227 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: Like the rest of America, my personal images of what I saw and felt are burned permanently on my mind. But what came after is a change in my life that occured, most likely, because of the attacks. I had recently broke up with my partner and I was feeling depressed and dejected; I drank heavily and generally lost the will to just live and enjoy life. On 21 October, I stopped drinking and began to turn things around for myself. I realized the enormity of the losses of so many people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania and felt I had no right to grieve for a lost love any longer-my problems seemed so trite in comparison. Today, I am sober still and try to keep all the small inconveniences and difficulties in life in their proper, small proportions. 11 September has changed my views of what is important in this life and what is really just inconsequential "filler." 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 story872.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. 2002-07-10 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: Following is an email I wrote a week after Sept. 11th: At the suggestion of my Aunt, I thought it would be a good idea to tell the story of my day this Tuesday. It is not nearly as dramatic as others I have read, but I think it will be worth reading. Tuesday morning, all is normal. I wake up, get ready, and go outside to walk the half a mile downtown to my office. I arrive at my building at Hudson and Canal streets (the WTC is half a mile due south) and ride the elevator to the 8th Floor. I walk in to my desk, get settled, and go to fill my water bottle in the kitchen. I notice that a few employees are running past me. This is not so unusual, being that I work for a news-oriented company. Any sort of breaking news could trigger running. However, I notice that everyone from one side of the office is running to the other. I ask what is going on. I am told, "A plane just hit the world trade center!" I was more curious than shocked. I imagined it was a small prop plane. I ran to the windows on the south side of the office. At first all I see is a huge gash in the north tower. I see no flames. It takes me a few minutes of staring to piece together what I was seeing. Everyone near me was silent, also trying to make sense of it. It was a large black hole in the building. You could see the vague outline of a plane, a wider middle, and narrow wings on each side. The hole was at a slight angle. We kept staring, mostly in silence. Soon we noticed paper in the air, floating, the way paper does, on the air currents next to the building. Suddenly a someone screams "Oh my god! I think I see people jumping!" We look and can make out small solid objects falling from the building. We are too far to be able to see what they are. I race back to my phone and call Ed (my boyfriend) to alert him to the events. As I am explaining I hear a huge boom that shakes the building. "Oh my god!" I say "something just exploded, I'll call you back!" I hear a scream from the crowd at the windows. I run back to see a huge fireball in the south tower. At first we thought it was a bomb, but then someone said they thought they saw another plane. People began to get very scared. We ran to our set of six televisions, tuned to various local and national news sources. Soon after the second explosion, the news stations had the slow motion video of the second impact. We could clearly see a passenger jet. Being the news organization that we are, a few people had begun filming from our windows. Others ran to their posts to make sure the latest news was on our website. Others called home to reassure family. I did the latter. I called mom at home, who had not yet seen the news. We both were stunned and I had little to say other than I was fine. As our office became more and more frantic, not only with work, but also with the fear of not knowing what was happening, I recieved word via instant messenger that a third jet had hit the Pentagon. I actually didn't believe this until I went yet again to the tv screens and saw for myself. About this time, we received word that the building was going to be evacuated. The office became more frantic. We had to get WNBC's live coverage on our site. We had never used our live streaming capabilities before, so we were in completely new territory. Amazingly, it worked. Just after we added the live video to our site, I received another instant message saying the south tower had collapsed. Again, I could not believe it. I ran to the windows where some were standing with wide eyes and hands over their mouths. Nobody made a sound. I saw a huge plume of dust where the tower had been. That was it for me. I knew I had to leave immediately. I went to my desk and gathered my things. Building security arrived to make sure we were leaving. I exited the building and saw streams of people walking quickly uptown. It was silent. Nobody spoke except for those on payphones which had lines stretching around corners. I saw a few people covered in dust walking up the street staring- completely oblivious of the world around them. I walked quickly, not knowing what was going to happen next. I heard a few screams and saw people begin to run past me. I turned and saw the second tower falling. None of the dust from the first tower had reached my office, so I didn't worry that I was in danger, except from the crowd that began to surge up the street. I decided to opt for turning the first corner I came to to get off the main street. I arrived at my apartment to find my roommate who had no idea what was going on. I filled her in as she stared at me in disbelief. "I'm going to walk to Penn Station and get out to Long Island" I told her. I packed my bag quickly, taking only the essentials. Ed called to check on me and urged me to move quickly. He was worried about the state of the city, as was I. I didn't know how panicked everyone would be. It could be a very bad situation. I left the building and bought a bottle of water on the corner. I should mention that no transportation of any kind was running at this time. Therefore, everyone was walking. There were throngs of people on the streets walking. To my amazement, everyone was calm. I suppose it was more dazed than calm, but there was no panic. As I walked, I passed a few cars with radios on and caught bits of news. I heard that there had also been a crash in Pennsylvania. I walked past St. Vincents Hospital in the village, where a majority of the injured were being taken. There was a line around the building to donate blood and they were beginning to turn people away. The area was roped off and I had to walk a few blocks