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: September 11,2001 started out as a beautiful day but turned ugly at about 8:46am. I was driving to work when I heard the first plane hit, and thought of it as an accident.I got to work and about a little past 9:00am learned of a second plane. My heart jumped and started crying,then the Pentagon, and Shanksville, PA. Oh my God I screamed.I will never forget this day, tears,pain,anger,disgust that I felt was beyond control.We were asked to go home where I found a church to go and find some solace there.My beautiful America has been hurt. The land of the brave was bleeding. I couldn't believe it,but America stood tall with pride, and more beautiful than before. That's my babe (America). May 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 story2828.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 204.115.229.49 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I woke as usual on a school morning at 6:30. My alarm clock beside the bed went off and shortly thereafter the television in the living room came on as I have the alarm set on it as a back up. I walked past the television on my way to my daughter's bedroom. Calie and Aubrie were still asleep, but I wasn't much more alert because I didn't even notice the television when I walked past it. I try to have it set for the Today Show to come on, and it was, but I hadn't noticed anything unusual when I walked past. I got my daughter's moving and came out to check the news. The first tower had already been hit, but Katie Couric and Matt Lauer were not sure what exactly had happened and were still under the assumption that it had been an accident. I called for my daughters to come out and see the news. Calie was 9, and Aubrie was 6. As they dressed in front of the television we talked about what might have happened. It was then that the second plane hit. We screamed. We were dumbstruck, we couldn't even begin to comprehend what this meant, but we were glued to the television just the same. Before the second tower fell I'd had put my daughter's on the bus to school but they had not yet arrived, and was getting my son Jeremy, age 1, out of bed. When the first tower collasped I held my breath for what seemed like forever. Physically I felt as if I couldn't breath. I really could not fathom what I had seen. I never thought that the buildings could be brought down. It was completely unimaginable. I felt the unbareable loss of life in my soul and I wept for the families whose lives were forever touched and altered. I was in a state of shock for the rest of the day. Every time I saw the image on televison, of the buildings collaspsing, I was in awe all over again. I needed to see it over and over again so I could begin to wrap my brain around this new reality. When my daughter's got to school the staff tried hard to make things as normal as possible. Aubrie in the first grade saw very little television and her day was fairly normal. Calie in the forth grade had the television on all day, and watched as the event's unfolded. Her teacher, Mr. Haase, thought this was an important day in our nation's history and they should see it all. As a forth grader in the 70's I remember my father sitting me down at the radio to listen as then preisdent Nixon made his final speech before he boarded the helicopter that took him away from Washington D.C. I felt ashamed of our country and our leadership. My father was right I was listening to a part of our history. I hope my daughter's will remember September 11, 2001, with pride and sadness, strength and resolve. Our every day lives have changed very little, way out here in the west...in a small town with just over 500 people, but our hearts will never be the same. We are not weak or broken for we have found a strength as a nation, as a people, as Americans, that we never knew we had. Even way out here I felt a "togetherness" I have never before experienced as a citizen. We have felt what it means to be American and how priviledged we all are to live in this great country. Even with all of our problems I would not want to live any place else but here and I would give my life to serve and protect the rights of my children and their children's children. My father, a 22 year Air Force veteren, was buried in Arlington this past spring and I have never felt so proud and patriotic. I used to look at the many graves in Arlington and feel it was such a waste of potential, but now I know those men and women gave their lives for a higher purpose that is bigger than each of us as individuals but not as a nation. 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 story5879.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. 207.173.226.248 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: My name is Robyn, I turn 14 in october. My story: I was in my third period social studies class and the teacher had the T.V. on. at first I thought it was an accident but then the second one hit and I knew something was up. P.S. I have a joke I made up and I would like it to be shown somewhere? Bend Over Bin Laden, Let The President Take Aim, Your Brains Will Go To Russia, Your Butt Will Go To Spain. Thankyou, Robyn V. 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 story5507.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. 66.136.47.165 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 second period class, Theater Arts I, and we were getting ready for our Pantomimes. We all were listening to the radio to find music for the pantomimes, and the new came on the radio that the second plane had already hit the second building of the World Trade Center. Then they said that the second building fell first, next the first one came down. I remember everyone getting hysterical on the radio, first I thought that it really didn't happen. Because I never thought that anyone would do such a thing to innocent people, but someone did. We went on like a normal day, except a few people went home to be with their families. I went to fourth period, Language Arts, and she was watching the buildings come down again. My teacher was crying because one of her students brother died. We watched the news the whole hour and a half we were in class. I was upset because I couldn't think anyone would be that cruel. I was sad for the people who lost loved ones. I was happy that I am still alive. Since that day my life has really changed emotionally. I never thought that someone would try to hurt us that much. I always thought that the world couldn't get worse, but it did. Things that happen like that really put your life in perspective, even when you are young. It really makes you think what kinds of decisions to make in the future, and the decisions you make now. It effects everything and everyone around you. I don't think anyone can describe the pain they went through that day of the eleventh. It was a horrible day to all of us, and it will remain in our minds for years to come. I don't think any of us will get over it, we will just learn to live with the pain of losing loved ones. You just kind of becomes a part of everyday life, learning to deal with the loss, the pain, the shock. 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 story1960.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. 2002-09-09 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 63.238.203.53 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: Well, this was a day to remember and never to forget. I was very devistating what I say on television. It was like a nightmare that I was actually living to see. Every channel on my television was broadcast to New York; Pennyslvania; Washington D.C.. Although I didn't know off anyone at the World Trade Center but tears came streaming down my face, I just felt so connected to these people who were trapped in the two buildings and not only that but, the passengers on these flights. I was imaganing my own loved ones trapped and honestly I can say this, "I am very thankful to God that none of my family members were involved in either incidents." I don't know how these terrorist would do such thing and think that they can get away with it. God is watching and I know during these last minutes, both passengers and co-workers of the World Trade Center was in God's Hands. So many lives for what cause? I ask myself that everyday since last year's incident. WHY???? It seems it was just yesterday it occured, but it's been a year. I was in the emergency room at Tri-City hospital around 10p.m. and it was broadcasting on t.v. and I was just thinking about I just wish I could be there to help them find those bodies. I was very sad and puzzled. Well, this year I met this guy who is now my significant other and the first question I asked him in February when we met was "When is your Birthday?" He replied, the famous day that will never be forgotten in the history of the world. I said, "what date may that be?" He replied, 911. I was shocked and speechless. Well, today is his 37th birthday and I called him first thing this morning to wish him a Happy Birthday and he sounded down. He said that it will always be a sad day in America. I told him that to look it at this way. Things happen for a reason, and to look at it that it took this for America to come together as one. My heart goes out to all the families and friends of those who's lives were forefully taken on 9/11/01. But, I am still trying to heal with what happen a year ago. Well, this is my experience and I hope that it will endure someone or inspire someone out there. I would also like to say thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts and to extend my gratitude to America. May you all who is reading this be blessed and my the Good Lord up above continue to guide us and bind us together today, tomorrow and forever more. May the Good Lord Bless and keep America as ONE. Sincerely, Pogisa Aukuso Misa Tuiveta 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 story4753.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. 199.186.134.170 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I woke up about 6:30 am that morning and headed for the restroom, as I usually do. The first thing I do is turn on the radio for the traffic and weather. I was greeted by a grave news reporter's voice giving a live report about the second plane hitting the towers. I called to my wife, and we both turned on the news and watched in shock. My mother called me, and she kept repeating over and over: "They hit the Pentagon... they hit the Pentagon." Not knowing what else to do, my wife and I watched the news as we got dressed for work, wondering whether to go in or not, or how long we would stay. We decided to go to work. I work at the Calif. State Library, directly across the street from the State Capitol, and when I arrived there was a stunned look on everyone's face. The first tower had just fallen. Police were stationed everywhere about the capitol, blocking off entrances with their cars, looking serious. People were milling about under the overcast sky; some were crying, others looked shocked. Some were gathered around people who had radios and portable TVs. Throughout the building, very few people could work. After about and hour, the work came: everyone was to be sent home. My wife, who works for the Social Security office, was also sent home. We went home, and all day long, we sat and watched the news, called friends and family, and wondered about the future to come. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story1206.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-08-19 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 63.192.170.198 Annotation Annotations to this item. Gov't workers (non-military and non-rescue) Politics and politicians 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: On September 11 of 2001, I woke up at 6:30am to school in Bogota, Colombia, I had my 1st and 2nd period class after it, we had the first rest at 9:30am and I was with my friends sitting around the school eating and then we went to the Auditorioum where the school has the TV production class and I went there and I saw the colombian journalist from New York (on the one of the local colombian channels)and he was covered by all of the smoke and everything looked sad, so the bell rang and we went to the classroom, a few people knew what was going on that day, so my friend told the teacher what we saw earlier and he turn on the tv and the repetition of the video when the planes hit the towers were over and over again on every channel, until I saw when the second tower collapsed and I everybody just stood in a silence mood. I mean some of my friends have been in New York and they told the whole class, that these towers were HUGE! and that thousands of people worked there, after that we saw the people jumping out of the buildings and I remember that my teacher started to cry so he decieded to turn off the Tv but after all that, at the lunch everybody was talking about it, and I was so interesting on what was going on but no teacher at all leaved us to watch more Tv, when I arrived at my home I turned on the Tv, to CNN and it was just a disaster, people running, screamming, hurted, blood, smoke, papers, etc. I was so sad that night, then I told my mom (she was working, her job was outside Bogota in her office there's no Tv so she didn't know anything. When she saw the crashing and then the collapse, she almost got out because she couldn't imagine how many people could be death already. 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 story11432.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2005-06-06 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 71.100.107.119 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 the 30th floor of the North Tower. I had arrived at work about 7:30 AM. That particular morning, I had already accomplished a lot of work. All of a sudden, there was this dull thud, and the building shook, back and forth. There was absolutely no prior warning. I was at my desk, and was knocked out of my chair. I looked out the window, to the east (the plane had hit the tower on the north side), and saw flying debris falling all over the place. Some of it appeared to be floating. I could not imagine what had happened, but I remember thinking how eerie it was. Then I thought, it was an earthquake. Someone yelled out ?What was that? Then, ?the fire exit.? Almost immediately, we were in the stairwell. For me it was like a reflex action. I did not even think to take my briefcase, which was right next to me. We began walking down. Then we were off loaded onto the 27th floor. People were crying, some visibly shaken. Although I did not show it, I was one of them. Everything was in disarray. I wanted to call home. I went over to several telephones, but none were working. After a while, we were allowed to go back to the stairwell. I do not even know if it was the same one. I never looked at my watch while I was in the building. The hallways were cloudy, but it was not thick smoke. There was a strange odor. I am told it was jet fuel vapors, but I do not know. I just remember that it smelled bad and I was very nervous. Back in the stairwell, we began to walk. More than once we were again stopped. Some people, including myself were holding handkerchiefs to their mouth. By this time the word had been passed along that the building had been hit by a plane. There was no hint, at least to me, that it was intentional, and there was no mention that the other tower had also been hit. I was getting more scared. particularly when movement stopped. I remember thinking that I hope and pray that I get out alive. During this entire time, there was calm and a feeling of cooperation to help one another. I wished that someone would have expressed their fear. Maybe it was selfish of me. I was so scared, but did not want to be the first to say so. Then I saw firefighters. It was around the 15th floor. This is the first time I felt safe. As we were walking down, we kept getting direction to keep to the right. We were in a single file, going down, and in the inside lane, the firefighters were going up, carrying their equipment. There were hoses. Each firefighter had a heavy container on his back. The firefighters were going slowly, stopping every few steps. One of them said to the one behind, something like ?how you doin?? The reply, which I will never forget, in light of what happened, was ?I?ve been better.? Then there were shouts from above to stand to the right. A burn victim was being escorted down. She had her arms wrapped in what looked like white cloth. Once she passed, we again began our decent. It was slow, but steady. About the 6th or 7th floor, there was water in the stairwell. It came almost up to the knees. I remember holding on to both railings, for fear of slipping. By now this group of firefighters had passed us. We moved toward the center. We were able to go down more quickly. Also, water was now dripping from the ceiling. I was soaked. As we went down, I remember hearing someone say, one more flight to go. I think it was one of the building engineers. I just remember how good that sounded. Sure enough, he was correct. After the last flight of stairs, we entered the shopping mall at the Trade Center, where the Duane Reade drug store was located. I could not believe how it looked. It was like a war zone. There was no electricity. There were police officers on either side, forming a corridor, as a straight continuation of the stairwell. I tried to go to a telephone, but the officers, would not allow it. They were shouting to keep walking. I made my way to the escalator, by the Borders bookstore. I was finally in the street. My feeling now was one of elation. Outside, the first thing I saw was an endless number of fire engines, as far as the eye could see, in every direction. Also, the sound of sirens was enormous. I walked towards Vesey Street. Among the crowd were two of my coworkers, who had also been on the 30th floor. These were not my teammates, whom I learned later, had different escape routes. Looking back, both buildings were on fire. After staring for a couple of minutes, and without a plan, I began to walk away. I went east on Vesey street, next to the cemetery of St. Paul?s Chapel, where I went from Church Street to Broadway, at Park Row. What was on my mind was to call my wife Stephanie, to tell her that I was okay. This turned out to be no small task. Every street telephone had a long line. So I kept walking on Park Row. I kept turning around to look back at the burning buildings. It was an unbelievable scene. Everyone was just staring, heads up toward the sky, with opened mouths. I walked some more and saw another amazing sight. I was at the NYPD Police headquarters. In front of the building, were about 15-20 officers. Each had on a helmet, and nightstick in hand. They were in formation, single file, running on the double towards the burning buildings. Like the firefighters, they were going towards the danger, while we were all going in the opposite direction. This is something you expect to see in a movie, but I was watching it right in front of my eyes. I walked halfway on the block (I think it was Spruce Street), and went into one of the Pace College buildings. There were public telephones in the lobby. And there were only a couple of people waiting to use them. Here is where I decided to wait. I called Stephanie, to tell her that I was okay. I was so glad to hear her voice. She was on the line with my daughter-in-law Mindy, in Florida, when the call waiting interrupted that call. Mindy, knowing that I worked in the Trade Center, had called my company office in Albany, and had been told that we, the New York City employees, were not alright. I later learned Stephanie was crying, and that Mindy was trying to determine how to tell Stephanie what Mindy had heard from Albany. Stephanie knew I worked in the World Trade Center, but not what tower, or which floor. She used to tell folks, my husband works in the Trade Center. I used to tell her all the time that I worked in the safest building in New York. It had already been a target once, and would not be again. At this time I had no plan, and told Stephanie that somehow I would get home. She asked me if I had had anything to eat yet and I said no. She suggested that I get something. I would need this for energy. I left the Pace building and went east to the corner, which was Gold Street. There was a food stand, but no one in sight, so I just kept going. I went across the street and stood outside the Verizon building. There were many people outside There were radios and we just listened. This is where I learned about the plane crashing into the South Tower, and that it was terrorism. I also heard about the Pentagon. What will be with me the rest of my life is the sight of people jumping out of the World Trade Center. I saw several of them, and it was just horrible. First we thought it might be debris, but then it became very clear that it was people. Days later I saw pictures in the magazines of people hanging at the windows. This is one of the worst things that happened that day. I can not get those pictures out of my mind. After being there a few minutes, something else terrible happened. From where we were, we could not see the South Tower, because it was being blocked from our vantage point by another building that was almost in front of us. We heard this roar. This was the South Tower coming down, but we did not know it at the time. Because none of us knew what was happening, almost in unison, we all began to run, in the opposite direction from where the noise was coming. I must have run about two blocks before I even stopped. I was completely out of breath, and my knees were buckling. By now I was at the Brooklyn Bridge and running toward the East river, on Frankfurt Street. The way I would describe the noise is to imagine a thousand heavy carts, all with metal wheels, rolling