256 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: As the video tape stopped i saw a brief image of the burning towers flash across my tv screen,Unaware of the events taking place I asked my husband what awful movie they were showing on television, He then had the awful task of telling me that what i was witnessing was real. I felt so ill i ran to the bathroom where i thought that i would be sick, although i lived so far away my heart went out to all the people, who perished, who survived and who witnessed this terrible tragedy, my heart still to this day goes out to them. To me it seems like a nightmare, so unbelieveable,so terrible, it doesnt seem like any human could commit such an act. The stories of heroes in forms of firefighters and rescue workers where unbelievable, to this day i still struggle to understand how people could be so brave in the face of such enormous catastrophy. But I am writing this to let everyone know that Americans have the support of the world and the admiration of those wonderful people who risked their own lives to help others, it shows that earth really is a good place to be, among tragedy we have miracles, among the sad stories we have the wonderful ones, and among death we have rebirth. All Americans should be proud, not only of the Firefighters but of themselves. Continue to stand strong. 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 story9015.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. 2003-02-01 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 198.142.189.171 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: Oregon is in a different time zone (3 hours behind NY) so I was awakened by news broadcasts on my clock radio instead of music. There was such an urgency in the reports that I thought for a moment I must be dreaming and said 'oh, shut up' to the radio. After a few moments, I was able to focus on what was being said and got up to turn on the television. The visions were shocking and I truly thought this must be the end of the world as we know it. My husband was worried about his daughter (Michelle) who was living in New York City - we didn't know exactly where she was at that moment, but we knew she and her husband were expecting their first child in October; we also knew she was on maternity leave. My husband tried to phone her and, of course, all the lines were busy. In desperation, he called Michelle's mom (his ex-wife) in Portland, Oregon and got her message machine. He said he was very worried about Michelle and Chris (her husband) and asked that he be called when the message was received. He left for work, still not knowing anything about Michelle. In about 2 hours Michelle's mother called. She was in New York visiting with Michelle but had called Oregon to check her messages; Michelle was ok and Chris had been in New Jersey on business that day. The bridges into NY were closed so Chris couldn't get back for a day or two, but at least they were both safe. Since then, Michelle and Chris have become parents to Grayson, a most beautiful son and have moved to White Plains. They lived 15 blocks from ground zero. 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 story4924.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. 204.203.49.96 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: A Day A Day of Erased Lines Before September 11, 2001 most workers would enter their offices and give those around them a quick smile or nod. Maybe a ?Hey?, ?How are you doing? or ?Hello? but they would never stop and wait for the response. This all changed on Wednesday September 12, 2001. What brought about this change? Was it a joyous occasion, a wonder of nature? No it was when terrorists executed a long planned attack on American soil. While we were going about our everyday activities, planes crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in a field in Pennsylvania. The planes were used as bombs to destroy the buildings, to kill thousands of innocent people and divide us as a people and Nation. Their plan succeeded in destroying the buildings, but instead of dividing us, brought us together like no other time in history. The first plane, Flight 11, crashed into the World Trade Center tower one at 8:47am, not even thirty minutes later, the second plane, Flight 175 crashed into the World Trade Center tower two at 9:02. To most Americans the World Trade Center represents the broad financial power that America has achieved. It was built on the principles of the American dream; hard work and capitalism; it was built by all types of people from all walks of life. It shows prosperity to the rest of the world. Minoru Yamasaki, a second generation Japanese American came to New York in the 1950's to design the towers. Construction began in 1966. At first many Americans did not like the idea of having 110 story buildings but with time they grew to love and cherish them for what they represented. However these buildings did not stand long on Tuesday, for at 9:50am, after two hundred firefighters arrived to rescue those caught in the towers, tower two collapsed. Then, at 10:28, tower one collapsed. No words describe what we had seen. For me I can say the event seemed surreal, chatter was replaced with gasps for air and tears as the world stood still to watch. But James Nachtwey a professional photographer may have said it best " We have now seen a part of the world in a way it never was." During the entire disaster taking place in New York, another part of America was under attack as well. Hundreds of miles from New York, but seemingly in our backyard Flight 77 at 9:41 am struck the Pentagon in Arlington, VA. The Pentagon, which can be described as the great security blanket was the headquarters for all sectors of the military and CIA. It was built in 1943, and was said to be indestructible. When the plane crashed into the building, we saw that even though the building sustained some damage it held up to its reputation. People were killed, and part of the building was destroyed, but it was far from catastrophic. Perhaps the people that gave the most were not even in New York or Washington, but in Shanks Ville, PA. It was here that the fourth plane Flight 93 was brought to the ground in a violent struggle as four heroes, Jeremy Glick, Mark Bingham, Todd Beamer, and Thomas Burnett, all from different social classes, and unknown others gave their lives for their family and country ?I know we?re going to die. There?s three of us who are going to do something about it.? These were the words of Thomas Burnett in a last minute phone call to his wife. Because of these heroes?s thousands of people they had never met got to go home to their families. We will never know the intended target of this plane, but thanks to the people on that flight the terrorist?s plan was not carried out. So what happened after these attacks? Were these attacks directed at one type of social class, gender or race? I think not! They were directed at Americans and our way of life. Although we can disagree with one another we are all Americans. Who came to the rescue? No, not Superman, but Americans. Men and women risked their lives to help evacuate the buildings, put out the fires, and help the injured, or just be there to support each other. The reason I call this paper The Day of Erased Lines, is because Americans were willing to help each other. There was no social order, racial lines, or gender gaps. Just Americans. What had happened affected everyone. September 11, 2001 turned into the "Great Equalizer". Americans were helping each other in all sorts of ways. By donating blood, money, food, clothing or helping with the rescue at ?ground zero.? People from all walks of life were there to lend a helping hand. America was founded as one nation of freedom and liberty for all. This tragedy may have helped us regain our common bond. We are Americans and are equal despite our differences in class, race or gender. That one-day blurred the social lines that are sometimes set. It was the blue collared workers who rushed in to save the white-collared workers, the middle class who gave as much money as they could to benefit families from the upper class. Rudolph Guliani put it best when he said ?We have met the worst in humanity with the best in humanity?. Due to the courage and selflessness, 25,000 lives were saved that day. Lets continue to change America through selflessness. The benefits of helping others cannot be measured in dollars and cents. This tragedy made me realize how important it is to treat everyone with respect, tolerance and love. