295 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: Hello, This is Mary Beth again and i would like to offer a follow-up to what i wrote yesturday on 9/13/02. First of all i would like to say that my heart go's out the families of the victim's of 9/11 with deep sorrow and love. About two or three days after the attack on 9/11/01 President Bush went on TV and expressed his sorrow & he vowed to track down terrorests everywhere and bring the people who are responsible for this terrible tragedy to justice. 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 story7344.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. 2002-09-14 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 204.214.214.44 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 drove our children to school. After I dropped them off I began listening to the radio. The announcement was made that a plane had hit one of the Trade Center towers. By the time I drove back home and turned the T.V. on the second tower had been hit. I knew the United States has under attack. Shorty after that the Pentagon had been it also. I'm 38 years of age. This was the first time I ever had fear for my life living in the United States. I LOVE THE UNITED STATES and living in Alabama gives me great comfort. GOD has blessed us with the freedom to live in a great country. As an American I look at September 11th as a reminder to love family, friends and life one day at a time. I pray each day for our country to continue to be known as the land of the free. Thank God For America Rhonda A. Barksdale Red Bay, Alabama 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 story5265.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. 216.180.65.134 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I am a New York City Firefighter. On Sept. 11, 2001 I, like all other able New York City Fireman, was at the World Trade Center. I was not present when the collapses occurred, but arrived shortly there after. To this day I still find it impossible to describe to others the complete and utter destruction that had taken place. Upon arriving at the site, two things stood out, the absolute quiet, and thickness of the air. It was as if you walked through a door and into a completely different dimension. There were no sirens, no horns, no screaming, no one talking, it really was a very thick quiet, that's the best way I can describe it. Amazingly, the first emotions that I felt were not of anger, that came later. My first emotions were of sadness, because I could see right away that there were going to be hundreds of people that had died. Our job is to save people, to help them, and I knew that we were to late. The rest of the day physically was exhausting, we searched and dug through the night, emotionally it was just as exhausting. When you saw someone you knew you'd shake their hand and give them a hug, just glad to know their alive. But on the other hand you knew of whole company's, places where other friends worked, were missing. I had to go to Cornell Medical center later that day to have my eyes flushed out. All the lye and dust from the glass and concrete had turned my eyes cherry red and they burned like hell. The following day, when I woke up, I went downstairs to see my kids, I started to cry like a baby, I just broke down. I remember my wife holding me like she holds our son when he cries. My wife has been my rock. Without her this whole past year would have been impossible to handle. In this past year I've come to realize how very much I love my family, and the men I work with. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to describe what I saw and how I felt on that day. 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 story7030.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. 24.189.33.113 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: hi - i hear you're collecting material for archives at cuny relating to 911. below is testimony i presented to a congressional panel in washington on the travails of stuyvesant high school where my son had been a student. since the testimony was for a citizens' forum on the epa ombudsman whom christy todd whitman had effectively fired when he criticized her conflict of interest in lower manhattan, the emphasis is on that office. however the testimony gives an overview of the experience of stuyvesant and residents downtown. Testimony of Jenna Orkin, Ground Zero Parent Ombudsman Panel, January 14, 2003 Stuyvesant High School, Toxic Site I am the mother of a 17-year-old boy who was a student at Stuyvesant High School four blocks north of Ground Zero on September 11. The experience of Stuyvesant may serve as a microcosm for that of Lower Manhattan as a whole. In a statement that will undoubtedly resonate for years to come, on September 13, Christy Todd Whitman declared the air downtown to be safe. Thus on October 9, four weeks after the WTC attack and after government agencies assured us the building had had a thorough cleanup, Stuyvesant reopened to cries of, "Get back to normal!" and, "Show the terrorists!" Wall Street was up and running again so all was right with the world. Unbeknownst to us at the time, the week that Stuyvesant returned to its building was the week that Dr. Thomas Cahill of U.C. Davis conducted studies a mile north of Ground Zero which revealed levels of very- and ultra-fine particulates that were higher than at the Kuwaiti oil fields. For the next eight months, Stuyvesant got a double whammy of toxic waste: Not only did they have the WTC site to the south, they also had it on their north doorstep where the waste transfer barge stayed while being loaded with the debris that was to be carted away to Staten Island. This placement was in violation of state and federal laws, but in the so-called "emergency" that prevailed for the eight months of the cleanup (and what sort of emergency was it, exactly, after the first few weeks when it was clear no one else would have survived? A real estate emergency? An economic emergency?) environmental laws were thrown to the four toxin-laden winds. The barge operation was host to diesel cranes and idling diesel trucks that worked 'round the clock seven days a week. Only now are the carcinogenic and toxic properties of diesel being more fully recognized. How was Stuyvesant equipped to handle this onslaught? The school's filtration system was about 10% effective until the end of January when, at the insistence of the 6000 member Parents' Association, it was upgraded to 40% effectiveness. Although we had been told the school's cleanup had included the ventilation system, we later learned that in fact the ventilation system had not been cleaned. For half the days until February, Particulate Matter 2.5 - dust that is small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs and not come out again - was above EPA regulatory levels. Often it was higher at Stuyvesant than at Ground Zero. Because of its relatively large surface area to volume ratio, P.M. 2.5 also adsorbed onto its surface whatever toxic chemicals were in the debris. Isocyanates and tetrachloroethane also exceeded EPA limits when they were measured but, after the troubling results, they weren't measured again. High levels of lead were found in the gym where the lead could be inhaled deeply and in the cafeteria where it could settle on