296 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: My story is not so much about the day of September 11th, but my entire experience of that tradgedy. I was at school on 9/11. Our high school in east central Missouri did not call off school, nor did it allow many of us to watch the news or listen to the radio. I did not find out the whole story until I arrived home about 4pm Central time. I was completely shocked. Our family did what most families did the next few days. We went to our churches memorial and prayer service, we proudly put out our flag, and we constantly watched the television for new reports. Our church is of the Southern Baptist denomination, and one of the only churches in the area that has many active members of the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief. Our area was hit very hard in the floods of '93, '94, '95, '00 . . . I suppose you get the picture. We have responded locally and around the world. Our job most times is to provide food for victims and/or those who work in shelters or, in case of natural disasters, cleaning out homes and other buildings. Our reputation is superb, due to our insistence on cleanliness and correct sanitation. My dad, my mom, and I are all trained members of the Missouri Southern Baptist Disaster Relief. When the rescue operations began at Ground Zero, the need for food became evident. The EPA tent was set up, the Salvation Army was called in, and the firefighters, police officers, construction crews, and many, many others who worked 12 or 16 hour shifts were provided with hot food, air-conditioning or heat, and a place to rest. The Southern Baptists were called in by state to work week shifts. Missouri was first called in November. Two members of our church, along with several other people from around the state requested to go, and they were approved. They worked for a week, bringing back heartbreaking stories and a description of what was going on. I had wanted to go very badly. I wanted to do what I could to help. But it wasn't time for me to go--I had a lot going at school, and frankly, my relationship with God was not what it needed to be. The other Disaster Relief member in my church who was close to my age, Tony, agreed with my assessment of why neither of us got to go?our spiritual walk. We resigned ourselves that we would not get another chance, but were determined to be ready for the next thing God wanted us to do. I was on Christmas break. It was December 28, 2001 when I got a call. Jenny (one of the people who'd gone in November) asked me how old I was. I told her that I was 17?only four months away from 18. She informed me that I could go if my mom or dad agreed to go along, as the Salvation Army did not allow those under 18 without a parent along. My mom agreed to go. We left the 30th with a 15 man (and woman) team. We drove to our headquarters in Marshall, MO where we got a quick briefing. We spent the night there and left early in the morning to catch a flight to LaGuardia from Kansas City. We went straight from the airport to the Salvation Army HQ, where we got another, more detailed briefing, complete with the does and don'ts, and what would be our job description. We also got IDs that would let us into the tent. Because of the contamination near Ground Zero, we were not allowed to fix our own food. Instead, restaurants from all over the area provided food. We would either cook it or keep it heated, and keep the serving lines full. Mostly, the Salvation Army would actually serve the food, but occasionally we did. We divided into three shifts with five people on each team. My mom, three others, Warren, Phyllis, and Bob, and I, got the 3-11 pm shift (the third watch, as I discovered when I got hooked on the TV show of the same name this year). Warren was our team leader. We would begin work at 3 o'clock on the 1st of January. We went to the tent to get oriented and relieve the Louisiana team (which, incidentally consisted of many people we had made good friends with in '93 when they'd come up to Missouri to help us clean and rebuild). After we saw how things worked at the tent, our team went back to the Cosmopolitan Hotel on W. Broadway, I believe, and went to bed. That was the first New Year's Eve that I hadn't stayed up at least until the ball dropped that I can remember. I actually totally forgot about it. We went down to the tent to eat breakfast (as we did almost every day) where we found the first watch eating and the second working. We visited with the first watch, which included my friend, Tony. They looked very tired, as they'd been up the whole day before and began to work at midnight. They told us of the people they'd met and how it worked. We were under the direction of a professional chef and a supervisor from Whitson's Food Services, or something similar to that name. They worked in three shifts also that were staggered from ours by an hour. They also warned us of one of the Salvation Army volunteers, Desiree. We took acknowledged the warning, but did not give it much thought. I don't remember too much about any particular day . . . just incidents. I honestly don't know how long this will be, especially since I will keep remembering as I write, I'm sure. Our normal chef was a very tall African American man named Peter. He always wore a chef hat, except for once, and it took me a while to actually recognize him. He was an absolutely great guy, and acknowledged our expertise. Many other chefs considered us layman who knew nothing about serving food, but while they were experts, we were professionals. Serving 10,000 meals a day was common for us. Peter accepted that, and for his respect, we asked his advice on many things. Our team in particular liked to create our own dishes out of those that came in, and Peter would help us with that. Our Whitson's supervisor was a man named Ross. He and I became very good friends and talked quite a bit. He'd been down here when the Towers had gone down, and it was a hard time for him. He did, however, maintain a cheerful attitude, and we liked teasing each other. He had a very strong New York accent (yes, New Yorkers, you do have an accent to us Missourians) and he and other native New Yorkers would tease us for our "y'all" while we attempted to figure out exactly how New Yorkers twist their faces to say carrots and water (we finally figured it out). When they accused us (teasingly of course) of being hicks, we just smiled smugly and told them to wait until Alabama relieved us. We told them that one of us would have to stay so they'd have a translator. I don't think they believed us until they showed up (no offense, southerners :)). We also became acquainted with several Salvation Army workers. One of them, coincidentally, was Desiree. For some reason, the first watch had not so great relations with Desiree, but to us she was a godsend and a great person to work with. She kept the serving tables and the rest of the kitchen spotless. She worked constantly, playfully admonishing us when we made messes for her to clean up. She was a vital part of our team, and we enjoyed working with her. Elijah Prophet (yes, his real name) was a small African-American man from (if I remember correctly) somewhere in Indiana or Ohio, or something. He had vowed to God that he would work for two years in New York, living in the YMCA. He cleaned dishes for us, almost before we got them dirty. He commented that our last name (Gladden) described us very well, that we were always cheerful and willing to give people a smile. I talked with him a lot, about God, about life, about why we were there. He was a sweet