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story562.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. 2002-05-08 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 152.163.205.83 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 asleep in bed because I was bartending until late the night before. My roomate Brian knocked on the door and said, "Get up, turn on the tv!" I thought the world was ending. That was my original thought as I jumped out of bed. I turned on the tv and was horrified. I had just missed the second plane hitting live. But, the taped version was enough for me. I immediately started praying. I wondered, I'm sure like all Americans, who did this, why they did it and what was next. I saw people jumping from windows holding hands. How anyone could not want to defend our country after this maniacal attack is beyond me. I have supported my firefighters, police, troops and President Bush through all of this. How quickly we forget. As a young American, I am disgusted by some of the attitudes Americans have. I cannot erase those images or that day from my mind. I didn't lose anyone I knew in the attack, but I still feel like it was a personal attack on me and everyone that lives in this great country. If people can't realize that then they should go live somewhere else. 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 story10935.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. 2004-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 24.253.128.171 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 AP US History and we were learning about early American History when our Principal came over the intercom and announced that palnes had hit the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. Manassas is not that far from DC and the Pentagon and I have family that worked at the Pentagon and thankfully my family members who worked there were not there that day. I remember thinking that it couldn't be that bad because i had not seen any pictures or news programs while I was in school so I had no idea how bad things really were. I remember getting home and turning on the tv and almost every station was showing pictures of the World Trade Centers and the gapping hole in the Pentagon. I went to work after school and I work at a daycare center and we were on lockdown, no one could go outside it was such an erie feeling. We have parents who work at the Pentagon and the kids really had no idea about what was going on with their parents. Thankfully we had no parents lost in the Pentagon attack. I remember the next day at work the kids were drawing pictures and one child had drwan the Twin Towers with smoke rising from them and people umping out. It made me feel so sad that these kids had to go through this because they are so young and some of the kids asked me why people hated us and why would they want to fly airplanes into our buildings, I couldn't really answer them because I really didn't know myself why they would do that. The attacks are the Pearl Harbor of our generation and we ahve to cope with this just as our grandparents did. 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 story2269.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. 208.31.154.100 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 suspected nothing Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001 as I strolled onto the New York City subway system. I was taking my normal train ride to Canal Street, where I would transfer to the train that would take me to the World Trade Center, just two blocks away from my office. When I got to the stop where I would transfer, I noticed that the train line I was transferring to had been completely stopped. ?Stupid trains? never working half the time,? I muttered, oblivious to the fact that a plane had just hit the One World Trade Center building. So, I took an alternate train to lower Manhattan, getting off the Subway at Wall Street. As soon as I climbed the stairs to street level, I knew something horrible had happened ? something on a scale never before envisioned. I exited the Subway at 9:10 a.m., 3 minutes after the plane flew into the Two World Trade Center building, and ultimately about 45 minutes before that building would come crashing down. Of course, at that time I had no idea what had happened? I merely stood, struck with terror and dread, at the two huge holes and towering infernos in the icons of lower Manhattan that had been standing there since 1972 ? five years before I was born. After staring in disbelief for a few seconds, I asked someone standing near me what had happened. ?They flew two planes into the Trade Center!? the gentleman replied back, obviously struck with just as much horror and disbelief as me. My first reaction was the same as that of most people, I?d imagine? I thought, ?That?s impossible! Some fire got started accidentally, and has now gotten out of hand, that?s all.? As I looked closer at the buildings, however, and saw the holes where pieces of airplanes had entered and exited the buildings, it became obvious that that was exactly what had happened. The sick feeling that had been building in the pit of my stomach then getting sicker and deeper. It was obvious that many, many people had already died here this morning, and as I prayed, I felt God telling me somehow that this morning of terror wasn?t over yet. I felt all of a sudden that I had to get inside? into some semblance of a safe place. So I went to my office building, which was two blocks away from the World Trade Center. From my office in the corner of the building on the third floor, I had a perfect view of both towers, and I knew that I could watch the rescue efforts for the fire victims from that office. At this point, I had been silently praying ever since I got off the Subway and saw the horrific scene of fire and death, and from my office, I continued praying and called friends and asked them to do the same. (I also called my mother and father to tell them I was safe? my mother had already left me three phone mail messages while trying to reach me that morning.) While I was talking and praying on the phone with a friend from Houston, Texas, the most unthinkable, horrific event became reality. From my perch in the third floor corner office of Two Federal Reserve Plaza, I saw the supports beginning to snap and give way at the top of the Two World Trade Center building. I said to my friend, ?Oh my God, that building?s going to fall!? (Not taking the Lord?s name in vain ? it was actually a cry to the Lord, as was all the other times I talked to him that morning, cried to him, and shouted to him.) In horror, I watched the entire Two WTC building