over a metal surface at high speed, accelerating the whole time. I had no idea what was happening. I thought it might be a bomb. None of us, not me anyway, were in a position to even hear a radio description, because we were all running. Where we were, there was no actual cloud of dust and smoke, the way it showed on television, but we were all running just like the people on the TV. When I finally stopped running, I began to walk back to Gold street. On the radio, I then heard what had happened. It was unbelievable. We just stood around for a few minutes, not knowing what to say. I hardly knew what to think. But then I began thinking about what I was going to do. How was I going to get home? I decided not to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge. I had run towards it, out of desperation, because that was where I was when the South Tower collapsed, but I felt that the Brooklyn Bridge was too famous a target, and I was not going to take a chance. I did not want to be on the bridge, fearing that it too might be destroyed. I began to walk away from the East River. I really did not know where I was, but I was heading in the general direction of Chinatown. Along the way I found a telephone. There was still a bit of a line, but not like earlier. When it was my turn, I called back Stephanie, to tell here where I was then. I would call her several times during the day, to let her know how I was doing. I also called my sons Bruce and Paul, who both live in Florida. They knew that I worked in the Trade Center. I was unable to get through to Paul, either at his office, or at home (where his wife Bonnie was, with their children Amanda Lily, age 4 ? on 9/11/01 and Joshua Andrew, born March 6, 2001). Before Paul moved to Florida, at one point he had worked in the South Tower. Paul?s present company in Florida also had offices in the Trade Center. In January 2002, Paul was sent to New York, as part of a team, to help relocate the people in his company that were in the Trade Center. He was here for almost two weeks, working downtown near the site. For some reason my call to Bruce (Mindy?s husband) was successful. It was so good to speak with him. I know he felt good hearing my voice. We talked for a few minutes. He was very perceptive. Almost immediately he made the comparison between The Trade Center and Pearl Harbor. Our family has a Pearl Harbor survivor. After the phone conversation, I continued my walk, and stayed on a street, while we all clustered around a car radio. It was here that I witnessed the collapse of the North Tower. I did not comprehend it at that moment, but later that night I began to realize that I had been in that building earlier in the day. It was chilling. After a few minutes, I continued my walk, and soon found myself at the Manhattan Bridge. I decided that I would walk over the bridge into Brooklyn, where I would have Stephanie pick me up. Walking over the Manhattan Bridge was difficult for me. I was on the upper level. It seemed like the bridge was all uphill. I was already very tired from the walk down the stairwell, and the running. On the bridge I kept stopping every few minutes to rest What was on my mind now, as also on Stephanie?s, as she told me later, was that my doctor had advised not doing any exercise, until I lost some weight. Looking back at the New York skyline, all that was visible was the black cloud of smoke over the entire area. I could also see the people walking over the Brooklyn Bridge. Occasionally, an emergency vehicle was coming toward Manhattan, and we had to move to the side. I finally got to the Brooklyn side of the bridge. Here people were giving out drinks. This was very much appreciated. On Flatbush Avenue, I walked towards Myrtle Avenue, and went again to a telephone, but here the wait was too long. I wound up sitting on a chair outside a grocery store. I was there for some time. I needed to rest. Eventually, I went back to Flatbush Avenue and began to walk. I was going to keep walking until I could get away from the crowds and traffic. This way it would be easier for Stephanie to drive. I was feeling very warm. The traffic was at a standstill. There was this city bus, and many people were getting off. I decided to get on, to at least get into the air conditioning. I got a seat. We started talking. I said that I was in the building, on the 30th floor. The person next to me mentioned that his father works in the World Trade Center, on the 30th floor. I asked him who his father was. When he said Joe Cavanna. I could not believe my ears. I know Joe for more than 25 years. Meeting Joe?s son, who is also named Joe, was one of the best things that happened to me. He stayed with me for the next several hours. As we made our way through Brooklyn, I knew I was slowing him down, and I told him so, more than once. He should not feel obligated to stay with me. Joe stayed with me the whole time. Joe navigated us through this area in Brooklyn, unfamiliar to me. He gave me bottled water. We talked about many things. He had heard from his dad, and knew that he was safe. We remained on the bus until we got to a transfer point to take another bus, but that was not to be. We waited over an hour, as more than one bus came, but did not stop. They were packed. When I now called Stephanie I found out that the Verrazano Bridge was closed, in the Brooklyn direction. I told her that I will have to get into Staten Island, where she would be able to pick me up somewhere. Then Joe and I decided to walk. The bus that I needed to get to Staten Island was on 92nd Street. We walked, and walked, and walked some more. Along the way I went into a grocery store to get change, for more telephone calls. That is when I learned about the plane crash in Pennsylvania. We passed many streets, with names. Bergen Street, Union Street and many others. Then we got to 1st street. Thinking about 92nd street, I thought I would never make it. Hoping to be able to get a different bus, Joe and I walked from 5th Avenue to 3rd Avenue. The avenue blocks are much longer that the streets. Each avenue block is equivalent to about three or four streets. It sure felt that way. At about 15th street we saw a sign on a store down the block It said Car Service. This was like an oasis, but as we approached, we saw that the store was empty, and there was a ?for rent? sign in the window. A very big disappointment. We continued to walk, until we approached the Gowanus Parkway overpass. We had heard vibrations on 4th Avenue, and thought that might be the subway, which had been shut down. There was a police officer. We asked him about the trains, and he said the trains were running again. Now back to 4th Avenue, at the overpass. At the closest station we got on the train, and stayed to the last stop, at 95th street. There I was able to get the Staten Island bus. Joe was already near his destination in Brooklyn. Again I need to say thank God for Joe. He was a lifesaver. We shook hands. I wish I had hugged him. I finally got on the bus. That day there were no fares collected and we used the back, as well as the front door. The ride took over two hours. Except for initial conversation before we began to move, the ride was mostly silent. It was reminiscent of another ride home, the evening of November 22, 1963. Near the end, there was some talking. People were asking for directions of how they should direct their families to pick them up in Staten Island, from New Jersey. The bus finally got to the last stop, at the Staten Island Mall. This is five minutes from my home. Here I would go in and call Stephanie. The Mall was locked down. I had to walk to the next shopping center for a phone. This normally would have taken just a few minutes, but by now I was exhausted, and my legs were in bad shape. Finally, I made it to a phone and minutes later, Stephanie and I were together again. There had been a time in the stairwell when I thought I would never see her again. It was about 7 PM when Stephanie got me home. It was only then that I began to realize what had happened, and what could have been. In the following days, we spent a lot of time with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law Donna and Joseph Messina, as well as with friends and neighbors. In a couple of weeks Stephanie and I flew to Florida. This trip had been planned much earlier. We always go to Florida for each grandchild?s birthday, and it was Sarah Frances?s second birthday October 11 ? Bruce and Mindy?s daughter). I needed to hug my family, each and every one of them. I needed to hold my grandchildren. They are too young to understand now, but some day, I want them to know that on September 12, 2001, by the grace of God, they still had two grandpas. Although we were very nervous about flying, we were not going to cancel the trip. The airport was a new experience. Everything was different. Everyone was staring at everyone. While waiting to board, somebody had left their carryon unattended. Several of us told an agent. The person had just gone to get a newspaper. On the plane there was one person who did not put the seatbelt on quick enough. We thought he might be getting ready to jump up and do harm. Stephanie alerted the flight attendant. The night we flew was the first time that the National Guard was on duty. In Fort Lauderdale, we thanked them for being there. They had automatic weapons and looked very young, but we were so happy to see them. Not too long after September 11, there was the Anthrax scare, at the American Media building in Boca Raton. My son Bruce works just down the road. Also, we had heard from news reports that some of the terrorists had been living in Delray Beach. As it turns out, they had been just around the corner from where we have our place. I felt like I was being followed. Also, I live very close to the landfill in Staten Island. This is where the Trade Center debris was being brought. Anytime, we left our house, we immediately saw the searchlights, 24 hours a day. It was impossible to forget about it. This went on for months. Usually when we go to Florida, I stay about ten days and then fly home, to go back to work. Stephanie remains for a couple of weeks. This time I caused her a problem. A day or so before I was to return to New York, all over the TV, there were announcements that the terrorists were going to do something else. I had a panic attack, and wanted Stephanie to return home with me. I was afraid of everything, especially being alone. She rearranged her trip and came home with me. Stephanie was wonderful. My entire family, each and everyone, is so supportive. In New York and Florida my behavior was different. It was noticeable to me, and others. I had little tolerance for small things that used to not matter. My temper was short. It was like I was angry all the time. There was an exception. I was very happy the day the United States started bombing Afghanistan. Bonnie and Mindy, both health care professionals, spoke to me about Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Stephanie