320 20 70359 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I am writing on the second anniversery of the September 11th tragedy, September 11, 2003. Below I am including my post to the Website "www.wherewereyou.org" on the first anniversery, which collected many stories before this website opened. I am posting again today out of respect, and as a way to continue the healing process, as we, as individuals, and as we, as a country, gain perspective on this terrible event. #1787 | Monday, September 9th 2002 I was asleep. A friend came to borrow my car and I groggily told him ok, and then went back to sleep. When my clock radio came on, the first thing I heard was "schools will remain open". I didn't know what happened and I bolted out of bed and turned on the tv only to hear the tail end of a sentence saying "...where the World Trade Center used to be..." Nothing computed. I thought, "what do you mean, USED to be?" I thought this was impossible. All these thoughts passed through my mind in several seconds, not minutes, as I was waking up. I immediately realized that we were in the midst of something BIG, and I felt awash with pure horror. My sister lives behind me, and I rushed to her house in my PJs. She was already up, watching the TV. She filled me in on what had happened, and I just gawked in horror and disbelief. They were replaying the video clips, and the first thing I saw was people jumping from the towers to avoid the fires, and then the buildings falling and people running from the clouds. I knew immediately that we were at war, and that I was witnessing the changing course of history before my eyes. I just sat before the TV with my sister, unable to comprehend the loss of life, or the psychological makeup of someone who would do such a thing. The tragedy profoundly affected me emotionally, and led me to question all I had known before. On the approaching anniversary, I still do not have any answers... Barbara Taylor | 54 | Florida Today is the second anniversary of this life-changing, tragic event. Septermber 11, 2001 changed the course of history before our very eyes and shook the foundation of truths we, as Americans, have always believed to be "self-evident". I was physically nowhere near any of the crashes, yet, like the rest of America and the rest of the world, I was right in the middle of it through television and the media. I remained glued to the TV, in spite of warnings that immersing oneself in the continuing news coverage could lead to psychological difficulties related to the tragedy. As a result, I suffered from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for months afterwards. Driving down the highway, I would see planes crashing into the buildings I could see ahead of me on the horizon. My psychiatrist shared with me that after 9/11, a number of people came to see him with problems resulting from the tragedy. I live in Florida, and some of these terrorists lived and trained very near to my home. This introduced a new, global sense of fear into my life. How can we trust anyone? I struggled to avoid stereotyping Arabs and Arab-Americans and becoming afraid of the entire population. This was, after all, an "isolated incident", or was it? And why only Arabs? It could be anyone, couldn't it? How could I know? How could anyone know? The CIA and the FBI did not even have enough staff members who spoke Arabic to understand what people were talking about, even if they did listen to them. How could this be possible, given the situation in the world prior to 9/11? During the months following the tragedy, I struggled to understand the forces behind this terrible deed. Although I keep up with the news, I did not remember every hearing of Osama bin Laden. I searched the Internet and read everything I could about the man in a struggle to understand what had happened. I read about the Middle East. I studied Islam and read parts of the Quoran. I struggled to be objective, and to try to understand and accept that the individuals who carried out this attack, as well as other suicide bombers, believed in what they were doing. They believed they were right just as we, as Americans, believe we are right. I began to understand, with a sense of shock, how much we are hated in some parts of the world. I learned how people's values in some other cultures are so different from ours, that the "self-evident truths" we take for granted have no meaning to them. Loss of innocent life does not matter in the broader scheme of things, and therefore, any sort of meaningful dialogue is impossible. There does not seem to be any common ground. On this second anniversary, I have more questions than answers. Is Osama bin Laden "evil" because he killed innocent Americans? Yes, by our values. We should hunt him down and kill him because of what he did to us. But, if these lives truly had no meaning to him because of his belief system, and he is really acting according to his belief in the need for a Jihad, or Holy War, how is he any different from us? Now, I do not mean that we kill innocent people without regard. But we do adhere to our beliefs and take actions as a result. So do the suicide bombers in the Middle East. I have come to the conclusion that until we gain a deeper understanding of the psychological forces and belief systems behind these actions, there will never be any sort of stability. We must get down off our high horse and do this. We may be the biggest and the strongest, but we are not necessarily the best, and we can always learn from others if we keep an open mind. We must understand and accept that God does not exclusively belong to the United States, but that God is represented in many forms by many peoples throughout the world. I have come to realize, because of 9/11, that if I went to any number of countries in the Middle East, or anywhere else, that individuals in each one would say the same thing we say; that their country is the best, that God is on their side, and that they truly believe their actions are carrying out the will of God, AS THEY KNOW GOD. My entire world view has changed as a result of the September 11th attack, and I have come to believe that, as long as we think our way is the only way, there will never be 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 story9813.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. 172.160.166.119 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: 9.11.01. September 11th began as any other ordinary day in Bergen County, NJ. I remember waking up and thinking it was such a beautiful day, the sky was clear, the sun was shining brightly, and i was planning what i would do that afternoon when my sister and i left school. I was 16, a sophomore in high school, and so far that morning was uneventful. I was hanging out watching the news at the beginning of my double chem lab, when all of a sudden smoke and fire filled the screen. No one knew what was happening. "PLANE CRASHES INTO WORLD TRADE CENTER" flashed across the news and every broadcast turned to the Twin Towers. At the time it was believed that the crash was accidental, as chemistry was forgotten and we all focused on the tv. But then I watched in stunned silence and pure horror as the second plane hit the other tower. This was definitely no accident, and you could hear the panic in every newscaster's voice. The panic deepened as i saw-live-the first, then the second tower collapse. I couldnt believe what i was seeing, it was like watching a war movie from a distant country-yet it was unfolding 15 minutes from my home. When i went into the hallway to find my sister, people were running around crying, calling loved ones on their cell phones. I couldnt even get through to my mom, my dad, or my best friend who's father and cousin worked in the city. (I thank GOD everyday that everyone I love is fine). Classes were unofficially suspended and kids were streaming out of the building as we made our way home and up the hills to see the NY skyline. It was the most surreal sight-thick black smoke covering everything, and I can still see the picture in my head as clear as if it was today. I have never prayed so much or so hard in my life. I prayed for the victims, their families, and our country. To this day I still ache when I think about what happened that day, how many lives were destroyed forever. But even more than that, I am honored to have been born in a country where people come together in the face of unspeakable tragedy-where an act of such horrific disregard for human life brings us not to our knees, but makes us stand taller. To all of the FDNY, NYPD, PORT AUTHORITY, HOSPITAL WORKERS, VOLUNTEERS, US ARMED FORCES and CITIZENS across NEW YORK and the NATION-your bravery and dedication is what makes this country strong-and great. GOD BLESS YOU, YOUR FAMILIES and LOVED ONES, and most of all, 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 story20657.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. 12.18.80.40 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I am a 32 years old German girl, I serve in the German Air Force. I was at home because I had a broken foot. Usually at 3 pm they showed a special tv show so I waited for it like every day. Suddenly they interrupted the show to send the pictures of the world trade center. From now on I saw everything live on tv. I cried and needed a glas of whiskey to keep my hands from shaking. I called the ranch of my friends in Texas, just to talk to them. In fact, I woke them up, they didn't know yet. We could not talk for a long time, we cried. I still have a hard time to think about it and to see the pictures on tv. I feel so sorry about all the victims and the survivors who suffer everyday and never be the same again. I hope we get all of these terrorits, I wanna live in a world of peace, I love America, like everyone who has ever visited it. I have many friends there and I feel like an American. We all do in these times. God bless us all and gives the power to the people who need it. Your Maren Dohle from Germany. 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 story1865.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. 