come crashing down. In those few seconds it took to fall, I was just beginning to process how many thousands of people I was watching die. I didn?t have time to be horrified, though. As the top of that large building hit the ground, a tremendous dust and debris cloud at least thirty stories high started rushing through lower Manhattan, and directly towards my glass-walled corner office. I suppose at any other time it would have been rather humorous to see my eyes each grow to about twice the size of a quarter in realization of something. That morning, though, as I saw a massive, ominous cloud filled with millions of tiny pieces of airborne debris rushing at me, the thought settled on me that I might actually be about to die. This 30+-story-tall mountain of moving death that was a debris cloud was screaming directly towards my glass office, and I knew I had to run. So, I dropped the phone in my hands, grabbed my computer bag, and started sprinting for the interior of my office building. After a few steps, I realized how pointless it was to carry my computer bag and dropped that, too, while still sprinting towards the interior of my building. I dove under a desk just before the pitch-black dust cloud hit our building. Fortunately, no windows on our floor were shattered, and we continued to breathe uncontaminated, dust-free air. In the terrifying minutes that followed, however, it became apparent that others in our vicinity had not been so fortunate. Several people came running onto our floor who had been on the street at the time of the collapse. These people, many of whom you have seen in magazine pictures, no doubt, were covered from head to foot with a thick dust, and most were having trouble breathing from all the dust in their lungs. We helped these people, and devised an emergency plan for our floor in case our environment became contaminated with dust and we had to fashion makeshift masks to filter clean air for us. Later, those plans would prove to be wisely laid out. After about 10 minutes of staring in horror at the pitch-black dust cloud outside our building, the building?s security PA system fired to life and an officer instructed us to stay in our building for our own safety, due to the thick dust cloud outside. We were only too happy to oblige. I can only assume some sort of bomb threat or other threat was made on our complex shortly thereafter (my company?s Wall Street offices are inside the Federal Reserve complex in New York), because the security officers came over the PA system five minutes later and told us to evacuate the building calmly, but as quickly as possible. I readied my makeshift mask we had fashioned earlier from wet paper towels, and everyone on our floor made our way downstairs to ground level. When we exited the building, I would not have recognized the street I exited to as the same street I had used to enter the building. Everything ? literally everything ? was covered in a three-inch-thick layer of a sickly, grayish-white dust. There were papers and other small debris also covering the streets; I distinctly remember passing a woman?s single, red high-heel shoe on the street and wondering where its owner was? and if she was still alive. God help her. After a three-block walk, I came across the New York Downtown Hospital, where hospital workers were passing out surgical masks to the fleeing crowds. Such brave people? I accepted a mask, blessed the people for doing a good job, and continued fleeing. After I had made it about 8 blocks to the North, I heard another horrible, deafening crumbling sound, and turned around just in time to see the second tower crumble in front of me. I was even more terrified than the first time, since I was now outdoors and completely vulnerable to any debris that might be thrown up or kicked around in the dust cloud that rushed out from the collapse. I, along with the people around me, began to run, and I prayed for God to help no one get trampled in what was quickly becoming a panicked mob. Praise God, he answered my prayer, and the people running with me were actually rather quiet and orderly in their running. We ran fast enough to get away from the major dust cloud, only being brushed in the end by a very light cloud of dust that was a remnant of the disaster. On my 3.5-mile walk the rest of the way back to my hotel, I stopped in several places to stand in horror with my fellow New Yorkers and pray with some people. At times like that, we are reduced to our most base beliefs and elements. Some of the people I talked to were scared: they had nowhere to go, no one to turn to, and even in this, the worst horror anyone in this generation has ever seen (or likely will ever see), they still could not call upon the Lord. Others prayed passionately with me, and called upon the Lord to bring healing on our land? for a passionate revival of people to come to the King of kings and the Lord of lords. When I finally got back to my hotel room, I was touched beyond words, as I had gotten calls from over 25 different people asking if I was ok, who wanted to know where I was and if I had been injured in any way. What love, what caring! Of course, in the time since I witnessed this horrible disaster, I have been going through the normal stages of grief and loss. I am still dealing with the feelings and emotions of that day?s events, as we all are. This type of horror does beg one question, though. Where is God? The Bible tells us God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omni-present? so, therefore, God knew this was going to happen, and he could have stopped it. He didn?t, though. Why? Why, God? Why did 6,000+ people have to die, with tens of thousands more suffering the psychological wound of having personally witnessed the disaster, and millions more grieving and suffering the loss, also? Why inflict this horrible pain upon us? There are no easy answers to these questions, but there are a few truths that God gives us in the Bible to cling to in times like these. First, God does not cause evil. It is true that he allows evil to enter and rule in the world sometimes, but God is not the cause of evil. James 1:13-15 says, ?When tempted, no one should say, ?God is tempting me.? For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.? Evil is the state of the world? it is the result of Satan dwelling on this earth and causing our ancestors (Adam and Eve) to sin, through which we are born with an inherently sinful nature. Evil happens ? this world is imperfect because of that. Every once in a while, a horribly evil event such as this rears its head to remind us just how terrible evil can be, but that evil is always in existence in our world. God is not the cause of it, but the Bible says that he does allow it to happen. Second, God does have the power to do away with all the evil in the world, but he chooses not to do so just yet. Because, you see, to do away with all of the evil in the world would require him to sentence all those humans who have rejected him to eternal death ? and God doesn?t want anyone to perish. He wants all of his children to come to him. The Bible does say that, although God does not want to punish any man, his holy and just nature requires him to judge everyone who wishes to be in his presence according to his standards? are they holy? Are they pure, spotless, and completely blameless? So, at some point in the future (according to the book of Revelation), God will bring all of humanity to judgment, and will judge the evildoers of the tragedy of September 11. He will punish that evil as he must punish every evil. The only punishment for rejecting God is not