man, and one who loved people because they were God's creation. He had what one would consider an inglorious job, but every time he washed a dish, he did it for God, and he did it because he loved the people at Ground Zero. Though we did try to maintain a cheerful demeanor for the crews, it was hard. Every once and a while, they would need someone out at the different comfort stations. Us three women on the team each went out at least once: my mom went three times, I went twice, and Phyllis went once. We went out, closer to Ground Zero and would restock the tents, make sure there was plenty of hot water, and sometimes just talk with the men. I remember talking with a construction worker who's cousin had died in one of the towers (the North, I believe). His construction crew was working on Staten Island and watched the whole thing. He was very close to his cousin, and cried when he told us this story. We also spoke to one of the medical examiners. He began telling us stories. I remember wanting to just tell him to stop, but I didn't. I realized that because he was surrounded by this, this was normal to him. He didn't think that it wasn't normal to us. It was hard, watching him stare out into the Pit and unemotionally tell us these stories. Another man, a police officer, I believe, told us how his wife had taken his kids and left him because he was never home. He was always here, or working elsewhere when he was rotated out. He told us a little about his kids and how much he missed them. One thing I remember about being down at those sites was first of all, the air. It was almost gritty. We did not wear masks, as we were not right down in the Pit, but it was still dusty and harder to breathe. I also remember the lights and the sounds of the trucks. I still get the chills when I see and hear night construction. I also remember the silence when they brought bodies out. I remember the lines they formed. One of the first nights we were there, they found a pocket of thirteen. Many were firefighters. The rest of the night, the mood was subdued in the tent. I also remember that people were tense and nervous about any sort of unusual incidents: accidents or possible terrorist attacks. It was still fairly early on and it would be just like bin Laden to attack an already suffering city. One night near the end, we were serving food. The tent was full of the low murmurs of people talking. Suddenly, there was a huge boom from the direction of the Pit. Everyone froze. All the firefighters, police officers, and OSHA got up and left the tent. We found out that a truck had turned a corner too sharply and hit something, causing his tire to blow out. When we found out, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, laughing a bit to blow of the tension. I had heard about the rescue dogs, but had never seen one until they brought Nike into the tent. He was a large Golden Retriever and had his own little apartment in the back of the EPA tent. People would visit him, petting him and loving on him. He was exhausted and probably depressed, but he provided as much comfort to those who visited him as they tried to do for him. His trainer told us that many dogs did get depressed because they didn?t find very many people alive and none at that point. So they would hide from him and let him find them, so he would feel like he?d done his job. It was very heart-wrenching and echoed the frustrations and sorrow those rescue workers had in the Pit. Sometimes when the line was slower and we weren?t very busy, I would go out to the tables and visit with the workers. They seemed to enjoy talking, though they were tired. At first, I, like the rest of the nation, thought that the only people who worked at the Pit were firefighters and police officers. I discovered that this was very untrue. Dock workers were there, keeping the walls from collapsing. If not for the dock workers, it is very possible that the entire south end of Manhattan could have just fallen off into the Bay. The construction workers operated the enormous cranes and machinery, invaluable to the work. OSHA was there, supervising and making sure we did not lose more of our men and women to the Pit. There were even people there from a phone company (I can?t remember which one) who were trying to get communications back up from Ground Zero. Medical examiners spent a great deal of time there, obviously and the work was hard. There are so many more kinds of people who worked there. Some I didn?t meet but knew about and some I talked to at great length. Many times we talked about their families, their children. Sometimes we talked about the work they did in the Pit, when they wanted to. Some needed to talk about it to be able to cope with it. Others didn?t want to talk at all. We respected that and were just there for them when they needed it. That is the main job of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief. Food is important, but secondary. We listen and provide a shoulder to cry on if needed. We try to help people cope with a tragedy, whether that tragedy be a flood that wiped out their homes, a tornado that ripped apart a town, or a terrorist attack that unjustly took the lives of 2,792 people. When we had arrived back, school had started for Tony and me. We were seniors at a large high school in mid-Missouri. People would ask us ?how was it?? like we?d been on a vacation. We struggled with what to say. There were no words to describe it. Painful. Interesting. Sad. Inspiring. Depressing. All of these words could illustrate a certain moment, but none were good answers for a one-word explanation. People were going around and about their lives, without the constant thought of the people lost and the people left at Ground Zero. It was how I?d been before I went and I understood it. But it didn?t make it any easier. Probably the event that most illustrated this was at our Superbowl party in 2002. Our church youth group gathered at our house for the celebrations. I remember seeing the Budweiser commercial where the Clydesdales honored the Twin Towers and tears coming to my eyes. The three of us: Mom, Tony, and I exchanged looks while everyone else was talking and being normal. It was almost as if we were in a separate world. I wanted to go back. I felt such a connection with those down at the Pit, that I didn?t feel right back home. I had not been there very long, but I felt as if I?d known those I worked with for years. I longed to be down there in the trenches with them for as long as they needed me. If I could, I?ve stayed, like two twin college students my mom met and befriended. They came to help for a short while, and stayed for the duration. It?s hard to leave and impossible to forget. I started this almost a year ago and stopped about half way through. On this second September 11 after that tragic Tuesday, I decided to finish it. I will probably have to add things as I remember them, but this is the essence of my experience at Ground Zero. I will always recall the times shared with the men and women who worked down there. I will remember the two cops from the 10th Precinct who talked for an hour with me my first day, making me feel welcome. I won?t forget the man from Ecuador who was working construction. I laugh every time I recall the walks from the serving line to the restroom, when the men would catch my eye and say ?Howyadoin??? in that inimitable accent. I won?t forget Ross, Peter, Elijah, Desiree, Alicia, Captain David, or Raheem. There are so many others that I think of all the time and wish I could see again. Some, I hope I will. But forever will I remember everyone from Ground Zero and honor those who lost their lives for being American. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story9940.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 128.206.192.172 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I will never forget september 11,2001. It was sad and frighting. I think it will never end. I whish the wouldn't celabreate it because it was very touching 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 story6847.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. 141.149.207.36 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 Rosemary Janssen and on September 11, 2001 I was at work when the world turned ugly. I was at my desk when someone came out and said a plane just crashed into the World Trade Center and we all just watched thinking it was just a bad accident. Then in a matter of minutes all of us which is about 20 or so employees of Loma Systems, Inc. watched as the next plane crashed into the other tower. I remember standing there in shock and then my next thought was we are under attack but by who. and what about my daughter Jessica and my granddaughter Angel, Are they safe? can I get to them? They live near Ohare Airport. Where is my boyfriend John Michelberger, oh my god he works downtown in Chicago, is he alive will I ever see him? I have 7 brothers and sisters and we all fight will I ever be able to tell them I am sorry and that I love them? My Mom will I ever tell her how much I love her. That day Bin Laden and his group took away my control, my safety and my security. But today I am strong as I believe all Americans are and hold my head up high and if given the opportunity, I would KILL!! Bin Laden myself. I would do this because of what he did to me and my fellow countrymen and women. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to get this off my mind. Today is a day I hope no one will forget and I also hope we all stay strong and believe together as one union we can defeat anyone or anything! Rosemary Janssen 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 story2788.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 65.217.70.211 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: Marc Aiello Modern World History Section 1 9/10/02 How did you witness history on September 11, 2001? September 11th, 2001, seemed like a normal day from the start. If someone had told me that there would be planes flying into the World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon later that day I would have laughed at them and thought they were nutty. That day, I woke up, took a shower, and did all my morning activities in preparation for school. I went to school, where my classmates and I worked through the day normally. Although the teachers knew of the tragedy that occurred, none had been instructed to tell the students. It wasn?t until three o?clock, when a boy in my class, who was sick, came to the school just after the last bell to get his books and homework. He started talking of these planes crashing into buildings and how thousands of people died. We all thought he was a little too sick and didn?t believe these far fetched stories. It wasn?t until I was picked up after school sports that I realized what Matt Unger had said was true. Planes did hit the Towers and the Pentagon, and September 11th , 2001 is a day that will forever be remembered. 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 story2140.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-10 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 24.62.52.135 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I am a lecturer at UCLA and a freelance workshop leader. My husband Tim works for a major LA radio station not far from our home. We live in Culver City, only 10 minutes away from the Los Angeles International Airport. On September 11, I was scheduled to make an 8:30AM presentation at the Energy Center in Downey (LA suburb) and so got up earlier than usual. This was the first day we had awaken in our own bed after spending the weekend in hotels while our bathroom was being remodeled. I was bathing in our ?new? shower when Tim came in saying that a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center. Surely it was a small Cessna that had gone off-course. I told him to put on CNN. I dried off and joined him in front of the television. Since the reporters knew little more than we did about the incident, I turned to go into the bedroom. Suddenly Tim was yelling, ?Jesus Christ! Another plane just flew into the World Trade Center! Babe, come quick and see this!? I ran into the living room just as the scene was being replayed. I couldn?t believe my eyes as I watched possibly the most horrific thing I have ever seen. What on earth was going on? Had an air traffic controller gone berserk? A few moments later the phone rang. The radio station was on alert. Tim had to go into work immediately. Stunned, I proceeded to get ready for the workshop while keeping an eye on CNN. Soon enough the TV was reporting two more plane crashes?one at the Pentagon and one in a field in Pennsylvania. Obviously the east coast was under attack. The telephone rang. ?Are you watching TV?? Tim asked incredulously. ?Yes,? I said and started to cry. ?I?m scared. I don?t know what to do about the workshop.? ?Don?t go if you?re scared.? I agreed and hung-up. I called the Energy Center. A distraught voice answered. I asked if, in light of the ?national crisis,? the workshop was canceled. The woman on the other end said yes. I then grappled with whether I should call my mom. At 6:30AM, I knew she and her husband Norm would be asleep. I decided to call anyway. They needed to be awake if the ?unthinkable? were to happen here next. I called and immediately burst into tears. ?Mom, something bad has happened in New York,? I sobbed. ?You need to put on the TV.? In a groggy voice she told Norm to put on the TV. ?CNN,? I told her. ?Put on CNN,? she told Norm and hung-up. I then called Tim to tell him I wasn?t going to Downey. He told me to fill-up the cars with gas. I complied, understanding?without being told?that the cars had to be ready in case we needed to evacuate. I composed myself and calmly walked outside. No airplanes crashing into buildings, no nuclear bombs falling?just our innocent street looking very much like it does every weekday morning. It was hard to believe that devastation was occurring 3000 miles away in NYC. While getting gas I decided to buy some ?provisions? in case war did indeed break-out here. Astoundingly, the market was ?business as usual? as people shopped. I did notice, however, that almost everyone was buying one or two large containers of water. In addition, a dazed-looking woman was going from person to person explaining how she and her daughter had stood under the World Trade Center just the week before. She apparently was trying to cope. I paid for my water, cheese, crackers, cat food, and litter, and went home to wait. The rest of the day was a blur of TV images and tears. Reporters, who began with measured accounts of the day?s events, eventually succumbed to speculation and sensationalism. It was a relief to return to work the next day, even though we were all in an emotional state of 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 story1523.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. 