2002-09-07 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 62.195.41.206 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was driving to work and Lee had called to tell me that a plane had just hit the world trade center, my first thought was what a horrible accident, how could something like this happen. I turned on 720am radio to get the details and within minutes the second plane had hit and they announced that this was no accident but that The United States was under attack. I was closer to work than home and was on my way in for a meeting, so I keep going, but my ears were glued to the radio, desperate for information on what was happening. By the time that I got to work, everyone was huddled around the TV and I joined them, we all watched in silence and disbelief. The meeting was cancelled because our vistors flight from Michigan was cancelled. They called to tell us that they were stranded and would try to get a car rented so that they could drive home to Texas to be with their families. I called my brother and brother-in-law, who both fly quit a bit for their jobs, and both were safe, so I felt better knowing where they were at. I called to chedk on my parents and sister, they both live locally and they too were fine but very nervous about what had just happened. We all went through the motions that day, very little work was accomplished. When I got home that night I was glued to the TV, watching the fire fighters,police and volunteers working to rescue people. We called to see if additonal volunteers were needed, but they said that money was wht they needed, so we made several donations to several funds, including those being taken at the grocery store. My 21 year old really wanted to go to New York, but I had advised her of what was requested and instead she prayed with us, for those who lost their lives. A year has passed and there is not a day that goes by that I don't wonder, what will be next? Today 9/11/2002, I again drove to work, traffic was terrible, but nobody cared, when there was a moment of silence on the radio, the cars just stopped on the highway and what should have been an hours drive took 2 hours adn I was late for a meeting. Believe it or not hte meeting was with the same people that we should have meet with last year, and when I walke din and saw Gary, tears came to my eyes, I gave him a hug and told him that I was happy to see him and happy that he was able to be here today. We re-called last years events and made note of the fact that had he taken his flight last year, he may not be here today. The meeting went well. I wished him a safe flight home and will wait for him to call and let me know that he is safely back in Texas. Everyone I talked with today had the same feeling, you wished that you didn't have to work today, but that you could have stayed home with your loved ones. The whole day was a teary eyed day and tonight when Lee gets home I will make sure to tell him that I love him and how much I appreciate him. Tonight I'll say an extra prayer for those who were killed and for those who risked their lives to a save others, tonight I will Thank God for allowing me to live in The United States of America, tonight will not be like any other night! 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 story4642.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 152.163.188.6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: This is my Fifth Anniversary of 9/11. This time I'm in Arizona. Health and family concerns have moved us to move. 9/11 was not a small part of that decision. The world is so much more dangerous now that it seemed a risk not worth taking to stay. I feel bad about it, but at least I can sleep now. However, it's very odd to be living someplace where I'm surrounded by people who weren't "in it" and didn't "live it." My sister, who was in NY with me at the time of the attacks, and I are both feeling a little alone and out of place today. As far as being five years out from the day, well, the folks from Oklahoma City came to our school in 2002 and said, "Five years; in five years you'll start to feel normal again." I think they're mostly right. I still jump when I hear airplanes. I imagine that will continue for many years to come (the second plane flew over my school, http://www.geocities.com/aolgillian/HSLAPS_WTC.html) but other things aren't so strong. I'm not full of as much rage as I was right after the attacks. I'm FAR less trusting of our current government. I'm very defensive about the date and events. I read everything I could get my hands on regarding the attacks and fancy myself some sort of dillitante expert. I am terrified that my husband still has to work in NYC. I hate that. I love the city. I hate being afraid of it. I'm also less confident about our decisions that affect folks overseas. They have SUCH the wrong picture of us. But it's our own damn fault. What we send overseas as part of our cultural imperialism (though I don't think any of us think it's as planned as that makes it sound--more like ACCIDENTAL cultural imperialism) is a horor. We send "Dallas" and "Baywatch" instead of "All the President's Men" and "Schindler's List". Or something like that. And then there's our drug companies and Africa...ai yi yi...it's almost a miracle that no one managed to do this BEFORE 9/11/01. I think it's the risk we run by being a superpower; we're a bigger and easier target. And it's so much eaiser to hate "the other" than it is to fix your own problem (the log in your eye vs. the mote in someone else's...etc etc). If these youn Saudi's and Egyptian were able to take ALL that energy and help fix their own countries, it'd be spectacular. I do think this is something we need to really examine, not in some pseudo-Oprah-Mea-Culpa (I get all angry about that garbage too), but what do we WANT to export. What do we WANT the world to see. We're just figuring out what it means to be an American--we're such a young country--it's not a bad thing to work out. Impossible. But a good idea. 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 story20684.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. 71.215.106.185 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: Five years ago on this day I was in school.They anounced that three planes had crashed in New York.That afternoon I watched the news at home.They showed two planes crashing into the Twin Towers.I was shocked because many people were in the planes also in the Twin Towers.It was heart breaking because one plane crashed into the south Twin Tower,then the other one crashed into the north Twin Tower. The third plane crashed in a open area.Many people lost their lives and relatives.I was happy that I was in the place I was in,even though many people lost their lives.I thank god for the people who made it and ask god to bless those who lost their lives on that horrible day.God bless those who lost their love ones. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story20472.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 had just taken my little girl to school about an hour before and I was just watching tv as usual. Then the Tom Brokaw came over the screen and said that the World Trade Center had just been hit. I was pregnant at the time due in a month and the only thing that I could do was hold my stomach and just cry. I turned the tv to another channel to make sure it was true and I started praying for all those people not only in the buildings and the planes but for their families because I could not imagine what they were going through seeing a place where their love ones worked under attack. The victims of 9/11 will always be in my memory. The World Trade Center Victims, The Pentagon Victims, The Victims in the Planes and The Families that the tragedy affected will always be heroes in my eyes. 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 story9541.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. 24.88.226.80 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: It took me 2 periods to finally hear what had happened. I remember walking down the hallway and seeing a surprising amount of people with tears in their eyes. I didn't think anything of it. My school has always been full of people who seem to have some excess baggage. Then I got to my photojournalism class. I noticed everyone was staring at the t.v. It normally wasn't allowed on, so I knew something had to have happened. It's just like me to come into something like this late. I don't listen to the radio or watch t.v., so I don't hear about these things until someone tells me. I sat down and said "What's going on?", to the girl that sits next to me. "Do you live in a cave or something? Two planes just crashed into the world trade center!", she said, obviously grasping the situation. The next 3 hours consisted of almost constant staring at the various t.v.'s distirbuted throughtout the school. At around 5th period I got into French. The teacher said we were going to ignore the things going on in the outside world and consentrate on French. "If you're going to pretend nothings happening out there," I said, trying to display just how ticked off that got me, "then I'm going to pretend France doesn't exsist." Before we could really get into the arguement, a fellow classmate by the name of Blake walked in considerably late and looking rather pail. "The towers just collapsed", he said softly. "What?", the teacher said. "The towers have collapsed, theres nothing left of them", he repeated. At that point all fighting stopped, and she turned on the television. This was what took place a good portion of the rest of the day. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story3800.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. 206.77.47.2 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: On Tuesday mornings, I am at my busiest. I work in a court room and I spend my mornings interviewing clients and prepping cases to go into court. That morning, my co-worker, came into my office and said, "a plane just crashed into the WTC". I didn't comment, just kept on working as I figured it was a small plane and I would see it on the news that night. A little later, she came in again and said, "another plane just hit the other building, they are saying it's terrorism" I did not believe her. Then she told me they were large commercial planes that were hijacked. I pictured large empty planes. She told me they were full of passengers. I realized then it would be a day we would never forget. The rest is history. 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 story6538.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. 12.33.141.37 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: Compass We marked four winds by an acrid smoke, Smoke first black, then white, Driven across East River and New York Harbor, Carried east across Brooklyn Heights, then south over Staten Island, Out over the Narrows, down the shore, up Long Island, out to sea, Carried north over Central Park, over Harlem, Washington Heights, Over and into the Bronx, over and into Connecticut beyond, Carried west over Hudson, raking up and down New Jersey Palisades, Fort Lee to Bayonne. Over all was blown this marvel, a dark compass in the sky. We saw it from a hill in Green-Wood, by Tiffany?s tomb, Acorns, catkins, catalpa fruit littering the manicured grass, Along with charred memos, letters, and newsprint All covered, all covered with thankless ash? In this ash, ashes, the ordinary become SOS, the truth of what was And what is. Upon the ashes of that work Is our work? Begun when theirs ended? In smoke and ash, Twisted steel, exploded glass, When our towers, one after the other, Shuddered and collapsed, Exhausted. ??? Engine 205 Those who know that work is love know that this work is great love, work done in the face of death in defiance, in respect, true work, true love, sacrifice-- lives for love, living for love. Ladder 118 How will DNA tell us Whose hand grasped axe to free trapped Clerks in elevator shafts? Or which hand steered fatal jet? Or whose feet bore the weight of Boots, belt, air tank and helmet Up and down flights of stairs and Into the lighted pyre. Will the DNA tell us Who loved to dance, though he danced Badly?Or which plotted to Undo dancer in mid-dance? Or who, could he speak once more, Would surely ask, ?May I have The next dance?? ??? Restless and Unsleeping I thought it raged somewhere else? Twister hop scotching Kansas, Flood drowning Minnesota? Always, always, somewhere else. But it was racing across Cloudless skies, down calm East Coast, As arsonist, as human Bomb, as some demented god. And from a cell phone inside We got our answer to Where, When he said, The fire is here. ??? The Blind Man?s Guide There is no path; there is no road, That we have made that leads away From doors in flame, from glass-shard floors, Guide dog no use but to stay close. But to presume a