jail time or probation? the only punishment is death. Reserving his entire judgment for a future date, though, is problematic to those of us living on Earth. We have a limited view of the future, and cannot see God?s plan for this place. We must have faith in what the Bible teaches us, however. Evil will be punished, and if we?ve not accepted Jesus as our savior and chosen to follow him, we will suffer the same fate as those evil spirits who caused the destruction of the World Trade Center. God?s gift to us is redemption through Jesus? blood, but without gift, the Bible clearly says that we will endure the same fate as all others who are not holy ? death. We?re told in Psalm 14:3 and Romans 3:23, among other places, that no one is holy in God?s eyes? we have all sinned. The only way to be judged holy and righteous on the day of judgment is to accept the gift of sacrifice that God, in the form of his son Jesus, gave to us by dying a perfect death for our sins and then being raised from the dead. God must judge all evil, but he?s given us a way out, a way to have not only eternal peace, but peace and comfort on this earth, as well. All we have to do is ask him for it! This is not a time to lose our focus on the only one who can bring us peace, the only one who can calm our fears. This is a time to call upon the Lord ? to say to him, ?God, this terrible act has happened, and I don?t know why you?ve allowed it, but I trust you and I put my complete faith in you as our all-knowing, all-powerful God. Your word says that where sin and evil abound, grace abounds all the more, so Lord, in this time where evil has abounded, let your grace abound in me. Fill me with your spirit, draw me closer to you, and help me to know the peace and comfort that only you can bring.? If we ask the Lord to give us his peace, he will answer us, and we will be drawn closer to him in a beautiful and awesome way. That?s my prayer for our nation ? that God will use this horrible tragedy to bring us close to him as a nation, that many will seek his face, and will be brought closer to his son Jesus. Jesus brings grace, peace, comfort, love, and life. That is what I wish and pray for you. May the grace, peace, and love of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you, and may he comfort you and restore your life as you seek him. In God?s Hands, Jason C. Hortman 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 story1102.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. 66.190.84.28 Annotation Annotations to this item. Religion 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 was the Horticulturist at this new golf club and had to get some help from our machanic, I went into the shop , but no one was there. I went into my boss's office where I found all the other management people I worked with-all men. They were watching TV. I thought they finally got the cable in they had been waiting for and were watching a Bruce Willis movie. When I said something to them they turned to me and said it was the World Trade Center. Before I could reply, the second plane hit the second tower. I couldn't believe my eyes! I went to my office, shut the door and fell on my knees to pray. We all watched later as the towers fell. My father was military and we were all over the world as I was growing up, and the memory that came and stuck in my mind was of Misawa, Japan. When I was in 5th grade we had to be escorted on base by armed machine gunners in jeeps because they were expecting 10,000 demonstrators at the main gates of the air base for May Day. The town with military personnel and their fammilies was only about 3,000. The terror that memory brings back is quite real. 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 story7027.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. 209.208.54.122 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 September 11, 2001 I was in school in Bellevue ohio. I walked into 4th period which was Algebra. The teacher was watching CNN and she was crying. I had never heard of the World Trade Center before. I was shocked. I was supposed to have a football game that night it was cancelled. I was scared that we were going to get bombed again. After school I went home and watched the news all night horrified of the lost of life. Robert Buckner 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 story6481.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. 156.63.116.140 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 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 the corner deli getting my morning coffee when my boyfriend called me to say how he just heard that a plane hit the World Trade Center. I thought to myself, "Wow how weird that a plane could be flying so low that it could actually knick the top of the World Trade Center" and then proceeded to order my coffee. Then my phone rang again that another plane hit! That's when I knew it wasn't some kind of freak accident. I arrived to work maybe five minutes later and told my co-workers what I had just heard. No one knew anything about it so we logged onto the internet to get the latest news, eventually someone brought in a radio and we spent the rest of the day glued to the news, not believing what we were hearing trying to stay calm and attempting to call our family and friends to make sure they were okay aswell. 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 story2541.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. 151.204.153.249 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 found ourselves in Normandy on September 11 rather by accident. The four of us had expected to stay for two weeks in Brittany, but a problem with the accommodations prompted us to leave early. So we headed for Normandy, where we had expected to spend a few days seeing Bayeux and Rouen before our friends' flight home on September 13 and our flight home from Paris on September 18. Given the time of year, we took less than satisfactory lodging in a small gite in Reviers- no television, no radio, no telephone. I'm an American historian - a New Yorker born and bred, now living in Washington, D.C. - and I had no particular interest in battle sites and we had no intention of visiting the landing beaches. But with more than a week (we'd arrived on Sunday, September 9), we decided we would see what there was to see. The town larger than a crossroads we were closest to, Courseulles-sur-Mer, we found out was the only port not closed by the Germans during WW II because it was so tiny. The code name for the landing site at Courseulles was Juno Beach, where the Canadians had landed on D-Day. Our first stop on September 11, at around 2 p.m. (8 a.m. EST) was Arromanches, where the British installed Mulberry Harbor, the astonishing engineering feat that allowed the Normandy invasion to succeed without access to a sizable French port. Mulberry Harbor had been built in Britain, towed a hundred miles across the Channel and installed in 12 days, about midway along the Normandy coast. The prefabricated harbor permitted the Allies to supplement and provision the troops moving through France throughout the liberation of France. Pieces remain within site of the beach. We were transformed by the sheer audacity of the conception - Churchill's - and the fabulous success of the Royal Engineering Corps. We then continued driving west along the coast, to Omaha Beach, where the Americans had landed, taking tremendous losses because the air support had not succeeded in eliminating the German bunkers. We ended our visit at the American cemetery around five o'clock. The rows of crosses, with the occasional