281 20 70359 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I WAS AT WORK I MANAGE A CONVEINCE STORE IT WAS LIKE ANY OTHER TUESDAY MORNING IT WAS GROCERY DAY I WAS PRICING AND PUTTING THEM AWAY WHEN I HEARD IT ON THE RADIO I COULD NOT BELIEVE WHAT I WAS HEARING I WAS SO SAD ALL I COULD THINK ABOUT WAS ALL THE POOR PEOPLE IN TOWERS AND ALL THE PLANES AND THE PENTAGON AND I WAS PRAYING THAT THEY DID NOT HAVE TO SUFFER AND WHAT WAS THERE FAMILIES GOING TO DO WHAT WOULD I DO IF IT WHERE MY FAMILY MEMBERS I COULD NOT THINK OF IT I DONT KNOW?ALL I COULD THINK ABOUT FOR WEEKS AND MONTHS WERE ABOUT HOW HORRIBLE IT WAS FOR THE AMERICANS THAT WE LOST AND THERE FAMILIES NOW IT HAS BEEN A YEAR AND I STILL THINK ABOUT IT AND WILL FOR YEARS TO COME. PRAYING FOR YOU ALWAYS YOU WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BONNIE BYERS 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 story5202.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 205.188.209.38 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: My husband, myself and our two children (Samantha, 6 and Joshua, 4) were en route to Rockford, IL where we were relocating. We were moving from New Orleans, LA. My husband had lost his job in April of 2000, had found a position in Rockford and we had pulled up very deep roots to move across the country to a place that I knew nothing about. I was born and raised in New Orleans and had never lived anywhere else in my life! My husband is actually from the Peoria area so, in a sense, this was like coming home for him. We had left New Orleans the day before at about 6:00pm. It took a long time to get the moving van loaded up. We drove a few hours and stopped in Jackson, MS on the evening of the 10th. We got up a little later than we wanted to on the 11th. We got our bags ready, checked out of the hotel and made our way to McDonald's for breakfast. I was travelling in my car with Samantha, Joshua, Gracie (our toy poodle) and Sandy (our cat). My husband was transporting the fish from our fish tanks. He had a battery-powered pump to keep the water aerated for the fish-filled water in 2 Home Depot buckets (he was quite proud of his design). We could not leave the things in the car so we took turns eating breakfast. He took the the kids in to eat first while I sat in the car with Gracie and Sandy. When they were done I went in for my turn. I remember sitting at the table eating my egg mcmuffin and thinking it was the first time I'd ever seen a TV in a McDonald's. I saw the side of the screen and it looked like a news program like the Today show or any kind of morning show. I didn't pay much attention. I was moving my entire life across the country and couldn't be bothered with celebrity interviews and cooking demonstrations. The customers in the restaurant were being drawn to the TV in and unusual manner. It occurred as odd to me, but I still didn't see any need to pay attention to the TV. I finished my breakfast, threw away my trash and headed out to the car. As I walked out of the restaurant, I noticed President Bush on the TV making his way to a podium. Still I ignored the TV. We loaded up the cars and got on the road. I couldn't shake the image of the president walking to the podium. Why was he on TV? Was there something wrong somewhere? I turned on the radio and heard the frightening news: An airliner filled with people had flown into the towers of the World Trade Center in the heart of New York City. Unable to believe what I'd heard, I continued listening for someone to give some kind of clue that this was a joke. A sick joke! But all I heard were more terrifying details of still more frightening occurrences. Another airliner had crashed into the Pentagon and there was another airliner that had crashed somewhere in Pennsylvania. I started to cry. My shoulders shook with bewildered sobs. "What's the matter, Mommy?" My daughter stopped playing with her brother to find out why I was crying in a way that she rarely saw. I didn't know what to say. So I told her. "An airplane crashed into a big building in New York City and killed a lot of people." That was all I could say that she could probably understand. She was silent. As I listened to the radio further the theory was more and more evident that this had been no accident. "Some bad people had flown the airplanes into the buildings on purpose to scare all of the people in our country." This is what I ended up telling her that day. I don't know if she really understood this, but I think she did. Later in the day (which was the most surreal day of my life) we tried to stop for gas and were greeted with a line of cars waiting to pump gas that stretched all the way down the street. I hadn't seen anything like this since the 70's!! It scared me. I started thinking about where we were going to end up. What was this day going to mean to the rest of the country? Wall Street was closed. All kinds of financial things were going on. Were we going to be able to close on our beautiful new house? Were we going to have a place to live when we got to Rockford? I wanted to be home with my dad and sister where I knew things were safe. It felt like a front line in a war out here. I just couldn't fathom what the families of all the people who perished as a result of all this insanity were going through. It hurt to think about it. But we pressed on. I listened to the president when he said that we must keep on with everyday life. We must not let this beat us or have it interfere with what we hold dear. This is not to say that it won't affect us. It affects us every day since that tragic day. But I think his message of (which I interepreted as) perseverance was brilliant advice. I think it kept our country from becoming a victim. We were able to close on our house and our transition from New Orleans to Rockford has been relatively smooth. I pray for the families who were touched by this tragedy by losing their loved ones. God Bless us all and God Bless our great 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 story2555.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 63.21.179.16 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: Iwas working in a cafeteria in an office building. A man who worked in the building that horrible day came in very upset about the attack. Another man came in with a television on wheels followed by other people who worked in the building. When we watched the horrible thing unfold before our eyes you can hear the horror in the peoples breaths and as I looked around the room I saw tears start to flow. As the day progressed we did not have much lunch business.Many of the people just spent their lunch time glued to the television.A person could not help but cry for the lost lives and the fright that we were feeling. 