out of my way to get around. After about an hour of walking and talking on my cell phone with Ed and my mom, I arrived at Penn Station. I had promised that if I felt any sort of danger, I would keep walking uptown to Ed's friend's apartment at 125th street (Penn is at 34th st.). There was a throng of people around the entrance. I tried to get in position to hear the transit police announcing in the middle, but the crowd was too large. I asked the people around me and found that there was no service at all. Someone mentioned there might be limited service out of Grand Central. By this time I just wanted to leave the city by any means possible. I began to walk across town to Grand Central Station. As I passed the New York Public Library, I noticed 2 transit cops with radios trying to answer people's questions about how to get where they wanted to go. Basically, the answer was walk. They were telling Brooklyn people to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, Queens people should walk across the Williamsburg bridge, New Jersey was basically inaccessible. I also found out that there were no trains working at Grand Central. I decided to walk back to Penn and just wait for trains to resume. As I was walking, I noticed people going into the subway. I went down to see what was going on and found a few trains working. Still no trains that would get me out of the city. So I kept walking back to Penn. When I arrived, I went to another door and stood in a crowd of people. I called Ed and discussed my options. About this time, I began to hear airplanes, which I hadn't heard all day. I looked up and saw F-16s in the air. It was a very strange and frightening sight. I was reminded of the fighter jets that used to fly over my house in Wichita from McConnell AFB. After about half an hour, I decided to walk around Penn Station to make sure I wasn't in the wrong place. The people I was waiting with were all waiting for Amtrak trains, and I wanted the LIRR. As I walked around, I heard someone mention the 7 train was working. The 7 would get me to Woodside Queens from which LIRR trains were apparently departing. I walked uptown to 42nd street and the 7 train entrance. I arrived a the platform and saw 2 dark trains on the tracks. Obviously the lady at Penn was wrong. I huffed back up the stairs and back to Penn. This time, I walked by a small entrance that went direcly into the LIRR section of the station. There were people going in! I hustled to the escalator and went down. Just as I entered they announced the Port Washington train, my train! I actually began to run. I was given the evil eye by a policeman and slowed my pace a bit. I made my way to the train and sat down. I was so relieved to be on the train! I called my mom to tell her the good news. I should note that I was very lucky through all of this to get a cell signal. Most people were unable to use their cell phones at all. I waited with bated breath for the train to move. I was certain that something else was bound to happen and I would not make it out of the city so easily. Finally the train moved. About five minutes later, daylight in Queens. Rarely have I felt so glad to see Queens. I called Ed with my ETA and took a deep breath. As I sat by the window, I watched the black smoke curl in the sky. Even in Queens there was a grey haze. On my train, I noticed two men. One was grey from head to toe, covered in soot. The other was in a hospital gown and boxers holding a sack of what I took to be unwearable clothes. It finally began to sink in. Until this time I had been on a mission, just get out. I hadn't had time to really process what had happened. Over the next few days, as I stayed on Long Island and watched the news, I began to feel the enormity of what had happened. I still can't quite fathom the full extent of it, but I know it will effect the city and the nation for years to come. 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 story1146.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. 24.90.254.213 Annotation Annotations to this item. Internet Police Officers Rumors Struggle to get home WTC, attack NY:3 Sep 11- Sep 21, 2001 Notes Notes about this item. Move to emails 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 learned about the crashing of the planes while I was on my way to Geology class. A girl was listening to the radio on her walkman and telling the class what the updates were. I did not fully understand the severity of the situation until class was over. I knew it was serious, but did not understand what had happened. I left school and tried to call my boss to see if I should come into work. My work was located right behind the Pentagon and I heard that it had been hit. My cell phone did not work and was making crazy sounds when I attempted to use it. I saw that a friend of mine, who lived near the school, had called and I went to his house to watch the news and make some phone calls. I could not believe what I saw on the News. It was horrible. Why? How? I could not grasp where this came from. The impact of the event did not kick in unitl the next day when it consumed my mind. I found myself afraid of things to come and constantly watching the news so that I might grasp the situation at hand. I could not think about anything else. I literally work right behing the Pentagon which made me think about all the people actually in the Pentagon. All the people running from large masses of smoke, or jumping from windows of a falling building. For the first time in my life, I felt unsafe in my own country. Vulnerable and unprotected. A feeling very new to me. I didn't understand how we could keep ourselves safe when the enemy was willing to risk thier own lives in order to take ours. The days following were filled with suspision, fear and anxiety. I love this country and what it stands for, but for the first time, I felt true patriotism. For the first time, I cried when I heard our National Anthem. For the first time, all those songs I sang in Elementary school finally made sense. I was proud to be an American. Despite the horror of what happened on Septemeber 11, I am glad that it opened my eyes to the strength of this country and how glad I am to be a part of 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 story89.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. 