2002-08-28 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 164.67.26.179 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: WHEN THAT HAPENNED I WAS AT HOME BUT I WILL TELL THE STORY FROM THE BEGINNING AND HERE IT GOES:ON THAT FATIDIC DAY I WENT TO A PRIVATE SCHOOL TO HAVE COMPUTER LESSONS AND AFTER THAT I ARRIVED HOME AND I WENT TO SLEEP FOR A WHILE BUT WHEN I WAS JUST GOING TO DO IT A NEIGBOUR THAT I HAVE NEAR MY HOUSE CAMED IN AND SAID:?ALCINDA COME TO MY HOUSE QUICKLY TO SEE WHAT IS GOING ON THE TWO TWIN TOWERS IN NEW YORK IN U.S.A.?MY MOM LEFT EVERYTHING THAT SHE WAS DOING AND SHE WENT TO SEE IT.SHE WENT HOME AND I WAS TRYING TO SLEEP BUT I COULDN`T BECAUSE I WAS WITH A BAD FEELING ABOUT THAT DAY AND I WAS RIGHT .MY MOM CAMED AT HOME AND AWAKED ME AND SHE SAID:?PATRICIA TURN ON THE TV AND SEE WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE TWO TWIN TOWERS IN NEW YORK IN U.S.A.?I DID IT.I TURN ON THE TV AND WHEN I`VE SEEN THE TWO AEROCRAFTS GOING INTO THEM I STARTED TO CRY AND I DIDN?T WANTED TO SPEAK WITH ANYONE OR EAT.I WENT TO WORK SAD AND I WAS CRYING ALL DAY AND ALL NIGHT.I`M NOT FROM U.S.A BUT I FEEL MY HEART BELONGS THERE.TWO WEEKS LATER AFTER THAT HAPENNED I HAD AN ACCIDENT ON A BUS AND THE DAY WAS:24 SEPTEMBER 2001. I CAN?T NOT FORGET IT.THOSE TWO DAYS WERE THE MOST NIGHTMARE IN MY LIFE.GOD BLESS AMERICA. GOOD LUCK FOR YOU ALL. PATRICIA-FUNCHAL-MADEIRA-PORTUGAL 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 story8972.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. 2003-01-18 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 213.190.192.123 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: My name is Joshua F. Schwartz. I am stationed on the USS Peleliu home ported in San Diego, California. My rank is E/4, Aviation Structural Mechanic Third Class Petty Officer in the United States Navy. My ship was in Darwin, Australia for a port visit before we transited over to the Arabian Gulf. My night was forever changed. It was about 11:30 pm in Darwin and a few buddies of mine and I were having a drink at the local taveren when all of a sudden on the TV, a special announcement came up saying that the World Trade Center had just been rammed into by a civilian airliner. We were all shocked. At first we just thought that it was a movie. It cound't be happening. Not when we were over seas. Well it did happened. And all 3,000 sailors and Marines were recalled back to the ship to ship out in a few hours. From there we headed straight to the Arabian Sea in support of Operation Endurance Freedom. We spent four months off of the coast. The Marines from the USS Peleliu (13 MEU) took over the air strip at Kandhar. It was Scary. I also helped to take care of the Northern alliance when the friendly fire incident happened. A total of ten were brought to the ship for treatment. Johnny Walker was taken prisoner on board also. During the whole time we were over seas in Support of Operation Endurance Freedom, people from all over the United States, people were emailing the ship and telling us how proud of us they are. And the best thing about that was that we could reply back to the people who wrote us. I actually met the love of my life this way. We wrote each other snail mail and emails for about 3 months. Then when we pulled back into San Diego; we met for the first time and we have been dating ever since. It has been six wonderful months for the two of us. My life has changed for ever and I have someone to share with it because of what happened on the treacherous day. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story5613.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. 206.13.102.132 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: On the morning of 9/11/01, just after the second plane had hit the World Trade Center, I was rushed to Delaware County Memorial Hospital in Lansdowne, PA. I was diagnosed with Meningitis, along with Chicken Pox (something I did not have as a child). I had a very high fever and my vital sounds were extremely high. Needless to say, time was running out for me. I am very grateful to the Doctors and Nurses at Delaware County Memorial Hospital (Lansdowne) for saving my life. I am also grateful to my daughter Pamela for encouraging me to have the Spinal Tap (which I was totally against), without having the procedure performed, the doctor informed me that it could be fatal. I also thank my brother Michael, who came to my rescue, despite the heavy traffic that morning he had to battle just to get to me. If I had not gone to the Emergency Room on 9/11/01, I would not be alive today to share my story. So today (9/11/02), I celebrate life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I am deeply saddened for those that lost their lives that day. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story6405.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. 207.106.131.122 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: I was getting ready for work and turned on the TV to check the stock market. There was an image of a burning building and I thought I was on the wrong channel, but I wasn't. I turned up the volume and learned a plane had crashed into the WTC. I was stunned, but assumed it was a horrible accident. A woman was on the street talking when she basically went hysterical. A second plane had hit the other building. I was stunned. I couldn't take it in, I started actually getting physical ill as the reality sunk in. Someone had declared war on us and was using our own planes as weapons. I frantically tried to calculate how many planes were over the US at any given moment, a hundred? a thousand? more? I called my mother and told her to turn on her television. Then the Pentagon was hit. I started to cry. My daughter was in the suburbs of NYC, was she OK? The phone lines were busy. People were jumping from the WTC buildings. I saw their falling lives that had mere seconds of life left. Everything was spinning out of control. And then they collapsed. Something inside me turned off. If I took in any more I would not be able to withstand the pain. I filled every container in my house with water and mechanically went to work and did my job. It was something to do. Anything not to have to deal with reality. A plane had crashed in Pennsylvania came the frantic whispers from co-workers. Oh God, I prayed, please make it stop. That night I was glued to the TV as the videos played the nightmare over and over again. And I did have nightmares. Every night for two weeks. My daughter was OK, but America would never be the same. I am thankful for the safety of my family. I mourn the loss of all those magnificent lives lost that day. I can never say thank you enough for all the people that risked their lives to save others that day. I still look up whenever a plane goes overhead, but we survived. God bless the USA. 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 story4667.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. 