students' food. In response to these findings a representative from the Board of Education which, due to EPA's being missing in action, was in charge of cleaning up the schools wrote, "While lead can cause several adverse health effects, these are usually from prolonged exposure to the dust from the metal or when children consume lead-based paint." Apparently he didn't realize that lead sprinkled on pizza will be consumed. The synergistic effect of all these contaminants is only imperfectly understood. However Dr. Steven Levin of Mt. Sinai has pointed out that if you're an asbestos worker and a smoker, for instance, the effect is not simply twice as bad as being one or the other: it's eighty or ninety times as bad. To our knowledge, other synergies have not been so thoroughly studied. In spite of the fact that FEMA had allocated 20 million dollars to clean the Ground Zero schools, the Board of Education refused to clean the ventilation system of Stuyvesant or even to do wipe tests. Finally parents, using the pro bono services of attorney Richard Ben-Veniste of Watergate fame, threatened to sue. The BOE capitulated and performed the wipe tests but held onto the results for six weeks. We threatened to sue again. They released the results which showed thirty times the level of lead which one might expect to find on the floor. (There are no standards for lead in ventilation systems.) After more threats of lawsuits the BOE agreed to clean the ventilation system over the summer. During that cleanup they removed the auditorium carpet explaining they were doing so for 'aesthetic reasons.' A group of parents known as Concerned Stuyvesant Community had two segments of the carpet tested for asbestos using an EPA test known as ultrasonication. One of the samples came back with a reading of 2.4 million structures per sq cm. Several experts whom we have consulted believe this represents 250 times normal background levels. But all agree it is a level which calls for remediation. The carpet was replaced, the BOE still citing 'aesthetic reasons.' However the BOE, which had since renamed itself the Department of Education, refused to perform ultrasonication or another approved test, American Standard Testing and Methodology microvac, on the auditorium seats. They claimed that these two tests were controversial. Instead they performed a test of their own devising which involved beating the seats with sticks and testing the air. This test has not been subject to peer review much less received the imprimatur of a body such as EPA or ASTM. Nor was it performed under anyone's oversight. We don't know what air volume or flow was used, where the monitors were placed nor how hard the seats were beaten. It is ironic that the DOE rejected two established tests on the grounds that they're insufficiently understood, opting instead to perform a test which isn't understood at all. Not surprisingly, however, the seats came up with a clean bill of health. In an analogous situation in Brookfield, Connecticut where asbestos was also found, the school system was closed down until a level of 5000 structures of asbestos per sq. cm. (a relatively low level) was achieved. In at least one school the auditorium seats were replaced and ceiling tiles wet-wiped and hepa-vacuumed. This took place in EPA Region 2. We would like the same treatment in EPA Region 1. However, of the 20 million dollars which the DOE received from FEMA to clean the Ground Zero schools, at last count they had used only ten. While we wish they had used all twenty, we do not even know what they did with the ten million dollars they spent. Perhaps it is some of that money that was used to lure students at the High School for Leadership and Public Service back to school when they complained last year how upsetting it was to watch body parts being carried past their door. The school handed out fifty dollars worth of gift certificates to bookstores and Modell's Sporting Goods to students who achieved a certain level of attendance; one hundred dollars worth for perfect attendance. Resident Remove Tons Of Toxic Debris From Apartments Meanwhile Lower Manhattan residents were no better off. In the days immediately following 9/11, the EPA bequeathed responsibility for indoor air to city agencies. Rising to the challenge the NYC Department of Health recommended that to clean up the dust in their apartments, people use a wet rag. Ever willing to lend a helping hand, the Red Cross gave out buckets to assist in what was being portrayed as nothing more than a piece of heavy-duty housecleaning. Where the dust was really bad, the DOH recommended that residents wear long pants. Armed with this advice, residents such as Michael Cook threw out furniture and over 150 twenty gallon bags of contaminated debris. Not surprisingly, many residents soon suffered rashes and respiratory symptoms such as chronic and/or the newly coined "chemical" bronchitis. Those who could afford to moved out of New York. Others moved to hotels temporarily. A third group manifested a burgeoning distrust of government agencies by hiring independent contractors to test their apartments. Some of these tests revealed high levels of cadmium, lead and mercury in the ventilation system. One woman, Nina Lavin, who had shut off her ventilation system on September 11 in anticipation of environmental havoc, nonetheless had twelve times normal background levels of asbestos across the room from the window. She is now in limbo, living in a hotel. Illness Spreads At Stuyvesant also, a Health Hazard Evaluation performed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health found that 60% of the staff had had respiratory and other symptoms which they attributed to their exposure to the air at school. No such study was conducted among students. However parents reported that their children had been diagnosed with new-onset asthma that could last the rest of their lives; chronic sinusitis entailing heavy doses of steroids and antibiotics and chemical bronchitis. One girl had her first asthmatic episode in seven years - an attack that landed her in the Emergency Ward - after swimming in the Stuyvesant pool which had not been cleaned. The Deputy Chancellor of Schools complained that parents' reports of illnesses were "anecdotal." This is true. In the absence of a scientific study, all we had to go on was anecdotal reports. He also said, "we believe the events of September 11 and its emotional aftermath have contributed to a number of these incidents." In other words, the illnesses were at least partly psychosomatic. The Deputy Chancellor did not elaborate on whom he meant by "we." Ombudsman Arrives After several months of attending hearings and talking to scientists, by February, 2002, I had amassed enough evidence to convince my ex-husband that our son should not be in the Stuyvesant building. Crucial among the pieces of evidence I'd acquired was a letter from the EPA Ombudsman, Robert Martin, saying that the Stuyvesant building was not fit for habitation. This letter was unique in its status as an advisory from a governmental authority and critical in tipping the balance in my exhusband's thinking. Ombudsman Martin and his Chief Investigator Hugh Kaufman also held two hearings which provided a turning point in the struggle of Lower Manhattan. While the State Assembly and City Council had