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 story20634.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. 68.192.160.51 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 sat home on Sept 11, 2001 because it is the time of year when I take my vacation. My birthday is September 6th, my 3 year wedding anniversary was Sept 5th and I was messing around in the house doing little odd jobs. The phone rang about 8:55...it was my brother-in-law asking me if I was watching the news...of course I wasn't, I had long since finished watching the local news and had moved on the one of my favorite shows "I Love Lucy". He asked me to sit down in front of the TV and turn on a local station...he said any one of them would be fine....I punched channel 5 on the remote and was immediately shocked into silence. I sat there holding the phone, unable to speak, glued to the awful sights that were being broadcast on national TV. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself as the tears begin to fall for the people who would loose their lives that day. And we sat there together...him listening to his news station and me to mine...and together we watched the second plane crash into the other tower. Now he was at work at UNC hospitals....people were frantic, they were crying and I could h ear them in the background with much the same expressions that I was having. Oh, my God?!!! What in the world is going on. It took a while before we heard them saying it was an attack, and then we heard the awful news...there was another plane that appeared to be hi-jacked...and then another. It was too crazy to think about...I eventually had to hang up from breathing over the phone line with him because my call-waiting was clicking off the hook. My sister-in-law, my 2 best friends, my mother, my grandma...all of us calling each other to say how much we loved them, to check on there where-abouts, to make sure we were all safe. And then I went crazy...well almost crazy...as I tried for hour after hour to get someone in my husbands family on the phone. His grandma, 3 aunts and a host of other relatives lived in Brooklyn...I wanted to ensure that they all were safe. But the lines were busy, or fast busy indicating they were disconnected, and the "all circuts are busy" was just about to drive me insane. Finally, I think my mother-in-law called to say she had spoken with her mother and sister and they were all ok, but it was chaos in the city! And after all of that died down, and the plane crashed into the Pentagon, and the other one was forced down in that field in Philadelphia...well, what else could I do. I sat in my floor and cried, I prayed for all the lives that were touched by this tragedy, I prayed hard and long for the evil folks who thought this was a great idea. I cried because I wanted to do something, I cried because I felt like I coudln't do anything. I called everyone I could think of and who's numbers Iknew by heart, just to say I loved them. And the worse the pictures got on the TV, the tighter I stayed glued to it...because there was nothing else I felt like I could do from my little-bitty-what-I- thought-was-safe-home in Chapel Hill North Carolina. Because quickly you realize how easily it could have been me. And for days, weeks even, after this, every time I heard a plane or helicopter in the sky, I thought for sure it was crashing into something near me, dropping a bomb or something else devastating. But what was even more scary was the hours and days right after the attack when the skies were silent..almost as if it were a permenant moment of silence. 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 story2475.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. 168.215.112.193 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was on my way to Famous Anthonys to pick up breakfast for our company. I was listening to the radio and talking to the girl that was with me. When suddenly the DJ Melissa Morgan came across the air and said that a plane had just crashed into the WTC. Me and the other girl were shocked and trying to figure out what was going on. I thought that it may have been an idividual airplane that had gotten off course and maybe lost control or something. The other girl thought the same. We got our breakfast and on the way back to the office we heard that a second plane had hit the other tower. We then knew that something was up. We got back tot he office and everyone was in the Kitchen watching the local news channel. No one could say anything we were all just in shock. I couldn't believe this was happening to us to the United States and mostly to the innocent people who were just living their day to day lives. When I found out definatly that this an intentional act I cried. To me how could someone be so angry and so irrational to do something like this. And then to know that they were our planes that were used to do this horrible deed is just unbearable. I thanked GOD that day that not a single member of my family was in any of those planes or buildings that day. And to those families that were my heart, sympathy, prayers & love goes out to you. I can't say that I know what it was like to loose someone you truly love and care about in that terror attack. But I can understand the confusion & devastation, and the feeling that this horrible thing has happened and there is nothing you can do about, feeling like the smallest person in the whole world. And asking myself what have you done to still be here? Waht have you done to be spared? Why wasn't it me in one of those buildings that were destroyed? Well all that I had to comfort me that day, watching all of this unfold before my eyes, was that GOD has a plan and this is all in his plan. All you can do is try to understand that without suffering there would be no compassion in the world that we live in today. My prayers and love are with those who will never have a family member or friend come home to you. 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 story4084.