174 20 70359 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 September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was in my shrink's office when the patient who was scheduled after me knocked on the door. "Did you hear what just happened?" She was in hysterics. Of course, neither my doctor nor I knew what was going on because we had been too busy talking about my problems... :-) When I left the office, I entered a tide of people leaving the downtown area, panicked and confused. A cacophony of horns and sirens filled the air as traffic haphazardly crawled along the streets leading out of the city. I seemed to be the only one not on her way to Virginia. I continued making my way up Connecticut on what to me seemed to be a lovely day weather wise. I had yet to find out what had occurred. About one block later, there were three construction workers huddled around the 12" black and white television set they had placed on the sidewalk. I paused to inquire what was going on...I was then informed of the attack. I stopped by a local market, bought some olives, cheese, bread, pastries, and wine. Walked over to a friend?s apartment off the Circle, where I telephoned relatives to let them know I was okay, listened to the radio, napped on her couch, and waited for the second foot to fall. I refused to watch television, and have yet to see images of the planes hitting the twin towers.... 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 story26.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. anonymously 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. 2002-01-31 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 160.111.79.222 Annotation Annotations to this item. Television Coverage Telephones and Cell Phones DC:3 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 September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: katherine biller junior in high school I can remember exactly what I was doing on 9-11 but at the same time it's a blur, one big mess of a blur. I was a sophomore in Niceville High and it was just another day and the bell had just rung for 5th period to start and I had Mrs. DiCesare, English 2. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary and we were getting going on an assignment when the phone rang in her room. We had another teacher in there too by the name of Mrs. Murphy and if one of them was buzy the other would take over. Well Mrs. Murphy started to teach the class while Mrs. DiCesare answered the phone. Now in my mind I was thinking "Okay no biggy this happens all the time and then Mrs. DiCesare will just pick up where Mrs. Murphy left off." When Mrs. DiCesare hung up that phone nothing in the world could have prepared me for what happened next. She ran over to the T.V. and turned it on to a channel showing smoke coming from a building and like all news I wasn't interested at first (my dad had always told me to watch the news and learn something educational, not cartoons) then something caught my eye, a plane ran into another building right beside the first. Something flashed on the screen saying "Second of Twin Towers Hit". I wanted to cry but no tears came. The room that was always loud 5th period became silent except the gasps of Mrs. DiCesare. My heart went out to her because she came to Niceville, Fl. from New York. I didn't know what to do but stare and shutter the thought of people in those towers. 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 story6513.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. 2002-09-12 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 68.1.62.240 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 September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: September 11 I had been kinda uneasy about the day from the time I had woken up.The first time I heard about it was in my Gym class some girls were discussing it while we were getting ready to change classes,so me being me I kinda chimed in on the conversation.It didnt really seem that serious at first,so I just walked ahead and continued on my way to class.As I was approaching the class it seemed that people were just acting strange.It just wasnt the same type of vibe I was used to throughout the building.Once I approached my third block class, my teacher was watching the TV- which was out of the ordinary.Of course Im thinking to myself ,whats going on? I arrive at my seat put my things down ,and turn my focus directly to the televison screen. It was the worst thing I had ever seen...it was as if we were watching a movie or something.I couldnt belive my eyes, I quicky began asking my computer applications teacher what was going on. It seemed as if I was the only one in the class who hadnt heard. My heart began to beat so fast I had to lay my head down, cover up my face to hide all of the emotions going on through my head.I really didnt know what to think.I still wasnt believing or understanding what had happend, but I knew that the uneasy feeling I had when I had got out of bed was for a reason. Ill never forget that feeling just as that moment of terror that America had seen.God Bless everybody who was affected by this tragedy;We are now a stroger nation because of this. Continue to pray, and keep faith in GOD HE SHALL LEAD US THE WAY!!!!!!One Luv AMERICA-PEACE 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 story2116.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. 2002-09-10 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 66.169.173.38 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 September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: When I first found out about the terrorist attacks on the U.S. I was on break between my 2nd and 3rd hour classes at school. I was in a bit of a rush to get to my third hour class before the tardy bell when my friend Sean came and told me the news. I remember that he first told me that a plane crashed into the Pentagon, and then another plane into one of the towers of the World Trade Center. At first, I just brushed it off. I didn't really know how big of a deal it actually was or why he was so "anxious" to tell me. I knew that the Pentagon was a very important building, but I didn't know hardly anything about the World Trade Center. On top of that, I just thought that the plane crash was a minor accicident that didn't cause a lot of damage. So, because of my ignorance of the true situation, I quickly forgot about what Sean had just told me and focused back on making it to third hour on time. It was in that third hour class when I actually understood what had happened. As soon as I walked into the classroom, my teacher had his t.v. turned onto CNN or some channel similar to it. On the screen was twin tower #1 burning. We continued to watch t.v. all hour, switching back from station to station to see if there was an expalination for the "accident". Then, on live t.v., the 2nd tower was hit, conferming the suspicions that the first plane crash was a direct attack and not an accident. At first, I thought that the 2nd plane crash was just a replay of the first crash. Then i noticed that two buildings were on fire, realizing that I had just witnessed the rest of the attack. It was so awfull. Just seeing the people on t.v. crying and running through the streets. But the worst is when the the towers fell. It was the worst thing I could ever imagine. I was feeling for all of those people that i didn't know. To me, the towers represented the way my insides felt. As they fell, so did my heart and my pride. I mean, prior to this terrrible event, I had the feeling that The United States was invincible. How could such an autrocity happen to the most powerful nation in the world? How could our government/national defense let this slip by them? Continuing from class to class, I couldn't really focus on doing school work, as some teachers tried to make us. I wanted to know everything that happend. The rest of the school day, everybody was talking about the incident in the halls. Then at cheer practice after school, my teammated and I were all trying to piece together what we had all heard. At home, later on that day, my mom told me about her day. She remembers watching "Good Morning America", as she always does. She told me that she remembers Diane Sawyer bringing up an "unconfirmed story" that the World Trade Center had been accidentally hit by a plane. My mother told me that she was a little upset that Diane kept bringing up the bombing in the World Trade Center in 1994. My mom thought that it was wrong for her to jump to the conclusion that the plane crash was a terrorist attack because she might alarm the people. Later on, once my mom knew what had happend, she said that she felt a huge sense of fear. She can remember hearing a lot of planes flying over our house to land at the nearest airport. As the weeks passed by, my biggest fear was that the US would go to war. I know know that, no matter how powerful a ocuntry is, it can be vuneralbe to anything, and i shouldn't take living in such a blessed country for granted . 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 story2250.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. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 198.109.168.234 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 September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was at school in my biology class. When I was entering class, I saw the television was on. I did not know why but I realized everyone was watching it. I thought my classmates were watching the morning shows but then I saw a tower with an airplane letting out alot of smoke. I did not know what was going on at the time because I don't have time to watch morning television. My teacher told us why the tv was on and what is happening in the world.Immediately I thought of people I knew that were going to leave to go somewhere on vacation or business trip. No one in my family went anywhere that day on an airplane. When I heard that people died, I felt very sad because that was a very large tower and alot of innocent people were in there. Then I heard that the other tower was hit and the Pentagon. It probably did not affect me that much as other people, but I did know one student's father who died that day. I also heard about my classmates friend's father was supposed to fly one of the planes but that day he was sick so he didn't. He was very fortunate because that one day he took off a day from his job, he is still alive. I dislike Al Qaeda and Osama BinLaden with passion because they killed innocent lives for no reason at all.A year later and we're all affected by it... 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 story8298.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. 2002-10-02 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 209.79.80.162 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 September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was on my way to work the morning of September 11, 2001. It was a typical morning; I was supposed to be there at 9 a.m. and was running just a couple of minutes late. I was surfing through the radio channels trying to find some music in the midst of the morning drive time talk and commercials when one of the stations announced that there had been some sort of plane crash into one of the twin towers of the Trade Center. I left the radio on that station in order to hear a news update on the crash. The dj was telling what he could glean from the wire reports when suddenly he announced that there had been a second plane crash into the other tower and that if we could get to a TV set, we should turn it on. I was just pulling into the parking lot at work when he made that announcement. I ran inside and ran into my boss's office because he usually had his TV on throughout the day. He was out of his office and the TV was off, so I grabbed the remote and turned on the TV, flipping through channels until I found a news channel. About that time, the radios back in the work areas had begun announcing the news and my boss came into his office to see what was going on. We watched, stunned, for a few minutes. It was pay week; we always got our paychecks on Thursday, although the paychecks were usually prepared on Monday. Moments after seeing the replay of the two planes crashing into the towers and hearing that there were other crashes, my boss gave us all our paychecks and told us to go immediately to the bank and cash them, not deposit them. We all left right away. At the bank, everyone moved in shocked silence as TVs in the lobby broadcast the images of the planes over and over. I returned to work, where we spent most of the day alternately watching the TV and trying to concentrate on business. My 7-year-old son was in school in the northwestern part of Knoxville, just a few miles from Oak Ridge and the DOE facilities that could be a possible terrorist target. I wondered if I should leave work and go get him or if he would be safer where he was since our home was even closer to Oak Ridge than the school was. I wondered about my college-age daughter, who was in class at Pellissippi State, also not far from Oak Ridge. I had no way to get in touch with her to find out if she had heard the news and had left school to go home. I remained at work until my regular time to go home and wondered if my son had been told at school what had happened. As I passed several gas stations full of people all lined up at the pumps in an apparent panic over a gas shortage, I realized that I needed gas and would have to go after I picked up my son. Having to wait at the pumps gave me the opening to find out what he knew about the day's events. I asked him if he knew why everyone was packed into the gas stations, if his teacher or anyone had said anything to him about what had happened. It turned out that NO ONE had told the children at his school anything! They had gone on with their day as if nothing had happened and had left it to the parents to tell their children. I tried to explain it to him as best I could, and of course, when we got home, we turned on the TV and he saw for himself what I was talking about. I remembered being in the 6th grade and watching on the classroom TV the Dallas procession in which John Kennedy was shot and killed. I couldn't believe that the school administrators and teachers had felt it would be better if the children didn't know what was happening. Even though my son was only 7 at the time, he still felt the shock and outrage of the moment. In the days following when everyone was displaying their flags, he took a paper flag that our local newspaper had included in one of their editions and taped it to the living room wall. It was not an elegant display nor did it particularly complement the d?cor, but that flag is still taped to our wall and I would not take it down now for anything. A year later, the emotional wounds are still easily re-opened. One of the radio stations this morning was broadcasting a reading of the names of all the people killed on September 11. I could not leave the radio tuned to that channel for long. It was too painful. I have a bumper sticker on my car showing the Statue of Liberty superimposed over an outline of the country with the words, "Never forget." I will not . . . ever. 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 story3500.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. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 68.47.164.180 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 September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: The day of 9/11 I was at school im not exactly sure what period or class I was in but my teacher heard from emails from several of his co-workers that a plane had hit into the twin towers he immediatly put on the T.V. to see if these reports were true sure enough they were and the whole class sat in shock as the repoters filled us in on what had just happened not to long after we felt a rumble in the school kind of like a soft earthquake little did we know that was the after shock of the plane hitting the pentagon. We were immediatly released from school to go home and be with our families. 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 story20821.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. 2006-09-12 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 151.188.16.21 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 September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was a NYC Detective on September 11, 2001. I had worked very late the evening before and my husband had let me sleep while he got the kids ready for school. He had turned on the tv and saw that a plane had struck the Trade Center. He ran up the stairs to wake me up. Both myself and my husband were both Police Officers in the First Precinct and that is where we met. I sat on my couch watching . I watched in complete horror as the towers fell, and then the phone rang it was my office. We had been mobilized into Manhattan. I ran upstairs and threw clothes on and jumped into my tenants car with him. He is presently a Police Officer at the First Precinct. We began our treck into the city. As we crossed the Verrazano Bridge the pure shock set in, all i could see was smoke but no Towers. When we got to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel we showed our ID cards and were let into the tunnel. About a quarter of the way into the tunnel we ran into heavy smoke inside and were completely unable to see in front of us or behind us. Matt proceded to drive slowly hoping not to hit the side walls or another vehicle. We finally made it through the tunnel and when we exited at the other side i just couldnt believe my eyes. I had worked in this Precinct for 7 years, i had met my husband there and I knew the area like the back of my hand, but i just couldnt fathom what i was seeing. We stood on West Street in soot and papers that were up to my ankles. Papers and debris were hanging from trees, building windows were completely shattered and the whole city was blanketed in a hugh layer of dust and soot. I began to cry knowing that this was total devistation. We proceeded to walk up toward the WTC and as we got closer we could see the hugh steel just standing out of the rubble of where the WTC buildings had once stood. We saw an engine from a plane just sitting a few blocks from the site. I stood there in complete silence just looking at the carnage ahead of me. A construction worker walked up to me and gave me a respirator for my mouth and a pair of goggles for my eyes. I was already caked in dust in just minutes. I wasnt in uniform that day but i was wearing a NYPD wind breaker. I was trying to compose myself as to this horror. I saw my neighbor who had just finished the Fire Academy and this