held several hearings each, these ultimately resulted in little discernible change. They seemed designed to do exactly what the term said: to hear. A roster of officials heard, shook their heads in wonder and pity but in the end, were unable to do anything. In some ways those hearings may even have done more harm than good. For the arrangements of the local hearings were always the same: Agency representatives spoke for the first three hours while the news media were in attendance. Invariably they presented a rosy picture of how hard they were working and the pleasing results. At noon, the media rushed out to edit their stories regardless of the fact that they'd only heard half. In the afternoon we, the hangers-on, the dregs of the hearing, got to say our piece to a room vacated by all but the most zealous advocates of our cause. By that time even most of the panel had fled leaving a token member who would nod sympathetically in between taking calls on his cellphone. The Ombudsman hearings were the opposite of this sorry picture. The first witness was Dr. Cahill of U.C. Davis who revealed for the first time the news about ultrafine particulates a mile from Ground Zero. Other representatives of our side of the story followed him, interspersed with Agency reps. Ombudsman Martin and Chief Investigator Kaufman asked knowledgeable questions, having done a great deal of legwork and homework. Agency reps didn't get off lightly. Nor did we. The hearings went on until 11 p.m. But there is no place we would rather have been. With the Ombudsman hearings we felt a change of direction; in every sense of the phrase, a breath of fresh air. EPA Agrees To Clean Apartments As a result of pressure from the Ombudsman and his Chief Investigator as well as Congressman Nadler and other elected officials, on May 8, 2002 the EPA announced it would clean apartments in Lower Manhattan south of Canal Street or test them for asbestos. Not workplaces or schools; just apartments because, they said, they had to start somewhere. When asked if they would consider expanding their cleanup above the arbitrary boundary of Canal Street or into Brooklyn where NASA photographs show the plume went on September 11 itself when 95% of the airborne debris from the disaster fell, the EPA said they were looking into it. With this they opened a hotline and waited for the phone to ring. Over the next seven and a half months it rang about six thousand times, for approximately one out of five residences. The problem was EPA's outreach. They sent out only one flier that we know of and many residents didn't receive it. In addition, EPA's ads never mentioned cancer or the other ills that might ensue from living in contaminated apartments. Indeed, EPA said they did not expect serious long-term effects from the toxic substances that remained in people's apartments. Instead, they maintained that the cleanup was merely to 'assuage residents' concerns.' And since the EPA was telling them they had no reason to be concerned, most people didn't bother to call. Besides, about a quarter of the residents in Lower Manhattan are new to the area, having been lured by liberty bonds worth up to $14,000 and have no idea they could have moved into a toxic zone. Cleanup Plan Is A Farce The cleanup itself was also flawed although most people did not realize that. Common areas and ventilation systems were largely ignored. This meant that apartments which were cleaned might be recontaminated as soon as residents turned on the air conditioning or even opened the door. And because cleanup was voluntary, apartments could also be recontaminated by neighboring apartments that opted not to get cleaned. Finally, because small businesses were not included in the plan, they could recontaminate apartments that shared their buildings. Contrary to what certain government agencies have said, dust does not stay put. Although the cleanup plan did not include workplaces, EPA did perform a pilot test of a small business cleanup at a restaurant at 112 Liberty Street. The contractors removed half the ceiling and left the contaminated other half. They did not lock the restaurant when they left so that during the night it was robbed. They lost the owner's keys. Perhaps by not receiving an EPA cleanup, small businesses in fact got the better deal. While the response to the cleanup was lackadaisical, an even smaller number of people opted for the testing only option. Of those, about two percent were found to have apartments contaminated with asbestos. Extrapolating from this, City Councilman Alan Gerson has pointed out there may well be six hundred apartments downtown that are contaminated with asbestos, most of which have not been tested, let alone cleaned. And this does not take into account the hundreds of other contaminants that were released from the collapse of the towers and subsequent fires. EPA's testing plan omitted them all. The testing only option was troubling for other reasons as well. In its hunt for asbestos the EPA was performing only air tests. However, at the Toxicological Excellence in Risk Assessment conference in October several scientists agreed that testing of hard and porous surfaces should be investigated and used more extensively. And there were problems with the way the air tests were conducted. In its counting of asbestos fibers, EPA omitted fibers smaller than five microns on the theory that they would be handled by the body's immune system. However, scientists do not agree that this is so. At the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry conference which also took place in October there was discussion about the likelihood that length of fiber might not be so important as an aspect ratio of greater than 3:1. The Ombudsman Resigns In the mean time the Ombudsman had been relocated to the Inspector General's office and Robert Martin resigned in protest. We have read that the IG is now in charge of the World Trade Center case. This is news to us. We have not seen or spoken to her nor to anyone from her office. By contrast former Ombudsman Martin and Chief Investigator Kaufman continue to take an active interest in us and we hear from them regularly. They send us articles and give advice when we ask for it. On December 28, following a media spree in which the EPA released studies which supposedly supported the Good News that the air downtown was less toxic than everyone feared, the EPA hotline closed. The EPA had never said what levels of contamination they found after all the looking they did at data from above Canal Street or in Brooklyn but whatever those data were apparently did not call for cleaning. I question these results because I live in downtown Brooklyn and out of curiosity I had ultrasonication performed on my carpet. The reading came back 79,333 structures of asbestos per sq cm, a level of concern. I had an asbestos abatement which involved four contractors working twenty hours on a two-room apartment. The phase-contrast microscopy test that was subsequently performed showed that my apartment passed its Ahera test but still contained asbestos which might pose a one in three hundred cancer risk. This is much higher than the results EPA has reported for Lower Manhattan. This year the travails of Lower Manhattan continue. We hear of new-onset asthma in Chinatown as well as a case in a girl who has homeroom in