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 68.15.139.17 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 we should prayer for the familys that lose love one in it and be with them right now. We are American and sand by are country. Are flag is are freem. We are not going to let this happen again to Us. We need to show him who boss now. He has done all he is going to do. We are a United Start Americans. WE need to Prayer hard for are country today. And show are love. So remerber them in your thought too. Thank you so much Debbie Ray 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 story5491.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 205.188.209.38 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: Hardin Simmons University was inaugarating a new President. We had the day off from class so everyone could attend the ceremonies. Mr roomoate had to get up early to pick up his uncle at the airport because he was on the Board of the Trustees and had flown his private plane in from the Metroplex. When my roommate got back he told me about the airliners flying into the towers and that all flights had been grounded. His uncle had made it here. We turned on the TV as I continued to get dressed and had to leave just after the towers collapsed. I was in complete shock and thought I was watching a movie. I have a best friend back home that works for the Attorney General in New Mexico. I called him to see if he knew but he did not answer his cell phone. I left a message giving a basic summary of the planes and then the towers collapsing and hung up. Later he told me that he got the message soon afterward and a few moments later his mom called. He thought I was joking but when his mom said the exact same thing he was also astonished. Since classes were cancelled I stayed close to the TV and watched every update and the events of the rest of the day. 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 story297.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-03-22 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 64.216.57.67 Annotation Annotations to this item. Gov't workers (non-military and non-rescue) 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: First, I'd like to send my condolences to all the families that lost their loved ones on 9/11/01. We all must pray long and with great seriousness so we can bring these terrorist to justice. We must not be angry so our judgement won't be false. We must stay focused on catching all the terrorists that caused this senseless distruction, and the loss of thousands of innocent lives. May God have mercy on the souls of the terrorists, because no one else will. They will have to face God and if they think for one minute that what they did was Ok because it was in the name of God, they are sadly mistaken. Terrorists are murderers, and they must be punished for their crimes. On that sad day of 9/11/01, I was at home and my bestfriend called me up speaking very fast and crying. I was able to understand which channel she said to put on. I just missed the first tower being hit. Then when I saw the second tower being hit and I was in shock. It was like watching a movie. But it was VERY REAL. Then I felt that this was intentional. Not sure by whom, but I was guessing terrorits. My bestfriend and I were crying for most of that day. We stayed on the phone for hours (we both have call-waiting)just watching the TV at the same time, and changing channels to see what the other networks were showing. I had just moved to Richmond, VA. August of 2001 and I lived only 6 minutes away from the Pentagon. Thank you God that I moved when I did. I used the route that passed in front of the Pentagon all the time. Soon after 9/11 I had to go to Alexandria, VA. and I passed in front of the Pentagon and I just cried and cried. It looked like a war zone. I just can't imagine what all those people went through, be it in the plane or in the Pentagon. America is strong, stable, and full of brave men and women. We will not back down to those or any other terrorists from any country on this Planet. 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 story4959.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 205.188.209.38 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: Today is September 11, 2002. It has been an angry year, a sad year, a confused year, and every day has been plagued by recollections of the past, thoughts of the loss suffered by our nation. I have only felt sadness for the loss of the buildings in New York; the loss of life has yet to sink in to my mind. I didn't lose anyone close to me, thank God, but unfortunately, this fact has made me numb to the losses of others. Only now am I finally beginning to understand the gravity of three thousand dead- some whose stories may never be known or told. On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was sleeping deeply, and I vaguely remember hearing the phone ring once or twice in my sleep. I was having a dream: there was this beautiful green plant with proud and healthy green leaves. A finger reached out to touch the top of the plant, and it immediately turned brown, withered away and died. When the phone rang a third time, it jarred me awake and I felt a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I looked at my watch: it was nearly 9:00 CST. I answered the phone, and heard my roommate on the other line: "Turn on the TV." "What channel?" I asked. "It doesn't matter," she said. "Just turn it on!" I stumbled to the living room and switched on the TV, cordless phone in hand. All I saw on the TV was smoke, but where it was coming from was confusing: it looked like it was coming from the Pentagon. A movie? A prank? I was all the sudden very ill. "What's going on?" I looked for some kind of clarification. "We're being attacked," she told me. The picture on the TV switched to another familiar sight, made alien by plumes of smoke but mirrored on the wall behind me by a picture of the New York City skyline I had owned since childhood. "Oh, God. This is bad," I said, in astonishment. "I'll call you back." I hung up with her a few minutes before the first tower began to fall. It happened in slow motion, just like a bad movie. I began screaming and sobbing, and for a while, time stood still. I was praying and crying and cursing all at the same time. The events of that morning touched me deeply and changed me indeliably. I went to New York City when I was about thirteen years old. It was the best time of my life. I had never been out of the South before, and though I grew up in a medium-sized city, I certainly had never seen a