was his first call. I hugged him and told him "If this is your first call, then you better quit for something safer." We both hugged and laughed. We walked up the rubble and stood in a bucket brigade passing buckets from one to another. I was totally numb and the tears just ran down my face. As we were standing there a very loud roar started and everyone started running and screaming. Seven World Trade Center was collapsing. I ran as fast as my legs would take me. I watched as the building disappeared from the skyline. I sat on the ground and prayed to God. A Fireman walked up to me and kneeled in front of me, he put his hand in his pocket and handed me a piece of hard candy. My mouth was so dry and caked with dirt. I just remember looking at him as i took the piece of candy and put it into my mouth. He helped me back to my feet and we all walked back to begin passing buckets again. Pieces of peoples lives were being passed by in these buckets and if i spotted a picture or something i would put it in my pocket until i could turn it in. You could hear a pin drop as we all stood cop,fireman,red cross, volunteers all lined up to help out. At some times the rubble would become unstable and they would sound a horn and yell for everyone to RUN. We would all run but as soon as it was ok we were all back again standing in line passing buckets again. It was one of the Scariest days not only of my life but of my entire Police Career. After many hours and early into the morning we were told to go home as they brought in re enforcements. We were taken to an area where a fireman was standing on a small ladder with a firehose and one at a time we were completely hosed down. I could feel the soot caking up in my hair and on my body almost like cement. We drove home in silence. I couldnt wait to get home just to kiss my two children and let them know how much i loved them. I sat up the rest of the morning watching on tv what was going on, i couldnt take my eyes off of it. I had to be back in the city in another few hours. They put us on 12 hours shifts, 12 hours at the site and 12 hours off. I dont think that i will ever be able to forget this day as long as i am alive.....After many months working at Ground Zero I retired on February 28, 2001. I was one of the LUCKY ONES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 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 story6218.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. 2002-09-12 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 152.163.188.6 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 September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I had gotten up and I wasn't sure if I took a shower after or before, but I remember being in the dark in the kitchen. I didn't want my mom to turning on the lights because I just like the calm outside light. Anyways, she asked me why was it dark, but she just tapped on the lights and turned on the tv. I didn't know what it was. I couldn't believe the skyscrapers of the U.S. were hit. I just thought for some reason, that these people who hit the WTC were those who came to Seattle to protest. I don't know why I thought that, but that was because I never even thought there was a terrorist network or that they had anything to do with it until after the attacks. In a way I felt silly that I thought it was our own people hitting us, but there have been those who have been on our soil and from our land, blowing up buildings, (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma). It just seemed like a nightmare. On my way to school, I listened to the radio, and it said that the first one went down and then a while later, the second one went. When I got to my photography class, we just watched the tv as we saw them repeatedly showing the planes, our planes, hitting our own buildings. It was amazing how many people shot photos that day in New York, I have to say. The school though, had us not watch all of it. I was thinking maybe they just didn't want us to be too upset, but they just wanted us to get back to normal. How can you? I mean these were lives and lives from all over the world. I never knew how connected we were with others. It's amazing how our world was so together in those buildings. I just was thinking about the people in the planes and I just was thinking about those times I fly on planes like that and am just so lucky to survive and not be in crashes, like so many I have learned. When this happened, you just wanted to be there and just get up there, like the firemen did, and just not worry about hurting yourself, but getting those hurt out of there. You didn't want to even think that those who even jumped were gone. I even wondered why those who jumped, never thought of just sacrificing a leg or arm to just go down the stairs as fast as they could with that time that was hanging there. When I came to classes later in the day, they were talking about some survivers, and some estimates of how many dead. It was just such a day for braveness, first the firefighters and construction people, Rudolph Giuliani for just taking his moms advice for just being strong in a difficult situations and just doing what he could do, Red Cross for trying to help those hurt, actors and just people being just couragous in helping out, and especially our President. Once I got home I watched some more. Later on, I saw a woman just burst into tears about her seeing people jumping. Normally you wouldn't see office people jumping or anything like that, only in fims, especially when you're right there. The interviewer just held her and they both cried because the state of New York was in mourning as well as the rest of the U.S.. I just kept thinking about this attack and comparing it to December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor attack. I mean, I may not have been in that time period, but I can just feel the sorrow of those lost during that day and 9/11. Pearl Harbor wasn't on our soil, but on our men, and that to me is our soil, our people. I just have to say that I am just so lucky to just be alive. I wish I could just go over to New York and just pull all those people out. I even saw the special "9/11" on CBS and that just was an amazing film. These two French film makers doing a documentry on FireHouse Department 7 (I believe) in New York and it's just amazing the footage and how close they all were in experiencing close to death. In the film, you could here huge poundings down in the lobby on the first tower after it was hit. The cameramen said that each time you heard the sound, it was somebody giving up their life. There were so many and I just can't amagine people doing that. Giving up. No one gave up to try their best, and in using their dogs, which was just another sad thing to see, using them to find people. Sorry I wrote it this long, but it's just how I feel being all the way accross the state in the same place, but in the west. I never knew I would live at 17, at the time, having this happen. Come home, men and women fighting for us. Just do what you can and come home. I have to say this as well to everyone, just live your lives as much you can. Get to know some one. Make your life better for you and just realize what September 11th did to those who were the innocent and those who were just doing there jobs to save others. 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 story232.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. 2002-03-12 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 63.228.107.223 Annotation Annotations to this item. Firefighters Military Police Officers Politics and politicians Television Coverage Terrorism Victims DOMESTIC 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 September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I remember sitting at my desk when a person sitting on the other side of the petition said "I need to call my dad and tell him that a plane just crashed into the WTC". I then got up and went to a room where patients watch television, but I could not find it on television at that time. About thirty minutes later someone in the office said another plane just crash into the WTC, thats when I pulled out a little TV that I kept in my drawer at work and we all watch in horror as the showed us a repeat of what has happen and what was soon to come plane crash after plane crash. I was devastated and in shock. I was so scared for thos people in that building and on the airplanes. I am very sympathetic towards the victims and the families especially the kids. I will always remeber. My kids are too little to tell at this time, but they will know. 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 story6997.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. 2002-09-13 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 143.111.119.13 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 September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I came in about 20mins to 9:00am. I turned on the radio, the announcer said jokingly that a small plane apparently hit one of the twin towers. I thought it was a joke. Then his voice changed and he stated its actually a large aircraft. I then went to my break room turned on the T.v. & saw everything as it unfolded. I thought it was a horrible accident, then I saw the next plane hit, I knew then it was terrorist. I felt sick to my stomach, I thought maybe I was having a nightmare and I would wake up, but it was real. to add to the horrible events it was announced that more planes were possibly hijacked. Then the pentagon was hit. I'm a native New Yorker, my heart broke, I cried like a baby, I wanted to be there and help our people I felt as if part of my soul left me to go there. Lastly I remember and I'll never forget! Spiritually I am stronger today. 