the Stuyvesant auditorium; a girl developing pressure in her spinal fluid requiring a spinal tap, possibly, her doctors say, the first of many; a high number of flus and a particularly virulent stomach virus; the return of respiratory symptoms which had diminished over the summer; a teacher with pneumonia. When Christy Todd Whitman declared the air in Lower Manhattan to be safe to breathe she set in motion a chain of events that many of us believe will prove the undoing of thousands. Already Ground Zero workers are suing the city for their exposure to toxic substances during the recovery operation. Many rescue dogs are sick and at least one, "Bear," has died. We fear that their fate is a harbinger of that of residents, workers, our children and ourselves. Need For Ombudsman The foxes are in charge of the chicken coop. Having made initial mistakes they are in the position of having to defend those mistakes by compounding them. Clearly, there are not enough checks and balances in place. Not enough watchdogs to guard against the foxes nor enough penalties to make those in charge think twice about lying and compounding the lie. The penalties for compounding lies should increase exponentially over time to prevent the paramount ethic at work from being, "Cover your tracks at all costs." To correct this abysmal situation, the Ombudsman must be restored and given full independence. His office provided checks and balances. As a watchdog he was the people's best friend. It is surely suspicious that as soon as his investigation of the WTC case got going, he was moved to the IG's office, "for his own good." If the move was truly in response to his request for greater independence, why did EPA not honor his request to leave him where he was? The office of the Ombudsman must be reopened for business and on the Ombudsman's terms. 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 story9389.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. 2003-07-25 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 146.96.207.50 Annotation Annotations to this item. da 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 WOKEN BY A PHINE CALL FROM MY DAUDHTER WHOSE IS A LONGSHORE PERSON .SHE HAD JUST GOTTEN OF THE 3RD SHIFT AND HEARD WHAT HAD HAPPENED AROUND 7AM. SHE IS 23 YEARS OLD ON THE PHONE TELLING MOM TURN ON THE T.V. WHAT IS GOING ON. I DON'T UNDERSTAND IS IT AN ACCIDENT OR WAS IS DONE ON PURPOSE. WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO US? WHERE ARE MY SISTERS? IS EVERYONE GOING TO BE OK? ALL THESE QUESTIONS FROM MY DAUGHTER AND I HAD NO ANSWERS. FOR THE FIRST TIME AS A MOTHER I COULD NOT ANSWER HER QUESTIONS.MI FELT HELPLESS AND WORRIED FROM ALL THE PEOPLE I LOVED AND AROUND THE WORLD. IS THIS THE END OF LIFE AS WE KNOW IT? IS THIS THE END OF OUR LIVES? WILL SOMEONE USE THE UNSPOKENABOUT NUCULER BOMB THE TALK ABOUT TO SOFTLY? ALL I WANTED TO DO WAS HOLD MY BABIES OF 26, 23, AND 20 AND MY HUSBAND, WELL I SEE MY MOM AGAIN? WHO LIVES IN SAN PEDRO ACROSS THE BRIDGE IN WHICH I TRAVEL EVERYDAY. AND NOW I AM SCARED TO DEATH TO TRAVEL ACROSS....WHAT ABOUT ALL THE PEOPLE WHO ARE LOST MOM? CAN THEY FIND THEM? WILL THEY ALL DIE? WHAT ABOUT THEIR PARENTS AND CHILDREN? THE QUESTIONS THEY NEVER STOPPED FOR DAYS. ALL WE DID WAS SIT TOGETHER AND WATCH THE TV HOPING THEY WOULD FIND SOME PEOPLE ALIVE AS IF SOME WAS THERE THAT WAS APART OF OUR FAMILY. WE JUST COULD HELP BUT TO FEEL THESE ARE OUR FAMILY MEMBERS THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE UP THE FAMILY OF AMERICA. AND SOMEONE FROME SOME PLACE TOKE THEM AWAY FROM OUR FAMILY. WHY? WHAT WILL WE DO NOW? WILL THEY DO IT AGAIN? QUESTIONS STILL I CAN'T ANSWER. THIS TO ME WAS A DAY WHEN I FELT TOTALLY HELPLESS EVEN TO MY OWN DAUGHTERS. A MOTHER WITH NO ANSWER FOR HER CHILDERN. CAN THAT BE? I FELT THAT THEY MADE SUCH CHANGES TO US EMOTIONAL AND PHYSICAL EVERYTIME TIME I SEE AND AIRPLANE FLYING LOW A HELICOPTER GOING IN CIRCLES MY INSIDES SHAKE, MY MIND STARTS ASKING ME QUESTIONS. AND I WONDER WILL I HAVE THE ANSWERS THIS TIME........TO ALL OF THOSE WHO HAVE LOST LOVED ONES I WILL ALWAYS FEEL AS THOUGH THEY WERE APART OF MY FAMILY ALSO.AND THINK ABOUT HOW MANY QUESTIONS YOU HAD TO ANSWER FOR YOUR CHILDREN TOO. SO MANY I KNOW THAT YOU HAD NO ANSWERS TOO.....I LOVE YOU AND MAY PEACE ALWAYS BE WITH YOU..........LINDA PEDROZA LONG BEACH CA. 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 story2980.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 was taking my children to school that fateful morning. I heard the announcement on the radio. I stayed glued to the television all day. I felt so sorry for the survivors and the famiies of September 11,2001. I wondered what would be attacked next. I wondered if my college class would be cancelled. I worried about my husband because he was at work. 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 story2653.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. 64.12.96.135 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: On the morning of September 11, 2001 at 8:46 I was looking out our window watching deer in our back yard and thinking what a beautiful world God has given us. Many may not believe this but suddenly the deer jumped and ran. They could not see me and I did not see anything moving that could have scared them. A few minutes later the phone rang and my husband said "you will not believe what I am looking at." "You won't believe the buck that was in our backyard," I said. "You better turn on the TV to CNN he told me." There it was, the carnage that wouldn't seem to stop from one crash report to another, finally to the towers falling. My children and I had spent 2 horrible years in Pakistan when my first husband had slipped them out of daycare while I was at work and taken them to his home country. I was allowed to be with them if I lived and acted as a muslim. After 2 years and my parents mortgaging their just paid for home (after 30 years of waiting), we came home in 1991. By 1:00 p.m. I couldn't stop shaking. I walked outside into that sunny autum sky and thought how can such beauty and such ugliness be under the same sky. I called my dad and thanked him for bringing us home. I was angry at what the terrorists had done but remembering the oppresion we had lived under, ironically I DID NOT FEEL TERRORIZED. Without a doubt I felt anger, but I remembered that my boys and I were living FREE. You see when you are in a fundamentalist country the people suffer terror regularly, but they are not free to act as we can. Americans are people from childhood who want to take action. We have blood drives, collect money, volunteer to clean up, comfort, ANYTHING, but we NEED to take action. Sitting still and suffering silently is NOT the American way. That is hard to understand by others who have lived oppressed all their lives, JUST as it is hard for us to understand their apparent complacency. I wept with my father. I wept with my children. I wept with God. Yes, I believe that His was the first heart to break. But He IS our help. Our country was built on the idea that GOD CREATED, NOT God destroyed. It is important to remember that He is NOT the destroyer but the Creater and our help is in Him. So with gratitude for all the men and women who have fought for our freedom and with incredible bravery, and with awe that that spirit has somehow lived in every American more than 200 years after that initial step toward freedom, I thank the Lord. And to our God, I bow my head in thanks and pray America will continue as it was envisioned by our founding fathers, strong, brave, and FREE. WE LOVE YOU AMERICA! The Daniel Schilling family. 