place like that. I loved the way the people talked, the way they walked confidently and defiantly down the sidewalk, the culture and the lights transported me to a different world. My favorite place in New York was the top of the World Trade Center. At the bottom, I leaned as far back as I could and I still couldn't see the top. It was as if the buildings were forever high. On the way up in the elevator, I was in awe that my ears were popping because we were so high up. I wondered if it was possible for an elevator to go forever high. At the top, I leaned down and stared at the street: the tiny little cars, and the people pin-prick sized. Our tour guide told us that if we dropped a penny from the top and it hit someone on the head down below, that it would kill them. I didn't have to go to work on September 11, and it is a good thing because I couldn't have handled it. I was glued to the TV all day. I was thirsty, but I didn't want to move. I had to go to the bathroom, but I didn't want to leave the TV, afraid I would miss the part when an announcer would say, "Ha Ha, we were just kidding. This was all just a very bad joke." I stayed up all night, hoping to hear news of survivors. The next day, I did return to work, a little more somber than usual. My workplace, a video store, is usually a very jovial environment. We play a lot and we work very hard, but on September 12, there was no business and there was certainly no playing. Instead of watching movie trailers, we had every TV turned to the news. That day, one customer in particular stands out in my mind. A very well-dressed woman came in the door, and I could tell when she began talking to me that she was not from the area. "These movies were due yesterday, and I need to pay the late fee," she told me. I checked them in and looked up her account. Her address was a Manhatten address. "Stuck here, eh?" I asked her, mentioning the fact that the quiet skies over the store, which is near the Birmingham Municipal Airport, were keeping me on edge. We began to talk, and I found out that she grew up in Birmingham and had married a man from New York. She was in town visiting family. Her husband worked in the World Trade Center, she said, but he was home sick on the day before and was fine. She wished she could fly back and be with him. I told her I had always wanted to live in New York. She said, "Don't you dare not ever live in New York. Go there, if only for a year. Do it for yourself. You're young, and you shouldn't ever forget that dream." I will, one day. I will never be able to take my children to the top of the World Trade Center: I will only be able to show them pictures, and tell them the story. The most important thing for my generation to pass on is the collection of stories of heroism. The tales of compassion and kindness. The community created by the most horrific event yet witnessed by our country, on our own soil. I try not to think about the people. I didn't know any of them. I never will. But now, a year later, I sense the thousands of spirts floating above the city of New York, looking down on their family members and their friends, telling them to move on with their lives. Thanking the firefighters and the civilians who tried so hard to get them out of the burning buldings. Watching as we all remember and whispering in three thousand ghostly voices: "Close the book. But never forget what you all saw here." 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 story4931.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. 199.174.142.137 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'll never forget where or what I was doing on that September 11th day of 2001. I was driving to Indianapolis Indiana for a special meeting with an association I am involved with. It was like any other trip I make that way, I actually look forward to those days because I travel by myself and it is a time when I am actually left alone with my thoughts and I don't have to share the radio or Cd player with anyone. Being a mother of a one year old usually there were Barny songs on the radio. I was ready to go- I had my collection of cd's to listen to, turned off my cell phone for the 2 hour trip and was on the road about 7:45am for my comute. It was a beautiful morning I had the sunroof open. I was listining to the Dirty Dancing Soundtrack singing along and ironically enough I had this feeling that I needed to turn on the radio. (Which I never do because with the drive up to Indy you go thru several different stations. It is hard for me find one station that I can listen to because they are usually locals giving farm reports, who was arrested and so forth.) As I was listening to a local favorite Bob and Tom the reports were coming in I couldn't tell if it was for real or not because those two are famous for all their skits they do on the radio. I began turning the stations and that was all that was being reported. I remember still not beliving this was happening. I reached over turned on my cell phone and had missed several calls from my office, family, and friends. I called my Dad and asked him if this is really happening and he told me yes, just as that was said the Pentagon was being hit. Here I am half way between my hometown and the business meeting I needed to attend driving down a stretch of highway that was surrounded by nothing but cornfields. Mind you Indianapolis is only 120 miles away from where I live but as I was driving and this was unfolding you couldn't convience me that I wasn't 10,000 miles away. All I wanted to do was turn my car around and head straight to the babysitters house and get my son, but I also no longer wanted to be alone. I had a sudden urge to get somewhere that I knew people. I was closer to Indy now than I was home. As I am driving all I can think of is how erie this feels to be all alone after I had looked so forward to being alone. I would watch the sky and notice there were not any planes around and when I would see one it was a small prop plane. The thoughts of the movie Red Dawn kept kreeping into my mind. We were under attack. What was this going to mean for my son? This has forever changed the way he would be raised and the life I had hoped he would have. I just began to cry- I knew life would never be the same- That security will be be gone forever he will never have even known what we just lost. I finally made it to Indianapolis after calling everyone back and ensuring them I was okay and I would be fine in