2002-02-27 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 209.249.111.27 Annotation Annotations to this item. Patriotism Rumors Telephones and Cell Phones DC: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: Many thoughts and emmotions were let out that day. I remember sitting in class watching CNN and seeing the scene of the second plane crashing into the Second Tower of the World Trade Center. Everybody in class watched the T.V. with their mouth's wide open in terror. Some girls were frightened. Some of the Seniors were talking about enlisting when they graduated. No work was done, and if there was work to be done, people refused to do it, because they were troubled by the thought of what was happening to our country. I remember hearing people saying that they would like to kill the sick person that did it, and I remember my stomach twisting as people began jumping out of the windows. Many nights after I had nightmares about being on board one of those planes, and I thought about what ran through the passengers' minds as their lives were about to be cut short. I imagined what it was like to be a fire fighter running up while everybody else was running down. When I think of how scared I was on that day, and all of the nightmares that I had afterwards, I think of the nightmares of the office workers, the fire fighters, and police officers who were there that day. I think of the nightmares that the recovery workers must be going through now, and I think of what the fire fighters who returned to the job, after many of their brothers were lost, are going through. When I think of these things I find it easy to say that all of us were effected equally as a nation on Tuesday September 11th, 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 story8058.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. 2002-09-22 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 12.94.23.104 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 heard of the attacks from my parents who were in LA. They called me that morning as I was walking out the door and said that planes had crashed into the world trade center in New York, that someone was blowing up buildings. It didn't make sence, I thought at first it was a joke, but I then turned on the tv and realized it was real You can always tell the intensity of a situation by the reporters voice, especially this time, I could hear fear. I will be honest and say that September 11th has not changed my life like others. I have never been to New York or knew anyone involved in 9-11. It was'nt close to home in a deep touching way that I saw other people feeling. But I held my daughter a little closer that night, I watched the sky all day, I'm not sure if it was more planes or God I was looking for. I could'nt watch the news for awhile after 9-11. The worst image I had ever seen was the building where people were going to find a loved one who was missing. they had created this system, this process of finding out if the person you were looking for was dead or still missing. There was all these people waiting in line, holding posters and trying not to cry. You could see strength in their eyes. I remember that at the end of this process of all the paperwork and forms they had the people walk down a flight of stairs to this bulletin board type area where the names of the dead were being posted. I kept thinking how could you make that walk, or read through those names, how horrible it was to know and to not know. If someone's name was there then you knew they were dead, but if it was'nt you knew no one knew where they were. I honestly don't know which one was worse. September 11 has changed my life in ways I wish it didn't. An explosion or loud noise scares me, airplanes scare me. I am constantly looking in the sky for something out of place, something not right. As mush as I hate to admit it, I live in fear that something is coming, something far worse than 9-11. But what in the world could be worse than that? I truely can't imagine something that horrible. I truley feel so bad for all the families that lost someone that day, may god be with. The only good thing to come of 9-11 was the true goodness of people. As horrible as it was to watch planes crahing into buildings, it was peacefull to see human beings running into those buildins to offer help to strangers. Any building can be destroyed, at least the human spirit can't. I take pride in that and our country and believe in the goodness and kindness of the human spirit, we will get through this. Goodness will always overcome evil. Jillian ortells Las Vegas, Nevada Age 22 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 story988.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. 2002-08-07 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 205.188.209.40 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: I had just come back from checking on some insignificant temperature reading. I walked into the shop and the radio was on WTMJ. The sports guys were talking about the Packers chances against the Giants on the next Sunday when John Belmont (he's the guy who used to work for ABC in NY but moved here on '01 to be the big morning news anchor guy, and he's great at it) interrupted about the first plane hitting the trade center. We all went to the nearest TV and saw the image of the first tower. After a few minutes, I decided to go back to work, mainly to take my mind off of what had happened. I checked a few more insignificant gauges, and returned to the shop. By then the second plane had hit, and I was told I had missed seeing it live. I went to the nearest TV, and saw the replay. It had to be the coldest shock I ever felt in my life. All I could do was go to help the new tennants in the building. She is blind, but she can do more than I, a full-sighted person can. I wound up pressing a button on her CD player that cancelled the programming that made the CD player play Les Miserables at 2 AM. (yes, it was just one button). I remember saying "Mrs Silver, the world is going crazy today" She said "Oh my yes..I don't understand this" All I could tell her was "Well, it's terrorists, and they want to make us afraid to live the way we do" except I threw in a few F-bombs, I think. I remember thinking that day "These bastards want me to think that they will take a pot shot at me while on my way to work, or try to shoot me on my couch while watching TV, or while getting gas" I also remember thinking and voicing my opinion that "I will not live my life as I usually do because of some terrorist. The terrorists will lose because I will live my life and go about my daily routine as before" I hope that last sentence will become a rallying cry for this country. 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 story8528.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. 