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 story6207.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. 2002-09-12 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 167.127.163.141 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 September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was at work. Once the shock settled over me, all I wanted was to be home, safe with my family near me so I could hug and kiss them, and tell them I love them. Life had to continue. We all stayed at work, and did the best we could, and did not let terror stop us. I drive by Fort Campbell military post everyday on my way to and from work (and most anywhere else I have to go)and I am grateful to our military and their families for their sacrifices for the American people. Trinnie Hinson 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 story3458.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. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 12.13.126.18 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 September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: It was nine o'clock in the morning. My husband and I woke up to our phone ringing. Being eight and a half months pregnant, I slowly got up to answer the phone. It was my mother-in-law, crying and telling me to turn on the t.v. I woke up my husband and we went to the den and turned on the t.v. The first thing we saw was the second plane crashing into the WTC, we sat speechless. I was so scared, I just knew that this disaster was going to cause a draft and that my only love was going to leave me. I couldn't help think of those who woke up this morning in New York not knowing this was their last day on earth. I felt helpless and angry,and confusion being at the top of my list. The bad thing, it didn't stop at New York, there was the pentagon and the sole plane that never made it to the last distructive destination. I selfishly,got on my knees and thanked God that it didn't happen here, but it did! No matter where it happened, it affected us all, because at that time I remembered that I had an Uncle that lived in New York and a cousin in the Army stationed there also. God was there with them that day and spared their lives. October 26th, I gave birth to a beautiful 7lb. 13oz. baby boy. As I held him in my arms, I thought of all those children who lost one or both of their parents. I prayed that they had angels watching over them and that their lives would only get better, knowing that the angels watching over them were not just any angels but their loved ones they lost. And then I looked at my husband and thanked God that I still had him by my side, but wept for those who would never see their wives or husbands, brothers or sisters again until it was their turn to enter heaven. God gave us life, which is a gift. We so often take this gift for granit. I hope everyone learns from 9/11 and realizes that you are not garenteed tomorrow to live for each day that you are given. This is my story for 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 story6008.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. 2002-09-12 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 206.137.39.98 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 September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: The morning of September 11th, I had just gotten to work, and as I normally do, I went to my desk, turned on my computer and my radio. Just as I turned on the radio, I had heard the unconfirmed report of what was thought to be a small plane hitting the World Trade Center. But as more reports came into the radio station, it was clear that it was NOT a small plane, and seemingly since it was a crystal clear day outside, neither was it an accident. And sure enough, just a few minutes later, I heard reports on the radio of yet another plane hitting the other Trade Center tower. Of couse it was all chaotic at that point - no one knew what to think about what was going on or why. I turned up my radio so my other nearby workmates could hear what was going on, as it became clearer that this was not just an accident. Some workmates listened intently, others became worried about family and friends that were down in the lower Manhattan area. I tried in vain to get some information online from the various news sites, but the traffic on the internet, not surprisingly, bogged down all the major sites. It was daunting to know that the sites we all had come to depend upon during lesser events were at the very least temporarily disabled due to the traffic coming to them worldwide. I called my wife who was home and pregnant - she was supposed to go into the city that day to meet friends for lunch in midtown. I called (waking her up), to tell her that she was not going into the city. She could not understand why not - telling her to turn on the television, she did, and viewed the image of the second plane hitting the second tower. Immediately she knew her plans were no longer. One of the VP's actually ran out to Radio Shack and picked up a small 13" color television set and antenna to set up in his office so we could see what was going on (we have since had satellite TV installed at our office). Stepping outside of my office (it is a one level building), we looked in the direction of the Trade Center (which could not be seen only because other, taller builings in our neighborhood were in the way), we could see the rising smoke, ash and dust in the distance. As the morning went on, and the scope of the tragedy was realized, an announcement was made over to public address system that if anyone felt compelled to leave, they should feel free to do so without hesitation or penalty. Sure enough the building of about 250 employees became a ghost town a short while later (by about noon). I finally left the office around 2:30PM for a relatively short 13 mile drive back home in Queens. Knowing that all the major highways and parkways were shutdown, I took the streets all the way home. The streets were relatively normal in the amount of traffic, but I found it so surreal as I was taking a major road home and on the route home, on the side of the road (near the Nassau County / Queens border), in an old abandoned buildings' parking lot were a bunch of emergency vehicles lined up from various Fire, Ambulance and Rescue companies seemingly from all around Long Island, all waiting anxiously to get called in to the city for the rescue and recovery that never was. As I got closer to home, on the road that I was taking, at a certain vantage point, the towers were able to be seen in the horizon. This day, all that could be seen was an ominous white cloud hanging off in the distance where the towers once stood. I got home kissed my wife and sat the rest of the day and evening staring at the non-stop coverage on all the local and national / cable networks. The poignant moment of all this was a day or two later watching television and seeing stories on the news how various other countries reacted to the tragedy here in the United States. And to see the stoic changing of the guard in England playing the United States national anthem whereas they normally played God Save the Queen (which I had seen in person only a few months prior), brought a big tear to my eye. In March, I had my first opportunity to go into lower Manhattan to go to a wedding. I used to work in the area of the World Trade Center, so I know the area quite well - as we drove down into lower Manhattan and passed by Liberty Park (across the way from Ground Zero), a chill went up and down my back to see how the landscape had changed so dramatically - it was like I had never been down there before - it looked so different from what I had come to know of the area. Though it was neat to be down there that March evening, so close to the site, to see how intense the towers of light memorial were for the 6 month anniversary. Recently, flying home from California, I sat next to a gentleman from Long Island who is with a firehouse out of Brooklyn who told me about his experiences on that day. He told me how he was trapped and rescued and spent several weeks in the hospital, and how seven members of his firehouse were lost and not even a trace of any of them were ever found. And he told me of some of the horrors that he saw while helping to dig through the debris looking for his firehouse brothers. He still is fighting fires, but also, now does training seminars and speeches in other communities across the country regarding how to handle such tragedies and relays his experiences. He was even kind enough to send me a beautiful t-shirt, which I will wear proudly, commerating those seven men that were lost in his firehouse. My final thought to be placed on here is of that gentleman out in California that is an athiest - although this has nothing to do directly with September 11th, it does indirectly - in this time of sorrow, rememberence and unity, although this country was built on the "seperation of church and state" and "freedom of speech" and "freedom of religon", (interpet those freedoms how you want), don't forget that these laws were meant for ALL citizens of the United States and just by saying the word God or adding the word to the back of your money (In God we Trust), does not make the government a "sponsor" of any one religon nor does it say that you have to be subsribed to any particular religon or any of those regligon's philosophies. Instead it acknowledges the fact that god is an integral part of many people's lives who either are natural citizens or naturalized citizen of this country. For the government to bow to the wishes of one individual or one group (i.e. athiests), is the equivelant of the extremes taken by the religous fanatics which have since been ousted in Afghanistan or the governmental bodies in places such as Saudi Arbia which says you MUST practice their way - and that there will be no tolerance or opening of minds, for any other belief other than their own. So if you can't stand to let others beleive in whatever god or practice what it is that they beleive in (as long as it is done peacefully), then simply put: SHUT UP AND GET OUT! 