330 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: Even tho I was not directly affected as so many in this country were and my prayers still go out to them, just wanted to share.I was at my desk till 3pm listening on the radio to everything.Listening to the choas and devastation going on in so many places. As I left work and walked to my car, the sun was shining and the birds were singing and it was just so peaceful that afternoon in Warrenton, everything else that day seem totally unreal, expect that I know it wasn't and that only God could turn all this around and bring good out of it. 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 story7013.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-13 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 67.200.132.23 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: When I first heard about the first plane crashing into the towers I thought it had to be an accident but when I heard on our local radio station WCBK that another plane had hit the towers we all knew that it was not an accident. my 10 year old child was getting ready for school and she was so afraid for all the people she started to cry. What had started out as a beautiful day turned into a nightmare. all we could do was pray. I believe that I was as worried about all those people as I would have been if they were my own family.I felt so bad for all the family members especially for all the mothers. being a mother myself I could not imagine the pain and fear that those mothers felt. There are still times when I pray for peace for all the mothers,fathers and all the family and friends of those lost on that horrible 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 story4867.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: i was worried. i was watching it in every single hour if school. no we did not get called off of school. i was scared because i have family down in mexico and we could not get a hold of them because the phone would not work. so we were so scared but we could not tell them what has happend. 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 story242.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-03-13 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 216.56.6.21 Annotation Annotations to this item. DOMESTIC Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: On Tuesday, September 11th, I arrived on the PATH train directly beneath the World Trade Center, nothing appeared amiss as we stepped out. When I rode the escalator to the next level, gray smoke hung in the air. A blue fire alarm light was flashing in the distance. I did not like the diesel-like odor and assumed that I was breathing something harmful. The time was 8:55; seven minutes after the first plane hit the North Tower. "Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my sighing Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God For to you I pray. In the morning, O Lord, You hear my voice; In the morning, I lay my requests before You in expectation" Assuming that I was witnessing a PATH station fire, I quickly moved to get on the long escalator that would take me to the shopping mall that is underneath World Trade Center complex. I was starting to feel nervous because there seemed to be a lot of police around. As I was riding the long escalator, I heard panic-stricken shouts beneath me and looked to see a stampede heading in my direction. Now I was scared, because I assumed that someone had opened fire with a gun. The police at the top of the escalator and the police beneath me immediately began to yell at all of us: CALM DOWN! WALK! EVERYTHING IS ALL RIGHT! The police beneath me moved right into the middle of the stampeding frenzy and everyone stopped running. I was very shaken. What was going on? When I arrived at the Mall level the police kept yelling out orders: KEEP MOVING! YOU MUST EXIT THE MALL! DON?T STOP! (My one thought, ?I don?t want to be part of a headline-making catastrophe, I just want to get to work.?) I was more than happy to head to nearest exit, which coincidentally faces my building, One Liberty Plaza. As I did, I looked down the Mall hallway that led to both towers and it was filled with thick white smoke. The Trade Center is on fire, I thought, I hope that it is not serious. As I was heading up the escalator to exit to the street, I saw Rick Klepper walking up the stairs next to me. He told me that a commuter plane had accidentally hit the World Trade Center. He looked unconcerned. As I exited the Mall, I saw office papers and chunks of wallboard everywhere. The papers were blackened by fire around the edges. I felt relief. Now I finally knew and could see what was going on. I was facing the south side of the North Tower (the opposite side of the gaping hole) and could only see fire on two floors. It?s a good thing that it was only a small commuter plane I thought; the people above it will be able to get out. I headed toward One Liberty Plaza where my office is on the 32nd floor. The street level farmer?s market was hastily packing and closing up their tents. The time was 8:59 am. "You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with You the wicked cannot dwell The arrogant cannot stand cannot stand in Your presence; You hate all who do wrong." I made my way past many people who were standing and staring up at the North Tower. I could not bring myself to join them, man-made disasters are ugly and I was not interested in watching it one minute longer than I had to. I entered One Liberty Plaza and went straight to the elevators that would take me to the 32nd floor. One opened and I got on with several others. When it stopped at the 28th floor, I heard the fire alarm going off and I blurted out, ?We are going down, now!? The person closest to elevator buttons pushed the first floor button. The doors closed and we headed straight down. I exited the elevator and walked into the lobby where people were calmly watching the North Tower. There were no signs of an evacuation of One Liberty Plaza. I made up my mind that I was going home and that I would work from there. Then I remembered that I had nothing to work on in my laptop case. It would be a lost day unless I quickly went to my office and grabbed a bunch of files. So I got back on the elevator with several others. It stopped at 28 and one person got off. It stopped at 30 and another got off. It was almost at 32 and the elevator stopped dead. The time was 9:05; the second plane had just hit the South Tower; we heard and felt nothing. Now I was afraid again, why did I get back on the elevator? A