Indy. My mother was just beside herself when she found out I was out of town. I walked into the conference room and everyone one in there were sitting in silence and watching the news. Finally someone said we have to turn this off. "We have to turn this off" if it were only so easy. I'll never forget those word. I remeber thinking yes we have to keep going on about our business but was so torn inside about how could we discuss plans about a golf scrambe while this was going on; it seened so frivilous now- but two days before it was end all be all to get this all finailzed. We conducted the meeting like any other and not another word was "said" about what was happening in our country until the meeting was over and we were served lunch. I remember making a note to look at the gas prices as I pulled into the meeting at 10am that morning, as I left the meeting at noon it had gone from $1.29 to over $2.00 I thought here we go. When I got to my home town around 3:30 the gas prices were so spuratic some places were still $1.29 while others were over $5.00 a gallon just a few mile down the road. I finally got a hold of my husband who is a middle school teacher and coach to touch base and see how things were at the school. I think most parents felt the same as we both did, all we wanted to do was get our family all together and feel safe again. I ran picked up our son and we met over at my husbands parents home with the rest of the family coming in shortly after. We all sat together waiting, all feeling the same feelings but all also having very different feelings all at the sametime. This being a family of all educators and mostly history teachers at that- there were many hindsights to be told and many different theorys as to how handle this situation. The one common thing we all had was that we couldn't wait to see and hear our President address "us". We all sat feeling very proud as we watch this horror hundreds of miles away. We felt somewhat of a sigh of relief as we listened and waited for our president to lead us through unchartered time. I remember going home that night and having our son go to bed with us that night sleeping between the two of us somehow thinging this felt safe- but still with the television on afraid to fall asleep but just the same afraid to wake up and find more dispair. Now one year later I seem to more bothered by this than before which seems strange I know but we have had time to take all of this in and realize the signficance of whaat has occured in our Great Nation- I couln't be more proud to be an American now than ever before. 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 story6340.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. 216.135.94.135 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: Where I was at on 9/11 When I saw what happened on September eleventh I was in my second period Study Hall class warching one of the T.V?s. The T.V. was on channel 7, which is our news channel, and it was showing live coverage in New York of what was happening at the time of the attacks. When they showed one of the planes crashing into one of the buildings it looked like something that would be in a movie. When the first plane hit the building it didn?t look real at all. I thought it was a joke or something because I would never think that anyone would do anything like that. When the builking was starting to fall I thought it looked pretty cool seeing a building fall to the ground, but then I thought then it wasn?t that cool because a whole bunch of people died in the buildings and in the airplanes. After that period every teacher in every classroom had their T.V. on in concern to see what was going to happen next. Sincerely, William J.Griewahn from Northmont High School 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 story2031.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. 156.63.21.14 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 gym for my morning work out,when I saw the first and then the second plane hit the twin towers and I thought out load that this was an act of terrorism and that we were going to war.I am a captain in the sheriffs department,so I hurried home because I knew I would have to respond to work right away.I first made sure I saw my family and made sure they were ok,then I suited up in tactical gear and responded to my office.Within hours I was down at ground zero.I was there for a week.There are two things that stuck in my mind.First was the weird sense of quite for being in the city.The hustle and crowds were gone,even though there were alot of resues workers there,it was still such a strange feeling,like an old war movie.Thats how it looked as you walked the streets of the city.Second was the smell that filled the air.I will never forget that smell.I could not get it uot of my nose for weeks.The people of New York are unbelievable in loyalty.They stayed out on the streets 24 hours a day and cheered us on and thanked us for our work and I felt such a sense of pride....to be a New Yorker and an American!!!! 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 story5627.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: The 10.30pm news was coming to an end when, suddenly, the news reader announced that we would be crossing to live images from the States as the station's news service had just received reports that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. As the images were broadcast, I saw that dark smoke was billowing out of one of the towers. I ran to tell my Dad about what had happened and then got onto the internet to see if I could find any more information about what had happened. Internet connection was really slow, so we both went back to watching the tv. I think the pictures were coming from "Good Morning America" or some other show similar to that, when suddenly, the second plane came into view. It was a dark colour, so I thought it might have been a military plane circling around the area, making sure everything was alright, but then it just crashed into the second tower. I thought, "Oh no! The military plane has just accidently crashed into the building! How strange!" but then I realised that it wasn't a military plane at all. My Dad and I were absolutely stunned at what we had just witnessed. We were dumbfounded. I then got very excited and ran to get my brother, who was asleep in his room. My Mum, who was down the road at my Grandma's house, phoned us and asked us if we were watching what was going on. I was so keen to get back to the 'action' that I hurriedly answered her with a "Yes, yes!" and hung up. So there we were, my Dad, my Brother and myself, all crammed around the TV in my room, watching the absolute chaos that was unfolding, watching as the footage of the plane crashing into the second tower was repeated over and over and over again, watching when the towers collapsed, watching people running from giant clouds of dust, hearing comments from broadcasters that would normally be 'bleeped' out, hearing about and seeing pictures of a second suspected attack at the Pentagon. It was so surreal. I remember staying up all night, flicking channels, watching what was going on. I was also quite scared of going to sleep. I knew nothing was going to happen to me, but absorbing the confusion and mayhem of the events really bowled me over. It was an extremely strange experience. 