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 story1182.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. 2002-08-19 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 204.139.45.205 Annotation Annotations to this item. Economic effects Firefighters Memorials/Vigils (location or person) Politics and politicians Religion Television Coverage Victims NY:3 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 September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I HAD JUST GOTTEN OUT OF THE SHOWER TO GET READY FOR WORK. THE TV WAS ON, AND THE NEWS CAME ON AND SAID THAT A JET HAD HIT THE TRADE CENTER. I THOUGHT IS MUST HAVE BEEN A PLANE TAKING OFF, LOST ALTITUDE AND CRASHED. I WAS WATCHING AND ALL OF A SUDDEN THE SECOND JET HIT. I WAS SHOCKED, ESPECIALLY SEEING IT RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY EYES. I KNEW THEN THAT SOMETHING WAS DEFINATELY WRONG, AND I CRIED KNOWING THAT SO MANY WOULD LOSE THEIR LIVES AND FAMILIES WOULD LOSE THEIR LOVEONES. I DON'T THINK THAT ANYONE CAN DESCRIBE WHAT THEY FEEL ABOUT THE MONSTERS THAT DID THIS TERRIBLE DEED, BUT I KNOW THAT OUR PRESIDENT, BUSH, WILL NEVER STOP TRYING TO MAKE THOSE PAY FOR WHAT OUR COUNTRY AND AND OUR AMERICAN FAMILY HAVE LOST. 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 story6744.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. 2002-09-12 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 152.163.188.6 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 September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: My name is Tom(21), I live in Belgium, I was on vacation in New York to see a Michael Jackson concert. I stayed in Hotel Pennsylvania on 7th avenue ride across MSG. I arrived in NY on september 5 and was suppose to go back to belgium on september 11. It was my first time ever in the US and I liked the city a lot. I went on saturday september 8 to see the statue of liberty and after that I went to the world trade center to see it for the first and sadly enough the last time. I remember that i was amazed by the size of the buildings, I never saw something so high in my life. On september 10, I remember when it was evening I had my baggs ready for the next morning, because i was going back to belgium. I felt a sleep around midnight, my flight was at the evening so I could sleep long enough. In the morning I heard somebody yelling outside my room. I went to see, and she said something about a plane hitting the world trade center, my first thougts where "it's probably some small plane or something" I put my tv on and saw that what i thought was wrong, only one plane crashed so I figured that it must be an accident but then suddenly another plane crashed in to the building, I didn't realise what was going on, I didn't understand it. But then i knew it was a terrorists atack, and i was shocked, scared and sad, I went downstairs soon as the second plane crashed and called my mom in Belgium to tell her that I was allright, she was crying and very worried about me, I told her not to worry and that i don't know yet when i got a plane back home. After the call i just started to cry i never felt so much fear and sadness over me, and the fact it all happend so close to me made me more afraid. I went back home a week later, i was stuck there for a week without money or clean clothes, thank god for the good americans who helped me out. I never forget them. 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 story1447.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. 2002-08-24 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 213.224.83.86 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 September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I had just finished Mass for the Sisters and had eaten breakfast and had returned to my little house. I turned on the TV to the FOX News channel which I usually do to catch up on the latest news. I kinda listen while I do other things. I sat down at my computer to work on Advent and Christmas homilies for the sisters and was thinking about what the Angel Gabriel had said to Mary and Joseph and what the angels had said to the Shepherds. Fundamentally that was, "Do not fear." A news bulletin on Fox caught my ear about the World Trade Center and an airplane crashing into it. I was stunned. I paid m close attention to the developing story and as the information began pouring in that it was Militant Muslim and probably Bin Laden connected. All I could do was cry and shake my head. I offered prayer for all those who had lost their lives in the tragedy. Immediately it came to mind how the human race has not changed one bit since the time of Cain and Abel; that fear plays such a major part in the hatreds and violence of the world. Why cannot we try to ounderstand one another, each others cultures rather than fear what the other may or may not do or influence? These radical Muslims do not represent the majority of Islam just as some splinter faith group does not represent Christianity or Judaism or Buddhism or any other group of people. So the Tragedy of September 11, 2001 helped me came to the conclusion that it is fear that is the root of all things evil in the world, and is the opposite of all that my faith stands for. 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 story207.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. 2002-03-10 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 208.190.196.143 Annotation Annotations to this item. Religion DOMESTIC 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 September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: In Loving Memory of James A. Nelson July 10, 1961 - September 11, 2001 Port Authority Police Officer James A. Nelson was working at the PAPD academy in Jersey City on the morning of September 11th. He was sent to the World Trade Center immediately after the first plane hit. A man filled with pride and respect for the job he loved, he never questioned his own safety. His wife Rosanne spoke to him briefly as he was leaving. None of us knew that would be the last time any of us would speak to Jimmy. I spoke with Rosanne at 9:05am and Jimmy was already there. I watched the towers fall with my co-workers, knowing that he was there, but not yet comprehending the full horror of what had happened and how our lives would be forever changed. In the agonizing days and weeks that followed I heard myself reassure others that ?it wasn?t Jimmy?s time?. I was sure they?d find him alive. We heard several versions of what happened and where he was that day. We prayed and we tried to keep hope. As time passed we slowly came to the realization that Jimmy was never going to return to us. I knew he was gone after an incident involving a false report about five Port Authority officers being located. On Thursday evening, September 13th, a woman reported that her husband, a missing N.Y.P.D. officer called her on his cell phone. He told her her where he was and that he was with five Port Authority officers. It was on the news, Port Authority even called my sister-in-law saying they thought it might be Jimmy. At midnight I was printing out directions to St. Vincent?s Hospital and thanking God for saving him. Then the story disappeared from the news. The clock slowly ticked on. Finally at 4am, I spoke with a Port Authority official who told me that the call was a cruel hoax by a very disturbed woman. My heart broke that night and my world shattered. I knew that my baby brother was not coming back. On the morning of September 22, the Port Authority Police escorted us for the first time to ?Ground Zero?. Witnessing the devastation that day brought it home for us that Jimmy was truly gone. On Monday, September 24, Jimmy?s body was recovered on the north side of tower one on Vesey Street. The PAPD has concluded that Jimmy had evacuated a group of people from tower one and was killed on the street by falling debris. Jimmy, along with so many others that day, died a true American hero. I am so proud of him but I don?t want him to only be defined by his tragic death. I want the world to know how he lived. Jimmy was my younger brother. A 40 year old man with everything to live for. He had a wife he cherished and two beautiful girls he adored. We