2002-10-19 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 63.21.205.229 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 bed sleeping,when my best friend came in and woke me up to tell me that a plane had just hit one of the world trade center buildings.Not knowing what she just said, I started to fall back asleep.She came back in and told me to get up, that something really bad was happening.So, I got out of bed just in time to see the second plane hit the other tower.All I could do was watch in horror and disbelief to witness what was happening,and I started to cry,and I find myself crying still all the time.I am sad for what has happened,I cry for all the lives lost that horrible day,I cry for the families that don't have their loved ones anymore,and I cry because we live in a world that these acts of terrorism keep happening.I have five children,and three grandchildren, and I'm scared that they have to grow living in fear that someone,somewhere, may try this again.I am thankful for President Bush, because he is trying to rid these idiots who only want to hurt our country.I pray that my ten year old daughter will someday be able to tell her children what happened on September 11,2001. God-Bless America. Tracey J. Hart 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 story6969.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. 198.81.16.22 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: ENLIGHTENMENT Once upon a time I lived in an untouchable world. I lived comfortably with CNN, MSNBC and dozens of news channels. I cried with the explosion of the shuttle after take off, cried with the picture of the baby being carried out of the rubble at the Oklahoma bombing but never have I ever experienced such helplessness and pain as with the events of September 11th. These things only happen on CNN. I clutch my heart, shake my head, say a silent prayer then change the channel to ER, The Practice or Judge Judy. September 11th began as a beautiful clear day. I left home at 7:15am and arrived at work above Grand Central Station/42nd Street at 8:20am. I listen to CD 101.9 light Jazz. I?m enjoying the music. My husband, Gilbert, works in Brooklyn across the river from the World Trade Center (WTC). My first call from him at 8:49 tells me there?s a huge fire at WTC. He never saw the first plane, just the devastating results. We hang up. My sister, Cheryl, calls ? ?Two planes just flew into WTC?. ?Cheryl ? Gilbert said it?s just a fire ? don?t worry.? My husband calls again screaming ?get out, get out of your building, New York is under attack, leave work, get out! I just saw a plane fly directly into the second tower, get out now!? At this point everyone has radios tuned to 1010 WINS all news station. My girlfriends and I crowd into a co-workers office ? she is crying, we?re all crying ? her sister works in the WTC. She cannot reach her through her office phone or cell phone. Oh Lord! Please let her be alive and well ?we all say a prayer. I call Mom to see if she?s heard from my brother ? he works in the area but he?s always in the towers or underground at the PATH train. Thank GOD! he?s fine ? he?s called Mom. Superiors at work have not made a decision whether to let us out of the office early ? ?. . . the office will remain open as this does not affect us.? Nevertheless, I gather my belongings together. At the fall of the first tower I really begin bawling ? the words that went through my head was a repeat of a film clip of the Hindenberg crashing to the ground and the announcer with his voice full of tears crying ? ?Oh! The humanity.? I thought of all the people who worked there ? at one point I worked on the 92nd Floor ? and I cried. I haven?t spoken with my cousin in a while, where in the city does she work? My Lord ? let my family be safe. The Pentagon? This thing is nationwide. At the crash of the second tower there are more tears but everyone wants to gather husbands, wives, children and parents around to ensure their safety. Seven of us leave the office together. As we are leaving they are evacuating our building ? Grand Central Station is a prime target with thousands of commuters daily. We must get out of the city, buildings are too tall here ? each a potential target. For those of us going to Brooklyn ? how do we get out? Lower Manhattan is closed. The news says the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges are closed. We have to cross at the 59th Street/Queensboro Bridge which lets us out in Long Island City, Queens. We laugh and joke as we walk up the middle of 2nd Avenue to 59th Street. Thank God I wore flat shoes. Air space has been shut down to all planes and the drone of a plane overhead has us all ducking ? we can?t run towards a building for cover ? it?s not safe. As we approach the bridge there?s a high concrete barrier to prevent cars from taking that route to the bridge. Lady-like behavior and modesty has no place here ? we slide over on our behinds or hike our skirts up, exposing underwear, as we kick our legs over the barrier. Another barrier . . . we do the same and land smack in the middle of traffic getting out of the city. They wait for us to cross yet another barrier and get out of harm?s way. Trucks, buses or cars that can accommodate people allow them to hop on. People are hopping on to trucks? cargo area, they are hanging on to the side mirrors on the driver?s and passenger?s side of the trucks. This is dangerous but we are all trying to get out of the city. Temra, our co-worker with asthma, gets winded and we slow our pace. We?re laughing and joking but behind all the laughter we?re praying ? Lord please protect those at the WTC, look over Kim and her family; please don?t let it be as bad as it sounds. At this point in time we had not seen. Steve, another co-worker, was parked in Long Island City and give a few of us rides into Long Island and Brooklyn (as close as he could get - many streets are now closed). Thank God for Steve and his car. I arrive home five hours later. My 15-year old daughter, Whitney, has been picked up by another parent ? she?s safe. I turn on the TV and finally see what the world has been looking at for the last few hours. The crying never really stops for the next few days. The water stops flowing from my eyes but it takes one word, one thought, one newspaper article, one survivor interview, one missing person poster and it all comes out once again. Whitney has been unable to sleep in her room ? she?s afraid. A woman at work makes a statement that Whitney?s too old to be afraid. I think this woman is living in another world. She does not understand that we are our children?s protectors ? we handle the bullies and the teasers, we teach them about strangers and bad people who might want to touch; but we never thought to teach them about this ? how could we? We never could have imagined this. This tragedy has sent me to the Bible asking why. Some of you may begin to squirm when you start reading this but you must realize there is someone bigger than you or I ?we have no control here. ?We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.? 