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 story5056.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. 24.247.165.63 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 early in the morning on the West Coast when the tragedies struck New York and Washington, DC. I was in the shower, when my husband Mike came in to tell me that planes had struck both the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. I threw on a robe, and sat tearfully transfixed as the horrors of that day unfolded on television. Our youngest son Mark, in the sixth grade, asked to stay home from school that morning because, he said, "This will be a time I will remember for the rest of my life." It was a day filled with heart-wringing tears, long hugs and loving calls--paired with fear, helplessness and enormous anger. The nightmarish visions of people jumping from burning buildings, of the gaping hole in the Pentagon, of the smoking twin towers and their horrific crumbling--and of the remnants of a heroic crash in the Pennsylvania countryside--haunt us all to this day. Today, I openly pray for the souls of those innocents and heroes killed September 11 and quietly pray that the angry souls still on this earth can find their way to peace. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story2548.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. 209.244.70.175 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: September 11th 2001 was the fourth day of our holiday. We had been planning this trip for over two years and because it probably would be the last one of our family together (mother, father and two sons of 22 and 26 yrs old), we had great expectations. We planned to go to California and did not include Las Vegas in our three week trip. When upon arriving in San Diego, it was cold and slightly raining. Then we decided to spend some time in Las Vegas. And so we woke up in the morning of the 11th in a motel room next to Las Vegas Airport. Marion, my wife, was already awake and had turned on the television. We saw the twin towers on the screen and then we saw, that one of the towers was burning. The next moment we saw a plane crashing in to the towers. Feelings of disbelief, pain and fear arose. Both our sons awoke and we told them what we had seen. We watched the tragedy unfolding before our eyes in silence, not believing that people could intentionally destroy so many lives for whatever cause. We discussed among us what to do, our holiday feeling was gone completely. Being a policeman myself, I got the urge to do something, to help, to be able to stop this. We talked to several American people in the motel, on the street, in restaurants. Everybody told us not to be intimidated by these terrorists and their cowardly acts. And so we were assured by our American friends, to continue our vacation. By that time, all air traffic above America was stopped. At that moment my wife, our sons Patrick and Arjan, and myself were walking along the fence of Las Vegas Airport. It was very, very quiet. And then we heard a bird singing in a tree nearby. That was the moment, we realized, that whatever stupid acts people would do to hurt other people, a greater power decided, that life should go on. In the two weeks that followed, we visited many beautiful places in California. We attended memorial services, talked to volunteers on the streets who were raising funds for the victims and their family's and followed the news in every motel we stayed. We developed great respect for the way America reacted to this terrible tragedy and the response this great nation gave to the heroes of the 11th september and their family's. When we came back in our home town in the Netherlands and among our family, nobody asked us how our vacation had been. The only thing that was talked about, was september 11th. One thing is certain; we will never forget and our thoughts and prayers are with those who made the ultimate sacrifice and the family's that were left behind. Peter van Gent, Zwijndrecht, the Netherlands 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 story9410.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. 2003-08-10 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 80.61.42.29 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'd like to first say how proud I am of America. When I heard that it was a terrorist attack, I thought uh oh, whoever did this is in big trouble. They didn't demoralize us, they pulled this country together in a way that hasn't been felt since WWII. The resolve of the firefighters and police could be felt all the way to California. There is one group that was not mentioned in the tributes, that played a huge part in the search and rescue. A group of tireless and relentless searchers. They never asked for anything except just to work. I am talking about the dogs that climbed mounds of debris to find victims. One courgeous canine lost his life doing what he loved to do. They never gave up and all they asked for was the love of their handlers. I will never get over the sights and sounds of ground zero, the overturned and devastated fire trucks and police cars. The images of the planes hitting. The overall waste. The ordinary citizens of this great country that emerged that day as heroes. I will 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 story5088.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. 68.8.120.85 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 sitting at my desk when the information of the first attack. We sat around the television in our conference room. The event was very troubling, due to the fact that also had a brother-inlaw that was scheduled to have a meeting on that day at the World Trade Center. They decided to play go instead of attending a meeting that morning @ 9:00am. They postponed the meeting until that afternoon at 1pm. My sister called worried that he was in the building. Only to find out later that afternoon that he was okay. We as a family not only did a lot of praying for him, but for others that were in the Trade Center. After 10 years in the military, my love for this country and the freedom that it represents is very important. I feel that they not only tried to destroy the morale of the country, but of our homes as well. We as a nation should never feel that we are not durable to attacks, but should always be alert to the things that are happening around us. Cherish every minute that the Lord has given us, and love as many people as possible. For Love truly is the answer, and the way the nation pulled together was really enlightening. Coca-Cola Bottling Company Consolidated sent employees home for the day. This is a place that take personal crisis very important on a national as well as personal issues. Let this open our eyes but do not close our hearts. 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 story2625.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. 