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 story980.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. 203.134.81.81 Annotation Annotations to this item. INTERNATIONAL 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 hadn't even turned the television on yet.A normal day and then a bad tragedy. My fiance called me and told me of the heartbreak of America. I turned the tv on instantly.I was horrified, thinking of who could do such a thing. The first building had already been hit, and it was crazy on all the channels. Then the second was hit. I cried. Such a terrible thing to happen to such a strong,great, and powerful country. As babyish as it felt, I cried for days. Still do at times. All my prayers are with all of the families and friends of all lost. peace 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 story1596.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. 152.163.188.195 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: What began as a pretty average school day took a very sudden and emotional turn toward surreal. In a second period (9:15-9:55) British Literature class with Mr. Fletcher, we were discussing reading fro the previous night. Our principal, Mr Kemeza, came on over the PA. I automatically knew something big had happened for Mr Kemeza to be interrupting the entire school. With the news everyone was shocked, yet nobody knew the extent of what had gone on. Mr Fletcher has a friend in the area, so he was no longer in a mood to teach. He dismissed us and left to make a phone call, checking on his friend. When I left the classroom, I went straight down to the Student Affairs office to learn more about what had happened. Cushing foyer, which is right in the middle of the campus and leads to the Student Affairs Office, was packed with students, parents and faculty. Phones in the office were ringing with calls from parents dismissing their children. Teachers and administrators were rushing around relaying news of the incident and telephone messages. Students were checking websites in the Library, also off of Cushing foyer. The bell sounded for third period, but I was free then, so I waited in the office to find out more about what had happened. I was amazed to discover what was going on, but even more frightened by the fact that there were still planes circling above Logan airport, waiting to land. DC-10s and 757s soar over our school everyday on their decents into Logan, and we pay them no attention, but today each rumbling jet engine drew hundreds of eyes. When I had a pretty good grasp of the situation, I started for my locker, across campus. On the way I thought the entire, still unclear story over and over, until one, heart-into-the-throat thought hit me like lightning. My Dad had a flight out of LaGuardia that morning. At this point I still had no idea of the origin of the flights. I grabbed my cell phone from my pocket, and dailed his cell number as quickly as I could. The phone rang, but to no avail, only a recording telling me he was unavailable. I tried again, same outcome. Now I was a little more than apprehensive. I went back toward Cushing foyer, and ran into a friend, Mike, on the way. "Hey, Joe! My mom just called me on the cell, I guess she said something about having your Dad come to pick us up in about twenty minutes." Whoa, this was pretty crazy. "Wait a minute, you mean your Mom just talked to my Dad? Phew, I was just trying to call him, he had a flight out of New York this morning." "Yeah, she told me. I gotta go grab my books." "I guess that means he's alright. Thank God." "I know. Wow...." "Who's he picking up? You, me and Kris?" "Yeah, that's what my Mom told me. Hey, I'll be right back." "Alright man, I'll meet ya right here." What a relief that was. He showed up at the school to dismiss us about a half hour later with the radio on. He was pretty amazed at what was going on, and I told him how worried I had been. What he thought was the most amazing, though, was that he had mentioned to himself, as the plane took off on a sunny morning over NYC, how beautiful the city skyline was with the rising sun behind it, and how precious it is to notice life's small peasures like that. Pretty amazing to say the least, but what's most unbelieveable to me is how nervous I was when I remembered his flight and that gives me a great sense of empathy for those who lost honorable loved ones on that heartbreaking 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 story7941.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. 2002-09-18 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 24.48.185.65 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 car on my way to work that morning. I was listening to the radio as I always do when there was a news break stating that one of the twin towers was hit by an airplane. This was very disturbing to me, because we have two buildings in our medical center that we call the twin towers. So as I continued to listen, I heard that this was the twin tower in New York. As I drove into the parking lot of my office, I heard that another plane crashed into the pentegon, then another into the other tower. The person on the news was saying that we were under attack. Houston has a port and we are known for so much, all I could think of was who was going to be hit next. I came into my office were everyone was in a state of shock. As the day went on, we watched everything on TV. There are just NO words to describe that day. My heart goes out to everyone that lost a loved one. Today everyone in my office has on red, white and blue(which happens to be our companies colors). We have the TV on again, and like all other americans, our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone. We are all having a day of remembrence. GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kelley E. Baker 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 story2697.