2 Corinthians 1:8-9. This is a reality check. We have our nice homes, nice cars, nice clothes and nice furniture but we should never forget to thank God for LIFE. Be prepared! Live everyday as though it is your last day on earth. Praying together was unlawful in schools and in public arenas. After September 11th they could not stop the praying in every public place conceivable ? people were praying in schools, at work and in parks. Prayer vigils were held worldwide ? we are afraid. ?in our hearts we felt the sentence of death.? The airplanes could have been bound for Southern California, Maryland, Orlando, Seattle or any of the cities you live in. Don?t wait for tomorrow to get your act together. Proverbs 27:1 says ?Do not boast about tomorrow for you do not know what a day may bring forth? We thank God for life. We thank God for the ability to praise and bless him. We thank God for sparing my brother's life and the lives of others who we know and others we do not know. We thank God for the ones who were lost ? those we know and those we do not know. We thank God for being God ? it?s not for us to question why ? just thank him. God has a plan for 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 story7717.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. 2002-09-17 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 am from America, the State of Indiana. I just arrived in England the week before this happen.. I was home cleaning and I got a phone call from my boyfriend (now husband) to turn the TV on..I did and Iwas totaly in shock as to what i was hearing on the newcast.. They showed the twin tower being hit by a plane..smoke everywhere and then the second tower being hit by another plane..About that time my daughter living in Fort Wayne, Indiana called me.. She said Mom turn TV on look what is happening over here.. I told her i did... I have never seen anything like this. I wanted to cry..Then all of a sudden my daughter screams. Then she says my God mom the tower is falling......Such horror...I felt so stranded here..I wanted to be near my family..I was in fear as to what was going on in my own country...All flights were grounded....... I was stuck and nothing I could do for what my children was watching.. All i could do was pray and hope for the family and people that was in that tower...Through it all it made me angry and at what these terroists done. They took our innoncents away from our people. But our people did come together and this act made us strong.... Freedom will always be our goal in life and no one can take that away.... 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 story1584.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. 2002-08-30 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 195.92.67.75 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 morning of 9-11, my mother called my sister at home to tell her what was happening. My sister had just gotten up and had not yet turned on the radio or TV. My mother said, "Turn on the TV! New York has just been attacked! My sister, in the confusion replied, "What channel?!?!" 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 story20581.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. 2006-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 68.225.130.123 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 cafeteria, getting my morning coffee. I saw a few managers clustered around the TV set, which is set to CNN all day. Curious, I walked over and took a gander, to see what the deal was. I saw a gaping wound in the side of the World Trade Tower. An announcer told of an airplane that crashed into the side of the building. I was saddened by this, and was sorry that it happened, but my thoughts were, "C'est la vie, I hope the air controllers will do a better job in the future. Where's a cup?" I do not excuse my callousness. I went back to my desk with my coffee, and turned on WFNX. I peeked my head into Karen's office (my boss), and she was listening to a news broadcast from her station, telling of the crashed planes. ...Plane<b>s</b>? Karen speculated that it could've been a terrorist thing. Rachel (co-worker) heard, and said that ehh... maybe, maybe not. <i>Just then</i>, there was a broadcast that stated it was a terrorist attack, and that the US may be going to war. I was thoroughly stunned. I honestly thought it was just an accident... but this... The more I heard, the more stunned I grew. The towers hit... the Pentagon... the towers fell... the airports shutting down... I couldn't believe it. When the towers fell - both towers - I went back to the cafeteria, and watched reports on CNN. They did an instant replay of the collapse. I came so close to crying, and right in front of the new hardass Comptroller, as well. I was shocked - all those people... Afterwards, I decided to head over to a local red cross and donate blood. 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 story1675.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. 2002-09-03 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 155.72.100.4 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: 9/11 & The Weeks After 9/11 will be etched in our memories forever. I know I will never forget the events that unfolded that horrible day. September 11th 2001 started off like any other day. I woke up at about 7:00am to start getting ready for school. My class at the Borough of Manhattan Community College (which is 4 blocks from the WTC) didn't start until 11:00am on this day. It was a nice, warm morning with no clouds in the sky. The weatherman predicted the temperature to reach the mid 70's. At 8:40am I was listening to Z100's morning show and had my TV on mute simultaneously. Since my class started at 11:00am I wouldn't leave my house until 9:30 am. I was listening to a song on the radio while doing my hair when the song was abruptly interrupted. The DJ said that a plane had hit one of the Twin Towers. At first I thought it was a joke because the morning DJ's are always trying to pull a fast one on the listeners. However, something in their voices wasn't right. They weren't cheery or happy. I turned to look at my TV, which was still on mute and couldn't believe my eyes. I saw one of the Twin Towers with a bright red fire inside. I said to myself Oh S**t!!! I sat down on my bed to see what had happened. It was an unbelievable site. I then went down stairs in my house to tell my parents what happened. There was dead silence for a moment as we watched the TV. We were standing in the kitchen saying to ourselves how did a plane hit the building on such a clear sunny morning. A