198.81.17.154 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: Before September 11, 2001, the fact that my mom worked for the government was not a big danger issue to me. She works across the street from the Pentagon for the Defense Department. Up until then, I never thought that her life might be endangered because of whom my mom worked for. That day I went to school and my mom went to work. It seems like another ordinary day for my family. However, that was about to change. I was sitting in my fourth period class reading something for AP Lang when I heard what had happened. Another English teacher came running into our room announcing that airplanes had struck the Twin Towers. I immediately turned to my friend Christina and said, "At least they haven't hit the Pentagon". Less than five minutes after I said that, our assistant principal's voice came over the P.A. system and announced that the Pentagon had also been a target. Rumors were beginning to circulate that these were terrorist actions being taken against the United States and who was behind these sorts of actions. My thoughts were far from that. They were focused on, "Where is my mom"? and "Is she ok"? Since her office is across from the Pentagon, I kept looking at the TV for a glimpse of her office in the background. I had no luck succeeding in this before I realized that my mom was out of her office and up at Capitol Hill for the day. I went to Mrs. McDowell's room and called my mom's office, hoping to get in contact with anyone. I was still calm until I heard her voice on the answering machine and I immediately broke down. I then went to lunch in Mrs. Owens' room and called my dad. I asked him where my mom was and he answered me with, "I don't know. Where is she"? A lot of help my dad was. I then went through the rest of the day thinking and worrying if my mom was ok. I got home and there were five messages on my answering machine; most of them from my step-grandma informing me that my mom was ok. She had spoken to her earlier and wanted to let me know that my mom's cell phone wasn't working in her area, but that she was ok and would be home as soon as the mess and traffic calmed down. A huge sigh of relief went over me and I was able to calm down. My next concern was dealing with my friend, Tim, who is a member of the United States Marine Corps. I was worried that he would be sent away before I could get a chance to say good-bye. He, however, was only assigned to stay within the barracks of Camp Lejeune, and would not be sent out immediately. This caused another wave of relief to come over me. It's been a year and six days since the attacks and my life has gone back to normal. My mom still works across the street from the Pentagon, in the same office as before. Security is a little bit stricter at her office, but no drastic changes have occurred. My friend Tim was recently sent overseas for a six-month float in the Mediterranean Sea. My family is more patriotic now, which in a sense is sad. It's sad that it has taken an event like 9-11 to cause people to realize how lucky we are to be living in a country like the United States and that we really aren't an invincible as we think we are. It took the attacks on the WTC, the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania to cause a surge of American pride to go through the country and for us to recognize that we are just as vulnerable as any other country. However, I am still honored to say that I am a proud American. God Bless the USA! 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 story7763.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-17 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 151.188.17.4 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: On the morning of September 11, I had class. Music theory. The 20 of us sat through the class, having no idea what had happened. Once the class was over, we went downstairs to the commons area as we always did. I'm a music major, and most of the music majors at my university hang around in an area known as the 4-point. So, like always, that's where I headed. Once I got there, one of my friends, Ed looked at me and said, "Have you heard what happened?" "No." I replied. "A plane crashed in to the world trade center." My first thought was that a small few person plane accidentlly crashed into the building. So I looked at him and said, "Well, that's weird. How didn't they see the building? Was it just like a small plane?" My friend said, "Alison, it wasn't a small plane. And actually another one crashed into the second tower as well." This may be the most naiive moment of my life, but I really looked at him and said, "Well, isn't that weird. How do you think two planes crashed into the buildings on the same day? They must have just been small planes, right?" "No, they were two passanger jets. Someone hijacked them and crashed them into the world trade center." I remember it was like something cold spread through me. I realize now, that it may not have been something spreading, but something leaving. I now think this was part of my faith in other people rushing out of me. I went back to my dorm and starred at CNN. An hour later I had another class. I walked in, and everyone sat down and was eeriely quiet. The professor walked infront of the class and very quietly said, "I'm sorry. I can't teach class today. If you haven't heard about what happened, I can't be the one to tell you. I'm sorry. Go home." Just a few hours later the university closed for the day. I went back to my dorm again, and sat and watched TV again. The door to my room was open and I remember a guy walked in and sat down next to me. I don't remember his name, but I do remember that he was in our ROTC program. He said hey, joined me on the couch and we just sat in silence that was only occasionally puncuated by "But, why?" and "I can't believe..." I know I will never forget what I did that day and all of the strange emotions that were running through everyone. 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 story10822.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2004-09-10 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 68.42.117.223 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: Terrorist Attack On America Many things changed on 9/11/01 when we were attacked by the Al Queda. That horrifying day when nothing went well. The twin towers in New York fell, a part of the pentagon destroyed and a plane crash about 100 miles outside Pittsburgh. That day went to school like any other day but this day would be like any other day. In math class that day which was third period I remember someone came over the intercom and said there was an attack on the world trade center in New York and an attack on the pentagon in Washington DC. That day I remember the teachers having the internet on and in science there was a clip of the towers falling but was hard to make out. When I went home that day my mom was already home from work and I asked why she was home so early. She told me that her work sent all the workers home. That?s when I started to realize it was a big deal. Over dinner that night we described how we felt and how we could believe that something this would happen. Then for like the next week in school I don?t remember learning that much well what was supposed to be on the agenda. We talked about what had happened and if you new anybody that was evolved. Then for then next week I think I only watched the news 24/7. I think everybody was affected one way or another even if they didn?t even know anybody that was killed. I know that I felt sorry for all the victims and their families and so did the rest of America. Now with the one year aneversery I thought of all the victims and what happened on 9-11. I know that I will not forget the attacks on America. Like the president said in a speech after the bombing of Pearl Harbor this day will live infany, and longer then that! 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 story6546.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. 207.103.166.40 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: On 9-11-2001,I was in 3rd grade, in computer lab,I was only 8 years old ,so I didn't relize what had really taken place. All, I remember is going home from school early and on every channel was crying people and destroyed buildings. Now that I am older I have come to find that 9-11 was a wake up call for all Americans. At the time of 9-11-2001, I was navie and knew nothing but,5 years later I know that this event was one of the more upsetting events in my history. Now , I know what really went on and I am now,afraid to think what it would be like to actually know what was going on. 