215 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: ON THE 11th SEPTEMBER 2001 i was seriously ill in the morning . After i have visited the doctor i was asked to rest for a while .AS i was relaxing in my bed,my dad called me on the phone i told me i should quickly turn on the television I turned on my television and all that i saw was a whole bunch of people running to and fro .I also some police men holding injured people.I sat down quietly and listened to what was happening.Later i learnt that some terrorist have attacked the USA(TRADE CENTER AND TWIN TOWER).I FELT SO SORRY FOR THE DICEASED .GOD BLESS AMERICA.WE LOVE YOU ALL . GO AMERICA DONT LOSE HOPE 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 story6746.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. 67.25.234.210 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: At the beginning of August, I had such a strong premonition that something terrible was going to happen on September 12 that I ran to tell my husband and son. I did not know what was going to happen, I just knew it was going to be terrible. I thought that perhaps, since it was hurricane season, a strong hurricane might hit the U.S. The Saturday before Sept. 11, I cried all day and could not bring myself to get out of bed. That feeling lasted all weekend. By this time, I was constantly watching the Weather Channel because there were hurricanes forming. One in particular appeared to be moving toward the east coast of the U.S. I will never forget getting up on Tuesday, Sept. 11, and instantly turning on the Weather Channel. When they announced that the hurricane was turning away from the U.S., I felt relieved, and then instantly figured my premonition was wrong, and I had gotten myself worked up over nothing. I went to my school where I am a Speech Therapist and at 9:00 a.m. went into a classroom to get my students. They were at a special, but the teacher had a television on. I saw that a large building was on fire, and assumed she had a movie or video on. At that moment she told me about the plane hitting the first tower. Then the news began to come in about the other tower, the Pentagon, and the plane crashing in Pennsylvania. My husband works around Washington, D.C and I was unable to reach him by phone since all the circuits were full. We live in Pennsylvania, so the news about the crash hit especially hard. When I realized that the date was 9-11 and it was one day before my premonition of 9-12, I was stunned. While I knew from my premonition that something terrible was going to happen, I had never even envisioned something like what I saw. I felt frantic-I didn't know if my husband was safe, I was at school and our son was at his high school. All I wanted to do was run home and hug my husband and son. Instead, as teachers, we all had to be with the children and just wait things out. I found it very difficult to be strong around all the children and to have to act as if nothing really was amiss, when the feeling we all had was that the world as we knew it had just changed forever. My husband was able to call me eventually and he got home safely. I will never forget turning into our driveway and seeing his car there and feeling the most incredible sense of relief. That intensified when our son walked in the door from school. Needless to say, he wasn't allowed to go out (he wanted to go to the local park), but at that time no one had any idea of what was going to happen. The rest of our evening was spent reflecting, praying, and being thankful for being able to be together. 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 story5213.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. 68.67.245.96 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 recieved a call from my daughter telling me of what was taking place in our world as we know it. At the same time vendors were coming in telling all of us the same story. It was and is the most horrifying day in ALL of our lives. I would just like to share my feelings with the rest of the world.My heart goes out to all of us but especially those who were directly involved as victims. The pain is overwhelming (I can only imagine)and your lives will never be the same because of this tragedy.I am truely sorry, I pray for each and everyone of you in my own way almost every day. Just always remember, that your loss, was also ours,even though we've never met. I believe this day brought all of us Americans together and we've become the family that shall never break again. God Bless you all, and protect all of us. Much Love and Sorrow Pee-Jay Hasapis 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 story4302.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. 205.188.209.38 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: I may not have been in New York but the news hit hard every where. I was sitting in my Drawing class when I heard about the attacks. When the teacher came into the room he said that he just heard the most unbelieveable thing, two planes were hijacked and hit the Twin Towers in New York. We all sat there and waited for a punch line to come in because we all thought he was joking, but he turned on the radio and we listened to the horrible news. For the rest of the day there was solmenness about campus. I called my mother as soon as I could and asked where my brother was because he travels a lot with his job. She told me that he was fine and that they sent everyone home from downtown Chicago, where he works. I next thought about all those people who were just doing there jobs and everyday activities and it made me realize that things do change in an instant. I always tell the people around me hoiw much I care about them but now I give them a hug because I don't know what will happen after they leave. If you do decide to read this please remeber to always tell someone how you care because they may not be there later to tell it to. 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 story3554.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. 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: The WTC tragedy is never far from my mind, today and every day. My apartment faces south on Houston Street and from every room I could see the twin towers. I miss them. Not that I enjoyed the architecture, but I miss the mood in that neighborhood. I remember walking by the towers every day, at least twice a day, when I worked downtown at different jobs. I remember seeing the rush of people exiting the PATH, subway and express busses. The vendors in the farmer's market, the paintball flyer guys in their flak jackets. I miss the smell of ambition and money in the air. That day, I was walking the 1.5 miles to work, as usual, but I left a bit later. Before I got to Canal Street, I looked up and saw a plane directly overhead. "God, that plane is flying awfully low," I thought to myself. Then I saw it enter 1 WTC. "Oh my God!" said a parking violations attendant writing tickets. "A plane just flew into the World Trade Center!" "You're a police officer," I replied. "Do something." Then I heard the siren and saw a fire truck racing along Canal Street. I kept walking. Like an automaton. At Canal, I saw the laborers standing and staring south at the building and the smoke. "I can't believe that building is still standing," I said to someone near me. I headed down Church Street, debating "should I go in or go back, go in or go back" and plodding on my route. I worked at 130 Liberty Street, at Deutsche Bank, directly south of 2 WTC. I was at about Park Place when a crowd of people came rushing toward me, panicky, as if in a movie. "Go to the park!" someone shouted, so I went east to City Hall Park, thinking that if a building came down, or there was gunfire, there