few seconds later we saw another explosion but this time in WTC 2. From that point on we knew that this was no accident. (I look back now and think about how those planes hitting the WTC changed so many things. Life hasn't been the same since.) Things just got worse when you thought they couldn't get any worse. The events that unfolded were a total shock. Not in my wildest dreams could I have predicted that both Twin Towers would collapse to the ground like they did. The phone in my house must have rung about thirty times that morning. Family and friends that were concerned, shocked, and horrified called. The whole city was virtually shut down. Then all airports around the U.S. were shut down. I also remember hearing and later seeing fighter jets flying over my house. It was totally mind blowing. As September 11th turned to September 12th and so on my shock turned to terror and anger. The images seemed like something seen in a $200 million blockbuster movie. But is was 100% real. I was numb for a number of days after the attacks. I said I can't believe it at least a thousand times. I didn't want to leave my house and I didn't need to since my school was closed. I really didn't hear anything about my school the following week, just that it was being used as a command center. I was just hoping and praying that everyone that was at school on that morning made it home safe. BMCC students couldn't go back to school until October 1st. I wanted to go back and at the same time I didn't. I wanted to try to have some kind of normalcy in my life. I remember taking the 2 train and being really really nervous and wanting to cry. It was a kind of nervous I don't think I ever felt before. That first day back we had to enter through the back entrance of the school instead of the entrance that faced the Twin Towers. I remember seeing professors on every corner standing with signs and wearing t-shirts with a flag and the BMCC logo. Seeing the professors distracted me for a minute. However, upon walking to the school I saw many police officers and we had to show our ID's before we even went inside the building. Many things had changed since last being there three weeks before. I remember being in a fog that first day back. Everyone seemed tense and nervous. I wondered how were we going to focus on our studies knowing that ground zero was so close by and thinking about what had occurred there. I was hoping and praying that a miracle would happen and people would be found alive. All I know is that life has dramatically changed since 9/11 and 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 story649.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. 2002-05-17 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 216.194.7.205 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: Oh what a sad day that will always be etched into my memory. Eventhou, I live so far away from New York, I still felt it here in Lindale Texas. I work in a middle school with 5th and 6th graders and I had just gone to the office and the secretary and other office ladies were all standing around with the radio on and the expressions on their faces were of devastation,looking with shocked looks as well. And I said "what are yall doing? You look like someone died or something"? One of the ladies said haven't you heard, and another lady said "How would she, she has been in the classroom." Then thats when they told me the news and they didn't want the students to hear about it yet so thats why they were also acting so strange. Usually our office ladies and teachers are always laughing and just having the best time like this isn't even a job were at! They told me about the first tower and it had just happened and I thought to myself "this is it". I came back to my classroom and turned on the radio to listen to as much as I could. When it was my lunch time at 11:00 I went home and turned on the T.V. and I couldn't believe my eyes. It was the most awful scene I had ever seen and the second tower had been hit already. Needless to say I didn't eat any lunch after that felt like I was numb. It broke my heart, it was so devastating. When I got back to school you could feel something in the air, it was quite and that's not normal at our school.Parent's were coming and picking up their kid's and so the students were starting to hear about it. They were scared and everyone was so very confused. What a world we live in that someone can just take so many lives and their own like it was nothing! I wrote a little poem that is hung in our school along with hundred's of our students work hanging up about Sept. 11th, 2001. Here is my poem: Heroes... Do you have one? The meaning of the word hero has always remained the same. Yet our youth of today would say differently, Are WE to blame? There were many on that Sept.11th That I would call HEROIC. They risked their lives for others; Others that will NEVER know it. It will take along time, for us to heal. Some may never; If any EVER will. The world will never be the same, Yet to our enemies,taking another's life was like they were playing a video game! We WILL stand together, Hand in hand; They will NEVER take away our Freedom, And they cannot take away our land. Well, that was what I wrote but really there are no words to express what I feel about all those innocent people who lost their lives and the ones that risked their own to save another. I wear two dog tags one is red with a firefighters name on it and it is red and the other is a policeman with his name on it and that dog tag is blue. I say prayers as I wear them for all, both the people, the heroes, and all the families that are are suffering from their loses. I also say a prayer for our enemies because we must somehow "Forgive them, for they not know what they do! 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 story5527.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. 66.76.66.114 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 my grandmother?s home on 9/11. we were watching TV., when all of a sudden the usual television program was interrupted by the horrible news that a plane had hit one of the W.T.C. towers in New York. We were both stunned, we started to get worried and very nervous (although our friends from the U.S. live in California). It was absolutely unbelievable. And then the second tower was hit and they both fell to the ground one after the other, live. I started crying without being aware of it. It was like I was watching the end of the world on national T.V.. I couldn?t move, I couldn?t talk, all I could do was stare at the television screen not being capable of believing or understanding what was happening. I remember asking myself: ?How was this possible? Wasn?t U.S.A. the most powerful country in the world? If it got stricken and wasn?t able to prevent it, what would the rest of the world do in this kind of situation??. It was a terrible day, felt as so in many countries of the world, even in Romania. Romanians, as part of the human specie also grieved for the ones that died that day and for their families. I am sorry for what they must have gone through and I congratulate the American people for being there for each other when it was most needed. They managed to set an example for the rest of us humans. 