Star of David, recall Arlington National Cemetery, while the Channel beach of Colleville-sur-Mer runs along side below the cliff. Around 6:00, we headed back to Courseulles for dinner. We arrived at La Trottoria, an Italian restaurant on the Rue de la Mer in Courseulles, around 7. We'd eaten there before and so the staff knew we were Americans. After we were seated, the one waitress who could speak a little English asked if we had seen a television. We said we hadn't. Looking drawn, she said that the World Trade Center had been bombed and collapsed. The other waitress made a motion with her hands, which she held before her, horizontally, the bottom hand facing up and her top hand faced down - and clapped them together. No, we said. Not possible. Yes, they insisted. The World Trade Center had been attacked and collapsed. I thought that they had watched a movie and mistaken a contrived scene for reality. The waitress who spoke a little English asked if I would like to go upstairs to her apartment above the restaurant to see the television, an invitation I accepted. Her apartment, in which her mother also resided, was tiny - a living room and dining room combination with a sofa and table that could not have measured more than 8 feet by 5 feet. But a large t.v. sat in the bookcase in the wall, playing images over and over again of the Towers in flames, combusting as if a volcano. I understood only a little of the French commentary but after watching long enough to convince myself that this was not "War of the Worlds," I went back downstairs to my companions to tell them that it was true - the World Trade Center had been attacked and collapsed. As we grappled with this news, I felt as if I had to hear an English-language report. We left the restaurant and raced down the tiny street in the tiny town to a small hotel that also had a restaurant. We walked up to the desk and I asked the hostess in French (she didn't speak English) if she had a television with an English-language station on it. She frowned, as if the request were absurd. But then she realized that we were American and her expression changed instantly to one of compassion. She took out her reservation book, located an empty room, took us up the narrow stair, opened the door to a room, turned on the light, placed two chairs in front of the television, which she tuned to the BBC, and said in French that we should stay as long as we liked. We stayed about half an hour, watching again in disbelief as the BBC anchors repeated over and over again the little they or anyone knew. We were stricken, but there seemed no point to staying, so we turned off the t.v., went downstairs to thank our hostess and returned to the restaurant, where our friends were waiting. We told them the little we had found out and, with not much else to do, finished dinner. I don't remember what we talked about. At about 10:00, we realized that if we went back to the gite, we would have no information; the only radio we had was in the car. We knew from driving along the coastline that it was possible to hear the BBC from certain points. (We hadn't yet discovered Radio 4, the long-wave station, that we could hear all over Normandy.) So at 10 p.m. (4 p.m., EST), we drove to Juno Beach, tuned the radio to the BBC and listened to their correspondents in New York describe the devastation. Interspersed with the commentary were the reactions of European leaders, most particularly Tony Blair, who was all one could hope for in a leader - thoughtful, intelligent, humane, and loyal. We spent that hour on Juno Beach listening to European expressions of sympathy and alliance. Then we went home to bed. For the next few days, we tried to get up early to get the few English language papers available, French papers when the English ones were gone. After a day or two, we discovered that we could access the web from official tourist offices in Bayeux and Caen and we spent hours reading the news, chiefly from the Washington Post website - CNN was too busy. It took us two days to get a telephone line out of France. We didn't think to go to a church, and so we had no ceremonies to console us; we just wanted to feel connected to home. Our friends left for Paris on September 12, sure that their flight would leave as schedule on September 13. They actually returned on September 18, after we did. (They both worked for the U.S. government, so their extra week in Paris was not charged against their annual leave, a little irony under the circumstances.) Because we could not possibly get home, we spent our time visiting churches and war memorials, which seemed at least in keeping with our feelings. We visited the Canadian, British and even the German cemeteries, all done appropriately, even the last. If we could not be home, we were grateful to be in Normandy; virtually everyone (with the exception of our horrible landlords) treated us with the greatest tenderness and sympathy, none of the pervasive anti-American feeling typical of Paris. Though more than fifty years have passed, Americans are still "liberators" to the Norman French. We had plenty to see. Virtually every village along the Normandy coast has a small museum and a memorial marking an event associated with the Allied landing, and each memorial has all the Allied flags flying side by side in a row. After September 11, all the flags - not just the American flag - flew at half-staff. We began heading toward Paris on September 16, staying at bed and breakfasts, still without television, although I had acquired a pocket radio on which we could hear the BBC almost constantly. Our last night, however, we did have a t.v., and American companions to dine with, all of us grateful for the company. On September 18, Rosh Hashanah, we arrived as directed three hours early for our flight on American Airlines from Charles De Gaulle Airport. Three flights were leaving one after the other: to Houston, to Miami, and to Washington. Virtually all the passengers were American, the French delaying their trips under the circumstances. So about 600 of us stood shoulder to shoulder for several hours, just inside the terminal door, with no security - the most harrowing part of the trip. Once on the plane, an inexperienced and reduced cabin crew added little to our sense of well-being. The crossing was, thankfully, uneventful, but it was a big ocean that day and when we flew into Kennedy Airport, we could see the Empire State Building, holding up the sky alone. We knew when we left Paris that we were not going to connect from New York to fly into National Airport, which was closed indefinitely. Not eager to get on a plane again in any case, we rented a car, drove to Great Neck, New York, to see my elderly father. I had originally expected to visit the following Saturday via the National-LaGuardia shuttle, but that plan was clearly impossible. We drove home the following day and went back to see him again on October 6. We also made the trip downtown Manhattan to pay our respects to the site as we had paid our respects at the American cemetery in Normandy. We couldn't see very much from the pathways laid out for visitors, but the acrid smell will not soon fade from memory. Given my father's failing health and the closure of National Airport, in the next two months I made five car trips between New York and Washington and moved my father to a nursing home here. I had been flying the round-trip between New York and Washington twice a month for about three years; the next time I flew was March 25. But on March 18, we traveled by train to see the memorial lights. Alas, the day was wet and foggy. I had concluded - based