was more open space there than on Church or Broadway. I found a zip disk on the ground and put it in my purse. "Someone will be wanting this," I thought. Still I kept walking. Now I could see 2 WTC was on fire. I went to Nassau, to get away from the crowds on Broadway. Should I call the office? People were fiddling with their cell phones, but not one was working. It was 9:30 and I was at Sym's on Trinity, a bit south of my office. I met two women from my department who told me the building was evacuated. (Amazing that I could meet anyone I knew in that crowd and chaos.) "OK. That's it. You saw me here. I'm going home. Anyone want to come with me? I live a half-hour away." "No thanks, we'll wait it out here and see what to do." (They fled to Staten Island on the ferry and spent the night there at a colleague's house.) I took the non-Broadway route back until I got to Worth Street. As I headed north on Broadway to Canal, I saw cars stopped in the street. Their doors were open, their windows were down. Their radios were blasting the all-news stations so everyone in the street could hear. People waited patiently in line at the phone booths. (How were they working?) Many, many people were heading uptown. At Canal, a policeman said the subways were working north of Canal, but by then I was 8 minutes from home. When I entered the lobby of my apartment building, it was 10:00. Someone said the WTC had fallen. I walked out and looked. Sure enough, there was only one tower there. At home, I had no phone service. I went to my computer and copied the email addresses of my family members. I went to the library, logged on and sent an email to my parents, siblings, husband and daughter at college: Subject "I'm OK from Janet." I told them in detail what I had seen. I waited for replies. After a while, I received an email from my daughter. She had once visited my office and knew exactly how close it was to the WTC. Then I heard from my sister. She called my mother, who was talking to my brother, who worked on Hudson below Canal and somehow had cell phone service. The magic of call waiting united the three of them. They knew I was safe. I gave my sister my husband's phone. I didn't know which would reach him first, email or voice mail, since he goes in and out of the office when teaching classes. Eventually, our daughter in high school got through to him and learned I was OK. That night, 20 large dump trucks were parked on Houston Street near my building. They were waiting for instructions. It was clear where they were headed. In the morning, they were gone. I saw three workers in hard hats walking south. "Are you going down there?" I asked. I didn't have to say where "there" was. We all knew. They nodded. "Be careful." I found the zip disk the next day. I wondered whether or not I should open it; what if it had a virus? I decided to open it anyway. There were a few letters and a resume. I called the phone number in Queens and left a message. The fellow, say his name was Tom, called me back that night. Thank you, thank you," he gushed. "You have made my life so much easier by finding that disk. I didn't know I had lost it." Tom told me that he had taken the E train from Queens to the WTC and was headed to work in New Jersey via the PATH. Something was wrong when he got to the concourse; people were leaving the building, so he followed them. (The first plane had hit the building, but no one knew what was going on.) Someone said, "People, I don't think this is very safe here," so they started to run. That's when his book bag must have opened and the disk flew out. We shared our stories. Then I said, "We were both very lucky and we are members of houses of worship. Please make a donation in acknowledgement of our good fortune." Tom agreed to do so and we made a plan for him to pick up the disk at my apartment building the next day; I left it with the doorman. I had no need to meet him. That night the doorman gave me Tom's Hallmark thank you card. I thought that was very sweet, that he went out and bought a card to thank me. What do I do differently? Whenever I talk to my daughters at college on the phone, I tell them I love them before I hang up. You never 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 story6158.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. 128.122.21.218 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 Biology class when it first happened. Everyone thought it was just an accident. Then the second plain hit, and everyone knew something evil was happening. It was harsh for my family, because my father is extremely patriotic and a former marine. To this day he still has one of those flags you put on your car window. Now it's hard to feel safe, but we try to live our lives the best that we can. 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 story6936.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. 67.27.133.46 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 actually at home sleeping whenever I had received a telephone call from my sister. She said that something really bad had happened, and that I needed to turn on the television. To my astonishment I saw before my very eyes a sign that our world would never be the same. The towers had just been hit, and there were rescue workers everywhere. I couldn't believe what I was seeing...all of those action movies had just played out in reality. My best friend had called shortly after that from college to see if I had heard the news. The rest of the day I pretty much stayed planted in front of the television to keep updated with what was going on. Another friend of mine had called and said that gas prices were going to go up, and that I needed to go fill up my tank as quick as I could. So, I told my mom, brother, and sister, and we all headed down to get gas. Later on that evening I spent alot of time with my family and a very close friend discussing the Bible, and how this event was foretold in it. Mostly I spent September 11, 2001 thanking God for the blessings that I do have, and praying that He would comfort and renew hope to the people who have lost their friends and loved ones through this act of violence. I believe that through this their were good things that happened, and those things are that many people became heroes that day... many people stepped outside of themselves and became selfless. I think that although this day started out in total tragedy, it turned into what can be remembered as a day that humanity and love poured 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 story6551.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. 65.162.167.131 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 working at that time as an executive assistant for a tempermental regional planner. We, our PR rep, graphic designers, and project managers were sitting in our creepy conference room (filled with African masks) eating bagels with salmon cream cheese and drinking coffee. I was busily taking minutes as our boss was complaining that no one cared about the company but him when our intern came in and said a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I don't think it registered with any of us, at first beyond thinking that that was sad or sort of unusual because, as our boss commented, the flight paths were no where near the World Trade Center. We continued getting chewed out about how lazy we were. A few minutes later, the intern came back in and said another one had hit the Center. We all became nervous and apprehensive, wondering what was going on. Terrorism, I don't think, had really entered any of our minds yet. We sat silent, waiting. He returned with the information about the Pentagon. A few of us began to cry. We wondered how much longer it was going to go on. We went out to our office and listened to the BBC over the Internet. No one could concentrate. All we thought about was what was going on in New York, hurting for those people, and thinking how life would never be the same again and where would this event take us. 