208.254.219.2 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 pregnant with my first child, and a few weeks from my due date. My husband, who is a minister, had left to visit one of our church members in the hospital. I was sitting down to breakfast and turned on the Today show. The screen showed a giant, firey, gaping hole in the side of one of the towers, and Katie Couric was saying that there was a fire at the WTC. It quickly became apparent that something awful was happening. Another plane hit, and news reports came streaming in about the Pentagon and the plane in Pennsylvania. I called my husband, and he was watching the report from the hospital room he was visiting. I called my mother in Mississippi, and she had no idea that anything was happening. We were all shocked. Throughout the day, I listened to the reports on the radio at work. I don't know how the news anchors withstood the stress of reporting those terrible events for hours upon hours. I found myself being thankful that my daughter wasn't born yet, so that I didn't have to explain to her those events as they were unfolding. 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 story4090.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. 65.140.78.90 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 Emergency Operations Center was up and running. I was at my desk at Fort Totten, NY when someone came to our office and said a plane just crashed into the World Trade Center. Remembering the bombing in Oklahoma City I needed to see the extent of the damage. I proceeded to the TV located in the emergency operations center in the next office. (The TV is kept on a news channel during duty hours just in case an emergency arises.) The reports coming over the news channel were that a small plane had hit the World Trade Center. I went back to my office and said to a co-worker "Doesn't your brother work there"? She said no it was her cousin. "You had better call him and tell him to get out of there". So she picked up her cell phone and called him. To both of our surprise he answered the phone. She said "A plane just hit your building you had better get out of there". He replied that it was the other building that was hit and he was waiting for his friend and would leave shortly. She said "You better leave now"! (She was in NYC during the first bombing) (Her cousin did make it out.) I went back to watch the TV and saw the second plane strike. At that very moment, I knew that the first plane hit was no accident. An environmental hazard class was being conducted on the second floor in our building. I was the host of the class so I raced to tell them two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center. The class was on break but the instructor was there. The instructor and I proceeded to the emergency operations center where a group had gathered to watch the news reports. In less than two minutes from our return and about seven minutes total from when the second plane hit the world trade center, the civilian in charge told all non essential personnel to depart the office. "We are going to open the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) for life saving coordination". The primary staff was called to report to the EOC. The banks of computers were turned on and the phones checked. I remember the Medical Section was determining what military units had the mobile X-Ray machines and blood transfusion units. The engineers were checking to see what facilities were close to the WTC. The Logistics section was checking on vehicles and heavy equipment. The Emergency Operations Center was up and running. And then-the phones started to ring. 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 story5143.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. 68.114.60.25 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 On September 11 I woke up at 6:30 a.m. in the morning and got ready for school. I got on the bus at 7:10 a.m. and I arrived at school at 7:30 a.m. I was sleeping in first period and when I woke up I heard my friend say something about planes crashing I buildings. I did not think it was a big deal because I thought it was in another country. Everyone in my class wanted to go in the classroom next to us because our classroom did not have a television. So we went next door and we started watching the news. I saw the World Trade Centers on fire but I did not think it was serious so I fell back a sleep. And when I woke up I saw the first Twin Tower falling down and everyone was running down the street and dust and dirt filled the streets. It looked like it was a movie I could not believe it, and at first I thought it was an accident and not a terrorist attack. I did not think the other twin tower was going to fall but it did. After a little while we had to go to our other classes. While I was in art my mom came and picked my up and we went home and watched the news. Later in that week I could not turn on my TV with out seeing Osama Bin Ladin's face. I think they should rebuild the Twin Towers and make a couple of floors in each building a memorial for the people who died in the buildings, on the street, and the firemen and policemen. It is very important for all of us to support the people's families who died. I think they were cowards for flying the planes into the World Trade Centers and killing themselves and all those innocent people. It took about 9 months to clean the whole mess up. We still don't know if Bin Ladin is dead or not, I think he is still hiding. We should blow up all of Afghanistan to make sure he is dead. 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 story730.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. 2002-06-06 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 168.169.8.39 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 waking up that Tuesday morning and looking out the window, remarking on what a beautiful late-summer day it was. I immediately put on the news so I could follow the New York City Mayoral election while I ate breakfast and dressed for work. I was excited to see who would end up winning--the billionaire businessman or the politician. I left the house around 8:45 AM, turning the TV off as Jim Ryan, the Fox Morning News anchorman joked around about candidates Green and Bloomberg. I got on the F train in Brooklyn and it was a typical morning commute. I transferred at Jay Street to the A train. As we were going under water to Manhattan, the train slowed down and the conductor announced, "Due to a fire at the World Trade Center, this train will be delayed. Please use alternative routes if you can." I decided to get off at Chambers Street instead of Canal Street (my office was pretty much in between these two subway stops), because that stop came first and I could get out of the delayed train sooner. I was trying to make a 9:30 AM staff meeting at my office on 99 Hudson Street in Tribeca. When we got through the tunnel, the first stop we made was Broadway-Nassau. People rushed into the train looking and acting shaken up. They were all talking about wanting to get out of there, away from the WTC disaster. I was reading and still only half awake, and didn't pay much attention to these conversations. When I got out at the next stop, I was not prepared for what I saw on Chambers Street. It was about 9:20 AM. People were running past me uptown, occasionally turning back with a look of pure fear and amazement in their eyes, before returning their