path will appear, First to blind feet, then to scorched hands, Each step borne by that presumption? That foot will find fall after fall, Descending the obscure staircase Long minute after long minute Until a familiar embrace, Merely imagined up to now, Saying you are home? Brings you home. ??? Labore est orare To retrieve the fallen, To remove the wreckage, And leave, leaving this field Better than we found it. ??? Harbor Out the office, hale and clean pressed or broken limbed, ash covered into a waiting boat, one of hundreds tugs, tankers, water taxies, ferries evacuating downtown Manhattan out from under the smoke, going in by radar at high speed, Staten Island Ferry up to 800 rpm carrying 6,000 passengers one way -- out -- urgent, determined, clear that nobody should be sitting down that we couldn't think of any place else we'd rather be F-16's knife through breaks in the black billowing close down over harbor -- We didn't know whose they were -- and on the Hudson damned if it wasn't the Half Moon just sitting there in the haze -- almost 400 years to the day Hudson first penetrated New York Harbor -- a replica with nothing to do on busiest day in harbor since Melville. ??? Barges The dream, the disturbing part of it, was it presented itself As presentment? Two rows of barges longer than the stadium Slowly moving from Manhattan Leaving a lane in between for her ferry, Heading in the opposite direction to terminal, Each barge pushed by a tug, each tug with a wheelhouse, In each wheelhouse the same silent skipper chomping On cigar, eyes focused straight ahead, beyond The wreckage? When it was a memory of something She?d seen in the papers. Bargemen He said, At first the barges were filled with rebar, Which always had some cement attached. There were crows and seagulls everywhere. I didn?t know crows ate cement. ??? I thought I?d read more? I took this job so a young man Wouldn?t have to hold Such memories? Was only my imagination. ??? Ferryman And again, thought I'd dreamt I'd gone over to see how they were doing, the ones I'd ferried in from Jersey -- ants on a hill digging, digging, digging -- but was daydreaming over something I'd read. Thought I knew their names, they mine. It was ebb tide, my grasp loosening, even the smoke getting sucked out to sea. ??? Steamfitter Steamfitter says he used to line up pilings he was driving with twin towers. Harder now, that hard job, harder ― harder but doable. 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 story8616.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-11-04 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 129.174.27.131 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: How did you witness history on September 11th? Share your experience. I witnessed September 11th in many ways. On that day my sister was supposed to fly from Boston to Washington D.C. She was to leave around 10:00. Luckily,her plane was grounded. Though I did not know until the late afternoun that she was safe. I watched the events on tv constantly and this day was scary. Has your life changed because of September 11, 2001? If so, tell us how. Yes, my life has changed. I have always been scared to fly but now I am petrified to fly. I also watch the world news more often for current events. I also wonder what will hapen in the future because this day may impact the lives of my children. I am glad I was born in the U.S. What do you think should be remembered about September 11th? People should remember that our country stands for freedom. We should remember the heroes and the victims from that day. Most important we should remember to care about our family and others. Did you fly an American flag after the events of September 11th? I'd rather not say. 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 story8839.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. 2002-12-17 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 216.54.14.84 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: This is how I feel today, September 11th 2006... about September 11th, 2001 please view, it is worth while. http://www.kevinfitz.com/_illustration/_galleryone/_images/080906.jpg 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 story20674.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. 70.231.125.89 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: This is an article the I posted on my online journal on Sept. 28, 2001. My journal can be found at http://www.itwarren.com/continuum or by emailing samsnyderjr@yahoo.com. SEPTEMBER 28, 2001 "I LOVE NEW YORK" NOW, more than two full weeks since the unbelievable attack on the Twin Towers in New York City, my feelings are still those of shock, sadness and anger. Over these past two weeks, I have attempted to write several times but was not able to get my thoughts out. My thoughts were two chaotic and emotional. They ran into each other and overlapped each other. The attack on the World Trade Center feels personal to me. There are several reasons for this. I have lived almost my entire thirty-eight years in New Jersey. The few times that I have lived out of the state, I have still retained my New Jersey identity and have always preferred to be here (as strange as that may sound to some). In 1982, I attended a college in Minneapolis, Minnesota for about five months. As people stood in line to register and began to make conversation, it was soon discovered that I was from New Jersey. Suddenly I found myself surrounded by lots of kids from Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and other Midwest states. Immediately the interrogation began. Question 1: ?What do you drink for lunch?? Answer: ?Soda.? Response: ?Yuk! Yuk! Yuk! It?s POP!? POP? That?s a name for my grandfather! Question 2: ?What do you pack your lunch in?? Answer: ?A paper bag.? Response: ?Yuk! Yuk! Yuk! It?s a paper SACK!? A SACK? That?s for potatoes! Question 3: ?How do you say DOG?? Answer (in my best NJ accent): ?DAWG!? Go ahead, laugh if you want. I think your winters are too cold and it has damaged your brains. I'm going home! I also lived in Easton, Pennsylvania for a few years. But I worked in Jersey and most of my friends lived there. So it felt like I still lived in Jersey. I also spent a few brief months in Nowhere-ville, West Virginia. That is a story for another day. When you live most of your life in northern New Jersey, New York City just feels like part of your ?neighborhood.? I live about 70 miles (driving miles) west of Manhattan. Without traffic, I can make it to the city in just over an hour. (No comments on my speeding addiction right now. Thank you.) It is common to see the New York skyline from many points in eastern New Jersey. Of course, the Twin Towers were the first and most noticeable objects of that skyline. Now all has changed. I FEEL robbed. Something personal has been taken from me. No, I cannot lay claim to a tragic loss of a loved one who was in one of those buildings, or a brother who was a New York City fireman lost while trying to save others, or even a close friend who was injured on September 11. However, I still feel a sense of loss. The feeling of loss was immediate when I heard the news. Do we all not feel that loss, those of us who are American? Tell me my Hawaiian and Alaskan brothers so far from lower Manhattan. Did you not feel some kind of loss as soon as you heard the news? Furthermore, do we not all feel the loss, those of us who are human and decent? Yes, we do. For me personally, it is not only the loss of a spectacular and familiar skyline. I have certain attachments to New York City, some of which go back many years. I love New York! Sometimes when I go to New York I have very strong remembrances of my dear grandfather. I remember going to see a rodeo at Madison Square Garden when I was young. For a souvenir I got one of those little flashlights on a plastic cord that you could swing around over your head when the lights went down in the Garden. (I think they are outlawed now because too many little sisters got beaned in the head by overly excited older brothers at rodeos.) I also remember my grandfather taking us to see the New York Rangers play hockey at the Garden. One time I brought a friend and our seats were a few rows away from Pop, just far enough for him to be unable to distinguish our 14-year-old voices screaming out the "F-word" (of which we were very fond at that age) from the roar of the rest of the fans. New York City was also instrumental in developing a rather humanitarian and compassionate side of my character. At least 10 to 12 years ago, while going through my first divorce and raising J, S and T on my own, I was made aware of the terrible situation of the homeless in New York. A friend of mine from church was working at an inner city mission. He took me to Manhattan to help him distribute clothing on the streets at the Port Authority building. I was speechless at the condition of such poor people. I was somewhat ashamed for complaining at all about my own condition. I returned home that day with a pounding headache and a changed heart. After that day, my friend and I were able to mobilize our small church of about 40 people to send groups of people every Saturday through the winter to bring clothing to the homeless. That was not good enough. We also began bringing bagged lunches to these people. A group from the church would meet on Friday nights, sort through donated clothing and make sandwiches assembly line fashion. That was not good enough. It was cold and people needed hot food. So we made homemade chicken noodle soup (which my grandfather taught me to make), packed the soup in individual cups with spoons and packets of crackers taped to the sides, and distributed those too. That was not good enough! These were humans we were dealing with. There should be a certain amount of dignity that goes along with being human and with helping a fellow human. We gathered Band-Aids, Chapstick, combs, and other personal items. We put them into plastic bags and called them "dignity packs." What a difference that made to someone who was used to sleeping on a piece of cardboard on a dirty New York sidewalk while many people walked by without even noticing, without caring to ask their names. Sometimes the only attention they got was to be spit on, cursed at or shoved out of the way. Sure, I have some moral quandaries that I struggle with over the issue of helping the poor, especially those who are able to work but are just too lazy. "If a man does not work, neither let him eat." But I personally met many that for one reason or another were in a position where they could not help themselves very much, especially the elderly. My experience among these homeless people changed my heart in a permanent way. It was all done in the context of a city that is huge and often cold. Still I love that city. OVER the past several months I have made some good friends in New York City. I have spent time there in business meetings (click GUESTS > enter passcode 820636), site seeing, and visiting with friends. Since July, I have spent nearly every Sunday in New York City. I was there on Sunday, September 9, just two days before the Towers crashed to the ground. A mere two weeks before that, a close friend and I had dinner at Windows on the World, the restaurant that was on the 107th floor of Tower One. Neither of us could believe the news on September 11. Not only Manhattan, but also the Twin Towers themselves had come to have special significance to us. When we drove to the city on Sunday, September 