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 story20576.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 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 5th period that wonderful bright morning. I just finished running into class late when my teacher turned on the news,like every other morning,to check last nights foot ball game scores. When we looked at the tv, we didnt see numbers we saw destruction. My friends laughed and so did I because we thought who would have been stupid enough to crash into the WTC..so we kept on watching to see what was going on...until finally we saw that that was not any ordinary accident, we were being attacked. I cried thinking it was the end of the world. Recently on the anneversiry of September 11th no one here cared... and it hurts. Well thats My story. 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 story8130.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. 2002-09-25 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 65.190.48.42 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 was huge tragedy and a wake up call for many Americans.So many people dead...So many loved ones lost.The question that has been asked so many times is "why?" About a week after 9/11a woman came to my church. Shhe had lived by it for many years but had never been there.She told the church she was there becaus she was looking for answers.She said that her best friend Will had died in the Pentagon.She was so upset and she was crying. This woman I had never met had a huge impact on my life and my way of thinking. I think that the unoffical memorial that they have made on ground zero was a great idea but they should really hvae an official memorial to honor the heroes and the lost. 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 story3040.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. 156.63.41.73 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 I was at my college, Illinois Wesleyan University. It was kinda ironic because I had just woken up to get ready for class, and I normally do not turn on the TV in the morning but for some reason I did. As soon as I turned it on, all I saw was a huge plane crashing into the side of the first building. I actually thought it was a movie that they were playing at first, but then when i switched the channel and realized that this was actually happening, I just stood there gawking. My stomach was just churning, then as soon as I saw the second plane hit I was just thinking to myself, you gotta be kidding me, how many more are out there. As soon as my roommate came in we both just started bawling at the thousands of people and their families that were watching this unfold. Eventually all of my friends were gathered together in a room just watching all the news and the new headlines, trying to find out who was the head of all this and if there were any more planes out there. It was an unusual silence that swept the room and you could see the tears and worries in everyone's eyes. Some of my friends had parents or relatives that worked there, and they were just waiting by the phone to hear from them. This day was one of the saddest and most horrible moments I have ever had to deal with. There were actually students that were working there as well, however we found out later on that day that they were not there when it occurred. That day if we did have any classes, which I personnally only had one, all we did was watch the TV so that we were kept updated. All the teachers knew that this was a very fragile time, not only for themselves but for us as students. I have never seen our campus so bare and so gloomy. Just watching the buildings fall and the people, it was all just so overwhelming, I would talk to the guys and they all just said how they wish we could just bomb all of them, how they would go to war and fight themselves. It became all too realistic in the past 24 hours. I will never forget that day, it is all to vivid to me, and that following week as well. We were just trying to raise money, people writing about peace all over the school, and then at the end of the week we had a huge school gathering where we met on the quad and had our president speak as well as some students, then at the end we all just stood in silence praying for all the families and the people that were still stuck in the buildings. I'm sorry that my story is so long, but it is hard to write down exactly what you want to say. The event and all the emotions that surrounded it are deeper then words. 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 story374.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. 2002-04-09 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 64.12.105.188 Annotation Annotations to this item. Students/Teachers U.S. retribution WTC, attack 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: TJK: My cousin Steve in Oregon twisted my arm to write down what I saw on 9/11. About four weeks ago, I finally sat down (during working hours, of course) and wrote out as much as I could remember. Steve is an native NY'er so he is familiar with the street locations, etc. I wrote this on 10/22/01 You may find it interesting (or crushingly boring) but here it is: Dear Steve: I just wanted to let you know how much it means to all of us to know of your concern. It has been very tough since the disaster. The building Grace worked in has been closed since September 11th as it sustained structural damage. The building, 90 Church St. is two blocks north of where the WTC once stood. She has been relocated to other quarters. She was in an interior office and was unaware of the plane crashes until she was told to evacuate and go north. She reported that when she went into the street, there were shoes everywhere, probably from the plane, and also because lots of people wear sneakers and comfortable shoes to work, and change into dress shoes when they get there. My story is as follows: The morning of September 11th was truly amazing, great weather and not a cloud in the sky. I had a routine court appearance that morning in Foley Square and started for the courthouse via subway. About 9 am, the subway stopped at Houston Street, and the conductor announced there was a delay in service due to a "smoke condition" at the Cortlandt St/WTC stop. I consider that the understatement of the century. Houston Street is 4 stops north of the WTC on the same subway line. (What they should have said was "Due to the apocalypse occurring at Cortlandt St....") Stuck in the station, I decided I was close enough to walk to the courthouse, and I climbed out of the subway and there they were, both towers in flames right before my eyes. Both towers had orange rings of fire all the way around the upper stories. Bizarrely, and I don?t know what I was thinking, I guess because the enormity of what was going on did not sink in, I walked to court, on the assumption that "Just because the WTC is on fire is no reason not to go to work." So I walked south from Houston Street to the courthouse, which is also closer to the WTC; no one tried to stop me from heading south, though there were literally tens of thousands of people in the street watching. As I walked south, all the while there were hundreds of fire trucks and police heading past me going to the WTC. When I got to the courthouse at about 9:30 am, I was told everything was closed, so