suggested that when I return to New York, I utilize my company?s counseling service benefit. I promised that I would do that. Now my problem was overcoming my fear of getting back on the plane, to return to New York. Bruce and Paul?s in-laws, Annette and Carl Greenwald (only one set of in-laws, as Mindy and Bonnie are sisters) were great in giving me the nerve to fly home. I did go for the therapy, and it was most helpful. The reason I mention names is because I want anyone who reads this to know that there are people that really make a difference in my life Everyone has such people in their own life. Please, do not wait for a crisis, or even a special occasion to tell them how you feel. Tell them today. Do it often. Not too long ago, in a newspaper article, I learned that when my company (Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield) was supposed to move to the World Trade Center, we were to occupy floors higher than the 100th . That did not happen because two executives decided otherwise. One did not want the employees to have to change elevators, to get to the office. The other felt uncomfortable being so high. I am very mindful that because we went to the lower floors, others wound up on the higher floors, and most lost their lives. This is very, very sad. It is incredibly sad for everyone who died that day, and for their families. My company lost nine employees. I knew some of them. I carry the newspaper article in my wallet. It is a daily reminder of just how lucky I am. It makes me philosophical. I think about timing. Decisions made months earlier sometimes effect thing that happen in the future. Some who got into an elevator became trapped. That could very easily have been me. It was timing that allowed me to meet Joe Cavanna on the bus. My first call to Stephanie, hearing my voice, before she might have been told that I was not okay. I can not begin to imagine what that would have been like. One of my teammates, Ravi Thakur was seconds away from having the fireball from the South Tower land on him. Ravi tells me that almost a year later, he still sometimes feels the heat. Talking about that day to someone who was there, versus someone who was not, is a completely different conversation. Both have been helpful. In the days and weeks after, I have been advised by some that I should not watch the news, and all the documentaries. I have found that I can not not watch. I am driven to it like a magnet. I did however come close to turning off the recent HBO special. As the first anniversary approaches, I have mixed feelings. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a serious student of history. I have a large collection of commemorative stamps, books and magazines for all kinds of events ( NASA, World War 2, Elvis). But this one is different. I watched the 6 month anniversary, and I will be watching on September 11, 2002. When I do, I guarantee one thing. My eyes will not be dry. 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 story1027.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. 2002-08-15 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 216.5.154.160 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: Article published Oct 9, 2001, Erie Times News (http://www.goerie.com/) September 11 and American policy Ellen Goodman is away. One of the consequences of the horrendous terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 is that the United States is marching off to war. Given the terrible damage and large numbers of casualties, it is hardly surprising that most Americans want to destroy the terrorist organization(s) that launched the attacks and the government(s) that aided and abetted the terrorists. Unfortunately, there has been remarkably little public discussion as to why people from the Middle East chose to become suicide bombers intent on piloting air liners into enormous office buildings filled with people. Nor has there been much deliberation regarding the probable consequences of using military force to punish terrorists and the governments that harbor them. President George W. Bush struck a popular chord when he charged that terrorists "have attacked America because we are freedom's home and defender." In his analysis, Americans are innocent victims of barbaric "people that hate freedom and hate what we stand for." The victims on the four hijacked planes and in the buildings were innocent victims, but President Bush is voicing a widely held myth whenever he argues that the terrorist attacks were designed to destroy freedom and democracy in the United States, or that the United States was attacked because it is the defender of freedom and democracy abroad. In fact, the United States was attacked, not because of its political ideals, but rather because of its government's foreign policy in the Middle East. During World War II and in the years after, U.S. power flowed into the region. There the U.S. government sought allies in the fight against fascism, then communism, and lastly against an expansionist Iraq. In these conflicts American policy-makers were not particular about the help they recruited. Brutal dictatorships, repressive military governments, and absolute monarchies were all recipients of U.S. economic and military assistance. In Iran the United States government even went so far as to overthrow the country's democratically elected parliamentary government in 1953. Today, the United States government arms and trains the militaries of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and American troops help defend these countries. But these countries are run by monarchies that deny fundamental democratic rights to their peoples and vigorously oppress any opponents to their rule. The United States government also supports with extensive military and economic aid a corrupt one-party dictatorship in Egypt. The one democratic state in the region the U.S. government supports is Israel. Unfortunately, the Israeli government conducts a brutal occupation of two regions?the West Bank and the Gaza Strip?whose population is made up of Palestinian Arabs. The Palestinians have no democratic rights or liberties under the Israeli occupation and live in appalling poverty. In short, the foreign policy of the United States government in the Middle East has not been aligned in support of freedom and democracy, but rather in support of brutal and oppressive governments that deny their peoples liberty and often leave them mired in poverty. Many Middle Easterners have concluded, as a result of these past actions, that the United States government opposes the legitimate demands of poor and oppressed Arab and Islamic peoples throughout the region. The consequence of this policy, in conjunction with a militant strand of Islamic fundamentalism, has led a small minority of Middle Easterners to conclude that terrorist attacks against the United States and its military forces are the best way to change this policy. The intent of these attacks is not to destroy the American way of life and democracy, but rather to get Americans to change their foreign and military policy toward the region. In response President Bush has promised a war that will "secure our country and eradicate the evil of terrorism." But despite all the nation's vast power, a military strike at terrorists in countries such as Afghanistan, and the governments of these states, will not and cannot address the current causes of terrorist attacks. In all likelihood an American military attack on or in Afghanistan will kill innocent civilians, inflame public opinion in the Middle East, which is already largely anti-American, and lead to demands for revenge. In this environment, extremist groups will easily be able to recruit a new generation of terrorists, more numerous and committed then their predecessors. Thus the widespread use of American military power to punish and revenge the Sept. 11 attacks ironically will leave the United States with more enemies, not fewer, and in the end our country will be less secure than ever. These are the tragic and predictable consequences of such a course; they need to be kept in mind when Americans discuss the use of military force to revenge and punish those responsible for terrorist assaults on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. JOHN P. ROSSI is an associate professor of history at Penn State Behrend. He recently co-authored "Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Automobile Insurance: Samuel P. Black Jr., and the Rise of Erie Insurance, 1923-1961." The book is part of the Studies in Entrepreneurship Series published by Routledge. 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 story423.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-04-16 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 146.186.176.178 Annotation Annotations to this item. Afganistan/Mideast Foreign Policy Military Politics and politicians U.S. retribution DOMESTIC Notes Notes about this item. approved since submitter authored article 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 fallen asleep on the couch. I when I woke I saw the first tower on fire. Thought it was the the first bombing of the towers some years ago. Then saw that it was on the top floors and I started to really see what was going on. My daughter was going to school in Chicago Ill. My sister called and said are you scared for Donna. I said what are you talking about? My mother and I where watching the news from Milwaukee WI. My sister works in ILL. They are getting the entire down town Chicago area out of the buildings. Then my daughter called me and said Mom I want to come home but I am in the middle of finals. I told her to leave. She said she can't I have tests can I please come home. I said yes... School was canceled. She was safe at her home in Chicago. I have nevered said how scared that I was and she may never know. She is my life. I watched today one year later. And saw how many people lives have changed forever. My heart goes out to all the families of Sept.11,2001. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story5983.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. 216.170.163.229 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: On 9/11/01 at 9:30 o'clock I was going to leave to my work as I heard my boyfriend calling me to see something on the TV. I came over to him and I could not believe what I saw. I guess you all now and understand how I felt at that moment, you all went through the same situation. so I dont want to tell u how I felt because it is going to be long. I just want to tell that I will always remember that day, and those people who tradgically died that horrible day. Also I want to tell families who lost their loved once to be strong. And for the last, I want to thank all the firefighters THANK YOU for your heroism that u showed that day, and you all gonna be blased by God for everything and for people you saved and tried to save. 