16, the absence of the Towers was glaring. We had been robbed, and worse. I WAS almost to work on September 11, driving on Route 78 in New Jersey when I happened to turn on the radio and caught the tail end of a news report saying something about the World Trade Center. I thought, "Gee, I wonder what's going on." I changed stations and heard that a second plane had just crashed into the buildings. Instantly the faces of waiters and waitresses who had served us at the restaurant came flashing into my mind. Two minutes later I came over the mountain near exit 33 and I could see the smoke rising from over 20 miles away! I could not believe it! It was not real! It had to be a mistake! But when I entered the office there was nothing but somber faces. Someone had a radio on and all were listening in disbelief. Then Tower Two fell. Something happened at the Pentagon but no one was quite sure what. Tower One fell. Most of us left work early that day. We went home to talk with our children and watch the news. We could not take our eyes off of the images on our television screens. It was too awful, too huge, too unexpected. We waited for the President to speak that night while our perceptions of our country shifted. Are we as strong as we always assumed? Are we truly the people that we always told ourselves that we were? Within minutes the heroism began to shine through the smoke and rubble of destroyed buildings and airplanes. As the flags unfurled, a national consciousness was awakening. Many petty differences crumbled along with those buildings. Our courage and our patriotism rose. Unity was strengthened and we were comforted when our leader spoke that evening. Now we are awake. Now we are determined. Now we are even more American than we were when we retired for the evening on September 10. Now may God guide us in making our country and the world safer. I PERSONALLY hold the sentiment that I have heard expressed by many of my fellow Americans. I will continue to live as a free man. I will continue to pursue my goals and dreams. I will not let some low-life, evil-hearted bastard cause me to give up my freedom out of fear. Certainly I will be more careful for my safety and the safety of those that I love. But I will walk on. I will support the efforts to rid the world of terrorism that this country will make. I will teach my children about the world that we live in. I will teach them to let the stark realities of the cruelties of this world drive them to become better people. Just as murder and heinous brutalities are realities, so are courage, excellence, kindness, goodness, compassion, and success. I will teach them to pursue these things with just as much devotion and seriousness as the fanatics who crashed those planes and killed our people. I will inspire them to love with all of their hearts, mindful that such love often leaves one's heart open and vulnerable to attack by those who have no heart. I will instill in them the belief that in the end, whether it has been betrayed, murdered or simply ignored, love will always rise again and will endure forever. "Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." SO WHAT are my plans for this weekend? You got it! I am going to New York! In fact, I will be in New York City before most of you even read this article tonight! I just cannot stay away! 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 story1036.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. 2002-08-16 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 12.20.43.1 Annotation Annotations to this item. Osama Bin Laden Terrorism WTC, pre-911 NY:3 Notes Notes about this item. Approved because submitter authored essay 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 Sept. 11th, 2001, I was on a flight to Philadelphia, PA. It was approximately 10:00 a.m. -- about one hour since the plane took off from Mitchell Field in Milwaukee Wisconsin. It was a beautiful morning -- not a cloud in the sky. The flight was perfectly smooth. I happed to notice that we were gradually descending, and yet I knew we couldn't possibly be in Philadelphia already so I asked the flight attendant why we were descending. She said we were almost there (hard for me to believe) but in actuality, we were somewhere over the state of Ohio. Seconds later the Captain made an announcement, which validated my suspicion about descending so soon. He said that we would be making an unscheduled stop in Canton, OH because the FAA has instructed him to land the plane for reasons not yet known. Very shortly thereafter, we were on the ground. There was absolutely no panic or worry from the passengers. Once the plane had landed I called my boss in Chicago. Because of the fact that I was on my way to a Penn State Career Fair, he needed to know that I might not get there as scheduled. I told my boss I would call back when I had more information. As soon I hung-up, the phone rang. My colleague in Wisconsin was worried about me. She informed me about the WTC and the possibility of a terrorist attack. I then relayed the information to the other passengers around me. Everyone remained calm. In the airport, everyone watched the news in the lounge - - pilots, flight attendants, passengers, etc. I remember seeing the towers burning...it all seemed unbelievable. Camera crews started to arrive at the airport, along with the National Guard and other security personnel. I heard that all flights might be suspended, so I thought that perhaps I should rent a car. People were already lined up at the rental car counters and I needed to decide very quickly. Meanwhile, my fianc?' was at work in Chicago watching the news. He was worried. He thought he heard that one of the flights originated in Chicago, and he also thought that my flight originated in Chicago. When he tried to call all the circuits were busy, so it took a couple hours before he knew that I was safe. The FAA grounded all flights. I drove to Penn State and all the while listened to the news about the Pentagon and the crash in Pennsylvania. The death toll kept rising. It was unbelievable. I wondered if there would be any other attacks. I didn?t know if I was safe. I didn?t understand what this was all about. It was crazy. Many companies didn't show for the career fair. If I remember correctly, I believe the classes were cancelled for the day. A lot of students didn't show for the career fair. A lot of my time was spent in the break room, watching T.V. I drove home a couple days later -- 13 hours straight. A minor inconvenience in comparison to others - - I was fortunate to be alive and safe. On my way home, signs of patriotism were everywhere - - cars, toll-way signs, windows. Stores sold out of U.S. flags that week. I don't personally know anyone who died on 9/11, but I still cry when I see pictures and read the stories. I'm especially sad for children who lost their parents and parents who lost their children. I don't think there could be a greater loss than losing one of my own children, but the suffering for everyone is too great to measure in any case, I'm sure of that. I will never forget 9/11 and I'll always remember the sadness and suffering that it caused. Beth Panka Gurnee, IL Written September 2003 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story10116.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. 2003-09-17 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 12.212.223.244 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 starting this with an e-mail I sent to family and friends the afternoon of September 11, 2001. Once I had sent that mail, the words could not stop. The essays that I am sending are only the tip of the iceberg of the experiences we had. There are still many stories left untold, many thoughts that still need to come to words. A friend who is both a newspaper reporter and grief counselor suggested that I keep writing, not only to tell the world what we were going through here but to try and heal myself....I still write about those days and weeks and months after and will continue to do so. There are days when I still cry. Here is only a small part of my story, told in the hope that someday peace and healing will come. From: Boccegoddess@aol.com Date: Tue Sep 11, 2001 2:36 pm Subject: World Trade Center Just to let you all know that David and I are okay as is (Thank God) my entire family. We both work about 2 blocks from the trade center. Last night I was walking through the WTC to get the subway and there were alarms going off like crazy. About 8 months, I got a very, very uneasy feeling when going to the subway home one night and from then on decided not to go in there anymore. Last night was the first time in ages that I even walked near there. This morning on the way in on the bus, we neared lower Manhattan and I got a glimpse of the first tower on fire. While watching that, I saw the second plane hit the other tower and the building seemed to just implode. Minutes later it crumbled to the ground and it was just gone. Dust, papers, pieces of debris floated across the East River like incandescent angels. It was the most unbelievable site I have ever seen. Absolutely horrifying. My hearts go out to the families of all those dead and injured. Waiting to hear from David (who left his building, covered in debris, after the first collapse and got to deal with the second collapse while walking across the Brooklyn Bridge) and my daughter (who thankfully works uptown and went in early) were the most terrifying moments of my life. Thank's to all the roomies and friends who phoned and called and im'ed me to see if we were ok. I love each and every one of you. Pray please for all of the dead and injured and that the war that is sure to follow (we have already seen the jet fighters zooming across the sky) is swift and painless and that we all have the strength and faith to endure it. Light wins everytime..... Love and Light (especially today), - Maureen Wednesday September 12 We woke up here this morning in NYC with the skyline looking a whole lot different. Looking out my bedroom window, where the tip of the World Trade Center peeks above the trees, there is a gray and white cloud of smoke, breaking through the clear blue sky. I hear the jet fighters above us and the sadness fills me, the tears start to fall and I start to remember..... Yesterday morning dawned so bright and beautiful. The sky was clear, the sun was shining. We went through our regular morning routine, school and day care drop offs. My husband left early for his monthly board meeting. I was right on schedule, getting on the express bus into the city at my regular time. It was on the bus, on the highway that leads into the city that we got our first glimpse of what had happened. At first it looked like a routine fire, high up on the trade center. I honestly half believed that it was a kitchen fire at Windows on the World. Then somebody, who was listening to the radio, said that it was a plane crash. Thinking that it was an accident, we watched the smoke billowing out and then the second plane hit. The second tower seemed to just implode, flames and smoke rolled down its side. We watched as the sky above the harbor filled with debris. Glass, dust, papers floated across the Harbor like incandescent angels, glowing in the light of the sun. And then the tower folded in on itself and it was gone........... It was then that the horror set in. It was then that the worry began. We tried and tried on our cell phones to reach somebody, anybody. Stuck in the bus, there was