lost our parents at an early age. That had quite an impact on Jimmy. He treasured his family and the simple things in life. His daughter?s softball games, attending a parent-teacher conference or even making a minor home repair gave him great joy. He was a true family man, wanting his children to have the childhood we never had. Our childhood while not exactly ideal was happy. Maybe we just didn?t know any better. We were poor, our Dad died when we were very young but we had each other and we held on tight. People from the neighborhood have since said to me that no one ever referred to us as ? Kitty? or? Jimmy? . We were always ?Kitty and Jimmy Nelson?. Our simple pastimes such as making tents out of blankets, football on the front lawn with our older brother Bobby and fighting over who drew their initial in the new jar of peanut butter have a very special place in my heart. I missed most of Jimmy?s high school years because I was away at college. Once Jimmy graduated he frequently visited me in Oneonta. I?d like to say this was solely because of our close bond but I?m pretty sure the partying in my sorority house and at T he Copper Fox was largely responsible. Regardless we had fun. It was a new era in our lives. Our Mom died soon afterwards. Jimmy was with her when it happened. That was probably the toughest thing he ever had to handle. I married, bought the house we grew up in and Jimmy stayed with us those first few years. It was a strange time. I felt part-sister and part-Mom. Jimmy graduated from Saint John?s University, joined the PAPD, married and began his own family. This should have been the time our families could have done things together. Jimmy was by no means a saint but he was a great guy. His smile was one of his most defining characteristics. Always ready with a joke, he loved life and laughter. In the weeks and months that followed his death I came to realize how sentimental my brother was. He kept scrapbooks of everything. He took an interest in all our lives, always wanting to hear what we were doing and where we were going. He was proud of our successes and felt our pain when we failed. He was involved in his community, his church and life. He was always ready to give something of himself. He had also developed a passion for writing. He spent any free moments typing away on the computer, hoping to one day be published. Jimmy lived about 2 ? hours away and we didn?t get to see each other as often as we would have liked. Everytime my brother left my house he would give me one of his big bear hugs, tell me that he loved me and that he wished he could see more of me. Now he is so much further away than New Jersey. I miss him so much. In my heart I do believe I will see him again but for now I must live with memories and pictures. I?m proud of him on so many levels. He is a national hero but he?s also my hero for his compassion and integrity, for bringing smiles and happiness to so many others and for his appreciation of family and the simple joys in life. September 11th has forever changed our lives and our hearts. Jimmy of all people would want us to go on with our lives. I will always keep a part of him with me. I am going to try to live my life with his humor, his compassion, and his love. 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 story7595.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. 2002-09-16 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 24.186.199.35 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 September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I had woken up earlier that morning and was getting out of the shower when my room mate told me to watch the news that a plane had crashed into one of the twin towers in New York. We were horrified as we watched first one tower then another crashed into, then later as the pentagon was attacked by a third hijacked plane. I couldn't believe my eyes and and what I was hearing. September 11th was my birthday and I was initially looking forward to a nice dinner with my family in a new resturant of my choice. I heard from my mother later and she had wanted to cancel the dinner to watch the news but I still wanted to have the dinner. Was I selfish? Many days later she told me she was glad we hadn't because it was good for all of us as a family to be together that day. As I work for a social service agency for the developmentally disabled much of the day was having to cope with the shock we felt as well as our case workers having to work at keeping calm the disabled people we work for. It certainly kept us all busy. My birthday dinner not forgotten I almost didn't make it to my dinner we were so busy. But I'm glad I did. We had a quiet time, it was hard opening all the presents - it just didn't feel right. I've said since that I don't want anymore birthdays - I'm still not sure. I never did see too many of the scenes of that horrible day until after that day. I'm glad I did because even seeing them later some will, I think, never leave my memories. I had dreams for weeks later of those who jumped off the towers that instead of falling they ended up flying. Like angels. I'll never forget that from what happened on my birthday that I dreamed of jumpers flying as angels. This year since September 11 2001 many things have changed in my life some I'm sure because of what happened that day, some maybe due to happen anyway. If anything it's been a year of change and growth and self exploration. And I know it's not been just for me but for also for America - My Country. Peace, Lynda Bell 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 story1510.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. 2002-08-27 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 65.211.210.194 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 September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: September 10, 2001 The 100-mile drive down to Manhattan is uneventful except for unexpected traffic on the West Side Highway at almost 10 PM. I stop in front of 3 World Trade Center, the Marriott hotel, get out of my car and hand the key to the valet to park it. I?ve stayed here a few times over the last year and there is comforting familiarity with this almost routine. I check in and go up to my room, 1410. For some reason, I consciously check to see where the exit signs are in the hallway, not a routine I always do. (Later on, my sister would say that was my deceased father sending a message that he was watching over me.) I go down to the Tall Ships bar in the hotel lobby, have a drink, a bite to eat and smoke a cigar. By 11:30 I?m asleep, wake-up call set for 7:00 AM. September 11, 2001 The morning starts as all mornings when I travel on business: Up, shower, iron the day?s clothes, pack the briefcase and go. For some reason, as I?m leaving the room I linger longer, looking around to see if I am forgetting anything. I look at my keys sitting on the coffee table. I say, ?You don?t need those,? then, for some reason, I grab them and put them in my briefcase. I leave many other things that I use daily, such as my laptop AC adapter, and for some reason, take more note of the fact that I am leaving these things than usual. I?m running a little later than I?d like: it?s about 8:10 and I usually try to be on site an hour before the 9:00 AM start of the session I?m conducting. I come out of the front of the Marriott and begin to cross West Street for the 75-or-so-yard-walk to 2 World Financial Center, which is directly across the street from the World Trade Center complex. The day is one of those in late summer that is an exquisite harbinger of a crisp clean fall and a holdover of the warmth of summer. The air is crisp, dry and clean, holding a hint that by noon it will be comfortably warm. There is not a cloud in the sky and it is bright blue. I go through a pretty typical routine to set up the room in which I will conduct the meeting. The meeting room has lots of windows that look out on West Street, the Marriott and the Trade Center. My main contact at the meeting site, Christine, who works for my client, Deloitte & Touche, has already done a lot to set up the room. This is great because I?m feeling a bit behind schedule. I chat with Christine for a few minutes and learn about some of the challenges she faces in doing her job since Deloitte had downsized her department a few months before. I thank her several times for setting up much of the room. She leaves and I set to make final preparations before the participants for the meeting will arrive around 8:50 ? 