upon a New Yorker's experience - that the best place to see the lights would be from the Staten Island ferry (now free, not the nickel it used to cost). We took the 5:30 ferry to the barren Staten Island terminal. Waiting for the 7:00 ferry back from Staten Island, we had coffee and wine in a place called "Rudy and Dean's" near the ferry terminal. They had a big plate glass window but you couldn't even see Manhattan, it was so foggy. The waitress there talked about the friend she had lost in the Tower, a fire fighter. On the return ferry trip, about 5 miles across New York harbor, I despaired, standing outside in the fog and rain. But as we got nearer, the fog actually lifted a little. The haze made the lights seem even more spectral -- they appeared and disappeared as the boat moved toward lower Manhattan. So, in a way, the view was perfect. I have a photograph of the Towers on my wall. I'm one of the few New Yorkers that loved them from the beginning. A fan of the Bauhaus school, I always thought them perfect in their spare and clean surfaces. The celebrations at Windows on the World over the years - the last in February 2001, a first anniversary party for a 62-year-old friend who found the love of her life later than some of us - seemed magical. I could trace the streets in my home borough of Brooklyn almost perfectly - Flatbush Avenue from the Manhattan Bridge across the whole of Brooklyn and over the Marine Parkway Bridge to Rockaway. The photograph of the Towers is next to the photograph of Mont-Saint-Michel, off the Normandy coast, which we visited before September 11 while we were still staying in Brittany. We stayed overnight on the island and came away overwhlemed by the magnificent gesture of the statue at the peak: "The Archangel loved heights." But the human spirit of the two monuments seems to me the same: Anchored on the ground, we reach into the sky and the genius of human creativity permits us to succeed at it. Even the Nazis left Mont-Saint-Michel untouched. The attackers of the World Trade Center, taking thousands of lives, also insulted human creativity. 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 story439.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. 2002-04-19 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 207.172.11.147 Notes Notes about this item. resubmitted as #514 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 fiancee was in Denver visiting with friends enjoying dirt bike riding while there and his flight was due back on September 11th. While at home getting ready for work I heard them talking on the radio about the first then second plane and could not believe what I was hearing so I turned on the television. About that time my fiancee called from Denver International Airport to let me know that he was there and that his flight was on time. I asked him if he had heard what had happened and after saying he had not I proceeded to tell him about it. He suddenly said they are telling him to board and he would see me that evening. On my way to work I heard them talking about the Pentagon and then they announced that they were closing the airports - between that moment and when he called me was the longest period of time that I could remember as I did not know if he was in the air or what. Finally, to my relief my cell phone rang and he was sitting in the plane not knowing what all the rest of the world knew was going on. He then had to go because the plane was making an announcement. Next call from him was from the inside of the airport where everyone was told to get out immediatly and he commented that it was just very chaotic because most people weren't sure what to do or where to go or what exactly was happening. He was lucky enough to have people to stay with - others weren't. September 11, 2001 was on a Tuesday and he finally made it home on Friday evening because all aviation was grounded. l will never forget this day and how lucky I was to have him home with me when others weren't so lucky. One of the passengers on the first plane that hit the World Trade Center was the daughter of a woman that I worked with at my previous job which I had left on September 5th - I was lucky, her family was not. 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 story5846.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-12 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 152.163.188.6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: The morning of September 11 started out as a typical Tuesday morning. The kids had just been dropped off at school; my husband Daniel was outside working in the yard; and I was in the house. The television was on in the background as the morning chores were being completed. A news reporter broke into the local programming to announce that an airplane had crashed into the World Trade Center. Truly believing it was an accident, that the plane had just taken off and had mechanical problems, I went to get Daniel. We sat there together, watching the news, when the second plane hit. At that moment, Daniel looked at me and said "This is no accident, we are being attacked!" Flipping on our fire department scanner, we heard "Total Recall," a term that had never been heard in my husbands 20-year career as a firefighter. These words were a call for all fire, police and rescue workers to report to duty. Giving me a kiss along with a "don't worry," Daniel headed out the door with the promise of a phone call to keep me posted. So I sat and waited and waited and then waited some more. Each minute seemed like an eternity. The phone lines weren't working and the cellular lines were jammed, but after an hour, the phone finally rang. It was Daniel, he said that he was going into the city; after pausing a moment, he said "Adele, I need you to get the kids from school. I want them all home with you. Go now! So I asked him, "Daniel, is it bad?" He said "worse than you could ever believe, and Adele, I love you." My heart dropped. Uncontrollable tears began to force themselves down my face and my legs became extreamly weak. My whole body began to shake. I was afraid that I would never speak to my husband again. My three children and I would wait until midnight of that night to learn of my husbands safety. When a knock came at the door, it would reveal an image of the man we all loved. Covered in dust, almost unrecognizable, the pain in his eyes was evident of all he had witnessed that day. He stayed long enough to give each one of us a hug and kiss and to reassure us that he was not hurt. Still covered in gray dust, he returned to Ground Zero where he would spend the next few days digging through the ruins and debris looking for survivors. We were lucky that day, we didn't lose the man we loved. But so many did, and for them, we are truly sorry. May God bless you all! 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 story2607.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. 