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 story9191.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-04-17 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 64.12.96.135 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 mother called me as I was getting ready for school. She and my father were down in Texas to see my sister graduate from her Air Force flight-nurse training. She told me to turn on the news because something odd had happened?a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. This astonished me but I was in a hurry so I didn?t turn on the television. I finished getting ready and left for school. I tuned my car radio onto WTOP (1500am) to get more information and they announced a second plane had hit the other twin tower. There was commotion on the radio as it seemed no one could understand what was going on. They were spewing out words like terrorism, tragedy, infamy, and attacks. I couldn't believe it. I was confused, scared, worried, and astonished all at once. What was going on? I was dazed as I drove down Braddock Road towards GMU. I wanted to turn around but where would I go? What else would I do? As I was parking my car, the broadcaster announced a plane had gone into the Pentagon. Now this hit too close to home. This was now in my area, my city, my territory. Although I did not know anyone at the Pentagon, I felt like this attack would not end. What target would be next? The Capital? The White House? My boyfriend works at a government agency only 2 blocks away from the White House. I had just lost my twin brother 3 months prior and the thought of losing someone that meant so much to me was overbearing. I couldn?t handle it. I was crying hysterically at that point. I prayed. I ran into the closest GMU building, Lecture Hall, and called him at work from a payphone. I told him what I had heard and pleaded that he needed to leave DC now. He seemed so calm and promised me he would leave soon. Only later I would find out that I was the one that informed him of the Pentagon crash first but he could tell I was already upset and didn?t want to worry me anymore. I hung up and there was someone there staring at me. Did they not understand? Did they not know what was going on? Thousands of people lives were gone in an instance and they were staring at me? I went to the bathroom in the same building to calm down and clean up my face. I then went onto my 10 a.m. class--CS421, Systems Engineering. I walked in a daze. When I got there everyone was talking about what had happened. My teacher entered and told us that ?there was stuff going on but it didn?t affect our class so [we needed to] get out our books to start our lesson.? I was appalled and relieved at the same time. I guess I could now attempt to focus on something else but I also hated the fact that there were a serious event going on and he seemed so callous about it. He later apologized and stated that he either didn?t know or didn?t realize the gravity of the situation. After class, I left and came home because I didn?t have any more money to call my boyfriend. I needed to see if he was home and safe. He was. Surprisingly he did not encounter terrible traffic. The next few days I sat glued to the television watching and hearing the same thing over and over again. The horrific images of each tower falling will forever be ingrained into my memory. I learned more about what had happened and who had caused such terror. I couldn?t comprehend why someone would inflict such terror on innocent people. I still don?t and I probably never will. But then I worried more because such an attack would surely cause retaliation from the U.S. I worried about my sister who was no longer just a nurse for the Air Force but a flight nurse?the kind that rescues wounded soldiers. I worried about my brother-in-law who was an attack pilot for the Air Force. Once Bush declared war, they would have to go over to Afghanistan. For the next few months, I prayed for my sister and brother-in-law who were over there, I prayed for the U.S. troops, and I prayed for the Afghani civilians caught in the crossfire. That was the day that my generation lost their innocence. 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 story10571.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2004-04-30 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 68.239.71.135 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 the sixth grade when the attacks occured. We went about our morning as usual going through science, english and history. At one point in the morning before ten o'clock our teacher was asked to step out of the room. Everyone in the room wondered why. A few moments later she came back and said something has happened in New York, and Washington DC. We went to P.E. and wondered what it could be. When we came back from P.E. the television in the room was on and there where the twin towers with enormous amounts of smoke comming out of them. I couln't make anything of it becuase I didn't understand what was happening. I really got confused when my mom, who worked in DC, picked me up from school that afternoon. My dad also had come home early. They said the whole government had been shut down and basically sent home. I turned on TV when we got home and wondered why every channel was showing the same thing. After a couple of minutes I realized, for the most part of the horrible events that happened on September 11, 2001. 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 story20826.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 sleeping because I had a late class tha t day and the phone rung at about 7am so that would have been 9am Eastern Time. It was a friend of mine telling me to turn on the TV. I asked what channel and she said that it didn't matter. That should have been my first clue that something wasn't right but nothing prepared me for what I saw. I turned it on just as the 2nd plane hit. It took a minute to realize that it wasn't a horrible dream. I just sad watching CNN for what felt like an eternity. I don't remember what time it was but when there was a report that the State Department had been bombed that is when I literally thought the world was coming to an end. I am a journalism major so for the first 3 days I thought of this as a news story. Maybe it was because I didn't want to let it in. I remember that Friday is when it hit me. I literally just broke down and started crying. It was just the saddest thing that I had ever felt. I mean I used to live in the NY metro area so I saw those buildings all the time and to picture the city without them I just can't do it. I remember seeing the people standing in lines with pictures of their loved ones, many hoping for a miracle that never came. Still to this day I tear up everytime I think about it. Not about the towers themselves but the people. The people who got up one morning like it was any other day and for those family members and friends who never got to say one more "I love you" or one last hug and to think that they would give anything for that just breaks your heart and will for a long time if not forever. Years from now this will become one of those days in history that you read about like November 22, 1963 or December 7, 1941. People will remember what happened but those of us who were alive at the time will remember the faces and the images and not the words on the pages of a history book. 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 story1000.