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. 66.166.63.178 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 having morning coffee getting ready to go to work when I saw it on my local news and was stunned by what had happened all the children and parents with the loses broke my heart and the neddless deaths for nothing I have formed a closer realtionship with my son ans ex husband because life is to short for the familys of the victims my heart still bleeds for you Marlene Red Deer Canada 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 story1651.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. 2002-09-02 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 24.70.95.204 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 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 sitting at my desk at work at a Cable Company. As with every day i had the television above me on the news with the volume on low. As I sat there watching waiting for the next technician to call me over the radio, I saw fire and smoke of a building in dismay i raised the volume to find out what had happened and then I saw a plane come and crash into another building near by. At first I thought i was watching the instant reply of the disaster I saw in the beginning, I just sat there in shock. As the news reported said "Oh my GOD, another plane just hit the Other building of the World Trade Center". I immediately picked up the phone and told my boyfriend to turn to the news and watch the horrific event I saw. That experience that day was the worst thing I ever seen in my life. Although I didn't have any family members or friends on those planes or in any of the buildings that were attacked that day, my heart goes out to the many loved ones that were lost that day. I can't even imagine the pain they suffered with losing children,fathers,mothers,grandparents,husbands,wives and friends but I know this God will heal all hearts and wounds and vengence will forever be his. May the Lord bless and keep each and every one of you who was involved on that horrific day! 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 story5451.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 152.163.188.6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was driving to work and was catching the tail end of a news story about a plane striking a building. I simply thought, 'engine or equipment malfunction'. When I arrived at work I went in to my managers office to line up the projects for the day, she said with a very concerned look on her face, 'Did you hear?" "Hear what?" I wondered, thinking that the company was going to execute another radical change in our section. "Someone flew a jet into the World Trade Center building!" The time was 6:55 AM, eight minutes before the second plane hit the South Tower. I was dumbstruck, my first thoughts, "It's almost 9:00 AM there, my God all those people. How many people in that building, 10,000, maybe 15,000." Sitting in her office no words exchanged, I felt the tears begin to roll down my face, then I saw hers begin. "All those people," I stammered, "all those families." While I was working in a corporate office at the time, my second job, my real job was as an Associate Pastor for a church in North Phoenix. My heart was breaking for the anguish that was pouring into the lives of those New Yorkers. I walked numbly to my desk, turned on the redio to hear the latest, just in time to hear the report of the second plane striking the South Tower. "OH DEAR GOD NO!" I was in shock, it couldn't be happening could it?. I was hoping for some kind of 'War of the Worlds' disclaimer, but none came of course. I sat there at my desk, weeping, praying that lives would be saved, firefighters and police officers would be safe as they serve, and thet God would have mercy on all. I thought "WHO could do such a thing?" I remembered the other WTC bombing, the USS Cole, the Marine barracks in Beirut. Imgages flashing through my mind. All works of terror. My mind flashed back to my last trip to New York City. Seeing those majestic towers that I've always admired since I was a boy. So tall, so immovable, so untouchable. Then the Pentagon was hit. The South Tower collapses and I can no longer suspend disbelief. Then a plane goes down in Pennsylvania. I was afraid to keep the radio on but compelled to leave it so. The North Tower collapses and I'm brought to tears yet again. They got them both. I found myself thinking decidedly non-Christian thoughts. I was angry, I was hurt and I was 2500 miles away. It was horrific, unbelievable, gut-wrenchingly real and I felt powerless, so I prayed. That's 'where I was' and I shall NEVER FORGET! 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 story10496.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. 2004-03-25 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 12.215.155.102 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 flew into Newark from Kenutcky on the 8th of Sept. and stayed at my friend's (Heidi) that night. Her husband fixed a delicious Italian meal for us and had it ready when we arrived. We went to NYC by train on Sun. and took the subway to a station near our hotel. We stayed very near Times Square and Broadway. (first plane, train, subway trips for me! ) I called another friend who lives in Manhattan, Maureen, and we set up a place to meet for dinner. We had a delicious dinner and then went to Greenwich Village for dessert and to Maureen's apartment for a few minutes. Monday, the three of us went to the WTC, had lunch, and went to the observation floor. We were going to the roof but it started raining so they closed access to it. Heidi found out that we could have the manager sign our tickets so we could return another time and go out on the roof. We also went to Chinatown and Little Italy that day and left Maureen with the thought that we would call her Tuesday after her work day and set up plans for dinner. Meanwhile, Heidi and I went to the play, "Rent", and decided we would go to the WTC for lunch at Windows on the World and go on the roof before dinner with Maureen on Tuesday. We