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 story4823.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 204.26.107.122 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: My wife and I had an apartment in Parc Place on Rector Street, about a block and a half down West Street from the base of the twin towers. We looked cattycorner over to them when we sat at our dinner table by the window in our 3rd floor studio apartment. For us, New York was our work home. Every weekend we commuted back to our real home in Atlanta, or occasionally to visit Lori?s family and my relatives in lower Delaware. We actually spent more time in New York than in our ?home?, but I never considered myself a New Yorker and always longed to get home to our house, yard, and dog in Atlanta. We had been doing this routine for quite a while. I am an independent consultant and had a few clients in the New York/New Jersey area that I?d work at for months at a time. Lori was a consultant for one of the big five and had been on several stints in New York as well. It was nice when we both could be in New York at the same time, as we could actually live together during the week as husband and wife. We had spent eight months on and off living in the World Trade Center Marriott nestled between the base of the two towers. It was a nice place, but any hotel gets old real quick. You can?t have much of your own stuff there and you get fat from eating restaurant food and not getting any exercise. We had some nice times in the hotel, though. I remember a day it snowed and we ate in the hotel restaurant. The restaurant had a glass ceiling and you could look straight up at the towers. We briefly walked out to the freezing, snow-swept plaza with the now damaged-and-moved fountain and statue of Atlas holding up the world. (I don?t think it is called that.) It was always amazing looking up at those towers from the restaurant. I can?t imagine what the view was like the morning of the attack. In March Lori finally got on long-term expenses and we found our apartment. We had a nice summer there. I liked being by the water a lot more than I liked the times we had stayed or lived in mid-town. The area was very vibrant in the summer. There were always joggers and bikers going by the river and volleyball games and free concerts going on. We spent Fourth of July walking around the city because it fell on a Wednesday. I really warmed to New York last summer. I ate down by the water at least every other night, and there was always a large crowd of young people out at the bars and restaurants by the yacht basin. One day while I was working at a client in One Chase Plaza, I left work early and detoured through the World Trade Center Plaza. There was a free concert going on, so I rushed home and changed and spent the rest of the afternoon listening to good music played right below the towers. I had a couple beers and sat by the fountain, getting cooled by the air rushing away from the water. That day was one of those days when I really felt alive. Walking home through the Winter Garden, down the marble steps and out by the yacht basin, I felt like a Roman must have felt, walking through the grandest city of its time. I did a lot of these things alone. As an independent contractor, I always did a good job of working forty hours a week and rarely any more. I?d work longer if needed, but didn?t feel compelled to put in overtime just for appearances. Lori as a salaried employee was working seventy hours-plus most weeks, and it was ticking me off. She received no economic benefit from all of the extra time, but her company kept piling it on her and billing her out by the hour. We had several arguments over her work schedule, and most nights she would get home at nine or ten, long after I had eaten. She finally agreed that after her current project was done, she?d leave her job and find something that gave her a little more life balance. In August I was done at my Manhattan client and started back at a previous client I had in New Jersey. I rented a car every week at the Newark airport and commuted back and forth from our Manhattan apartment to New Jersey every morning. It was a reverse commute from everyone else, so it only took me about 45 minutes or so each way. I garaged my rental car below the World Financial Center next to our apartment building. On Tuesday, September 11th, I got my car out of the garage a little before 8AM and drove out of Manhattan. I always drove on Liberty Street, made a left on West Street by the towers, and headed north to the Holland Tunnel. After the tunnel, I had about a half-hour ride to Livingston, New Jersey to my client?s site. As always, I was listening to the radio coming in to work. Shortly before I pulled into the parking lot, I heard that a plane hit one of the Trade Center towers. Like probably everyone else at first, I thought it was probably just some idiot who rammed his Cessna into the building and it wasn?t a big deal. It was interesting news, but nothing to worry about. I commented to the security lady as I walked into the building that a plane had just hit, and she barely acknowledged me. As I got to my cubicle, I overheard someone say it was a passenger jet that hit one of the towers. As breaking news occurs there is always a fair amount of misinformation that gets spread, so I wasn?t sure whether to believe the report. I tried logging on to CNN and Fox News websites, but they were responding very poorly. I tried calling Lori but couldn?t get through. At that point I was curious but wasn?t worried about Lori. Someone yelled over the office that a second plane had hit the other tower. I started trying to call Lori repeatedly on her cell phone but couldn?t get through. I started getting a call or two from my mom, dad, and Lori?s parents on our status but didn?t have anything to tell them yet. Most of my friends and relatives thought I was in Manhattan as well. There was a big television down near the cafeteria entrance, and everyone started to gather in front of it. I went down and saw the news and it started sinking in that it was really happening. Once I verified the second plane had hit I knew it was a terrorist attack. I went back up and tried to call Lori again. This time she had managed to leave a message for me that she was okay, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Other people I worked with had asked me what was going on with my wife and I let them know she was okay. I started hearing reports from people coming back from the TV that people were jumping from one of the towers. I chose not to go watch it, and started to settle into work. I figured the worst was over and tragic as it was, I needed to get back to work and get on with the day. Some people were calm about it but a few people were crying. In that area of New Jersey, a lot of people knew people in or near that area. I started calling people back to let them know I had heard from Lori. I never thought a tower would collapse. Someone said there was an explosion and something was happening. A few minutes later someone said the first tower had fallen. That I could not believe, so I went back to the TV. I went back upstairs to call Lori again. I tried several times to reach her but couldn?t get through. I was only somewhat worried at that point, but my apprehension was growing. On one hand, I knew that a horrible attack had taken place and I knew hundreds or thousands of people had just died. But on a personal level, I was only worried about Lori. Lori can be paranoid at times, so I figured she would be as far away as possible from the Trade Towers by then. I had no idea she was only a block away by the yacht basin when the first tower collapsed. I believe somewhere around that time I heard about a plane hitting the Pentagon. There was a lot of misinformation flying around then. There were rumors of eight planes in the air and of planes being shot out of the sky by air force jets. I got through to Lori?s cell phone and left a message for her to get out of there. I said something like, ?Lori, call me as soon as you can. Do NOT go to work. Get out of there. This may not be over. Take a ferry to New Jersey if you can. Just get out of there.? Her cell phone was buried in dust at this point, but I didn?t know that. I didn?t hear anything else from Lori that morning. I received calls from friends and relatives all over the place. I told them I had heard from her after the planes hit but not after the towers collapsed. Her father and I called each other several times asking if the other had heard from Lori. I got a call from one of her work colleagues asking if I knew whether she was okay, as she hadn?t made it in before the towers collapsed. The silence from Lori was getting me very worried. I was calling constantly trying to reach her, as well as listening to the news. I couldn?t concentrate on anything else. I knew I couldn?t get back into Manhattan at that point, but I didn?t know that I wouldn?t be able to go back into the city for days. I couldn?t go back to our apartment so I just stayed at work. One person was trying to organize a work meeting, but finally gave up. Others were starting to leave work. I was in a weird state where I really wasn?t sure what to do or where to go. Keep working or leave; and if I left, where to? A buddy of mine, Paul, invited me to come over to his house to wait for word, so I finally left. We went to his house and had a beer or two while watching the news. My friend was trying to be entertaining, but I only had hearing from Lori on my mind. Somewhere around 12:30 to 1:30, I finally heard from Lori. I may have heard from Gerald first; I can?t remember. Lori said she was at someone?s apartment and that she couldn?t get out of the city. I told her it didn?t matter when she got out, but that she would get out eventually. She told me she had lost her cell phone and computer. We both assumed the apartment was probably destroyed. None of that mattered and wasn?t even a consideration. I knew eventually we would be reunited and it didn?t matter if it took a few days. I felt a ton of bricks lift off my chest. I started calling people back letting them know Lori was okay. I could finally start thinking about everything that was going on. I felt sad for all of the death and destruction. I thought about the people jumping. I felt rage against the perpetrators. I wondered how long it would take to get back to normal. I think the thought process I had that day was similar to many people?s. At each event, I kept thinking the worst was over. A plane hits the towers. NY will have a big black eye on a tower but life will go on. A second plane hit; same thing. The realization that the planes were hijacked passenger jets. I fly twice a week and can imagine the horror those people must have had in there last few moments of realization. Or the horror of the tourists who chose that morning to go up to Windows of the World. Then the people started jumping from 80+ stories up onto the concrete and granite