nothing, nothing that we could do, except sit and watch, as the city that we all love so much, was changed in an instant. On the bus, we reached out for each other, sharing cell phones, comforting those who had family members in the buildings. The fear and worry that I felt was tremendous, what time did David leave this morning? I knew it was early but how early? He usually gets off the train at the WTC at around 8:45, what time is it now? And oh my God, my daughter, working uptown, her train passes under there, doesn't it? I worked the cell furiously, but no answer, circuits busy......the sense of frustration was overwhelming. Finally, amidst more emergency vehicles that I ever knew existed, the bus turned around and we were on the way home, watching through the back window as the other tower crumbled and fell. The traffic home was at a dead standstill, we crept along slowly and many of us wept as we kept looking at the sky, looking at where the twin towers stood only an hour ago. The bus finally left us off on the highway. We climbed the embankments to the street and then I was on my block, at my house, standing there, it looked so normal, even as the whole world fell around us. My brother-in-law opened the front door and it was then that I lost it. Sobbing, weeping filled with worry. And David I said, David is over there. Relief set in as Henri told me that David had called, he is ok. But Meegan, oh my God, what about Meegan? I raced upstairs to check my voice mail and my aunt had called. The worry was evident in her voice, but Meegan was with her. The relief was short lived though as I saw the news reports come in. What about the people in my office, only two blocks away? What of the friends that work in the towers? Where were they? Were they ok? And the biggest question of all, why? Who did this, who hated us this much to do this to us, why did this happen? We picked David up in downtown Brooklyn, where he had wound up after crossing the Brooklyn Bridge. His shoes were covered in dust. Look, he said, that?s the World Trade Center there on my feet. We picked up some hitchhikers on the way back. I saw the first plane, one said, it was weaving and going so fast. Speeding across the sky, and then bam into the building. I tell them about the second plane and about how fast the tower fell. There had to have been bombs too we all conclude, it just all went down too fast. We share our stories and then we are silent. The only sounds, the reports coming from the radio and the incessant whirl of sirens and alarms. At home later in the day the phone doesn?t stop ringing. Family friends calling from all over the country, wondering, worrying. We watch the TV, seeing the streets that I walk everyday. There?s the building on Broadway where I saw so many Yankee parades in the clear October air. It?s covered in dust now; the windows all blown out and shattered. And there across that street, isn?t that where the Border?s bookstore is. I?ve spent so much time there. But where is it? Can it really be gone? The reality starts to set in. Windows on the World, one of the most beautiful restaurants I have ever been in, gone forever. The plaza and the fountains, the flowers and the trees, they?re just not there anymore?? About eight months ago, I was walking through the WTC to the subway home when I felt a terrible sense of uneasiness, a sense of foreboding. Shortly after that, I began to take the bus home; the feeling was so strong I did not want to be in those buildings. On Monday night though, I had no choice. I was going to a seminar and I had to take the train from out of there. Walking through the concourse by the Path trains, alarms were going off like crazy. A security guard at one point rushed by with his radio. I got on the train and left, as did so many others around me. Today, I have to wonder, what was that all about it? Was it an omen? Was the building itself trying to tell us all something? These are questions that I know will never really be answered. So this morning, we look over to Manhattan and where once two buildings stood tall against the open sky, there is nothing but air. Nothing but a memory of a place where there was so much life that someone with hate in their heart just needed to come and take it away. I like to think of myself as a tough New Yorker, but there is no strength in me today. Only sorrow and longing for the streets and buildings that I knew so well, changed and gone forever. Thursday September 13 ? Another day has dawned in New York City and the human reality of our collective tragedy is just starting to set in. We are beginning to get word of friends and neighbors missing and dead. A colleague of David?s, who was married only two weeks ago, can't find his wife. She worked on the 102nd floor. Her husband is of course filled with worry. I have to think when do you stop wondering and give up hope? Last night, I was sitting on the porch when my neighbors bought their firefighter son home from the hospital. He normally works in Brooklyn and had a day off on Tuesday and was across the street from the Trade Center when all hell broke loose. He jumped right in to help, nearly losing his fingers and his eye. His father showed us his boots and uniform. The smell of smoke emitting from them is still rattling around my nostrils. So pungent was the scent.........We got word yesterday of another friend's son. A firefighter who cheated death three years ago in a terrible fire out in Queens, he was at the WTC when the bodies, dead and alive starting falling from the building and was crushed by one. I remember his mother collecting the blessed waters down at the beach a lifetime ago and how we all prayed for him then. What is a saved life then that is lost now? I don't know, I really don't know..... We still smell smoke in the air and hear the sounds of the jet fighters circling. There is a collective sadness that permeates throughout. The view from my bedroom window is different. There are no twin towers peeking above the trees there anymore. Just a plume of smoke and ashes. They're just not there anymore. Streets and buildings, so familiar to me, the pictures of them on TV looking like those places are from another planet. I walk that area everyday and now it is gone, changed forever. I have no idea when I will be able to go back to work. My office, as well as David?s, remains closed. Shuttered with debris still in the lobbies, blood still on the streets. I understand a concrete dust covers everything. There has been a lot of talk about a return to normalcy. The schools reopen today. Normalcy? What was once normal here before, will never be again. New York City, we jaded New Yorkers, everything is changed, changed forever. We will never be the same here again. It just isn't easy here right now. We sent the kids off to school and day care, trying to keep things as 'normal' as we can for them. Afterwards we went to breakfast and then drove down to the harbor. Just so we could see. Maybe to take the first steps towards healing. There is a big hole in the skyline now, only smoke and ash there. Where once two buildings stood, towering over all the others, there is now nothing. As long as I live, I do not believe that I will ever, ever get used to the trade center not being there. I remember when it was being built. One tower taller then the other at first, and then as the construction moved, both towers growing bigger in the sky. I remember when George Willig scaled one of the towers. Urban mountain climbing. I remember when Philip Petite strung a wire between the two towers. Doing a high wire act over all of Manhattan. My first real job was across the street from the south tower. I'd ride the escalator up from the subway there everyday. There used to be a bank there that had a baby grand piano in the lobby. There was a pianist who played classical music there at lunchtime. The bank has been gone for a while and now, in one short hour, the rest of it is all gone too. In a way going down to the harbor was a catharsis, seeing the smoke up close and the nothingness. There were a few other people there as well, looking for the same thing we were looking for. Some kind of closure I guess. It helped a bit and we both wept bitter tears and just thanked God that David left for work early that day. I don't think that I will ever get used to not seeing the towers there. I don't think that anyone ever will. The tears still flow easily today, but maybe not as often....the healing process is slow, very slow, it's so hard to heal when there is so much pain. We went over to the bank where my sister is the manager after that. She has started, all on her own, a drop-off point for supplies. I couldn?t understand why one of the supplies being requested is dog food and then I realized, search dogs need to eat. My brother works for the Salvation Army and he is going to pick up the stuff and bring it down to 'Ground Zero' as they are calling the WTC now. He is heading there tonight, we've all told him if they need any help we'd be willing to jump in. There is still no inkling as to when the offices downtown will re-open. My agency suggested alternative sites for us to go to tomorrow. Quite honestly, I am not really up to it yet. I do though intend to try for Monday. So life goes on here, not really the same, but similar........... It seems like just yesterday that we met some friends for dinner at the Millenium hotel across the street from the WTC last year. What a beautiful view of the plaza and the towers they had from their room. It just kills me that it is gone forever....... Friday September 14 ? We kept the routine today and dropped the kids off at school and day care and went to breakfast. We watched the prayer service in Washington and then went to church ourselves. Our local church has a regular Friday 11:30 mass of the church school kids and we arrived in the middle of that. The mood there was somber, sad. As I went up for communion I noticed all the kids searching the queue, looking for their parents I guess. Their faces so full of innocence, it pulled at my heart how anyone would want to harm them. We hid our tears from them, holding their well being close to us. I sobbed when I returned to my pew, joining so many others with the same pain inside. The closing hymnal was America the Beautiful. I stumbled over the words as tears streamed down my face. I hugged David, held onto him tight and apologized for bringing him to New York from California. Somehow I feel responsible for what he has gone though, what he had to see?? At times today, it has all become too much to bear. The pain and the sorrow. The loss of so much that we hold dear. The sadness hovering over this city is palpable. It can be touched, it can be felt, it can be seen?. The president finally showed up here today. The skies were filled with even more F-16s. In a way, we feel safer then we have in days, though the security does not take away the pain. At 7 tonight, I stepped out on the porch and saw the candles. All up and down the block, candles lit in sorrow and in hope. One of the things that I love about New York is the diversity and tonight here it is in action?Italian, Arab, Russian, Chinese, Irish families, all standing outside their homes with candles lit. Standing silently, we watch as the candles burn. Their light the only beacon is a world suddenly gone dark. Saturday September 15 This is such a terrible thing to live with. You wake up with it, you go to sleep with it, you dream about it. I keep remembering the silliest things about the