attention forward and away. Still unclear on what was going on, I turned around, southwest, and saw one tower in flames, the other in smoke. I stood there on the corner of Church and Chambers for a minute staring in disbelief, unsure of what happened. Then I saw specks of movement falling from the towers, which I later learned were bodies that had jumped for a less painful and quicker end. I decided to get to work. I was unsure of how to process this sight. But I knew that I could get a better sense of what was going on if I just got to the office. Maybe someone there had heard about this. I didn't understand why I hadn't, since I watched the news. "Stupid Fox 5 News," I thought, "More interested in making bad jokes then reporting on what is actually happening in the world." I started to make my way to Hudson Street. I occasionally turned around to look, as if thinking maybe I had seen wrong before, maybe everything's okay. I walked past amateur photographers and people on the street standing in groups just staring up. I finally got to the office and heard that a plane had crashed into the WTC. We went into the Conference Room and turned on our TV and saw the coverage. We learned that there had been two planes, they were hijacked American passenger aircraft, and it was probably terrorist activity. Just then there was breaking news that the Pentagon had been hit by a plane. That's when we all got scared. That's when we understood that there was an attack on America going on, and who knew where it would end. We still don't, to be sure. I appreciated that I had my co-workers there with me, especially since they're historians and helped give me a context for understanding this surprise attack. Although no one could really talk smartly about it, we were reacting more emotionally. There was some discussion about what we should do--should we have our staff meeting? should we go to our other office at 34th Street far from the WTC? should we go home? We finally accepted the severity of the situation and decided to all walk uptown together. We decided to leave the office. On our way out, I tried to call my parents in Boston to let them know I was okay, but I couldn't get through. I just got an automated message that said all lines were busy. Normal phone service, in fact, didn't resume in NY for weeks. My uncle somehow got through to see if I was okay. I told him I was. I did manage to email my mom and tell her I was okay but was leaving the office, and would get back to her later in the day when I got home. We left the office and joined a mass exodus of people, some covered in sut, walking north from downtown. We walked along Hudson Street. At first we walked as a full staff, but within a few blocks we were separated. I stayed with some of my closest coworkers. Of this group, only one of us lived in Manhattan. I live in Brooklyn, and the two others live in New Jersey and Long Island respectively. We decided we should walk to the Manhattan coworker's apartment and rest there for a while before deciding what to do next. The subways were out, it wasn't clear whether we could walk across the bridges. The police just pointed us in the direction of north. As we walked along Hudson, Eighth Ave., and Central Park West, all pretty much the same street but with different names at different points, to 110th Street and Cathedral Parkway, the towers went down, one, then less than an hour later, the other. We heard a thunderous noise, then we all turned around, the mass of people who I walked amongst, and saw them crumble down to the ground, bringing up a cloud of smoke and dirt where there once stood an emblem of Americana. I ended up walking 8 1/2 miles to Harlem, to my coworkers apartment. It took about 2 hours to get to his house. My feet were blistered and I was starving. Along the way, I spoke to some other survivors, updating them on the Pentagon situation in case they hadn't had access to a TV or radio before they started walking. When we got to the apartment, my coworker's step-father was there watching the news. He was very hospitable to us. He was concerned that his son's best friend was in those towers and would have died. We sat around the TV as the expected death toll climbed and as guesses were made at who was responsible. We also heard about a fourth hijacked passenger plane that had crashed in rural Pennsylvania. Two of my coworkers went to the market and brought back lunch food. While we waited, I managed to get through to my parents and tell them I was okay. We made sandwiches and ate them. By then it was around 2 and the news announced that limited subway service had resumed. Myself and the New Jersey and Long Island residents of the group decided to try commuting home. I managed to get on the F and get back to Brooklyn. When I got home at around 3, I tried to call my mom again, but all lines were busy. I tried for hours. I finally got through late in the evening. My mom was furious that I didn't call sooner, but I explained I couldn't get through. My boss emailed me and said that the next day we should report to work, but Thursday we should all meet at our 34th street office. We all went on Thursday, but agreed that it was hard to concentrate. And, although less so, it still is. 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 story16.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. 199.219.180.4 Annotation Annotations to this item. Politics and politicians Struggle to get home Telephones and Cell Phones Television Coverage Terrorism Tribeca 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: It was a normal day just like any other day. But I had noticed that in all of my class' that 4 or 5 people were leaving, they were being called down by the nurse because one of their parents had come to pick them up. I thought it was weird but I didn't really think anything of it and just went on doing whatever I was doing.After 5th period I had lunch which was around 12 0' clock. I went through my usual ruitine;go to locker, buy lunch, sit with friends, eat and do home work. Then the bell rang,....(not even knowing it i was about to find out something that would change my life forever)I walked into my 6th period class and talked to my friend Lindsay until the 2nd bell rang.My teacher Dr. Schrader said that we needed to be quiet because he had something extremely important to tell us. We all were imeadiatly quiet. He said that their had been terrorist attacks on the United States. That they had high-jacked a bunch of planes and had already flown some of them into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon,I will never forget when he said that the Twin Towers were gone , that they no longer existed. I just couldnt grasp the concept of why some one would do something like that. For the rest of the period I sat their in amazement and shock, I was angry and sad and holding back tears, because the 1st thing that had come to my mind was that my dad was in the city. He is a court officer in lower manhatten. Dr schrader had told us that the city was in total lock down and no one was allowed in or out. During the period everyone asked questions and Dr. Schrader anwsered the best that he could. The bell rang, my next clas room was only a couple of doors down , I went to wait for my best friend Shanza as I always did except I looked at all the people passing