below. That is the worst, I thought. I imagine the people in their office having their morning coffee, only to burn to death or jump to their deaths less than an hour later. If the towers hadn?t collapsed, all of that wouldn?t have had a tenth of the impact on me. When each tower fell, I was in disbelief. Those buildings were so big. They survived the impact, so why did they collapse? And when the plane struck in D.C. and the other plane went down, I was wondering what in the hell was going on. But for the moment I was stranded in New Jersey, and Lori was stranded in New York. I thought we would both be there a while, and Paul had already offered for me to stay as long as I needed to. We went and ate lunch somewhere, and stopped by the liquor store to buy beer. Some redneck was saying how he was going down to Patterson to beat up Arabs. We went back to Paul?s house. We were talking with his neighbors and rehashing the same thoughts. We were going to war, and this time everyone would be for it. If the terrorists thought that Americans were afraid to loose a few soldiers, they were going to learn that this time casualties were no object. We expressed the disbelief and sadness of all those people dead. We thought ten thousand or more people had just died. We couldn?t believe the towers were gone. Lori had called again and we talked some more. She was going to try to get out of the city. I told her if she could get anywhere on the Jersey side, I?d come get her and we?d head straight to Delaware. We had already agreed that we were not coming back to work that week. Paul and his neighbors wanted to go somewhere for dinner. I reluctantly agreed but took my rental car in case Lori was able to get out. I had just ordered when Lori called my cell phone. She was getting on a ferry to Hoboken. I told her I was on my way but I had my doubts I could get that close to the city. I cancelled my order and started driving. As I got closer, the road was closed for emergency vehicles only and I kept looking for a route towards Hoboken. Lori had given me the cell phone of one of her traveling companions she had jumped in a cab with and I told her I couldn?t get there. She had gotten to New Jersey and they had actually found a cab that could take the back roads to Newark. I was having a difficult time getting there as well, and I told her to try to get to Metropark. As I drove closer to the city, I finally saw the smear of smoke on the horizon rising from lower Manhattan. I never got close enough to actually see the city that evening. At around 7:45PM that night, I finally pulled off the Garden State Parkway and into Metropark Station as Lori was trying to call me again. I saw her and her two companions and flagged them over. I hugged and kissed Lori, then turned to her two friends. Lori had told them we would drop them off at their houses down the Turnpike and I was happy to oblige. Lori was shivering and wet from being doused by a decontamination hose when she got off the ferry at Hoboken. She had on someone else?s girlfriend?s clothes from where she had gone right after the tower collapsed. We drove a few exits to where the two men lived. One of the men had been on the 47th floor of one of the towers when the first plane hit, and he had gone to his friend?s business who was an optometrist in Midtown. We dropped them off. It was amazing how calm most people were during that day. Most people just dealt with the situation. I didn?t witness any hysterics aside from some sobbing during the newscasts back at work. We stopped at a rest stop and we bought Lori a sweatshirt to wear and got some food, then continued our drive to Delaware. There was so much to talk about that our conversations were jumping all over the place. Lori couldn?t believe what had happened and how close she was. She filled me in on the rest of her story from that day. She was still getting ready for work in our apartment when the first plane had hit. She heard all of the commotion and had looked out to see papers and debris coming down. She heard it was an airplane hitting the tower, but continued to get ready for work. Like most, she figured the worst was over but the day had to go on. As she was walking out of our building, everyone started running and the doorman grabbed her hand. She heard the sound of the second plane screeching overhead and said it was a horrible sound she would never forget. She knew what it was but didn?t look. She heard a crescendo when the second plane struck. They ran into a drycleaners across the street. That?s where she was able to leave me her message. She said she looked up at a picture of Jesus on the wall of the drycleaners and that gave her comfort. Afterwards, she had started walking away from the towers down towards the tip of Battery Park. All of the smoke was blowing that way, so the police started herding everyone north. She was at the yacht basin when the first tower collapsed. She had been staring at the water trying not to look at the devastation. She knew what was going on, but chose not to look at it. She had been talking to a few other people. One girl had invited her to come up to her apartment in Gateway Plaza to wait. When the first tower collapsed, Lori was caught in the tidal wave of dust and debris that spread out from the implosion. She considered jumping in the river, and had even gotten on the other side of the railing at one point. As she was enveloped in dust, she said she had accepted that she was going to die and was at peace. As the dust settled, all was quiet. Then someone started yelling for people to get up and run. Somebody noticed Lori laying face down, stunned and trying to breathe through her shirt. They grabbed her and tried to pick her up. She snapped out of it and told them she could run herself. She didn?t notice at that point but she had lost her planner, cell phone, laptop, and shoes. Her knees were bleeding from the granite plaza, and she was covered in dust. She started running. Someone yelled for people to breathe through their underwear. She took off her underwear and was using that as a dust filter, I believe. Someone gave her a shirt. She got separated from several people she had joined only moments before. She saw someone on a bike and yelled for help. The person, John, put her on his bicycle and started peddling. They took turns peddling, John running beside the bike when Lori peddled. At one point they stopped to rest and a few FBI cars rode up and set up beside them, so they kept moving. They got to his apartment near 80th Street. He let her take a bath and lent her some of his girlfriend?s clothes. That?s where she was finally able to call me and her dad. She went outside and told a taxi she?d pay a thousand dollars to get out of Manhattan, but the city had closed all bridges and tunnels. She saw two men getting into a taxi and somehow it came up that they were going to try to catch a ferry. She jumped in with them and they were able to get on a ferry to Hoboken. When she got off, the police asked who had been within ten blocks of the towers. Lori answered yes, and even though she was bathed and had on clean clothes they hosed her down with something. They managed to catch a taxi who could get them to Metropark. The foreigner cabbie had said something strange, almost mocking the predicament of the people who went into the towers that day with their high paying jobs and had ended up dead. If I had been there I probably would have punched that guy, but I guess in the chaos no one had that thought. So Lori made it to Metropark and I picked her up. We drove straight to Bethany to her parents' motel and got in around midnight. We stopped in to see her parents. They had an oceanfront room for us and we went to bed. The next morning we woke to the sunrise. It was a beautiful morning, with the waves crashing and clear skies. As we sat and watched the sun come up, I couldn?t believe the contrast to what had just gone on. Everything was so peaceful. We looked at each other and said, ?What happened?!? It was odd not seeing jet trails in the sky and knowing it was due to the air traffic shutdown. That whole week was surreal. Slowly, worldly concerns crept back into our minds and we spent the next day filling prescriptions, buying toiletries and clothes. We were basically refugees at that point, leaving New York with the clothes we had on and nothing else. We were the fortunate ones who only lost a work apartment, but nonetheless we didn?t have anything we needed. Getting back to Atlanta wasn?t an option and we didn?t want to consider it anyway after all that had gone on. I wrote e-mails to everyone and relayed our story and let them know we were okay. We started sounding like broken records rehashing the story to everyone we saw. We took the story-telling well, but once or twice we told it to someone and they told us they had lost someone close to them. That put our ordeal in perspective. A day or two after the incident, there was a rally and memorial on the bandstand. It was packed, and I think everyone relearned at least the first verse of the Star Spangled Banner that week. I was calm most of the time, but a few times the emotions welled up on how I felt about thinking Lori might be lost and thinking of the grief that so many people were going through. I think the terrorists underestimated our reaction to their attack. They sought to frighten us and probably thought as soft Americans we would be in hysterics and panic. Most people I spoke with wanted blood. Most wanted war and vengeance. Just as the Japanese awoke the sleeping giant with Pearl Harbor, I wonder if the terrorists realized how drastically they mobilized this country against them. All pacifist arguments went out the door with the attacks. All concerns that the U.S. needed to be mindful of every country?s culture and politics went out the door. We were going to react unilaterally if necessary and though we would ask the world to understand, we weren?t going to pussyfoot around with offending anyone?s sensibilities. They also blew their load. I think anything short of a nuclear attack would be anticlimactic to the World Trade Center coming down. The subsequent anthrax mail attacks didn?t faze me at all, and I considered any further attacks as just a part of a war that we will eventually win. At the end of the week, I went back to work in New Jersey. Lori stayed in Delaware and didn?t work a couple more weeks. I stayed in a hotel near Livingston. My NY client needed a little bit of work done, so after two weeks I went into Manhattan one night after work to their offices. It wasn?t easy getting there. I never used the subway much but that was the only way to lower Manhattan. I parked my car in Midtown and took the subway. The whole area stunk like an electrical fire. It was smoky, and ash was raining down. I didn?t see much that trip, but had to come back again for a day the next week. I got a police escort to get into our apartment and walked all through the restricted area to get there. It