205.188.209.40 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'm not American, I'm European . I remember clearly what I was doing on 09/11. first sorry for my English, my native tongue is French. I was working at my office. The radio is always on, I can't work without it. I had a smoke and was looking at the window. There was a breaking news. The reporter said an accident happened in New-York. a Plane crashed into a building. I travel a lot for my work, I visited New-York 5 times. I was anxious. New-York is truly one of the most beautiful achievments of mankind. In some ways capital of the western civilization. I went back to my computer and tried to surf on cnn.com. I thought we had an internet problem, I wasn't able to access it. I tried foxnews.com, nytimes.com even washingtonpost.com. All of them were unreachable. I was anxious. Something important was happening on earth. After long minutes, finally I saw cnn.com on my screen. Just one page. I don't remember the text but I remember the picture: twin towers were burning. The biggest city of the western civilization was under attack. People like me were running on the street. Men and women like me covered by dust from head to toes were running away from hell. I called my brother. I told him that New-York was under attack. I thought about Pearl Harbour and told him that World War III had just begun. I know it sounds silly. My brother is my closest friend. We help each other and we like to spend free times together. he turned his radio on. "That's crasy", that's all he said. Nobody in his office knew about it. My employee was asking here mother to turn her TV on. I heard that people were falling from the twin towers. I couldn't believe this. When a couple of hours later, I saw it on my TV. I'm 6'1'' guy, I'm a hard worker, I made a company from scratch, I'm not easely impressed . I felt tears on my eyes. I still remember some faces. I remember especially a firefighter sitting on a rock and crying. Tears were falling on his dusty chest. Thousand of miles away, on mine too. Two days after, I bought flowers for the Brussels American Embassy: for American kids who had lost a mom or a dad during that tragic event. 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 story8676.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. 2002-11-25 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 194.88.113.86 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: It was just like every morning, I was out cold sleeping in my room. Dreaming about living back in New Jersey. At the time we were living in Alabama, my parents were jobless and we had no place to go. My Mom would regularly come in my room in the morning to wake me up. Though on this day, it was not a regular morning. The phone rang and it was my sister, she was in NYC and was crying. She was in the city for a college convention to represent her school at the Marriott right in the middle of the WTC. Though the meeting was not till 2 PM and she decided to sleep in at her friend?s apartment. The call was to tell my Mom the WTC was being attacked. As soon as she said that, the second plane hit the building. My Mom calmed her and told her it's ok and we loved her. "Dara, get up! The World Trade Center was hit by a plane," said my Mom as she burst into my room. Being half a wake and asleep, I told her to go away! To this day, I feel so bad for saying that. I got up out of bed and went into the living room. Both of my parents on the coach with their eyes glued to the TV. The picture shocked me so much, I did not know to either laugh or to cry from the shock. All I could say was if they called my sister. I went straight to the computer and went on-line. All I wanted to do was talk to friends in NJ, Maryland, NY and Washington D.C. to see if everyone was ok. Luckily, I did not lose someone I know to this tragedy. Though I felt bad for those who did. 9/11 will be a day I will never forget. A great thing was a couple days later was "trail of Tears" motorcycle trip. We were driving through town in Alabama and all these motorcycles with flags on them! It was an amazing site to see. America will be ok, but will never forget that Tuesday morning!!! 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 story9592.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. 2003-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 68.193.177.153 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 ARRIVED AT WORK, I WORK FOR SOCIAL SECURITY AND EVERYBODY WAS HOVERED AROUND THE TV IN THE CAFETERIA, AND THEY KEPT SHOWING THE TWIN TOWERS AND MY HEART JUST SANK LIKE A SINKING SHIP AND I JUST STOOD THERE IN AWE AND WONDERED WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT AND THEN THE PENTAGON WAS HIT AND WE WERE TOLD OF A MEETING IN THE AUDITORIUM AND THEN WERE TOLD THAT WE WERE WAITING TO HERE FROM CONGRESS AND OUR DIRECTOR WHETHER WE COULD GO HOME OR NOT, AND THEN WE WERE TOLD WE COULD LEAVE FOR THE DAY, I WAS SO RELEIVED I COULD NOT IMAGINE WORKING THAT DAY. I WENT HOME TO PRAY FOR OUR NATION AND OUR PASTOR AT CHURCH HAD AN IMMEDIATE PRAYER MEETING, IT'S TO BAD IT TAKES SOMETHING LIKE THIS TO GET US TO REALIZE HOW FRAGILE LIFE ITSELF REALLY IS, I CAN ONLY PRAY THAT PEOPLE OF ALL NATIONS WILL BOND TOGETHER AS ONE NATION UNDER GOD. 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 story3345.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. 199.173.224.20 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 spent the night at my best friends house. She had school that day but I didn't so I was asleep(we do independent studies). She came storming into her room and shook me awake telling me that the WTC tower was hit by a plane. I of course(still in sleep mode) shook her off, thinking she was just joking around. I went back to sleep, she went to school. When she came back 30 minutes later, I was still asleep, so she woke me up and showed me the news, I didn't know what to say! I just sat there with my eyes wide open and my mouth in an 'O' shape. The first thing I did was call my mom, who hadn't left for work yet, she had heard the news while taking my lil sister to school. It doesn't seem like a year has passed since this attack on America happened, it seems just like yesterday! My thoughts go out to the familys who lost their loved one(s) on September 11th 2001. God Bless America and UNITED WE STAND!! 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 story4839.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. 64.12.96.8 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: Hello again, This is my second entry into the 911digitalarchive. After receiving an email from its curators, I decided to use their encouragement and post a follow-up. Even now, some 2 years and 3 months later... I have found it difficult to open my heart and write some more of my life's story. What was so mundane... is now so surreal. 911 was a transition that has yet to be fully realized. This much is clear and has been so poignant. Have I changed since 911? Surely, I have become a source of stress in my immediate environment... my family and at my work. This, combined with my hearing problem, has made me nearly unbearable to my wife and kids. "Business as usual" is just not good enough for me now. I do not recognize token 'anythings'... I don't pretend that I haven't learned from the experience. Since I forwarded my "911 story" on August 25th, 2002 to the 911digitalarchive... (story #1461) I have learned much. One week after posting my 911-story, I learned that I DID know a victim of the 911 attacks... within a month after that... I learned that I knew 2 of the victims. The fog had returned that month. My innocent remorse turned bitter. I read the 'updates' of these two men's lives... posted by their families as memorials on the internet at the "Legacy.com" site. Memorials both. I knew both these men... even though I doubt they remembered me in the slightest. This we will never know will we? Anthony Portillo was an architect, a professional suffering much the same way I had when I worked in the tower... and Angelo Amaranto had been my janitor. Whereas Anthony, as an architect, had a future in the company over the long-term while I was there... was aloof... I felt as if an interloper. Mr. Amaranto on the other hand... befriended all those around