were exhausted, slept late on Tuesday, and were awakened by Heidi's cell phone. But by the time she answered it, there was no one there. She tried returning the call to her husband but could not call out. We tried the hotel room phone and could not call out. She went to the bathroom and I flipped on the TV. I see a skyscraper billowing smoke and across the bottom of screen is a list of various buildings in US that have been evacuated. I said, "Heidi, come here, we're being bombed or something, and what is that building?" She said, "That's the World Trade Center tower." And I said, "No, it's not, if it is, where's the other one?" Then they showed reruns of the attack on the other tower and showed it collapsing. We watched in horror as the other tower collapsed. It was so unbelievable. It was like watching a movie. We thought about leaving the city right at that moment but then it was announced that the city was closed and no one could leave nor come in. I'm not sure how tall our hotel was but we were on the 11th floor. We considered leaving the hotel but I wanted to watch TV. After a little while, we felt safer, knowing no planes were flying except for military planes (and they were flying so close, they were almost deafening at times). We finally got a call to Heidi's husband who called my mother. And she, in turn, called my husband. My mother and husband and son all knew about the attack around 9 am, and did not get word from me until around 1pm. We attended the mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral with Cardinal Egan that evening. (I've never been to a mass before) It was very touching. Several were there with pictures of missing people. Lots of tears were shed. The NY TV stations were there and we saw parts of the Mass on the news that night and the next day. So, we did finally leave the hotel late Tuesday afternoon. Compared to Sunday and Monday, the city was very quiet, sad, different. Wednesday was the same, yet the streets seemed even more desserted. Those who could leave, did, and the streets were so vacant. Many stores and restaurants were closed. The rest of my stay in NYC is somewhat a blur. I remember things I did, but not necessarily what day. I did go to Washington Sq Park, Central Park, Grand Central Station, Empire State (but not inside), etc. We attended the candlelight vigil at Wash. Sq. Park. We didn't have communications with Maureen, so we went to see her again. She was fine, thank God. Because of the difficulty in getting out of the City, we stayed an extra night. We even considered staying another one, but Thursday (13th) there were 4 bomb scares that were too close to us for comfort. It's scary seeing people running down the street after what happened the 11 th. Heidi's son had come home from school in SC to see for himself the goings on and he drove into the city to get us. On Tuesday, the 18th, I decided I wanted to go back to the city. Heidi was surprised but I wanted to see it once more before I went home. We had planned on going by Staten Island ferry on Sunday or Monday but didn't. On Wednesday we did. That's as close as I got to the Statue of Liberty, but the captain of the boat steered as close as he could to it for me while staying within his guidelines. (The Statue was still closed to tourists.) I drove the boat and Heidi did also. The skyline is definitely different. When we left, it was dark and you could still see the smoke from the WTC and it was strange that most of the city was lit up but the section near where the WTC was eerily in the dark. The bridges were lit up just like the pictures. Heidi's husband drives heavy equipment for NYC and volunteered for work at ground zero. He took pictures of the area where he was working. Total destruction. Her family has NYPD background so she heard lots of stories that we did not see in the papers. I have a collection of papers and mags from NYC. Papers here in KY covered it but not anything like the NYC papers, of course. I was supposed to leave for Louisville, KY on Saturday night (15th) but I was not ready to fly. My family desperately wanted me home, but I wanted to get there safely. I explored other ways to get home: Amtrak, Greyhound, a friend of a friend of a friend (a stranger to me) was driving as far as Charleston WV (five hours from home), Heidi driving halfway and husband halfway, rent a car, and even having Gene, another friend, chauffeur me. All of those methods involved a minimum of 15 hours riding. I could not justify spending two days going home vs. less than two hours in the air and two hours drive time! So, I did fly again. I flew to L'ville on Thursday night and got home about 130 am. The flight was uneventful except for turbulence for the first 30 minutes (Newark had rain and lightning). There were 16 people on the plane including the crew. The flight was very casual; one attendant came and sat with various passengers and chatted about various things, including the week's events. One pilot did the same thing while we waited for the plane's audio system to be repaired. I've always heard New Yorkers are arrogant and obnoxious. Even before the tragedy, I did not find that at all. People were very nice and polite. I felt very much at home. After the attack, the people pulled together and worked together so well. The city is clean, beautiful, well managed. I had a wonderful experience. I wish the bad stuff had not happened but I'm glad to have been there to have that perspective. I returned to NY City in October of 2001, about a month after the attacks. The skyline was markedly different and noticeable upon my arrival into Newark. The people of the city seemed to have a renewed spirit...a determination...to continue their lives. I visited the observation deck of the Empire State Building where I could still see smoke and an empty spot where the WTC had been. I also visited the United Nations Building on this trip. I'm sure both the Empire State Bldg. and the UN had new, different security checkpoints, etc. I felt very safe. I've returned to NYC several times since that fateful day...I still feel such a part of it. I visit Ground Zero on each visit and still feel the presence of the people who perished. NYC is still a beautiful, fascinating and wonderful place. B Milby | 44 | Kentucky 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 story9403.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. 2003-08-03 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 162.40.149.21