was amazing. I walked through an alley and the fire escape the whole way up the building was packed with debris from the collapse. I walked by the heap of twisted metal and concrete at ground zero. Our apartment wasn?t affected except for where we had one window facing West Street that had been open a crack. Everything in that hallway was dusted. I grabbed a suitcase of the most important things while the police waited for me. I got our candid wedding pictures, wedding video, and a few other sentimental things that could not be replaced. A few weeks later I was done in New Jersey and started back full-time in New York. Our apartment was still in the red zone, so I stayed in a hotel for a couple weeks until I could get back into our apartment. We had been scheduled to move out at the end of September, but you couldn?t get a truck down there to move out. The apartments extended us a month for free. For a while, lower Manhattan was a ghost town. There were no business travelers, most restaurants and shops were closed, and those that were open were deserted. That area gets a lot quieter in the winter anyway, but it was deserted. I?d walk around at night and be the only one on the street aside from national guardsmen and police. The saddest things I saw were all of the posters and flyers for missing people. It quickly became apparent after the attacks that you either escaped the attack or were dead. There were very few injured and no one was found alive after the first couple days. People in our apartments were gone. Lori and I were amazed that we didn?t personally know or work with someone who died. The faces on the fliers showed so many people in their twenties and thirties. These were people like I worked with or went to college with. We had walked by these people many times. We always used to pass a fire station right beside the towers on Liberty Street on the way from our apartment to Chase Plaza. We saw the guys hanging out waiting for a fire. Almost all of them perished that day. It is sad when anyone dies, but when a person who has lived a long life dies I don?t consider it a tragedy. The people I saw on the fliers were women I would have tried to meet when I was single or guys I?d hang out with. They were people who I?d see in a restaurant and wonder where else I?d seen them before. They were people like me and Lori. That?s what struck me. Lori started working again but from a client location in Wilmington. She refused to go back to New York. She never liked flying to begin with, so she only flew back to Atlanta a couple times over the next few months and it terrified her every time. I flew back to Atlanta every other week to check in on things and drove to Delaware on the weekends in-between. Flying didn?t bother me. I figured no one will ever be able to repeat September 11th because no one will ever willingly give up a plane to a hijacker. It was protocol to work with the hijackers for a peaceful resolution prior to the attack. No one ever thought the hijackers would purposely fly a plane into a building. I think most flyers would fight any attempt to hijack their plane now, and I know I would. I looked at the bruised-up face of Richard Reid on the news with satisfaction that people defended themselves from the next attempted air attack. At the end of October, my brother Tony drove a U-haul up and we moved out of our Manhattan apartment. My project wouldn?t pay for the apartment, so I started staying in a hotel every week until the project was done. Tony spent the night and we walked around the perimeter of ground zero. Some of the areas I hadn?t seen before. The impact of those towers falling was tremendous, and hunks of one building were gone as if Godzilla?s tail had bashed it on the way by. That area was beautiful before the attacks, and I feel a loss from the destruction of the buildings. Those towers were monuments to human ingenuity, and I feel the same about them as I would feel if the pyramids of Egypt were bulldozed over or how I felt when the Taliban blew up the giant relief statues of Buddha. What a waist. I worked in a 64 story building near the ground zero, and pictures of the towers make all of the surrounding buildings look half their size. The fires burned underground at the Trade Center for a couple months. Every building I went into had several air filters going full-tilt. There were good smoke days and bad smoke days, depending on the wind and the intensity of the fires. In January, Lori had to come to New York with me for a day to travel back to Atlanta. I think it was good for her to see that New York isn?t a war zone and has pretty much gotten back to normal. Life is returning to lower Manhattan. Some things will take time to fix, such as the collapsed tunnels from the New Jersey PATH trains. They used to end below the Trade Center. I finished my project in January. Lori finished her project in December and quit her consulting job as per our pre-9-11 decision. She will be helping her parents out with the motel. We have moved to Delaware which we had also planned to do prior to September 11th. I still fly to work every week, but it?s North Carolina for now. It?s nice living in the middle of nowhere now and knowing virtually everyone we run into. I look at all of the happenings in the world; Christians, Muslims, Jews and Hindus hacking each other to bits in India, Africa, Indonesia and the Middle East. What a violent and disturbing time we live in. I wonder if this is the storm before things start to improve, or just a reflection of true human nature. At least I have my home by the bay to retreat to at the end of every week. 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 story1222.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-08-19 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 148.134.30.1 Annotation Annotations to this item. Civil Liberties/Discrimination Economic effects Environmental/Health Impact Firefighters Ground zero- at or about Missing Persons Personal connection to someone at site Rescue/clean-up workers/volunteers Struggle to get home U.S. retribution NY:3 Feature Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: The morning of September 11,2001 began like any other day. I was 9 months pregnant and looking forward to the impending birth of our first child. I went for my morning walk and returned home around 8:30am. I called my husband at work to tell him that I was ok, then I turned on the morning news. I was making breakfast when I heard on the broadcast that an airplane had crashed into the North Tower of The World Trade Center. I went into my bedroom, which has an excellent view of the skyline, and looked out the window. I saw the huge cloud of smoke emanating from the building. I stood there watching and listening to the news. A few minutes later, I saw a second plane hit the other tower. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. You never expect to see something like this happen so close to home. I was terrified to think of all those innocent people trapped in the buildings. As I watched, the unthinkable began to happen. After a while, the South Tower began to crumble. I watched in horror as the building came down to the ground, leaving a single tower and a ton of smoke behind. The winds were light, and when they picked up, I could smell fire and smoke. Then, the second tower came down. I was in shock. These buildings have been there my whole life, and in a matter of a couple of hours, the NYC skyline and life in America was changed forever. Our son was born on September 16,2001, just 5 days after the attacks. As my husband and I were celebrating with our family, I couldn't help but think of all the families who had lost their loved ones in the World Trade Center. I think the one thing I'll remember the most is watching the Television in my hospital room, and seeing the people holding up pictures of their loved ones, begging anyone who may have seen them to call the numbers they provided. I held my son close and said a prayer for all of them. It's been 7 months since the attacks, and New York is slowly getting back to normal. People still pass by the site and leave flowers and tributes, and more remains are being found. I know that nothing could ever heal the pain of those who suffered losses, but I hope that this archive will allow those in pain to read each other's stories, and help them realize that they are not alone. I also hope that the accounts collected on this site will find their way into the history books, so that my son and his generation can fully understand the impact that September 11th had on New York and the world. Maybe their generation will see 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 story422.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-04-16 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 64.12.103.22 Annotation Annotations to this item. Environmental/Health Impact Memorials/Vigils (location or person) Missing Persons Television Coverage Victims NY:3 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was running late that morning and was getting ready to leave for my job as a substitute teacher at a middle school. The phone rang about 6:15 a.m. Hawaii time (12:15 NYC time). My husband's co-worker frantically tried to tell me what had happened. She was worried for us as we both have family outside of NYC. Finally, she said, "Just turn on the TV." I did, and can only describe what I felt at first as disbelief. To see the whole scenario--two planes crashing, then the towers collapsing one after the other, then the Pentagon, and the plane in Shanksville in a matter of moments was too much to hold in my mind. I was too numb even to cry. That would come later. I went to my job because I didn't know what else to do. The principal gave us permission to have the TVs on all day. I honestly don't remember teaching any curriculum that day. We watched TV and talked and tried to understand what had happened. Back at home I turned on CNN, and it seems like all I did for days was sit in front of the TV and watch and cry. I know I went to work at least some of the days, coached soccer, and cared for my family, but that is a blur. What I remember is the images from TV--the planes hitting the buildings, the collapses, the ash-covered people, the families of the victims holding up pictures of their missing loved ones, begging for help, desperate for any information, the memorials and vigils that sprang up everywhere, the prayer services, the heroes--the fire fighters, police, EMTs and all the volunteers. I felt grief, great sadness, anger, a reborn patriotism I'd forgotten I had, and a great pride and gratitude for all the heroes that emerged that day and after. I felt somewhat alone out here in Hawaii. As someone who lived most of her life just outside NYC, I think I felt it more deeply than lots of people here. I know I felt it DIFFERENTLY. The reporters and anchors on TV became my friends and connection to NYC . I was desperate for a way to help, but I was so far away. I gave money and blood and prayers, but it wasn't enough. I looked into joining the military, but I was too old. I had to settle for symbols--flying my flag, and renewing my comittment to teach my children and those I taught in school about our country and how fortunate they are to be Americans. Months later I have been to the WTC site and to the Pentagon. Being there was important to me. I needed to pay my respects in person at last. There is a feeling there at the WTC site and at the memorial by St. Pauls and the platform. First is the sadness of the enormity of the loss, but there is hope there as well. So many people from all over the world have come to share their grief, pay their respects, and in many cases, leave an offering and add their voice to the memorial wall. I found some comfort there even amid the sadness. Even today I hurt deeply. I sometimes still see video in my head. I keep a collection of books, magazines, articles, photos, lapel pins, and transcripts of the events of September 11 and the aftermath. Some think I am obsessive, and they may be right, but it is my tribute, part of my promise to 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 story905.