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. 2002-08-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 68.0.36.248 Annotation Annotations to this item. Missing Persons 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: As I was driving back from the ATM like I usually do on Tuesdays, to pick up my rent money for the week I had no idea that the life I had known and become comfortable in all of my 22 years would change drastically over the next few months. When I drive I usually listen to tapes or CD's in the car but for some reason I thought to turn on the radio. DC101, the pop rock station around here usually has an annoyingly interesting morning show thats sometimes fun to listen to. When I turned on the radio, and by now it was around 10:00 or so, things had changed. The news came pouring in, "one tower of the World Trade Center is gone after being hit by an airplane," Radio personalities that usually pride themselves on being funny or crazy had suddenly become very very serious. I quickly flipped around. There were reports that The Washington Monument may have been hit, along with the Pentagon. This is when I began to worry. I live only 20 miles from D.C., and that's less than a three minute flight by plane. As I got home I turned on the television only to be inundated with images of disaster in New York City. Fire and explosions would occupy my thoughts for weeks following this tragic event. I immediately called home, to the mountains of North Carolina. By some chance my call got through. Most phone lines were busy and no one was able to call anyone, including and especially cell phones. I was talking to my father shortly thereafter about the ramifications of such an event while we both watched the second tower crumble to the ground. I could not believe my eyes. Something that has always stood in incredible majisty of all its own, somewhere I had visited only a matter of months before was completely erased from existence. As my father and i watched on in horror and wonder he said "Think of all of the people trapped in there, the firemen who rushed in to save them, they are all lost." The human aspect of such an event must not be forgotten in the power of seeing it. Then came the rumors, "There was a car bomb outside the State Department, The Mall was on fire," and so on. I did not go to school that day. George Washington University was all too close to the heart of the incident, but I feared for my friends who lived there on campus and could not leave. I then quickly went through a mad search to find all of my family, most of which work around DC. I can only image what DC commuter trafic must have been like For an area infamous for it, this mad rush must have been unlike anything anyone has ever seen. My cousins, whom which I now live, made it home later that afternoon, and rushed around to find their children, pick them up from daycare and the like. Their mother whom I spent the majority of the day conversing with kept on saying in a very worried tone that "I'm just not sure I want all of my family in one place right now," as if the worst that could possibly happen, could possibly happen. I heard that my uncle who works in the Smithsonian had indeed left and was returning home as fast as possible. I contacted my other cousins who worked in Springfield, and they were shocked but alright. I later discovered that one of my cousins was scheduled to give some sort of talk at the Pentagon later that evening, but thankfully she had not yet gone out there. Then I learned that my aunt and uncle had gone to New York City for the weekend. I had no idea. Out of all the weekends to see a baseball game... but thankfully they were uneffected by the tragedy. With everyone accounted for I was much relieved. Weeks later I fell into the same patriotic routine as the rest of the nation, driving with an American Flag on my car and spending hours glued to the television. It was a couple of months later before I could bring my self to drive out to the Penntagon, only a short 15 minute drive, to see for myself the devastation. When you see it you realize just how real it is. Television does not do it justice. No sight has thus far effected me as much in spirit and mind as the one that laid before my eyes that day. Thankfully no one in my family was hurt by the terrorism, I was lucky, and I give thanks every night for this. 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 story43.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. 2002-02-05 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 68.48.0.99 Annotation Annotations to this item. Radio Coverage Rumors Television Coverage 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: I was half watching the Today Show that Tuesday morning. The phone rang and it was my next door neighbor calling to see if I was watching TV. She is a flight attendant and had just come home the night before. We both stared at our tv's in our homes in absolute disbelief...this could NOT be happening. Surely it was a movie!!! I called my husband at his work to see if he knew and yes, they had a small tv and were watching it all unfold. Then I called the two schools where my two youngest daughters were. I asked if the kids knew what was going on and was told that tv's were on in the classrooms but that they were trying to keep things as normal as possible. That was good...cause normal had just changed dramatically. My oldest daughter called me from Waterville, OH. She was to be married October 6th and after having all our phone calls about her wedding, this one was so somber. My number two daughter called me from her work...they had a tv on and were all in disbelief at what they were watching. The need to talk to all my children or at least know they were all OK helped some. My oldest sister called me from northern Pennsylvania to tell me that her youngest son, who worked at an airport in NY, told her there was a plane flying over Cleveland that was hijacked. Later, we found out it was flight 93. One of my niece's husbands works in DC and was supposed to be at the Pentagon that day but luckily, he was not there. When our girls came home from school, we all just watched the tv in such total dispair...all those people looking for loved ones just broke your heart. We live in a city where there are a lot of Arab people and I was so impressed with my youngest daughter. I overheard her telling a friend that this one young girl, who was an Arab, was her friend, not an enemy. I was so proud of her...at least she knew the difference between friends and enemies. The following days, you prayed that when you turned the television on, it was all a dream...that it never happened, but there it was...those images were never going to go away. They are burned in our hearts forever. I am also glad to know that at least my children do not want another "holiday" made out of 9-11. My 16 year old said why should we make it a day with no school...we need to remember what happened not celebrate it like we do Memorial Day or the Fourth of July. And I believe that too...may we always fly our flags, never take our freedoms for granted, and may God bless every person who died that day and pray for their families and friends...and pray for all of us too. God Bless America!!!! Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story3502.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. 