him and oozed warmth and friendliness... as a janitor... was totally in a service position and was a point of brightness that I could rely on always. Mr. Portillo was obscurred in my memories due to his aloofness... Mr. Amaranto ..."Angelo" to me still... was like an angel. Angelo was difficult to find since he was listed as a victim under his janitorial service company name. He had worked on numerious floors in 2WTC. Such was my passion a year ago... that I literally waded through hundreds... maybe thousands... of names of 911 WTC victims before it was apparent of my past associations, depressing as they were. The arrow of despair was lodged solidly in my heart at this point. Curiously enough, I never maintained communications with my other coworkers from 2WTC. It would have been too much like trying to associate with a group that I had voluntarily 'divorced' from... cheapening their memories. Better to remember them as we did- independently... eternally. I feel guilt too... heart-rending guilt... that (as most survivors do) I survived and that they did not. I cannot help but recall all the brown-bag lunches I ate under the palms of the World Finanatial Center Winter Gardens... with my creepy sense of portending despair... sitting all the while in the "most structurally 'survivable' locations that were not already occupied. I know this makes me sound like a 'whack-job'... but it is the truth. And all this was 10 years into their... no, 'our'... past. How much sense does that make?! This is the life I live today. So what else has changed in my life you might ask... "quite a bit yet not enough" would be... is my response. I was approached, during the summer of 2002, by a dean from DeVry University in Tinley Park, Illinois to teach a class in Environmental Science as a part-time or adjunct instructor. I started teaching in November of that year and have been going strong, on two of their campuses, ever since (I have taught 7 classes to date). I find this opportunity very fulfilling. How fulfilling you might wonder? It is probably the only thing that has kept my life together... that is how fulfilling. Rather than point at all the deficientcies in my life... I will leave it here. I came that close to becoming a victim myself. Obviously, a more pathetic one... -I am better today. Millimeter by millimeter, I have come to measure my own worth as such as to justify perpetuation. I am able to give of my memories to my students, share my stories, and prepare them for 'world justice'. We have more of that in our future you know... hopefully it won't be as hard a slap next time. Ironically enough, one of my students this semester is named Osama. This is how I know it is real... and not just a bad dream. God shares his sense of humor with those who are able to appreciate it. I guess I am able now. I don't see myself posting another entry into your archive... not for quite awhile, so use your drive space for the real victims. Thanks for the opportunity to relive my own memories. May we all forget, and remember, at that same time -and Thank You. Greg Kientop December 13, 2003 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 story10255.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-12-13 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 152.163.253.8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: When we first heard about the attack, our first reaction was total shock,then we when to each of our 4 children school. So that our children home with us. I was never so scared in my life, that we could ever have something like this happen here in the US. It is a day we will never forget! On a personal note it was my Uncle Thomas Terranova birthday, who had just pass away. One year later I can still recall the horror and pain I felt for all those peoples was lifes were lost. And now I just lost my brother Peter Terranova Sr on Sept 5,2002, who was about to was going to be married 20years Sept 11,2002.I could never say I feel the pain of all those families who lost thier love ones, but I know I feel this pain of lossing my brother. My God protect us and help us to never have to deal with this pain and horrer again. 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 story4374.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. 64.12.96.8 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 woke up around six am and after my husband left for work, I went outside to do some yardwork. It was a beautiful day. I came inside around 8 am and turned on the Today show on NBC. I took little notice initally of the image of the burning building, assuming it to be some local fire or explosion that would soon be brought under control. I was brought up short when I realized exactly which building was involved and looked on in horror as the second plane dove into the second tower. Mesmerized by the images, I was rendered to a state there are no words for when I saw the report of the plane striking the Pentagon. My husband was in the building. He won't tell his story, so I'll tell it for him. He was called to watch CNN to see the damage done to the WTC.He and a crowd of coworkers were gathered aroud the TV images. In his area of the Pentagon, there are frequently loud thundering noises caused by carts transporting goods throughout the building and striking the walls.One such noise ensued. Everyone started. My husband quipped "Must be a plane hitting the building". Everyone laughed. Then, there was running in the hallway and smoke billowing through the halls. Suddenly the joke was not funny. My husband and his collegues shut down and secured all of the machinery, and fled. The consensus of opinion was that if you can be of no help, get out. Wise. Meanwhile I was trying to call with no answer. Frantic calls from my husband's family were tensely greeted with promises to call when I had news. Somehow, in my heart, I knew he was OK.He was, and he finally called from the home of a coworker who took him away from the site. I, on the other hand, could not get a telephone line out. So, I used an email contact to get information to my husband's family. It doesn't sound like much on the face of it, but it was a powerful day for me. 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 story18.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. 2002-01-29 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 68.48.0.99 Annotation Annotations to this item. Internet Pentagon Personal connection to someone at site Rescue/clean-up workers/volunteers Telephones and Cell Phones 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 remember walking into my 4th period class and seeing the television on. I hadn't heard anything of the attacks and I looked up and saw a plane hit tower 1. At first I thought it was an accident, until tower 2 got hit. My mouth dropped open and my eyes widened. I'd never been so scared in my life. Not really concentrating on the project I was working on, I put my attention towards channel 7. Tower 1 had collapsed. Thats about the time my eyes watered and I couldn't speak. Then went tower 2. I was so confused. I didn't know what to think. The day was long and sad and everywhere I went, were puddles of tears. Later that night I had to work and the talk of the WTC was going all throughout the restauraunt. I just wanted to go home. The thought of it all made me sick and I left. I'll never forget 9/11. I also want to let everyone from New York and those who lost someone, that I pray for them everynight. May god bless 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 story6598.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. 156.63.21.12