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. 2002-07-18 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 63.164.139.121 Annotation Annotations to this item. Memorials/Vigils (location or person) Patriotism Television Coverage DOMESTIC Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: My husband and I were on our way to Las Vegas to meet my huband's family for a Pearl Harbor Reunion. His father is a Pearl Harbor survivor. We were the last of the family to fly out there. Our plane which was America West Flight #77 took off from Reagan National Airport about 9:25 AM. We flew over the Pentagon about 9:30 AM. This was approximately 8 minutes before the plane hit it. We had to have passed the hijacked flight in mid-air. The irony is that we thought we had a flight out of Dulles and it wasn't until the night before that we realized our flight left from Reagan. Our family didn't know which airport we had flown out of so they were hysterical all day long. Our oldest daughter worked for the FAA at the Command Center and she was at work that day helping to land all the planes and not knowing which one we were on. They all worried we were on American Flight #77 that hit the Pentagon. We just thank God that we were spared that day and we offer our sincere condolences to all who were injured or had family that died that day. The Vorces Centreville, VA. 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 story3308.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 204.108.8.5 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 the morning very well. I was driving into work. I had just gotten a new job, as asst. parts manager for a company at that time called Hudson General. We supplied all ground support and services to many international flights in and out of Chicago, as well as Airforce one and two. I was listening to WBBM radio, and regular programming was interrupted by a special bulletin. A plane had hit the first tower of the WTC. I ran into work as quick as possible, and as no one at work was aware of the attack, I told them to turn on the T.V. A scene of devastation met our eyes, and everyone was glued to the television for most of the day. The Airport was locked down tighter than a drum, and even with all access, I could not get on to the airfield for about two days. We had about 20 guys trapped out on the airfield, and they could not leave for about 6 hours to come back to the shop. I remember alot of F-16's and 18's flying over and around the A.O.A. for the next several weeks. It was probably the most significant event in my life so far. There's probably alot of people that think that we should just pull out of there, and save face or leave well enough alone, but I think that would be a big mistake at this point, and the only way to save face now would be to stay put. My nephew is in Iraq right now in the Army, and I am very proud to have him there. I wish I wasn't too old to go, or I would be over there, fighting along side my fellow Americans!!! 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 story20793.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2006-09-12 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 24.15.102.75 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was headed to work that morning at the Jersey Gardens Mall in Elizabeth, NJ. When I heard that a plane hit the World Trade Center, I thought that a small Cessna plane had hit the needle of the North Tower. Then I heard that a second plane had hit the WTC. Since, it was a spotless blue day, I knew that I would be able to see the New York City skyline from where I work, so I hopped on the bus and headed there. Sure enough, both towers were on fire. The mall closed early that day at twelve noon. We drove to the back of the mall where you can get a clear view of the entire lower Manhattan. By then the Towers had collapsed. Downtown Manhattan was covered in dark gray smoke. I will never forget that day for as long as I live. I felt like somebody punched me in the stomach really hard. I really felt like those terrorist ruined my skyline. Now, when I ride into the city, looking at the Empire State Building and looking to the right and not seeing those familiar silver towers still makes me sad to the point of crying. I still don't understand why there are no towers there. I definitely think that we should rebuild them. The following weeks after the attacks had me on an emotional roller coaster. One minute I would be laughing and joking, the next I would be sitting on the bus crying out of nowhere. On top of that, I lost my former Sunday School teacher in Tower One. I didn't even know he worked there until that Saturday, my stepmother had a t-shirt that had his picture on it, saying that he was missing from the 99th floor. September 11, 2001 will follow me to my grave and beyond. I go the Ground Zero at least twice a month to give my love and respect to those who died on that horrible day. Every time I see an FDNY firefighter or a fire engine, I wonder how many firemen they lost that day. I still cringe at the staggering number of 343, the number of New York City firefighters lost at the WTC. I will never forget the many office workers whose only sin was going to work early that day. And they had to pay for it with thier life.God Bless Elder Sean Booker who always had a smile and an encouraging word for any and everybody. God Bless America and God Bless New York City, truly the greatest city to ever grace this planet. 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 story9093.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-02-25 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 12.161.235.33 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 two year old son had just woken up when the twin towers were hit. I remember getting a phone call to turn on my TV As I turned on my Tv I remember staring at it in disbelief. I was holding my son in my arms and holding him as close as I could as I started to cry. I looked at him and wondered what was going to happen. He just looked at me and wondered why I was so upset. I know he had to feel how scared and sad I was. I stood there in shock as my fiance came upstairs. He stood next to me and rapped his arms around me and held us tight. I remember looking into his eyes and seeing the shock and grief on his face. I felt so helpless standing there not knowing what to do or what was going to happen next. I was wondereing where my family and friends were and if I would ever hear from them again. My heart went out to everyone in the world. I remember feeling that no matter what they did they would never take us without a fight. In one way or the other we would overcome this tragedy and we would all grow stronger and closer together. I was angry that this had happen and at the fact that I myself couldn't do anything about it. I'm scared to know what the future holds for all of us,especially for my son. As the days go by I am still scared to go outside. I wonder as the days move on and we start to heal and grow stronger when the next attack will come. But I want to remind you we will be ready. 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 story6400.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. 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 daughter was getting ready to film a commercial for a local consignment shop of childrens clothing. The first thing we heard was that two planes had crashed in the air. A little later we were informed that that information was incorrect and that the WTC had been hit by a plane. We were at a television station when the commerical was filming so there were TV sets to watch. We kept filming the commerical, then everyone was asked to leave. I received a call from my husband on my cell phone. He wanted me to hurry home and let him know when I got there. When I got home I did indeed call my husband to let him know our daughter(age 3 at the time) and I were indeed home safe and sound. I immediately turned on the TV and started to watch the events. I think I was in total shock. I made my daughter go to her room to play. Later in the day I had to go to work. It was very difficult to work that day. Everyone had their radio's on. I had a radio that would receive TV channels. I listened as I worked. Now, I do hug my daughter a little tighter. My husband & I had always given each other a hug and a kiss before we left to start our day before Sept. 11. Now I feel it is even more important. My birthday is Sept. 12. Since 2001, my birthday will not be as happy as before 2001. I will always remember those that lost their lives. God Bless the heros of September 11, 2001 and God Bless the United States of 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 story8049.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. 2002-09-21 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 205.188.209.38 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was at school that day and when I got home I decided to turn on he television. While turning the channels I realized that everything I it on had something about towers. I looked at one of the channels and saw how people were really sad and davastated. I started to feel a little hurt in my heart and seen that many people were really sad. my mom aunt told me what had happened and i really didn't understand at that time because I was 9 years old. Now that I am 14 years old I see how painful it was many people. Many of them seemed really down. Today I/myself would like to say I am very sorry for the people who were there at that part of time! I hope now that all of the people who are there now are feelin better. 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 story20574.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. 68.186.239.238