I just stood in the street and watched the towers burn like everyone else. At this point I was six blocks from the WTC. I have to tell you, I was close enough to see dark objects coming out of the upper floors and falling to earth. I could not tell what they were, but knowing what we know now, many of them had to have been people. No one got out above where the planes hit. About five minutes to 10, I decided to call the office and let them know I was going to have a problem getting in that day, and I walked down Worth Street about 50 feet to a telephone booth. So I was not looking at the buildings when suddenly there was a tremendous "CRACK" sound, and the ground rumbled. I ran back to the corner, to where I had been watching, and of, course the south tower was gone, and the dust was coming. The south tower did not drop straight down, but rather fell over to the south down Greenwich and Washington Streets, right past the building I worked in between 1986-91. I later found out that three people in that building (Bankers Trust, 130 Liberty) were killed also. Until the south tower fell, no one thought they were going to collapse, they had both taken direct hits by jumbo jets, and the jets just seemed to be absorbed into the buildings. I just kept thinking, "This is going to be an amazing repair job." After the south tower fell however, we all knew it would just be a matter of time before the north tower followed its twin. At this point, the police who had been relatively calm about letting me and everyone else in Foley Sq. just stand around and watch, started yelling at us to get out of there, and we did. I was lucky to be where I was because I was allowed to go north and stay in Manhattan. People just south of where I was standing, were forced to go over the Brooklyn Bridge into Brooklyn, where they were stranded for hours. All public transit was stopped. I know this because a friend of mine was one of the unfortunates stuck in Brooklyn until late afternoon, even though she lived in Manhattan. Generally, you could leave Manhattan, but once you did, you could not get back in. I started going north as quickly as I could. Even though there were thousands of people heading north, we were travelling at pretty good rate, since everyone was going in the same direction. Some people were covered in white ash, and a number of women were without shoes. About 10:20 a.m. I found myself at Sixth Avenue and Bleecker Street, and I decided I had seen enough and I was entitled to a cigarette. I went into a shop, bought a pack and went out into the street to light up. By this time there was no traffic. All traffic was ordered off the roads and cars were pulled into the side with the radios on. The north tower was still standing, and because I was north of it, and the wind was blowing south I had a perfect unobstructed view. As I was puffing away, the north tower just suddenly crimped on both sides, the antenna on top fell to the side, and the tower dropped straight down onto itself. It was all over in five seconds. That is the only consolation the families have is that it was over so fast, no one inside would have had time to know what was going on. By this time the enormity of the situation had sunk in, and as the north tower collapsed straight down into itself, I knew I was witnessing the moment of death of thousands of people. I do not remember anyone in the street screaming or shouting, as it happened, everyone just stood. I knew all public transit was shut down and I had to start walking home to 96th and West End Avenue, a long walk indeed. I started for the Hudson River to walk up along the bike path, when the first of the fighter jets came over us. When I got to the river I started north. All along the route, there were cars pulled over to the sides with their radios on and clusters of people gathered to listen. Everyone was listening to Newsradio 88, since most of the other radio stations went off the air when the WTC antenna was destroyed. That is where I heard about the Pentagon and the crash in Pennsylvania. There was also a report that there were 8 more hijacked planes, but thankfully that turned out to be false. There was also a substantial detour at 34th Street at the heliport because of the tanks of helicopter fuel. Also there was a line of ambulances from about 42d Street and the West Side Highway, up to 59th Street and the West Side Highway and the police were sending about ten at a time south to the site. Actually, as it turned out, very few people were injured, people either got out, or didn?t. There were thousands of people heading north along the river, some covered in dust, but we were all moving in the same direction, north. All the tunnels were closed, so I was lucky that I was only going to 96th Street, there were people I talked to who were heading for the George Washington Bridge at 181st Street to walk home to New Jersey. I got home at about 12:30 p.m. There were several messages on my answering machine, the most frantic one from mom. I called her right back. Lower Manhattan was closed for the remainder of the week, and we were not allowed south of Canal Street until the following Monday. The building I work in, 26 Broadway, was closed for a week, but we are back in business. Battery Park has been closed and turned into an army campsite with tents and trucks. When lower Manhattan was first re-opened about a week after the disaster we had to show photo ID and have a reason for being down there. To get to my building I had to pass through two army checkpoints and have my briefcase searched, something we are not used to in NYC. Actually, once you were cleared through the checkpoints, you were pretty much free to roam around in the area you were cleared to enter. Because of the location of my office, I was as close to the site as civilians were allowed. Even though I had seen it all on TV, over and over, and thought I knew what to expect, when I first saw the site from the corner of Nassau and John Street (2 blocks away) I gasped. That 13 story piece of the skin of the building was still standing, and it looked like a giant claw. You have seen the pictures of it. Also, it was not silver colored like it had been; it was copper colored from the fire. The site was stunning, the only way to describe it is as six stories of flaming rubble. I know you have seen the pictures, but the devastation is far vaster in person than you can get a sense of on TV. The big problem in lower Manhattan now is the dust, it is everywhere, and just keeps coming as they work on the site. The building I work in has put in special vents and air purifiers, which do seem to work somewhat. The smell of burning plastic is hard to get over. I was given a face mask to wear on the street, and people with breathing problems like asthma were given gas masks. Even now five weeks later the smell of burning plastic is still obvious and many people still wear the face masks (a lot depends on which way the wind is blowing) The site is still on fire. At lunch on the first day back I walked down to Greenwich and Washington Streets (which was pretty close to ground zero) and every window was cracked or shattered. Afterwards they closed that area and you could not get as close again until this week. There are lines of dumptrucks and large flatbed trucks all the way down Trinity Place to Battery Park, they go up Church St, load up, and then go down Broadway right past my office window. The parade of trucks goes 24/7. On the flatbed trucks sometimes there is only one giant piece of twisted metal. Actually, a funny story from the day of the disaster is when Marc called. Marc is now a sergeant in the NYPD. When he heard about the planes loaded with jet fuel hitting the WTC, he called my office to tell me to get the hell out of there. When the receptionist told him I was not in, he just said, "That?s good, thank you," and hung up, without bothering to tell my co-workers to get out. As it turns out, they were stuck in the building until about 3pm until the police could evacuate them safely up the East Side Drive. The enormity of the disaster did not sink in for several days, but I can tell you, I have not slept through the night since 9/11. I generally wake up around 3:15 am, and that is it, I am up for the day. Many other people do the same, and when we talk about it, it is funny everyone seems to wake up between 3 and 3:30am. Let me know when you come into town, either for Thanksgiving of Christmas. Regards, GPK 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 story429.