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: On Sept. 11, 2001, I sat in my livingroom, watching the Today show, like every other day of my life. Then, Matt came on the screen and announced that an airplane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I was shocked, and initially I thought something must have been terribly wrong with the pilot, and his crew couldn't stop the plane in time. It wasn't long later that the announcement of the second plane, then the Pentagon, then Flight 93 all came across the television. I immediately called my mom, and told her to turn on the television. When she asked me why, I told her something terrible was happening to our country, and she needed to turn on the television right away. One year later, I am torn by how I should be feeling. I am thankful to the passengers and crew of Flight 93, for their courage, yet I am sorrowful for their friends and family. I am grateful that our country has come together and has a renewed sense of pride, but I am embarrassed that it took such a tragic event for us to realize what an amazing nation in which we all live. I long for peace, yet I wish America could find Bin Laden and do to him what he did to us. How am I supposed to feel? I didn't know anyone who worked in the towers, or in the Pentagon, or anyone on board any of the four flights, yet I have shed tears for each of them. I've never been to New York, yet my heart aches when I think of the devastation inflicted upon the city. May we never have to survive another tragedy such as this to be reminded of the heroic acts of everyday people. May we always remember this day with not only saddness, but also the pride of being an American. May God embrace every person lost, injured, or otherwise affected by this unthinkable act of terrorism. May each and every one of us who are lucky enough to live in this great country live our lives with peace, love, and forgiveness. And may God bless America today and everyday. 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 story5367.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. 205.188.209.38 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: At first I couldn't believe the horror of this tradgedy I wanted to compare it to the alien scare that we've heard so much about from the days when radios were our only source of news.....but as it became real I realized that that day our country didn't "fall apart" as the terrorists had hoped but we became one standing tall for our freedom and our children.I hope the world never forgets that the United States cannot be broken and any trials that come our way God will help us overcome. I pray for the families who lost that day and I know in time they will heal. We just have to remember that for everything there is a reason and God has a plan for all even though we may not know and it may be painful if we trust we will prevail. God bless everyone who reads this and I hope that one day we will understand why the tradjedies that occur do occur. Thank you for your time 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 story193.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. 2002-03-08 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 216.76.232.187 Annotation Annotations to this item. Radio Coverage 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: My younger brother, David Retik, was seated in the first row of first-class on American Airlines Flight 11 as it plunged into the north tower of the World Trade Center at 8:45am on September 11. A partner in a venture capital firm in Boston, David left behind two children, ages 4 and 2, and his wife gave birth in November 2001 to their third. I arrived at my office at 8:55am on September 11. I work on the 29th floor of 85 Broad Street, located 8 blocks from the WTC. Immediately I noticed that something was wrong. A crowd was gathered in a nearby conference room. I joined them and noticed smoke billowing from one of the WTC towers. Shortly after learning that a plane had "accidentally" struck the WTC, I saw out of my office window a second plane strike the other tower. We evacuated our building and I bolted toward the New Jersey ferry amidst a rainstorm of singed office memos from the towers. On the way, I heard someone mention that one of the planes had originated in Boston. A bad fact, I thought, as I have family in Boston, but nothing to worry about. I boarded the ferry as we were overcome by a thick white dust that reeked of burned metal (a smell excruciatingly familiar to many New Yorkers by now). We learned that the smoke was coming from the collapse of the south tower. My heart sank. How could one of the towers collapse? As our ferry cleared the white smoke, rounded the Statue of Liberty, and headed for New Jersey, I saw one tower standing, burning, and thought to myself, "I hope everyone got out." When we landed, I finally got through to my wife, Michelle, to tell her I was ok. It was a really bad connection (cell service was abysmal that day), but I could tell she was crying. She said that David had been traveling to Los Angeles. We were then disconnected. This didn't make sense to me. But on the way home in the car, I learned on the news that one of the planes that crashed into the WTC had originated in Boston and was bound for Los Angeles. Still, I figured, there were multiple Boston-LA flights and it was unlikely that David was on this one. I learned the truth, of course, when I arrived home. Two weeks earlier, David and I and our families had been vacationing together with our parents on Martha's Vineyard. He called me shortly thereafter and told me how much he enjoyed our time together and impressed upon me the importance of continuing to get the families together because, in his actual words, "life is too short." This was the final time we spoke. I am forever grateful for this last conversation with my brother. While painfully prophetic, it has helped me make some sense out of this horrible tragedy and given me a much-needed shot of self-reflection. Clearly, it could just as easily have been me that was killed. 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 story288.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. 2002-03-20 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 68.37.160.21 Annotation Annotations to this item. Personal connection to someone at site NY:2 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 wrote this on September 19, 2001 Every American will remember September 11; many of our world neighbors will as well. For too many the day is a day they lost family members, loved ones, friends, and fellow Americans. Everybody?s story is different, but everybody has an important one. My story seems insignificant to the many who were in one way or another directly in the path of hijacked, suicide commercial airliners on September 11. I work for the Army in the Pentagon. My office is 2A685 - that means it is on the second floor, A-ring, 6th corridor, bay number 85. At 9:43 p.m. hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 with 64 crew and passengers slammed into the southwest face of the pentagon. My organization is called the Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management; I?m in the Directorate of Environmental Programs. The organization occupies several offices in the Pentagon. My office was only peripherally impacted, but the main office was directly in the path of the hijacked jet. At this time (Sep 19) I know that LTC Brian Birdwell suffered burns, and I know that Cheryle Sincock and Sandy Taylor are missing. I say ?missing? because I now begin to understand the need to find and identify people in New York and the Pentagon. Monday, our organization had a service for the families of Cheryle and Sandy to begin the grieving, and it is just so difficult for the families to proceed without absolute knowledge. Cheryle and Sandy worked in the main office. Cheryle was Major General Van Antwerp?s secretary and Sandy served as the Administrative Officer for the organization. Brian is one of our Executive Officers. President Bush visited him in