75th birthday and it was only her second trip out of the USA. After a day of shopping we jumped into a taxi for a ride to our hotel. The taxi driver recognized our accents and asked if we'd heard the news. He told us that a plane had flown into one of the WTC towers and we were both shocked. By the time we got back to our room the second plane had struck and we watched on CNN as the towers collapsed. We cried and cried. We couldn't call home because the circuits were busy and we couldn't fly home because all flights were grounded. That night we needed to pray so we walked to a local Episcopal cathedral. The church doors were closed and two people stood on the steps talking. One of them asked us if we needed to pray and then led us to the back of the church, opened a tiny door and allowed us inside. She took us to the altar, gave us a candle and told us to stay and pray as long as we wished. May God bless her. The next day we took a train to London. One afternoon we walked along Charing Cross looking through book stores when I stopped in front of a Muslim book store. Inside a man and woman sat at a desk. I stood outside and went through a storm of emotions. I wanted to go inside and pray with the man and woman, pray for understanding and peace. I also wanted to go in and attack them, blaming them, in my ignorance, for the attack. Loving and hating, I was there for 5 minutes before I noticed they had become uncomfortable under my gaze and I walked on. The world reached out to us. In the Underground an English woman stopped my mother and hugged her, they cried together. During a church service the priest wore a T-Shirt with the American flag on it. We stood outside Westminster Abbey during 4 minutes of silence when the whole city came to a halt, even the trains stopped in the Underground. The only sound was of quiet sobs. LC Story: Memory What is your strongest memory of that day? Standing on a side street holding my 75 year-old mother as she sobbed at the horrible news. LC Story: Affects How do you perceive that the events of September 11, 2001 have affected this country and/or you personally? The world is different now. I can never see it the same again. I'll not ever feel that happy-go-lucky feeling I had before the attack. I hate the way that my country responded with bombs, but I do believe that time will judge our actions to be understandable if not justified. Since the attack I have read the Torah, the New Testament and the Holy Qur'an. I've conversed extensively with Muslims and I now understand that the people who attacked the US are no more Muslim than Timothy McVeigh was Christian. Islam is a beautiful religion. As for America, I believe our response has alienated us in the world community. The world was with us for the first few weeks after the attack. But our President Bush was brash and ignorant in his remarks. He immediately angered the world and continued, over time, to turn sentiment against us and it will take decades to repair the damage caused by his ignorance. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource lc_story206.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2004-01-06 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 208.203.4.140 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Library of Congress Stories Description An account of the resource A collection of more than 200 user-submitted stories gathered from the Library of Congress's "Witness and Response" exhibition staged in 2002. LC Story LC Story: Story Where were you on September 11, 2001 when you heard the news? (Please share your experience of learning of the events and what you did afterwards.) I was at work-- in the same room in which I am now sitting. I was doing whatever I was doing. A coworker who is always excited to be the first to "break" news to everyone else came rushing in from the break room, where CNN Headline News is always on. He said, "A plane just crashed into the World Trade Center." Now, we work at the Dallas Infomart, and the next building to our immediate north is the Dallas "World Trade Center." For whatever reason, that was the first thing I thought of. I remember being surprised that we had not heard it here. It was only after he went on that I realized he was talking about THE World Trade Center. I remember asking "which tower?" He didn't know. A few minutes later, our manager, Johnnie, came rushing in. Before long the large, Mission Control-style "Web Boards" were changed. They no longer showed the status of the Help Desk; they projected CNN Headline News, albeit without sound. The second tower had been hit, and the chances of this being luck had just cratered. LC Story: Memory What is your strongest memory of that day? The images, shown over and over, of the 2nd tower being hit by the plane. Of debris shooting out the opposite side of the building from the impact. LC Story: Affects How do you perceive that the events of September 11, 2001 have affected this country and/or you personally? That day seriously damaged our national sense of security, of our innate feeling of invulnerability. They attacked us at the heart of our nation, and at the core of our government. I think that we were being overly optimistic before, thinking we were untouchable. Some kind of attack was inevitable. Who would have dreamed it was something this big? However, they gave us a chance to show that our greatest strength as a nation is our ability to "keep on keepin' on." Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource lc_story90.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-12-17 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 170.252.248.193 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Library of Congress Stories Description An account of the resource A collection of more than 200 user-submitted stories gathered from the Library of Congress's "Witness and Response" exhibition staged in 2002. LC Story LC Story: Story Where were you on September 11, 2001 when you heard the news? (Please share your experience of learning of the events and what you did afterwards.) I was attending a conference in a suburb of Maryland just outside DC sponsored by the Office of Personnel Management. I recall traveling to DC the preceeding weekend and visiting my brother-in-law and then driving to the hotel Sunday evening as the conference began on Monday the 10th. I attended the conference all day Monday and went to dinner Monday evening with a colleague I had not realized was also attending the conference. Having worked at the Pentagon for three years, 92 thru 95, I was contemplating skipping the morning session on the 11th and taking the Metro to the Pentagon and renew some old acquaintances. I decided to attend one of the morning sessions and then make my way to the Pentagon later on. Before those plans could come to fruition, CNN was being broadcast on the large screen at the front of the auditorium where the conference attendees had previously been listening to briefings. It was surreal to say the least. As events unfolded, the conference was eventually cancelled. I recall sitting in the auditorium and my colleague coming up to sit next to me. She asked me what I was going to do. I had a rental car and she didn't. My first thoughts, considering what appeared to be near panic in DC, was to drive to Maryland and stay with my brother-in-law. However, after an hour or so, we decided to "hijack" the rental car and drive back to Florida. LC Story: Memory What is your strongest memory of that day? As we made our way out of the DC area driving south through Virginia, I could not believe how beautiful the day was. There was not a cloud in the sky; crystal blue and I wasn't sure I'd seen a more beautiful day. The country side was magnificent and so picturesque. I contrasted those observations with what I knew was unfolding in New York, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania. It was way too overwhelming. And, then my thoughts turned to my oldest son who was a Lt. in the 101st Airborne. I sensed he was going somewhere. And, I thought my world was quickly collapsing. But, how could that all be true on such a beautiful day? LC Story: Affects How do you perceive that the events of September 11, 2001 have affected this country and/or you personally? My oldest son soon departed for Afghanistan for six months and received the bronze star for his performance in Operation Anaconda. The celebration and thankfulness of his return was soon muted by the understanding he would be headed to Iraq. He accompanied the 101st up country, spending time in Baghdad and other parts unknown. He is now out of the Army, has a great job in Atlanta and is doing fine. My wife and I aged many years in what seemed like a very long two years. Americans are a resilient people. We are proving we can make great sacrifices. We are also understanding that there is a cost to this precious freedom we enjoy. We should hold this gift closely, nurture it and never forget the price paid by Americans today and in the past. I believe we are a better people and a better country, forged from the events and aftermath of 9/11. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource lc_story127.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-12-18 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 129.61.46.16