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. 2002-04-17 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 64.2.79.162 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 awoken by the telephone at around 9:00 am. It was my brother, telling me to turn on the television. My first reaction was that I was watching a terrible accident, but an accident nonetheless. While on the phone with him, a second plane slammed into Tower Two. I remember spending the rest of the conversation in near silence. I went to work later in the day, finding out that one of our company's stores was lost on the attacks on New York. We closed early. On the way home I decided to stop at a bar downtown. There was little chatter among the regulars--until we heard a barrage of sirens go screaming past. Everyone was completely quiet until they went away, and then took a breath of relief. Every time I look at pictures of the attack, I think of a man sitting next to me at the bar, saying, "Is it all different now, or is this going to pass?" I still don't know. It's weird to be miles and months away, yet to be able to still feel that pain is something that doesn't easily vanish. 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 story1306.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-08-20 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 66.190.91.147 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 16 years old and it was around 10:15pm, in my hometown of Adelaide, South Australia, when the first plane plowed through the first tower. I was totally unaware since my mum and sister had already gone to bed, as did I. We were blissfully unaware of the turmoil and shock that was unfolding on the other side of the world. I woke up at 6:55am the next day to my clock/radio, lying in bed waiting to have a shower. I listened to the 7:00am news. The words that the newsreader spoke didn't register with me.... I had no vague idea what the twin towers were. My sister came from the bathroom so I relayed the news back to her. I don't think we had any idea how big this really was. I took a shower thinking about the news I had heard. I was in shock. I got changed and turned the TV onto a music channel. Half of me didnt want to face up to the stories the other half was still in shock. On the bottom of the screen came up something like this: "Twin towers collapsed. Turn onto all news channels. I put the TV onto channel 9 which would normally have idle chit chat on the Today program but not today. I believed it more when I actually saw it. A plane cutting into a concrete structure like a hot knife through butter. I couldnt believe it. I still dont..... I called my sister into the room. she asked me questions but how was I to know the answers? It was incomprehensable. Those images on the screen scared me. I was used to my safe, routine life but now I was scared. What was happening? The rest of the morning was a daze. The bus seemed more silent than usual. Everyone looked straight ahead trying to carry on. Just as confused as the next. The day was spent watching news channels. Those images played over and over and over. I wanted more information because knowledge is power but I also didnt. I got home and my parents wanted to watch the news non stop. I was sick of it. I was sure that watching it too much would give me psychlogical damage. Terrorists. Filthy. Cowardly. Murderers. It was weird seing business people covered in dust with pain and terror in their eyes. Disbelief. I think that this event helps us focus on our loved ones and Life. Not numbers I was scared for Australia. My family and my life. Were we safe? I felt so sad for all the people killed and hurt. It was wierd how something that happened on the other side of the globe could affect me so much. Two years on I am 18 and I still dont believe it. It's just too much. I want to visit the trade centre site to get closure and to see it right there. Thats what happened. My thoughts are with all of the people who died and their family and friends. XOXO Rachel O'Brien 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 story9578.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-09-10 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 202.138.10.34 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was asleep in bed when my fiance called me. I had just quit my job the day before and thought that I would sleep in and relax before I would start the hard grind of finding a new job that day. He was panicked and screaming about the twin towers being hit and the pentagon being hit. At first I thought that it was some new plot that some moron had thought up in the live action game that we play as a hobbie. I asked him why in the world they would do that, incredulous that someone would have a plot that tacky after what had happened with the towers a few years before. It slowly hit me that he wasn't talking about a plot, but something real. He kept on saying that it was on the news, turn on the news. I screamed "God no!" and ran out into the livingroom to turn on the TV. I kept screaming "Oh, my God no!" I tripped over one of my roommates trying to get to the TV, panicking him. I couldn't get the TV turned on. My other roommate came out of his room as I am screaming and trying to turn on the TV. I couldn't get it turned on! They wanted to know what was going on. All I could say was, "We are at war!" I finally had to calm down and let one of my roommates turn on the TV, that power button was just too much for me to do. The TV turned on and we saw an airplane hit one of the towers. "Oh God help us." We were all quiet as we watched the towers get hit...watched them collapse...watched the pentagon burn...watched the people jump out of the towers...watch the people run from the towers...watched the debris envelope people. We got on the internet and went to the CNN website. Only a picture of the chaos with an alert of more news coming. We sat in stunned silence the rest of the day, watching the news and scanning the internet, half thinking that the world as we knew it was over. I still remember the panic and dread that I felt. I was so panicked that I couldn't do something as simple as turn on a TV. I remember the temperature, it was nice and sunny, the perfect weather, about 80 or so. I remember the eerie silence as all of a sudden, there were no planes in the air. I never realized how much noise they made as they flew overhead, until they were gone. 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 story1091.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-08-19 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 66.25.208.184 Annotation Annotations to this item. DOMESTIC