World Trade Center, the newsstand where I used to buy magazines, the Warner Brothers store, the New Balance store that I stopped into just the other night, the Borders bookstore, the Strawberry, where I bought the dress I wore in Vegas on my first 'date' with David, even the blood bank where my entire office used to donate blood. Buried in rubble now, they are all gone forever?.And I remember that feeling, that terrible feeling I had eight months ago when it felt like a freight train roaring in my head and I couldn?t wait to get out of the trade center?..if only I knew then all that I know now. The commercial planes came back today. Their engines drowning out all other noise. I almost wish I never had to see another plane ever again. When we went shopping this afternoon, we passed by the stop where I got on the bus on Tuesday morning. I glanced at it and then looked up at the sky in front of me. I saw it all again in the clear blue sky. The smoke coming out of the first tower. The second plane coming out of nowhere, moving so fast. Hitting the building with so much force that it looked like it was slicing it in half. The first tower falling, collapsing on top of itself and the second one going, just going away like the first. This image, this memory will stay with me forever. I saw over 6 thousand people die in that instant. Six thousand innocent people who were guilty only of waking up and going to work that morning?. Sunday September 16 ? I went to mass this morning, somehow trying to find an answer. The doors of our church have remained open since Tuesday, open for all who need something?During the Lord?s Prayer, the pastor asked us to hold hands. I held the hand of the stranger next to me tightly. We cried quietly and at the peace greeting we hugged. So many unusual things in this city now, church doors open, hugging strangers, weeping openly in the streets. My next door neighbor, who also works in my office building rings my bell this afternoon. Her brother in law is a firefighter; six men are missing from his house. Their wives wait and still hope. My neighbor is not sure she ever wants to return to work. Caught in the cloud of debris, the memory haunts her, she is shattered with the thought of facing the city again. When I went back upstairs after speaking with her, I tell David her story and then again I cry. I cry harder then I can ever remember and I ask the same question over and over, ?What have these bastards done to us? What have they done??. Monday ? September 17 ? We are the city of the walking wounded now. We are a wake in motion. Displaced from our homes and offices, we wander silent streets. The traffic is heavy, as always, yet there is not a sound. Not one horn honks, not one brake squeals. We are greeted this morning at the subway with a flyer that says our train line 'no longer exists'. No longer exists. That phrase hangs ominously in the air along with the ever-present smoke and ash. There is not a sound on the subway. Reddened eyes, tears well behind newspapers. We wince each time the conductor announces 'due to the World Trade Center incident...'. We breath deeply each time the train comes to a stop. On the subway steps downtown, surgical masks sit and roll in the breeze. A reminder.... The alternative office sites are full of confusion. We run into old friends. We exchange stories about last Tuesday. We all thank God for the living and we say a silent prayer for the missing....... This morning getting up and getting dressed for work and leaving here was probably the hardest thing I have ever done in my entire life. But somehow I did it and I got through and I made it back. My office is still not open yet. We have no word on when we can return. I went to an alternate site in downtown Brooklyn and it was there I heard the stories. Stories about having to leave Manhattan last Tuesday morning. Running through the streets, people vomiting and having asthma attacks. Stories about a cousin missing, a friend dead. Stories about bomb sniffing dogs in the World Trade Center the week before last. Stories about being frozen, staring as the buildings fell. Stories about death. There were no stories about life........ One of the most honest remarks I heard today was 'they really did a number on us'. I could only nod in agreement and turn my head away. I was very tempted to get on the subway and go to lower Manhattan by my office. I couldn't do it though. The smell of smoke even permeates the subway tunnels. Maybe tomorrow. I'd really like to give it try before I have to go back there to face the workaday world. The whole city remains in mourning. The quiet is surreal. At one point today I thought, this is not my city, this has got to be somewhere else. The missing posters are the strangest touch. People's smiling faces and then the text, 87th floor of World Trade Center, WTC number 2. Cantor Fitzgerald employee. Hope against hope, they continue to appear. The faces so young, the smiles so bright. Tomorrow marks one week. The healing has begun but it is slow. There is not a person in this entire city who can honestly believe that a whole week has passed. It seems not just like yesterday, but like an hour ago. The memories are that strong.... Tuesday ? September 18 We went to 'Ground Zero' today. I wanted to finish the journey that I had started last Tuesday morning. I also wanted to take a 'dry run' before I have to go back there for real. And quite honestly, I had to see it close up, for myself..... The first thing we saw getting off the train was the burnt out shell of what used to be 5 WTC, where the Borders bookstore is...or was. From the angle we were at, the building just looked burnt out, it's windows shattered. I understand though that what we saw is like a facade. In back of there, the rest of the building is gone. The streets are relatively clean. According to David, the streets looked like they were covered with snow last Tuesday. There are still areas that are full of dust and debris. The vents on the manhole covers look solid, packed with gray powder. We passed by a car that looked like it was caked in mud. It obviously hadn't been moved since last week. There are cracks in the heavy duty plastic that borders the railings on the plaza level of the Chase Manhattan Bank headquarters. They were hosing down the sculpture of 3 trees on the plaza itself. We passed by a shoe store, its windows intact, but the shoes inside covered with a fine powder. The walls of buildings are covered with the missing posters. And another poster that they don't show you on TV. It's pictures of what the airplane's black box looks like. About a half dozen shots of the flight recorder, along with a number to call in case you come across it. Could any of us have imagined just a week ago that we'd be searching the streets of lower Manhattan for a black box? The presence of police and military is massive. Cops and soldiers on every street corner. The streets closest to Broadway are cordoned off. There are checkpoints there. I expected it but was really kind of shocked that the Federal Reserve Bank, a massive stone structure across the street from my office that has stood there since probably the 1800's, had, what appeared to me anyway, little protection, with only one or two soldiers on the corner. The air is changeable. The smell of smoke still lingers and is very heavy at times. People are wearing surgical masks, construction masks. The police and military wear half face ventilators, they look like gas masks. Some people wear charcoal respirator like devices, their eyes the only thing visible on their face. One Liberty Plaza, widely reported over the weekend as coming close to collapse, lists weirdly to the side. David said he thought it was just an illusion. I believe the building is crooked, mangled. It looks in no way the way it did when I got out of the subway there last Monday. At the corner of Liberty and Nassau, we got our first glimpse of that now infamous shot of what is left of the Trade Center's steel beams. It looks totally surreal. Like those shots of Europe during WWII where the church steeples stood amongst fields of destruction the steel is taller then you would expect. It juts up in the air like a sentinel over what I heard a fireman call this week, the gates of hell. A fine miasma of smoke covers that whole area. A pile of smoldering, twisted building parts stands about 6 stories high. Cranes dot the landscape. There are patches of sky there that I have never seen before. Rays of sunlight hit the sidewalk for the first time in years. It was at this point that I cried. To see what was done, to see it live. The TV pictures don't give credence to the reality. I wish everyone in the whole world could come and see it. Just so they could see what was done to us, just so they could never forget...... Wednesday September 19 ? On the way in to work this morning, I turn a page of the paper and there are the pictures of the missing. Page upon page of portraits. The woman next me looks over her shoulder, she shakes her head in sadness. I put the paper down then and lower my eyes. I just can?t take looking anymore. Thursday September 20 ? This morning as the subway went over the Manhattan Bridge; every eye turned to the windows on the left of the train. Not one cell phone was turned on, not one Walkman was listened to. Not one face hid behind a newspaper. We all looked in the direction of lower Manhattan and the emptiness that is now in the sky. We stared and stared until we couldn?t stare anymore and then we lowered our heads and turned away. We went to Union Square this afternoon. In the rain, the grass was muddy; the thousands of flowers bowed their heads to the ground. The hundreds of candles were mostly extinguished, though a few flickered defiantly, lights of hope in a cloudy world. Mostly there was silence as a small crowd milled around and read the poems and the memorials that have been placed in the park. A lone Buddhist banged rhythmically on a drum encased in plastic. He softly chanted his song of peace. We went back to ?Ground Zero? after, so that those who hadn?t seen, could see. The barricades have been moved up a block. Liberty Park, a block wide urban oasis is full of trucks and cranes. The benches and the trees where lunchtime workers and chess players relaxed in the shade are now gone. Some blown away in the debris storm of the collapsing towers, some removed for the staging area. The Burger King across the block is an NYPD out station. The Brooks Brother?s store an infirmary, for patients who never came. Lower Broadway, the ?Canyon of Heroes? where so many tickertape parades have taken place is half open, though no traffic except police and military vehicles and the occasional rubble truck are permitted in it?s sacred path. The closer view is even more devastating then what we saw the other day. It is total and complete carnage. The rain makes the dust rise up like vapors. Grey clouds of smoke spiral towards the sky. At Ground Zero, the piles of mangled steel and debris grow ever higher. There is nothing else left there now. The souls missing and now presumed dead have moved along. Their faces still present on the posters hang on the sides of buildings and phone booths, their souls having left this earthly plane. It?s funny how we keep referring to September 11 as ?Tuesday?, even though another Tuesday has already passed. It?s like there never was any other Tuesday and there never will be any other one. I had real hopes today that I could make it through the day without