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 story11595.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. 2005-07-07 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 82.78.174.27 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 Septmeber 11, 2001, I, like most of my classmates, was in complete shock that such events could ever happen in the United States. I don't believe any of us really understood the full and lasting effect that would take place in our country. I can remeber all of the rumors that spread around school that day: the White House was on fire, planes were being shot down, etc., and I am not able to even express the fear and anxiety that came with those rumors. Students parents were coming to the school to bring them home, but others couldn't even get in touch with their own. Basically, we all felt shocked. In fact, it is hard to attach a word, or even a paragraph, to such an event. All I can hope is that people will never forget this tragedy. I made that commitment to myself when I visited the World Trade Center site late in the fall. And to think that some group of people felt (what they thought was) a legitimate reason to murder thousands of people--in the name of God, of all things is absolutly crazy. 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 story2150.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. 206.149.208.84 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: We live in Belgium, Europe, buth that summer, we were working in France, with an international team of 150 pipeliners. We were the only family with satteliteTV (there is no cable available),so everybody went at our place, to see CNN. Within an hour, there were more than 100 people in my garden, almost all in tears and all of them in shock. This was our worst nightmare....even in Europe 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 story1318.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. 2002-08-20 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 217.136.186.57 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: Poems Band Trip On a Friday afternoon in May I visited New York City for the first time. I was in tenth grade. After winding through the streets for hours, caught up by the crowd, we landed back near Central Park and the fountain. The sky had now darkened and with a whoosh! ? Rain began soaking us. Patti, my best friend, and I read teen romance novels while waiting for the bus, wet but laughing. For New York, that day blended into a thousand similar days. As we climbed onto the school bus, they left their towers for home, for the weekend. That night we stayed up late eating candy at our hotel. In the distance, the city lit up the sky. Waiting. 11/7/01 ? Riding the Raptor A few years ago we were at an amusement park about to ride one of those roller coasters that flip you upside-down. I saw a group of Arab men waiting in line with us. They were whispering and looking up at the track, pointing. They did not smile. This fear washed over me and for a moment, it was all clear. They were going to blow the whole thing up. There was a bomb on there. I whispered this to Dan, who didn?t even entertain a laugh. He was miffed at my snap judgments. Still I felt this panic. I didn?t want to ride. They were waiting for it to explode. I just knew it. Dan made me get on. Some of them rode with us. It was the best roller coaster ride I?d ever had. Getting off, legs wobbling, I laughed sheepishly at my imagination. It was so silly, really. What had I been thinking? 11/9/01 ? Last Summer Days Camping 8/17/01 There are bears in the woods, everyone here keeps saying. Night closes all around, but we huddle in front of the crackling light, the heat slapping our faces as we tell stories. My marshmallow's on fire. I wait, then let the sugary goo dissolve in my mouth. Move just a step away from the fire and it's much darker, much cooler. Stay where we are and bake. We choose to bake and talk and kick at the sand with our toes and toss pebbles into the trees to scare whatever may be hiding there. Maine 8/21/01 We turn off the car and roll the windows down. Evening arrives early in this place where the trees rise and hide the sky. Everyone should do this: stop and listen. There are chirps and hums that swell and subside. Outside is alive. The air has that warm, sweet smell that permeates when the sun goes down -- of grass, and shade, and of green and mysterious things. Corn Maze 9/3/01 In this other world there is nothing but green on all sides, hay paths at our feet and the blue of the sky if we look straight up. We've been walking and turning and searching, pushing through the stalks. Sweat trickles on my temples. I long for water. Outside now is muffled, like a dream. I don't miss it much. It's been so long since I've played a game. Maybe I'll wander in here until the sun goes down, until I sink to my knees and someone has to find me. I'm in a corn maze. There are dozens of passages; scores of wrong turns. My sneakers are dirty. The sun is too bright. I love this place. 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 story642.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. 2002-05-17 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 146.96.95.21 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: My name is Fabio, and I first want to say I?m sorry for my english, I don?t write very well but I can try. I remember the 11/09 day and today when I see the imagines from this day I can?t beleve the horror that this people was live. I remember that I say : it?s can?t trhuth! I know a someone who has worked in this moment and he died, he lived close to my home, he was argentina citicen and he was young man. Well, I bless all people who died in the World Trade Center and the airplane too. I think that all people may be united for the peace. Whit love. Fabio. If you can send me some information abaut it I?ll be hapy. Thank you. 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 story8704.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. 