woman began to panic. We told her that we were fine; we will find a way out. One man managed to open the elevator doors and we could see that we were about five feet below the 32nd floor. The doors at the 32nd floor were locked and would not budge. A security guard was on the elevator with us and we began to ask him to use his walkie-talkie. He finally did and there was no response. I thought that I should pray out loud and then decided against it, as I was concerned that it would be perceived as grandstanding. I prayed silently (?please help us get out of here, Lord?) and then found the alarm button and set it off. I looked at the ceiling for a trap door to climb through. We tried again to open the doors that led to the 32nd floor. A voice came on the elevator intercom. I answered it and explained that there were seven of us trapped. We were told to wait a minute. Then the voice came back on and told us to make sure that the doors were closed. The elevator started again and went to the 36th floor and the doors opened. We were told to use the stairs to exit the building. Once again, I felt relief. The time was 9:12 am. "You destroy those who tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful men the Lord abhors." As we headed down the stairs, the woman on the elevator who panicked tried the door that opened into the 32nd floor; it was locked. She tried again at the 31st floor and the door opened. She started to go in and a security guard blocked her way and told her to keep going down the stairs. She loudly argued with him and then we all chimed in and told her to come with us down the stairs. She reluctantly listened to us. When I reached the sixth floor, my pager went off. I stopped to read the message: ?8584911?. It was Beth using our agreed signal, i.e., I was to call her at home ASAP. I waited until I reached the ground floor. Security guards were forcing everyone to leave the building through the Broadway exit that was the furthest one away from the World Trade Center. As I left the building, I was told that a second commuter plane had hit the South Tower and that it was no accident. This was a terrorist attack. The mood in the air was fear and there was now a lot more debris everywhere (papers with burned edges, chunks of wallboard and pieces of concrete). I exited One Liberty Plaza and dialed my wife on my cell phone. It did not connect; after two minutes, it went to redial. I stopped the redial and tried again. Same thing. One more time I stopped the redial and tried again. Same thing. I started to yell at Beth in my mind, ?if you?re going to page me with 911 because you have heard what is going on, then stop talking to your friends so that I can get through.? Little did I know that the cell phone network was overloaded with calls and that no one was getting through. Feeling very tense, I could not wait for the cell phone anymore and so I stopped the redial for the last time. I crossed Broadway and began to head north to look for a payphone. I knew that Beth would be very worried. I wanted to reassure her that I was okay. I found a payphone on Broadway near the intersection with Maiden Lane. I joined the line of four waiting to use it. I had a clear view of the burning towers and for some reason blocked out the thick black smoke pouring out of them. All I saw were yellow fires on two or three floors at the most. I could not see the gaping hole in either tower as I was looking at the east face. One could feel the raw hatred that motivated these attacks. It hung in the air like a putrid stench. I wanted more than anything to see fires that were localized and controllable so that the people trapped above them would have a way of escape. Then I said it out loud, ?We need to pray for those people trapped in the upper floors that they get out safely?. I heard two people behind me say ?you?re right, we need to pray?. Today, New Yorkers were willing to admit they needed His help. As I stared at the North Tower, I saw a chunk of glass break off above the 90th floor and flutter to the ground like a broken leaf. I saw it land and heard it shatter loudly in the complex where some people were standing. As far as I could tell it missed everyone. The person at the front of the payphone line said that the phone was not working. That was enough for me. I could not stand there anymore and watch the fires. Even though I had mentally blocked out the black smoke, I knew that people were trapped above and were most likely inhaling toxic fumes. I felt as if I was watching people suffer and die. So I left the payphone and walked to the Maiden Heaven deli on Maiden Lane, about 1000 feet away from the South Tower. The time was 9:35 am. "But I, by Your great mercy, will come into Your great house; In reverence will I bow down toward Your holy temple. Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies ? Make straight Your way before me" I entered the deli and went downstairs looking for a bathroom. There was no bathroom in the basement, but there was a payphone with a line that was only two deep. Finally, I reached the front of the line and dialed the number. David answered. He shouted, he yelled. I could not talk. He was so glad to hear my voice. He told Beth who got on the phone and then started crying. We talked like we had been separated from each other for an eternity. I was so happy to relieve their fears. I told Beth that it was going to take me a long time to get home and that she should not worry if she did not hear from me for a while. I told her that there was something wrong with my cell phone and that available payphones were hard to find. She told me that she loved me and it was okay with her. She understood that it would be hard to get home. I hung up the phone and found the bathroom upstairs. I felt relief in every possible way. The time was 9:55 am. "Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; Their heart is filled with destruction. Their throat is an open grave; With their tongue they speak deceit Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, For they have rebelled against you." I bought an apple, a bottle of water and a brownie. It had been 3 ? hours since I had breakfast and I was feeling drained from the adrenaline rushes I felt in the PATH station and on the elevator. I decided that I needed to eat the apple for energy so I sat down in a window seat to eat it. I was only 1000? away from the South Tower. I was on my third bite when I heard a KABOOM, followed immediately by screeching metal and an earth-shaking rumble. I heard the most hideous screaming as the rumble