every one was in a state of shock, the hallways were much quieter then they usually were , every one was just hugging eachother and crying, trying to help comfort eachother in the best way they knew how. My friend Shanza was already there though, she looked at me and saw that I was holdind back tears she asked me if I was ok and I was just frozen I tried hard not to cry, I finally said that my dad was in the city she said I know so is my my mom.A teacher saw me crying and escorted me down to the guidance office where alot of other people were trying to get in contact with thier family.My guidance councler ms.McQuade took me into an office and tried to call my house. After a couple of times she got through. She said hi this is your daughters guidance councler and she is in my office upset who am I speaking with?, Then she said oh I think I have someone you would like to talk to Kerri. I took the phone and said hello, my dad anwsered. I asked what he was doing home, he said that he had stayed home to get the car fixed because he had gotten into a little acident the night before. I was absolutly realieved that he was ok but I was still so upset that I was crying and shaking I told him that I loved him and that I had to go but I would see him soon. When I got home from school I sat with my older brother and watched the news.For the 1st time I saw the towers get hit and later them collapsing, I found out that another plane had crashed in Pennsalvania after a while I just had to shut the T.V off because I just couldn't handle it any more. I went to bed that night thinking that we were going to have a world war 3 that is starting to become true now and I am scared to death, but I know that my country, the best country, the country that stands for freedom, is going to get through it no matter what. I would like to say thank you to any fire fighters or police men or rescue teams that went into those buildings that day, they are the bravest people I have ever seen and I will never ever forget how brave they were that day, I would also like to say that I am sorry and that my hearts are with the families who lost someone that day.I LOVE NEW YORK!THESE COLORS DONT RUN! 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 story8428.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-10-12 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 24.186.165.48 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 study hall when the principal of my high school came on over the PA system and told the teachers to turn on the TV. I had no idea what was going on when I saw the first building. Terrorists didn't even cross my mind. I thought it was an accident or something happened in the building. I sat there and watched for a moment and turned away for a second. When I looked back, I watched the second plane hit. My heart and jaw completely dropped. I stayed glued to the TV for another half an hour. The school board decided not to let us watch it because of some "graphic scenes". Our nation's history, which we have to study anyways was sugar-coated and banned from our sight. As soon as I got out of school, I went to work as a waitress at a local cafe. We had maybe two customers in that day and the radio at full volume as we listened to our nation under attack. I can't begin to describe what I felt that day but I know every other American felt the same exact way. 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 story921.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-07-20 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 66.73.178.158 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 didn't realize that this day would bring such profound feelings of sorrow, but it has. I want to send my deepest sympathy to all those individuals who lost loved ones, especially the children who have lost parents. On 9/11 I received a phone call from my mother who sounded extremely frantic. She explained that my dad, who works for Empire Blue Cross Blue Sheild which occupied a number of floors in World One called her and said" there was a bomb in the building I'm running out right now". Then he quickly hung up. As I turned on the news I said, "mom there looks like there is just a fire in the building maybe they are just evacuating everyone". I rememeber after I said those words the second plane hit Tower 2, and I could feel the chills to this day witnessing that horrific scene. I remember saying" mom , oooh my a plane just crashed into the building". I knew something was wrong from that moment on. She rushed home, and we sat comforting each other with hopes my dad would phone us again. My 2 best friends who I love very much came over and spent time with my mother and I. All I could think is, look outside, what a beautiful sunny day, then reality would hit, and behind the beautiful scenic veiw, we faced dispair and destruction in the city which I so proudly said I was from. At 8pm that night my father walked through the door. He had holes in his shoes, no t-shirt, and was sun burned. He looked blank in the face, shocked. He said "I saw people, people my god, throwing themselves out of the windows, it was inexplicable. I thanked the Lord that my dad was ok, and prayed for the lord to be w/ those who I knew from that moment on lost loved ones. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story2880.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. 141.155.84.227 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 us history class at Shortridge Middle School. Mrs.Henderson was my teacher at the time when it happen. she was talking to kid in the class room when the phon rang and she aked me to get it, i told her yes i would. when i picked it up it was are assistant princcipal Mrs. Lewis ask me why was i geting the the phone not the teacher. She told me to tale the teacher to turne on the tv to chanle fox 59 that something had happen in New York. By that time the frist plane had hit the frist tower. We all thought we were looking at move untal the 2nd plane hit the tower. Are school was put on lock-down along with all IPS Schools that day. my mom came to the school and got me told me on the way home that my coune was in the frist on that got hit and knowone could get a hold of her to see if she was ok or not. We called her mom and she did not anything to. That week my mom and I what down there to help out when we got there we found out that she had not made it out. Every year i have what down there, but not this year. I miss her a lot and so dose the hole Hammond and page famliy. 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 story20440.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. 24.123.17.179 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 at my home in Florida. My mother who lives with us came to my bedroom door crying "Michelle, Michelle we are under attack." That was the most horrifying awakening I have ever had. Not only was I awoken from my physical sleep, but from my slumber of denial that this could really happen to us... to Americans...to innocent people. Since then I have had an awakening in my patriotism, and also learned never to take anything for granted because one morning it could be here in Florida... 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 story5360.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. 161.15.50.1