2002-12-02 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 129.174.27.172 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 james boyle retired president of the Uniformed Firefighters AssociationLoc 94 My son Michael Boyle Firefighter Engine 33 was killed on 9/11/01. I spoke to him that morning at 8;35am he was relieved from duty and was going to the election headquarters of his cousin Mat Farrel who was a candidate for the city council from Woodside Queens. Tuesday Sept 11 2001 was primary day in New York. My office at the Kings County District Attorney office of C. Joe Hynes looked over the east river and directly at the World Trade Centre. I sa the smoke and fire from my office in the North Tower and tuned in on TV from my office. It was such a beautiful late summer day in NY and I wondered how this could happen. While viewing the fire I notice a plane flying South over the Hudson River make a large circile and fying into the South Tower. I immediate lelt my office on the 10th floor and proceeded to walk towards the World Trade Centre over the Brooklyn Bridge. I had monitored the trial of the terroist of the 1993 bombing of the Trade Centre. They had proceeded to J&R music store on Park place and stood on the 2nd floor with a clear view oof the Towers and waited for then to fall after they placed a bomb in the sub-basement.I was President of the Firefighter at that time and was involved for many hours in the rescue of many many people.I never thought the Towers would fall as I made my way against thousanda of people fleeing Manhattan. As I got to the New York City side of the brdge the crowd leaving made it impossible to reach J&R store. I then proceed across City Hall park and was at the corner of Broadway &Barclay street when aloud roar and dark clouds came racing aalong Broadway. I ran into the lobby of 250 Broadway and after a few minutes someone came out of the elevator and in a loud voice said the building had collasped. I immediately proceed towards the fire dept command post at West and Vessy streets. At Church st I notice part of the plane two blocks North at warren st i walked toward the plane and then turned bak and walk to West Btoadway and Vessey Because of the falling debrie on Vessey I walked back to Barclay st on Greenwich st and proceeded West in safety to West St. one block away. At the corner of West & Barclay St looking South 4blocks to the Fire command centre I was nblown to the ground and rolled North on West Stand over taken by hugh black cloud of dust dirt and because I knew the neighbor crawled blindly towards a building of District Council 37 AFL/CIO and fortunatley was able to escape from the cloud. After fifteen minutes I proceeded outside there were cars on fire in a parking lot across West St which is 8 lanes wide. Walking towards the fallen towers a sence of disbelief despaire a feeling of death. A fire chief Peter Heyden told me everyone was dead. At that monent I realized my son might have responded since his unit is only a mile north of the towers and if he did was he a victim? Walking around the sight looking for his unit and asking for him it became obivious his fire unit e 33 was in the buildingwhen it fell. I finaly found his fire rig and the driver Fr Conte told me Michael had jumped on the engine as it responded and was missing with his unit. Engine 33 lost the 7 members that responded that day. I searched for hours with so many wonderful people hoping and praying that somehow they were alive in some pocket in the ruins. About`10 pm i walked back through the streets of lower manhattan towards his firehouse on Great Jones St. I found his bag with all his personal items in the fire house where he had thrown them when he jumpted on the Engine even through he was off duty. I called home and notified my wife and family that I was coming home and Michael was missing with his company and presumed dead. In closing thank you America for all your prayers and support. I will never forgett 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 story11279.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. 2005-02-03 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 24.46.90.233 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 think you had better get up and turn on your tv," were the first words I heard on September 11, 2001. It was a Tuesday morning, and I had the day off from work. I was catching up on some much needed sleep when I awoke to images, sounds and emotions that I had never in my life experienced. I sat on the edge of my bed, and did not move a single muscle as I watched the events unfold on my television screen. This unbelievable calm came over me, as if my body was shutting down with each word from the mouths of the reporters trying to make sense of pure chaos. In no way shape or form could I fully wrap my mind around what happened that morning. In my mind I understood what had taken place, but it took much longer for my heart to feel to impact of those planes. When I think back on this past year, intense is the adjective that comes before every other word. Intense shock, intense hate, intense loss, intense grief, intense courage, intense unity, intense strenth, and love. Now that the dust has settled for some, and the world has gained back a portion of it's sense of normalacy, the lack of intensity in everyday life almost leaves me feeling empty at times. The images of planes crashing into buildings,the fire, the smoke, the names and the faces of September 11 will always stay with me,but even more so are the events that took place after that day. I remember the flag, our flag everywhere for as long as you could see. On porches, on cars, on windows, on t-shirts, on pins, overpasses, on buildings, being held up high by the citizens of other countries. I remember the songs being sung by everyone who knew the words, and by some who didn't quite know them all. I remember sitting on the front lawn with my family, lit candles in hand, and seeing neighbors who I'd never taken notice of before doing the same. I remember looking up on the nights no planes flew in the sky, and despite the reason why, thinking of how beautiful it looked with the only light shining coming from the stars. I remember the words, "Don't tread on me," accompanied by an American flag drawn larger than life for everyone to see across a sand dune while driving to Monterey. I remember a group of 12 children dancing and singing on a street corner all with flags in their hands, waving them to every car that passed. When I think of September 11, I think of the horror I saw that day, but I'll always remeber the beauty I witnessed on the days after. 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 story1764.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. 2002-09-05 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 205.188.209.38