crying. I have now cried so many times that I have lost count. I almost made it and then my daughter called on the phone asking me to look at the CNN web-site, at the pictures of the missing. The sister of one of her grade school friends is there. My eyes filled with tears as I looked at that beautiful face. You think of kids as invincible sometimes. You give them love and they grow and you send them out into the world. And then in one short sun-filled morning, it all changes. Life cut short, hopes diminished. It was then I realized that Meegan will probably know even more of the missing than I will. This is and will be the war of the young. Tuesday September 24 Two Weeks Later Last night I laughed out loud, at something my youngest daughter said, for the first time in what seems like years. It was like a foreign language to me. It was a weird feeling to laugh. I never imagined that I would think that way??.. From: Boccegoddess@aol.com Date: Sun Nov 4, 2001 4:37 pm Subject: NYC-November 4 This morning, on one of the most beautiful Fall days ever, we stood on Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn, in Bay Ridge, in my hometown, and as the subway rumbled beneath our feet, we watched as tens of thousands of people, from all over the country, from all over the world, ran in the New York City Marathon. Amid cheers of 'USA' and 'NYPD' and even 'Go Yankees', there were also shouts for 'Brazil', 'France', 'Kenya'. It occured to me then, that what we were all really cheering for was for ourselves. We are healing. We are coming back. They may have knocked down our buildings, they may have permanently bruised our hearts, but what they did not do is destroy our souls and they did not break our spirit. And even though we still mourn, we are going forward with hope and faith. February 25 - My bus returned to its regular route today. This means that in the morning it will travel down Church Street, the street that runs directly parallel to the World Trade Center site, Ground Zero. Right smack through the middle of what is known as the "Frozen Zone". Church Street up until Liberty Street is still off-limits to pedestrians and non-official traffic. In order to get down Church Street, we passed through a checkpoint and barricades there. For the first time in almost 6 months, I passed by the area that I had walked through on September 10. The Burger King that has been on the corner for the last 23 years is still there, but it is not a Burger King anymore. The windows are covered with dust. Spray-painted on the outside, it says "NYPD Station" and "Medical Trauma Center". Though chain link fences covered by canvas surround most of the area, there is an entrance to the site directly across from the Burger King. This is the same place where the entrance was to building number 4, the building I used to walk through to get the subway. At this point, it is possible to see directly into the site itself. A big gaping hole, the concrete walls and foundation are visible where the SouthTower stood. Where building Number 4 itself stood there is nothing at all recognizable. The long sloping black marble wall where lunchtime workers once sat in the sun is gone. The area right outside the building where vendors would hawk everything from roses to batteries to newspapers and even out-of-state lottery tickets and where the green grocers used to put up their stands on Tuesdays and Thursdays is totally unfamiliar to me. The last Tuesday the stands were there was September 11. As the bus moved slowly forward down Church Street, the whole area remained totally unrecognizable to me. Even the parking area in front of the buildings and the traffic islands that had to be crossed when walking across Church Street are all gone. I felt the energy change, the further along we moved. Though the street and the site were full of construction workers, police and firemen, it seemed oddly quiet to me. It was almost as though time were standing still, as if the bus itself was moving through some sort of Twilight Zone, some kind of netherland, stuck between reality and someplace else. Here in NYC, we have what we call ghost stations on the subway. These stops have been closed to subway traffic for one reason or other. The subway train will pass them by, sometimes very slowly. They can be very quiet and eerie. Kind of otherworldly. I got the same feeling passing by Ground Zero as I have had riding past these ghost stations. Where the entrance to the plaza once was, there are rows and rows of construction trailers. Standing high above them is one of the beams that had been discovered amongst the rubble, a few days after September 11. These are the beams that have formed a perfect cross, a crucifix. Some kind of gray material was draped over one of the arms of the cross. It was still in the windless air. Across the plaza area, the skeleton of the Winter Garden atrium, the only thing visible anymore from outside the site, stands silently. Before September 11, the North Tower hid it from this viewpoint. There was nothing else that was even remotely recognizable to me. A few months back, the Sunday New York Times had pictures of artwork, sculptures that had resided in the WTC plaza. The most famous of these was the big round sphere or globe that was the centerpiece of the fountain. In the picture, it was totally bashed in, it's hard metal crushed by 110 stories of falling building. Along with the globe, there was also a picture of the big red Calder sculpture that stood in the plaza. Here was a sculpture that I walked past for years, never really paying it much attention, now perversely misshapen. At the time that I read the article, I had thought about how much we take for granted in life, and how quickly it can all disappear. This was the same thought that I had this morning, as my bus finally got past Ground Zero and out into the world of the living. Maureen Godwin Brooklyn, New York 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 story1265.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. 152.163.197.63 Annotation Annotations to this item. Firefighters Ground zero- at or about Internet Memorials/Vigils (location or person) Personal connection to someone at site Politics and politicians Religion Rescue/clean-up workers/volunteers Struggle to get home Terrorism Victims WTC, attack WTC, pre-911 NY:2 Sep 11- Sep 21, 2001 Sep 22-Sep 30, 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 September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: September 11th 2001 was one of my days off work that week. As usual I slept a little late that morning. I awoke to a phone call from my sister telling me that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I dismissed it as an accident. A few minutes later my thoughts were proven wrong when I turned on the television and watched as the second plane hit. I was totally horrified to see this happen live, and not too long after that watch the towers fall. As with most people in my generation the only disasters that we have seen was the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma. This was just totally devastating. I could not believe this was happening to us. As I watched the news and saw that two more planes had crashed at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania I was in a state of shock. I was glued to the T.V. for weeks after this happened, wanting to know everything that was going on. I was moved to tears many times during the weeks that followed. I can say that 9/11/2001 will forever be etched in my memory and that I will always display my country's colors with pride. God Bless all that lost their lives on that day and the heroes that so selflessly risked their lives to save others. 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 story4150.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 205.188.209.38 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: Following is a copy of an email I sent to friends and family during the early morning of September 12, 2001: I couldn't sleep much tonight, so I thought I would write and tell everyone that R. and B. and I are OK, and tell what I saw yesterday. I've told my story so many times, I can't remember who I've told and who I haven't. Most of my email addresses are in my office, so I can only write this to those of you whose addresses I know by heart or that are in my filofax. I left for work yesterday at about 8:50am, only about 5 minutes after the first plane hit the WTC. There was nothing on National Public Radio when I left my apartment, but as I passed a doorman on the way to the subway I heard him say the words "World Trade Center". My only thought was that I hoped the subways weren't delayed, because I was already running behind on the day that our new design director was starting work, and I knew it would be a busy day. I take an express subway train to Chambers Street, which is about 6 blocks north of the WTC. My train became very sluggish, and it eventually switched to the local track. Then the conductor made announcements that the train would not be able to stop at the World Trade Center, which, on the local train, is the stop after mine. Train delays aren't unusual, but by the time the train pulled into Chambers Street it was about 9:30, and I was definitely late and annoyed. The exit by which I always leave the subway is 6 blocks (about a quarter of a mile) north of the WTC, and it faces the towers. As the crowd came up the stairs, someone said "Oh my God" and I saw the smoke streaming sideways from the towers. A building was blocking my view, so I walked out into the crowd on West Broadway and Hudson Streets, and immediately saw both towers with their upper sections on fire, and simply couldn't believe my eyes. The northern tower had a huge hole in the middle of the north side, with two straight, ragged lines running out from the hole, which I later realized must have been caused by the impact of the airplane wings. The hole itself wasn't burning, but the floors around it were. I couldn't see the impact hole on the southern tower, but it was also ringed by fire and smoke. I was far enough away, and the fires were high enough that only the faintest crackling sounds could be heard. Silvery papers were fluttering out of the burning floors, and bigger pieces of debris were falling as well. So sharply was the whole scene set against the clear blue sky, it seemed unreal, as if against a special effects blue screen, and I half expected the towers to flicker and revert to normal. My eyes just couldn?t take it all in. Several people told me that planes had deliberately hit the towers. Although I wanted to stay and watch, I ran the two blocks to my office, passing an FBI agent already running the other direction. Four co-workers were in my office, looking grim. One assistant was crying. Our studio manager told me my brother had called, so I immediately called him, and he told me that he had seen the second plane hit, from his midtown office building. I don't remember what I said but hung up and then called B. at my apartment. He hadn't heard the news, and I had to repeat myself several times, as I could barely talk. When I hung up I turned up the radio, and milled around, unsure of what to do. I think I called my parents in North Carolina...I can't remember when I did that. Then the live radio announcer watching the fires started to yell that one tower was going down, and we simultaneously heard and felt the muffled crash. Someone said not to go outside but an assistant and I ran down the stairs