the hospital last week. As he left, the President stood at the foot of Brian?s bed and saluted. It took Brian about 20 seconds to return the President?s salute, and Mr. Bush held his salute the whole time. I was on temporary duty at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO when the attack occurred. I was on my way to a meeting when NPR reported a fire at the World Trade Center (WTC). By the time I arrived at the meeting, the TV was showing the first attack on the WTC and shortly after that, the second. My first impression was that terrorists were flying the jets, but I did not, at that time, think they were hijacked jets with passengers on board. Soon the Pentagon was attacked, and that is when the horror of a mass attack hit me. Our meeting proceeded with occasional updates and one briefing from an Air Force security officer advising us that the security condition had gone to Threat Condition C and later D. The meetings, of course, were distracted, but we did not know of any other thing we could do. Threat Condition D required us to stay in the building until our scheduled lunch. At lunch time, I called Vicky, my wife, and my Mother. The rest of the afternoon included a field trip of the Air Force Academy. I left the Air Force Academy for my motel room at around 6 p.m. Mountain Time. My time in the motel that night was spent watching TV, phoning Vicky and a co-worker, and attempting to call our Directorate Executive Officer. I was scheduled on a flight from Denver airport the next day at around 10 a.m. An additional field trip was scheduled for the next day, which I considered going on and then rejected. I had heard colleagues discussing driving home. About 9:30 p.m., Tom Vorac called and asked if I would like to drive home with four other colleagues. I postponed my decision to the next morning. Wednesday morning, I called Vicky and our Executive Officer indicating I would likely drive home with the others. Then I called Abby (my daughter in Chicago), and during the conversation I became convinced I should participate in the drive home. My rationale, at the time, was that I knew the airlines would not be able to operate as early as reported on Tuesday (noon Wednesday) and this was affirmed by a report Abby had seen on TV. Secondly, I faced the reality that there could be more terrorism to come - there could be more hijackers waiting in the wings. Seems trivial, but making the decision to drive home gave me a tremendous boost in spirit. I drove to the Walmart and purchased their last flags, some stars and stripes bunting for the car, some black ribbon for arm bands, and, of course, Duck Tape to put it all together. When I arrived at the Raddison Hotel (the prearranged meeting place for the drive home) I learned that we now had six people (including me) and two cars. The Hertz and Alamo rental car agencies had waived drop-off fees, so we had a Chevrolet Lumina and a Subaru Legacy. Sal and Tom had gone to turn in Sal?s car at Colorado Springs Airport, so the remaining four planned our trip, made our trip rules, established the Colors (little flags on the antennas and the bunting on the back seat ?shelf?), and put on our black arm bands. It took Sal and Tom about two hours to drop off Sal?s car - they could not get to the airport drop-off but were getting mixed directions from the car agency. Finally they just parked the car as close as possible to the drop off. Next we dropped my car at the Denver Airport. There were state police and, I think, National Guard blocking the entrance road to the airport with concrete barriers and vehicles. The rental car agency was not in the blocked-off area, so it was not a problem to drop my car off. We departed Denver at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday: me, Tom M., and John in the Subru, and Tom V., Scott, and Sal in the Chevrolet. We stopped for breaks, snacks, gas, and rotation of positions (we regularly rotated all positions and cars). We arrived in Genesco, IL (Tom?s house) at about 3:00 a.m. Thursday, having dropped Sal off at the Quad City Airport where his car was (the airport seemed normal for 2:30 a.m.) - 15.5 hours counting one hour for the ride from Colorado Springs to Denver and subtracting an hour for the time change from Mountain to Central. Tom V.?s wife, Monica, had prepared beds and pallets on the floor for us. We slept about 4 hours at Tom?s house, got a shower, and ate donuts and drank coffee. We were also given ?goodie bags? that Kathleen Repass had dropped off. Who is Kathleen Repass? - a friend of Tom and Monica?s who just wanted us to know she cared about us. Kathleen Repass left a note on top of the home made chocolate chip cookies in one of the two ?goodie bags? - as I read it, it was the first time that I cried over the attacks and the compassion/unity of Americans. We got on the road at 8:30 a.m. - me, Tom M., John, and Scott in the Chevrolet. Tom V. was going to drop the Subru off later that day at the Quad Cities Airport. Snacks of the day were Mrs. Repass?s chocolate chip cookies, some beef jerky that I think someone must have purchased a lot of in Nebraska, and plenty of water. We arrived at the Baltimore Washington International Airport at 12:30 p.m. (15 hours making the adjustment from Central to Eastern time). Scott dropped me and Tom M. off at our cars in the ?Park-N-Go? so we could meet him at the Alamo car drop off. After a lot of confusion turning in the car at the drop off, I think we must have departed at about 1:30 a.m. I was taking Scott home and Tom M. was taking John home. I think I dropped Scott off at his house at about 2:30 a.m. and arrived home about 3 a.m. How long did it take? - a total of 37.5 hours adjusted to Eastern time and a total of 31.5 hours driving time. As I sit here today (Sep 19), safe at home at my desk, I reflect on the many thoughts and feelings that I have had these past several days (it?s already Wednesday). I?m sure that you all are having similar problems sorting out the many thoughts that go through your mind. At first I was simply horrified. Then I was afraid that the attacks were not over. Then I had a great sorrow for the people in New York and in the Pentagon. And, of course, I have a huge sorrow for Cheryle and Sandy and their families. Sometimes when I was trying to sleep or rest in the back seat on the drive home, I had some sort of stress dreams or day dreams. In one stress dream, I was on one of the hijacked planes and somehow got the seat belt loose (about a foot and a half of belt with the heavy part of the buckle on the end) and used it as a weapon on one of the hijackers. I have prayed, I have discussed it with Vicky, I have listened to the many reports, I have listened to our leaders, and I have listened to friends and colleagues. I?m still sorting out all the thoughts, but I?m left with two which seem foremost right at this moment - (1) I feel the nation is very vulnerable to terrorists; (2) I?m frustrated and disappointed that these particular ones could have been so successful. I?m sure the thoughts will continue to ebb and flow. I think we have to dismantle the terrorist machinery in a reasonable, sustained effort that includes our world partners. I hope we can find a way to do it that is effective and just. I pray for our country and it?s leadership. 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 story119.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. 