9:00. As I finish setting up for the meeting I dial Nancy, my fianc?e, on the cell phone. We always try to speak just before I start teaching a seminar because we know it will be hard to connect during the day. I look at my watch and note that it is about 8:45. As the phone is ringing, I hear what sounds like a low flying airplane outside. I remark to myself, out loud, ?that?s strange for a plane to fly low enough to hear inside a building down here.? Nancy answers the phone and I hear what sounds like a loud backfire of a truck outside the window. I look out the window. I think the first thing Nancy hears me say, almost at a scream is ?Oh my God! The World Trade Center just blew up!? I am looking at the flash of fire and smoke from the south part of the building and see the west side blow out. ?Oh my God! Oh my God!? Nancy hears me say again and again. She says, ?It?s coming on TV now. They say a plane flew into the tower.? ?A plane? A plane? What kind of plane?? ?They?re saying a twin engine plane.? We talk for a moment about how a twin-engine plane could possibly fly into the World Trade Center. I say, ?That?s a huge hole for a twin engine plane to make.? I?m looking around out of the window and describing the scene to Nancy. A man is running in circles in front of the Marriott where I had walked a few minutes before. He is on fire and flames cover his entire body. Another man is chasing him, hitting at him with his bare hands trying to put out the flames. I think, ?I should run out there with something and help.? But as more debris falls from the burning building I?m not sure I can do much good by the time I get out there. Somehow, it seems safer and more sensible to stay in the building. The man on fire falls to the ground. Someone else comes out of the Marriott with a blanket, or something, and the two men put out the flames. The burned man lays motionless, smoldering, his facial skin, burned black, clearly visible from across the street. Almost two blocks away, south of the burning tower, there is a parking lot and I can see cars on fire there. Burning debris has been shooting from the building literally over the south tower and down onto the street hitting cars and other buildings. It is strangely quite. I look at my watch and note that it is getting close to 9:00 and the appointed time for my meeting. I think, ?I wonder how long I should delay the start of the meeting?? Nothing is happening on the street. There is no sign of fire or rescue vehicles yet. The man lying on the ground still smolders. No one is emerging from the West Street exits of the tower. Then, I see people running around from behind the Marriott. It is a stream of people who have clearly been evacuated from the towers. They run around the Marriott, cross West Street and start gathering on the corner near 2 World Financial. I continue to describe the scene to Nancy. ?Rescue vehicles are starting to arrive. Where the hell is an ambulance for that poor man?? Fire fighters and police pour out of the vehicles and charge into the burning tower. I?m looking up at the burning hole and it seems like a lot of debris is still falling. As I look closer at the debris I notice some of it seems to be moving as it falls. I realize that some of the ?debris? is people falling, or maybe jumping, out of the building. I?m aware that I?m saying over and over, ?Oh my God, these poor people, these poor people in that building.? I feel myself start to cry. I?m still describing what I?m seeing to Nancy. I?m aware that my voice is very high-pitched, almost a scream. I?m looking all around the scene and up at the burning hole. I scream into the phone, ?Holy shit, oh my God, it?s another plane, a big one a 757 or something! Oh my God, Oh my God, it just hit the other tower! It just flew right into the other tower!? Now, and for the first time, a slight feeling of panic comes over me. I?m trying to make sense of what I?m seeing. ?How can this happen, how can two planes fly into both towers, one right after another?? I?m aware that I keep repeating these questions to myself and to Nancy. I feel desperate for an answer. I watch the huge explosion of the second plane. The fireball it makes as it explodes goes up to the top of the tower. It takes out a huge section of the building about 2/3rds up on the south side and the west side of the building blows out. A tremendous amount of debris is raining out of the building setting fire to many things around. Nancy tells me that they are saying on the news that a second plane has hit. They start to evacuate the building I?m in. The cell phone cuts out. I lose Nancy. I can?t get a signal and I?m trying to redial her. I feel confused about where it?s safer, in the building or out on the street. I start to leave the building, purposely leaving my briefcase behind remembering that you are supposed to leave things behind when you evacuate a building. I?m thinking, ?I?ll come back for it later.? I?m almost to the exit stairway and I realize, ?Nobody?s coming back here.? All my money, identification and my computer are in the briefcase. I run back to the room, all the time feeling that this is not a very smart thing to do. I grab the briefcase. By now most of the floor is evacuated. I go down to the second level of the building into the atrium. People are running everywhere. No one is sure where to go. Someone asks me where he should go. I say, ?I don?t think the front exit is a good idea, that opens to West Street where debris is falling.? I ask someone if there are any other exits. Several people seem unsure about which exits to use. I decide that the side exit seems a better choice. I feel a slight sense of panic because no one seems to know the right thing to do and it seems that everyone is on his or her own. I?m thinking, ?What if I don?t make the right decisions, will I put myself in danger Will I put others in danger?? I?m trying to redial Nancy but, though I have a signal, nothing is happening. As I come out onto the street, hundreds, maybe thousands of people are standing on the corners looking up at the burning buildings. I note that many people are trying to make cell phone calls in frustration and no one is able to get out. As I look up at the towers, I start thinking that it is probably not safe to stay so close to the towers. Debris is still falling. I am suddenly overcome with nausea. I keep thinking about the people who were in these buildings where the planes hit. I start to cry and gag. As I walk I?m trying not to vomit. Then, I begin to realize what?s happening. Those planes didn?t just fly into the towers. They must have been hijacked. ?This is a terrorist attack! This is a terrorist attack!? I?m repeating to myself. I manage to calm my stomach and force myself to try to think clearly. I decide that there are two things I need to do: call Nancy to let her know I?m OK and get off the island. I keep trying my cell phone as I make my way slowly south. I can?t get through and I see that everyone on the streets who have now come out of all the buildings around are also not able to make calls. I decide that I have to make it to the Brooklyn Bridge where I know I can walk across to Brooklyn and find some of my family and I have to find a pay phone. I think, ?Who knows how long it will be before I can come back here and get my car.? As I?m walking south, people are standing everywhere looking up at the towers. I?m looking at the hole in the south tower thinking that it?s not safe to be standing around; I need to put distance between me and that building in case it falls. Some people are sitting on park benches trying their phones repeatedly. Others are buying big soft pretzels and sodas from street vendors. People are looking up, some are talking, most are not. Some people are crying. I keep crying, thinking about those people in the buildings where the planes hit, feeling what must have been the horror of their last moments. I realize that, amidst all of these people witnessing the same thing, I am totally alone. I?m making my way south, winding in and out of groups of people on the streets. I?m moving slowly, but purposefully, looking for a pay phone. The few I see have lines of 20 ? 100 people at them. I keep moving, thinking about getting over the bridge. As I?m walking I am turning back and looking at the two buildings burning. I pass a man who is holding onto a fence, his legs weak, unable to hold him up. I look at his face. It is so contorted it seems to have been painted by Picasso. I say, ? Are you OK?? He starts to cry. ?My friends are up there, my friends are up there,? he repeats. He is sobbing. I?m crying uncontrollably and I grab him and hold onto him very tightly. Two other people come over to us and we are all holding on to each other crying. I?m not sure how long we stand there. I keep moving south, looking for a pay phone, looking back at the buildings as I walk. I realize that if I am going to walk across to Brooklyn it might be a while. I stop and buy two bottles of water at a stand in Battery Park. I notice the Statue of Liberty across the harbor and I get a strange, surreal feeling about the contradiction in what I have been witnessing and that serene symbol of freedom. I?m looking for a pay phone and having no luck. I stand on a line of about 50 people for a phone, then realize it will be hours before I get to it. I keep moving. I look back and as I do, I see the top of the south tower start sinking. The building is sinking into itself! It?s collapsing. I can hear a sound like a freight train coming and I can see this mounting mushroom cloud growing and growing and exploding down the narrow streets towards me. People around me are screaming. They start running everywhere. We are in a narrow area with many benches and fences and people are running and screaming. They are running to the edge of the island where there is no place to go but in the water. This is the first moment in which I feel total panic. I start yelling to people not to run, that people will get trampled. My mind clicks off and my body seems to take over. I have always thought that I would face my last moments on this planet bravely and with dignity. But that?s not what?s happening to my body. My heart is racing. I can?t breathe. My legs are heavy as in a dream