and out to the avenue, and looked down Hudson. We could see a huge cloud of dust going up, and some of it was rolling up West Broadway, about 5 blocks away. We ran back to the office, knowing we had to leave. If the second tower fell north from its base, the top of it would come within a block or two or our building. Only one other person was in the office when we got back, and we turned off printers and computers, locked the door, and went back outside. There we saw my boss and studio manager on the other corner of Jay Street, looking down Greenwich Street. We went to join them watch the dust cloud dissipate, and the other tower burning. As we were watching the second tower, the crowd around us started to scream and yell, and we saw a handful of people tumble out of the second tower and fall like little dolls. At first I didn?t realize what they were, but then said aloud ?Those are people!? It was horrible. People looked away, covered their eyes, and some started to cry, including our two young assistants, who were very upset. The studio manager yelled at them to go home, and they left, joining the people running and walking north, away from the collapsed tower. The remaining three of us walked back to Hudson Street, where an FBI agent told us to leave. As we were standing there a jet fighter flew over us heading south, and turned over the trade towers. I only felt fear, uncertain whose plane it was. My boss, who is English, was being very cool, but I told him that I wanted to leave, as did the studio manager. We went back to the office. I called my brother again and he told me to walk to his office, about 2.5 miles away. Then D. and I left our office, and started walking up Hudson with crowds of people. Everyone was trying to use their cell phones, which were either overloaded or not functioning because the WTC antennae were out, I'm not sure which, but few were working. There were long lines at pay phones, and very little traffic. When were about three blocks north of Canal Street, the crowd started to scream, and we turned around to see the second tower collapse in on itself like a big cake, pouring debris as it fell. People around us, men and women, were yelling and crying. We kept going to a friend's apartment in the West Village, where I was going to stop and make phone calls. While we were there, the building superindentent called the apartment and told us to leave the building because there was a gas leak moving north. My brother said his building was being evacuated, so I began the long walk north to my apartment on 99th Street. There was very little traffic, and the sidewalks were thronged with people. Groups were gathered around televisions in bars, store windows, and even TVs that had been pulled out on the sidewalks. Cars were pulled over with all their doors open and had their radios blaring. At St. Vincent's Hospital the front of the hospital had been roped off, and ambulances were coming in to drop off the injured. I saw one person get out of an ambulance in a wheelchair, bandages wrapped around his head. People holding large signs with O- and O+ written on them headed long lines of blood donors that wrapped around the sides of the hospital. The number of people who were trying to help was heartwarming; one woman was walking through the crowd with a bag of cookies, offering them to strangers. I wanted to donate blood, but they were only taking O-, and I didn't know my type, so I kept going. The buildings in Midtown were emptying out by then, and as I got further north I ran into the crowds that were heading toward the train and bus stations at 34th Street and 40th Street. There was a large crowd outside of Penn station, and frustrated commuters were calmly eating lunch on the sidewalk. Since Times Square could be another target, I headed east to avoid the area. As I was walking along Port Authority bus terminal an empty bus opened its doors and I got on, with no charge. The bus quickly filled up and then slowly headed up Eighth Avenue. Crowds tried to push on at some stops, nearly causing fights. All morning long strangers had been talking to each other, which is very unusual for New York; it takes a lot for New Yorkers to break out of their self-protectiveness, but the disaster did the trick. On the bus one insolent teenager who was standing in the crowd asked a man who was sitting if he had a girlfriend on the bus, and when he said no she sat down in his lap. He looked stunned, but didn't push her off! My neighborhood seemed too quiet and peaceful when I finally got to 99th Street. At home during the afternoon I talked to neighbors and made phone calls, and then B. and I met my brother for dinner at a friend's apartment. My brother and friends had tried to donate blood during the afternoon, but had to put their names on lists because the hospital couldn't handle them at the moment. I told my brother that the day had surpassed a couple of our days in India as The Strangest Day of My Life. My office is in the area that is evacuated, so I don't know when I'll be able to get back to work. At the very end of the day we had the good news that my brother?s next-door neighbor, who works on the top floor of the south tower, was going to a meeting near the towers, and didn't have time to get up to her office before the planes hit. Somehow she made it to her parents' home in New Jersey. She left her cell phone near the towers when the FBI told her to run from the first collapse, so we had not been able to contact her all 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 story544.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-05-07 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 64.133.96.137 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: How did you witness history on September 11th? I was at work. Somebody came into the office and told me the twin towers had been hit and I thought that it was a two or four person plane-never dreamed towers had fallen. I just thought that the people in the plane were hurt. Then I heard it was hit a second time, and I was like, "What's going on? It is it a joke, or what?" The news was on, in the Judge's conference room so I went out there. The buildings started to collapse, and I couldn't understand what was going on. We were all watching in disbelief. One woman in my office was very scared because her husband was in the Pentagon. Has your life changed because of September 11, 2001? If so, tell us how. I appreciate life more. It makes you realize that just going to work could be your last day or someone that you love's last day. What do you think should be remembered about September 11th? The heroes, the people that died, the families left behind, the survivors, how our nation pulled together. Did you fly an American flag after the events of September 11th? Have your feelings about the American flag changed as a result of September 11th? Yes, we flew a flag. I appreciate more what the American flag stands for. I don't take it for granted anymore. 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 story8832.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. 2002-12-17 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 216.54.14.84 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was sitting at the breakfast table having my breakfast, when the morning show I was watching, went off and the news came on to show that a 'small' airplane had hit one of the World Trade Center Towers. Then they were changing the size to a larger airplane. I remember the size of the airplane kept changing and it turned out nobody had been right. It turned out it was an even larger one than first thought. But this plane hitting the tower wasn't being called 'terroristic' yet. People were hoping that it was an accident. I know I did. My mind didn't even go to the word 'terrorist'. Who would have thought all that had happened that day, would have? It still seems unreal. Like I dreamed it all and just can't wake up from the dream. Anyways, I watched a bit longer, rather stunned, with my parents. I stopped watching after a bit, not knowing that much worse was about to happen. I had to go to the store quick, did that, came back, only to find out another large plane had hit the OTHER tower now. Then the first tower came down. I couldn't believe it. Tears came to my eyes. We were seeing people running, full of soot, glimpses of people jumping off the building. Anything but to have to go down with it. Later, the stories and the grief from people who knew that they had relatives that were in there. High up on the top. And you just knew their relatives weren't around any longer. And you grieved as if the people were YOUR relatives. It was so Twilight Zone feeling, yet unfortunately, so real. You couldn't believe that someone would take life so easily for their own personal gain and do what they had done. And to the DEGREE they had done it. To kill and be killed themselves. Not caring, dieing for their misguided 'cause'. Whatever that may be. As long as I live, I wouldn't be able to understand that kind of thinking. Later that night on 9/11, I remembered something. I had just been in NYC a few weeks before, and had gone up into the Empire State Building. And by chance, I thought I might had taken some pictures of the World Trade Centers. When I was snapping pictures, I was just randomly taking pictures to take home to show my family who had never been to NYC before, so they could get the 'feel' of the place and all I had seen. So I found the batch of pictures they would have been in, and sure enough, there the Twin Towers sat on two of them! What was so weird about these pictures is how perfect the pictures were. I remember it had been the most beautiful day for picture taking, the sun had been shining as bright as could be on them. So there they are, centered on the photograph, and down in the harbor is the Statue Of Liberty looking up at them! When taking the photos, I never thought these pictures would ever be called 'special', as they are now. Just thought they were going to be the usual 'tourist' pictures that everyone takes. It's weird how they're so much more than that now. They're now something to save for years 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 story4696.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 24.48.119.71 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 that moringin I had just returned from bringing my son to school. My daughter than 2 was watching TV, I began my day. Shortly after I arrived home my husband phoned and told me to put on the TV. I knew that something was wrong by the tone of his voice. I put on the news and watched as the day unfolded. Right away I became fearful, two days prior we (my family) had a reunion. I had family in from all over the country. Who was going site seeing in the city, who was getting ready to board a plan. There were over a 100 of us at the reunion. I remember spending the next several hours on the phone. I spoke with one of the girls who worked with my husband, her brother was an air traffic controller. He told her that there were still planes missing. I went to the school and took my son out. I spent the rest of the day with my family and was able to locate all of my family members that had come into town for the reunion. I still remember it like it had just happened. Even though 5 years have passed since that day the memories are vivid. 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 story20836.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. 12.75.234.44