2002-03-03 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 208.58.195.137 Annotation Annotations to this item. Flags Military Patriotism Pentagon Personal connection to someone at site Politics and politicians Victims DOMESTIC Sep 11- Sep 21, 2001 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 Los Angeles on September 11, 2001 at the time the first tower of the world trade center had just been hit, it was about 6:00 in the morning. I woke up to my mother talking on the phone to my aunt and screaming in terror that we were under attack. i will never be able to forget the terror i heard in her voice. As i woke up, i had no idea what she was talking about. As i walked into the living room to join my mother and watch t.v., i was speechless in witnessing the second plane hit into the other tower. I began to cry as the real effect of what was happening began to sink in. I was in my junior year of college at Califonia State University, Northridge and decided to stay home from school in lue of not knowing what was going to happen next. Was California going to be a target? I was overcome with such an unsettling feeling i could barely get up from the couch. I have never felt so unsure of life as i did at that very moment. I was so scared and spent the majority of the day stuck to the t.v. Another thing i remember as i went to watch t.v. in that morning is hearing the voice of i think it was peter jennings. He kept saying, "oh my G-d", oh my G-d, the world will never be the same. 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 story4875.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. 198.81.21.32 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 2001 was one of those routine mornings until I got a call from my relative in Houston at 6:45AM Pacific Time. I woke up at 6:30AM woke my wife and then my children to get them ready for school. 15 minutes later the whole world had changed when I heard the tragic news and switched on the TV to catch the news of the tragedy. So many innocent lives were taken and so many innocent Heroes perished doing their duty trying to save them. May GOD give strength to the families of those who lost their beloved in this tragedy. It was a cowardly act but then religious fanatism does not reason. The tragedy of 9/11 has changed not only the lives of those who lost near & dear ones but every sensible human being on this earth. I hope this will foster a feeling that we need to understand different cultures and religions which will help bring Peace and Harmony on Earth. 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 story5227.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. 63.92.4.115 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, 2001 It was a beautiful September morning. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was commuting from my new apartment in Astoria to 2 World Trade, where I worked for AON. Everything was going good, I just moved into my first apartment with my sister-in a great neighborhood; I loved my job and the location of it?I worked the Trade Center, what more could I ask for. I had the typical morning, arriving early, getting coffee and chatting with people in the office. I was in the coffee room when I heard a loud boom and someone screaming ?oh my god!? I ran out of the coffee room and into an office what was facing 1 World Trade Center. The only thing I saw was fire coming out of the building and paper shooting out of the building. I did not know what was happening. So I ran to my boss? office, which faced directly across 1 World Trade, to see if I could get a better look of what happened. As I walked into the office I felt this incredible heat from the fire that was directly across from his office. At that point I knew it was time for me to leave the building. I was afraid that something in 1 World Trade would explode and directly hit our offices. So I shut my computer off, grabbed my sneakers & bag and started heading down on the first stairwell I could find. I didn?t wait for anyone, I felt I couldn?t- I had to leave at that moment. And so my journey from the 100th floor began. I had always joked that if there was a fire or something that I had to walk down 100 flights of stairs. But never in my life did I actually think that it would truly happen. The stairwell was a little crowded in the beginning but there was no panicking. I had stopped on one of the landing to put my sneakers on and ran into my friend and colleague on the landing. I was joking with her that I can now go home and unpack my apartment that just moved into that Saturday. We came upon the 78th floor (that was an elevator bank that took you express down to the ground floor) - there where so many people on that floor waiting for an elevator to go down. My friend stayed to see if she could get one down. I told her that I?m going to walk down and that I would call her later. She said ok. (That day I found out she didn?t make it, she was one of the thousands that died that day) I proceeded to go down the stairs. I stopped on a floor to see if I could get a signal on my phone so that I could call my sister or mother and tell them that I was ok and that I would meet my sister at her job (41st and Park). The floor that I stopped on was dark and people in the hallway saying that a plane flew into tower one. And I remember thinking to myself what a HORRIBLE accident. At that point I was even more determined to get out of that building and away from the Trade Center. I was more afraid that the fire across the way would hit a gas pipe and it would explode with debris hitting our building. So once again I headed down the stairs. It wasn?t crowded, a lot of people where going back up or stopping waiting for an elevator. There were announcements telling people to go back to their offices that it was just a fire in tower one and that tower two was secure. And people listened to them. I can?t remember what floor I was on when I felt the building shake and saw some debris come down from the ceiling(I learned later that this is when the second plane hit tower two; so I was below the impact). I began to panic a little bit at that point, but I continued down the stairs. I remember thinking to myself ?God, you know I am ready to go when you call for me. But I can?t go like this; my family will not be able to handle this. This will break them. Please carry me out and bring me to my family. I will do anything, just bring me home.? Finally I reached the ground floor and it was complete chaos. They where telling us what entrance to go out of. I remember going up the escalators and seeing people covered in blood walking out. I had exited the exit that faces the church-it was where the Borders Books was (I believe its Trinity Place). I remember there was a cop in civilian clothes telling me to keep walking up and don?t look back ? to keep walking toward the Brooklyn Bridge. I will never forget the expression on people?s faces as I walked. They stood there in horror looking up at what was happening behind me. I didn?t dare look up. I wanted to get as far away as possible from that area. People where glued there, didn?t move, it was like they where under a spell. I frantically pushed my way through the crowd, trying to get a signal on my phone to call my sister or mother and tell them that I was out of the building and I was fine. I was going to pick up my sister and go home. I couldn?t get a damn signal. So I stopped by this smoke shop and asked if I could use their phone to make a quick call--- I told them that I had just came out of tower two and needed to call my family to tell them I was ok. They just had this stare on them, almost that they couldn?t believe I walked out of there. I called my sister at work, needless to say she was not in the best condition?she had been watching the whole thing on TV. She had already thought I was dead, that there was no way I would have survived that. Once I got her on the phone I told her that I was ok, that she needed to pull herself together and call mom and tell her that I was ok. I told my sister to stay where