when you run from danger. The only message my mind is playing is: ?This is it for you. This is where it all ends. No it can?t be. This is it. I have seen my kids for the last time. My God, no, no.? As the smoke and ash cover the area, there?s no way to tell exactly what?s coming at us. Will we be hit by parts of the building? Will we suffocate in the smoke? Will we be trampled by panic-stricken others? I?m moving south fast in the smoke and ash. It is almost totally black. I?m covered with smoke and ash. I?m coughing, trying to hold part of my shirt up to my mouth to filter the air. It is very ineffective. Some people are going up stairs into the ferry building. There seems like no other place to go to flee the smoke. I go in too, thinking that this might not be a good idea. I get up inside the glass-enclosed waiting room. It is totally black outside and people keep pouring into the terminal. While the smoke is not yet filling the terminal it is getting smoky. I am coughing, as are other people. I?m feeling tremendous fear that this place will fill with smoke and the crowds in here will panic and the same body feeling starts to take over. I try to get hold of myself. I talk to someone next to me. She is scared too. They announce that a ferry is leaving for Staten Island. I think that I should take it to get off Manhattan, but I?m not sure what I would do once I get over there. I think I would be stranded. Then, I look at the ferry and the people pouring onto it. I immediately feel that the ferry will not be safe. It looks overloaded and I say to the woman standing next me ?That looks like another chapter of this disaster waiting to happen.? She agrees and says that even though she lives in Staten Island, her better judgment tells her not to get on it. The smoke seems to clear and I notice that there are many pay phones in the terminal. I wait a few moments for a phone and call Nancy. When I get through to her, she is crying, hysterical. It?s only then that I realize that it?s been over an hour since she heard from me. She?s telling me about the collapse of the building and crying that she didn?t know what happened to me. She is frantic. I?m telling her what I see and what?s happening around me. I tell her that I saw the building collapse and what my plan is. ?As soon as the smoke clears enough, I?m going to get over the Brooklyn Bridge.? The smoke seems to clear enough and I tell her I?m going to leave. Just then she screams, ?Oh my God, the other building just collapsed!? Within minutes the air is filled with smoke again and it?s totally black outside. I start to cry. I say to Nancy, ?My God, My God, all those rescue workers who went into those buildings! They are probably gone! They are probably crushed! They were all right at the base of those buildings!? I?m sobbing uncontrollably. I can?t stop thinking of those people who I saw go into those buildings. They announce that another ferry is leaving and I talk to Nancy about whether I should get on it. I decide that since the smoke cleared from the first building with out danger and harm here, I should stay until the smoke clears and resume my plan to get to Brooklyn. I stay on the phone with her while the smoke lingers and starts to clear. They are setting up the ferry terminal as a triage center. Some firefighters start moving heavy wooden benches across the granite floor. I don?t see them do this at first and the loud, thunderous, sudden sound sends me to my knees looking for cover. When I realize where the noise is coming from I feel relief. They start to bring in wounded people. I see them bring in a couple of stretchers with bodies covered totally in white cloth. Anticipating that it will be hard for me to find another pay phone once I leave, I give Nancy all the phone numbers for my kids and family and ask her to try to call them. I know that my daughter Andrea knows exactly where I was because we had talked about meeting for drinks at the Tall Ships bar, as we have done a few times before, that night. The smoke clears enough and I say good-bye to Nancy. I head for the Bridge, maybe a mile or so walk. I walk up the ramp to the Brooklyn Bridge. There are others around me, heading the same way. Police, rescue vehicles and fire trucks are flying by me in all directions. There is no other traffic. As I make my way up the ramp, I pass many burned papers. I stop to look at them and realize that here, blocks from the explosions, are burned office papers that a few hours before had sat on someone?s desk. I keep starting to cry. I stop often and hold my face in my hands. I get to the point at which I should be able to walk over the bridge. By now, I am shoulder to shoulder with many other people headed in the same direction. The police have closed the bridge to all traffic, even pedestrian. People are still walking in a long stream, 5 to 7 abreast, all filing down a street. I am very confused. I don?t know where everyone is going although I following the flow. Now, I?m not sure where to go or what to do. I?m not sure if the Manhattan Bridge, north of the Brooklyn Bridge, allows pedestrian traffic or if it will also be closed. I stop and ask one of the police officers that is funneling traffic around the bridge. She shouts, ?Just keep moving sir!? I ask someone next to me if he knows about the Manhattan Bridge. He shrugs. I ask him where he thinks everyone in the stream of people is going. He says, ?I?m not sure. I?m just following.? I ask another cop where I should walk if I wanted to walk over the Manhattan Bridge. He gives me directions and they coincide where with where I see some people walking, though at one corner, the large stream of people splits in several directions. I ask him if he knows if it is open for pedestrians. He says he does not know. I notice most people are not stopping to ask similar questions. I make my way towards the Manhattan Bridge and find that it is open. A 7-people wide stream is flowing over the walkway. I notice that my feet are sore and hurting. My briefcase has become an uncomfortable burden and I keep shifting it to different positions. Then, I start to cry because I feel so lucky to be alive, to be able to feel uncomfortable. As I walk over the bridge, I am looking back at the smoke coming from the trade center area and feel overcome by not seeing the towers there. I see the Statue of Liberty again in the harbor and the same contradictory feeling comes over me. A loud roar overhead causes everyone around me to stop walking and look around urgently, some ducking. It takes a moment but I see an F18 fighter circling the tip of Manhattan. I think I should feel safer but I suddenly grasp a new way of life where Manhattan needs to be patrolled by fighter jets. Even though it is about 80 degrees, I feel myself shiver uncontrollably. As the huge stream of people slowly walks over the bridge, I hear a woman behind me yelling ?get out of my way, get out of my way.? She pushes past me and other people around start yelling at her. ?Hey, where do you think you?re gonna get, bitch.? But I know as soon as she passes me, by the look on her face, what?s going on. She affirms my belief when she screams back at them, ?I have to get off this bridge before something else happens.? I know she is scared. I think, ?All of us on this bridge are.? I feel uncomfortable about the reaction of those who taunted her and even more so at my own lack of response to them. ?We are all just scared,? I say to myself. I make my way over to Brooklyn and there is this huge throng of people pouring into the streets around the bridge. Still, there is no clarity about where to go and this is a part of Brooklyn I don?t know well. I start thinking that I?ve got a lot of walking to do and I need to buy some running shoes or something. But, all the stores around are closed. I walk looking for familiar names of streets. As I keep walking, I see one sporting goods store that is open. I go in and buy some running shoes. There are several other people in the store, who have been walking, doing the same thing. I resume my walk and finally, I see a sign for 5th avenue. I know that about 5 miles along that street I will make it to one of my relative?s houses. I keep trying my cell phone and find out that I can make some calls. I get in touch with Nancy and update her on my progress. She tells me who she has contacted and that my brother will come to pick me up where ever I am. I tell her that there is no way he can get to where I am because all the streets have been closed off. I?ll have to make it up 5th further. I get to about 15th street and I call Nancy. She tells me to call my sister who tells me my brother is working just a few blocks away. She calls him and in ten minutes he is there. He gets out of his car to greet me and I sink into his arms sobbing, crying. He cries too. September 12 ? Today Like all of us, I am trying to find some way to move through what has happened. It has been very difficult. Tom Masiello 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 story48.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. 2002-02-07 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 152.163.197.178 Annotation Annotations to this item. Ground zero- at or about Military Police Officers Premonitions/Coincidence/Fate Rescue/clean-up workers/volunteers Struggle to get home Telephones and Cell Phones WTC, attack WTC, pre-911 WTC, worked in (ever) NY:1 Feature