she was, that I was going to be there shortly. I don?t know what possessed me to get on the 6 train to go to Grand Central, but I did. As it came to 14th street/Union Square I thought to myself I can get off here and take the 4 or 5 and it will get me there in one stop. So I got off the train and wouldn?t you know---they stop all service. The subway system was on shut down. I walked out of the subway and people were all pissed off, I saw this woman cursing at a cop telling him that the MTA is constantly screwing her, that she was seriously inconvenienced at the moment?she clearly did not know what was happened on the ground level just downtown from her. I walked out of the subway station asked the local hot dog guy which way uptown and where is Park Avenue. He kindly showed me which direction I needed to go. I started walking to my sister?s job (42nd and Park). Once again people where stopped in the middle of sidewalks looking at the TV in the window, there were lines at the public phones, people crying, etc. I still didn?t know the whole story, I hadn?t stopped to ask any questions, to inquire; I was focused on getting to my sister- she needed me there. I stopped in a church just blocks from her job. I fell to my knees and started crying?I didn?t know why I was crying, I just thanked God that I was safe. Once I got to my sister?s job, there was a mob outside (they evacuated the building) I couldn?t find her-so I went upstairs to her office-she was not there. I went back downstairs and she was there with her friends from work. She just started crying and hugging me like she never wanted to let me go. Then I told her that I heard someone on the stairwell say that a plane flew into tower one. At that point our friend Nancy told me that it was a terrorist attack and that both towers were hit and they just collapsed. Words can not explain what was going through my head. I thought I was the only surviving person from my job ? you have to understand I just came from that area a saw all of those people standing there, glued to the ground looking up in shock and horror. I went upstairs to call my parents and told them that I was now with my sister and we were going to try to figure out what to do. Nancy had a friend that lived close to their job. She called him and asked if we could come by. So we went to this friend?s apartment and the TV was on ? of course showing images of what had just happened. This was my first time actually seeing what had happened. On the TV I saw the first plane hit the towers; then I saw the second plane hit the building I was in. Then the part that I could not believe; and still don?t ? was the falling of the buildings. I just started crying, I didn?t know what to do. I thought that everyone that I saw on the floor before I left had died because they didn?t make it down the stairs in time. (I later found out that a lot of them survived) We stayed at the apartment for a little bit then decided to walk over the 59th Street Bridge to our apartment in Astoria. The first attempt was not good; since we were near Grand Central there was chaos. As we turned the corner onto 42nd Street towards the bridge we saw this mob of people just running down the street. At this point I really couldn?t walk that well after climbing down 100 flights of stairs and walking almost 30 blocks. So I told my friend and my sister to lean up against the building in a little nook so they would get trampled. Well after that we decided to head back to the apartment that we were at. We stayed there for a little bit longer then decided that we really needed to get home. So we started heading home, there was this eerie feeling about the city; you could here the fighter jet circling the city. We weren?t the only ones walking across the bridge. Once we reached the middle of the bridge I looked to my right and saw a huge cloud of smoke where the towers once stood. It still all felt like a REALLY bad dream. I received a call from my aunt telling me that my uncle is at the foot of the bridge. We finally reached the end of the bridge and people where handing out water; I saw my uncle and just started crying ? I remember telling him to take me home to my mother. He met us at our apartment and a friend from the neighborhood drove us to our apartment. We were on our way to Long Island where my mother lives; and there was no one on the road. People just started calling my cell to make sure that I got out and that I was fine. We got to my mother?s house and the first person I saw was my stepfather outside on the steps ? I went to him and gave him the biggest huge. When I saw my mother I started crying again. My aunt came over with my cousin and we had something to eat. Then we all went to the living room and I remember watching the TV. All they kept doing is replaying the airplanes going into the buildings and then the buildings collapsing. And every time I started crying. That night I spoke to some friends that were wondering if I got out ok. Told them the story. In the following days this overwhelming wave of sadness just consumed me. I didn?t eat, all I wanted to do is sleep, and I felt I had to be strong for my sister and family. I didn?t allow myself to mourn properly. I didn?t want to admit to myself the feelings I was feeling. Almost if I didn?t think about it would eventually go away. At times I felt that the sadness I carried with me was too big for me, for the first time I didn?t have the answers or a plan for what I was feeling or what was going on. It was all around me and I couldn?t escape it. And dealing with the loss of friends was too much for me. I cried myself to sleep every night. I had the guilt; you know why I didn?t try harder to convince them to go down the stairs with me. Why did they stay for an elevator? How in a heartbeat I would trade places with them so that could be here with their families. One night my friends who died came to me in a dream; I was at ground zero looking frantically for them. And when I came upon a huge black box, as I lifted it up I saw the three of them in pure white gowns with beautiful smiles on. They told me that it?s ok, that they are ok. About a month after the attacks it was time to go back to the city and go to work. I will admit this was very scary for me. How would I go back to work and be among those people who experienced the same thing I did, if not worse. When I walked around the city or on the train; I felt like people could see what I went through, that they somehow knew what I was feeling. Having to deal with the terror warnings, the planes flying over NYC, the bomb threats that happened in our new building ? my nerves were SHOT!!! I still get those feelings once in awhile. Its worse the week of the anniversary, it?s almost like I?m preparing for it to happen again. I make a mental note of that I have to do, how I would evacuate the building I?m in now. There is not a day that goes by that I don?t think of that day and my friends that died. My mother says that I was reborn on that day ? that I was given a second chance at life. That it was a miracle that I walked out of it. I guess someone up there is not ready for me. I would like this opportunity to tell my family and friends that I love them with all my heart and that without them I?m nothing. I would like to thank them for their support when I was going through it and when I have my moments now. To my friends who are gone, I miss you terribly and think of you often. I know in my heart you are in a better place ? we will meet again one day. Lorraine M. Escoto Astoria, NY 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 story11303.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. 2005-02-17 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 155.201.35.52