increased and came toward us. Everything was shaking. I ran away from the window overwhelmed with terror. All I could think was ?I should have been gone a long time ago. This is it.? I expected to die and I was afraid that it would hurt. I desperately looked for something to dive under because it sounded as if the whole lower end of Manhattan was being destroyed. It was the sound of thousands of people dying at once and I felt despair. I wanted to stay alive because Beth, David, Paul and Ali need me. Outside the deli window, everything went black. Two people ran into the deli so covered with concrete dust that they looked like they had fallen into a vat of yellow flour. You could not tell at first that one of them was a black man. Next to me, a man started yelling ?SHUT THE DOOR!? I joined him as I was afraid that behind the black cloud was a fireball (I could not bring myself to think the word ?nuclear?). A deli employee shut the front door and ran to join us at the back. The air in the deli was filled with yellow dust. I was still alive. It felt as if the angel of death had passed over us. The concrete dust man said that the building collapsed. I did not believe him. I thought that terrorists had hidden a bomb on the ?commuter? planes. We all went into the basement and started breathing through handkerchiefs. The concrete dust woman sat at a table in the basement and wailed inconsolably. She sat and shook for an hour. The owner brought her water. I sat across from her and prayed out loud. There were about a dozen of us. We had no idea what was happening or what to do next. We knew that we were safe for the time being in the deli. I got on line to use the payphone line and called home. Beth answered this time, ?thank God? she said over and over. After I told her that I was still in the deli, she said that she would never tease me again about making sure that everyone was well fed while we were on a family trip. She was thrilled that I had food and water. It was hard to end the phone call; I was so glad to be alive and talking to and praying with Beth (who I love more than life itself). Others were waiting to use the phone and so we ended our conversation. "But let all who take refuge in You be glad; Let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, That those who love Your name may rejoice in You. For surely, O Lord, you bless the righteous; You surround them with Your favor as with a shield." The concrete dust woman had used up her water and I bought her another bottle. I asked the deli owner what he thought we should do. He said that we should stay there until we were sure it was safe. Then he told me that he too was a born-again Christian and that he heard me praying. We went upstairs and saw that it was still black outside. The owner found a radio and brought it downstairs to plug it in. I heard another low boom like the first and blurted out ?Here we go again!?. It too grew and grew and grew, but it was farther away. I was afraid again but not for my life. Then we heard on the radio that both Towers had collapsed and that a plane had smashed into the Pentagon. Then there was a report that a plane had crashed in Pennsylvania. I could not feel fear at this time. All I knew was that I was alive. All I could think about was getting home to my family. I paced the floor like a caged animal, I could not sit still. The phone rang. I answered it. It was a very upset grandmother looking for Maria. I found Maria and told her that the phone was for her. I tried to talk to a man wearing a Mets hat, but he had no interest in conversation. The concrete dust man wanted to leave. The shop owner did not want to open the front door so he showed him a way out of the shop from the basement. I went back upstairs with the owner and saw that it was a little less black outside. A glass door to our right that was always locked had cracked glass, evidently broken by someone?s pounding to escape the collapse. The time was 11:00 am. We went back downstairs. Maria announced that her grandmother had pestered the Brooklyn fire department and that they were sending a truck to rescue us. The concrete dust women did not want to wait anymore. She said that she was going to walk to her house in Brooklyn. The shop owner let her out the back way. When he came back, I asked him if he saw any looting and he said no. I was very concerned that looting would start and that the Maiden Heaven deli would no longer be safe. I was prepared to spend the night if necessary. At 11:45, people started walking upstairs to look out the shop window. It was no longer black. A yellowish haze hung in the air. At 12 noon, people started leaving Maiden Heaven through the back way. I called Beth to let her know that I was leaving the shop and that I would try to keep her informed as much as possible. She prayed for me to have a safe trip home. When I got off the phone, I was alone. I felt panic, but then I calmed myself and grabbed my computer bag. At that, two of the deli workers came back into the basement and I felt relief. I then left the shop through the basement exit. I came out on Maiden Lane just 10 feet east of the main entrance. Maiden Lane itself was covered with 3? inches of yellowish concrete dust as well as office papers and magazines. I knew that these papers and magazines most likely belonged to people who were now dead, but I could not dwell on that. I had to get home. I looked down the street toward the former Twin Towers, now a hellish sight. A jagged remnant of the steel exterior leaned drunkenly to the north. The entire sight was backlit by a yellowish-white fire that created a black halo in the smoke. I could not find a single thought that put such a scene in a context. Thousands of people lay dead inside that black halo. I pushed that thought out of my mind so that I could focus on getting home. I was well aware of what the rescue professionals have said over and over again. At such a scene, they want the uninjured like myself to get out of their way and to keep myself uninjured so that they have one less victim. I was going to do my part and leave Manhattan. I headed down Maiden Lane away from the World Trade Center and I saw four grinning teenagers headed toward me. Here it is, I thought. I am about to get mugged. But they kept walking right past me. And then I saw behind them, a police officer armed with a huge shotgun. Cool, I thought, they have declared martial law. I walked up to the officer and said ?thank you for protecting me? at which he pointed the shotgun at me. I instinctively put my arms up and said that I meant no harm, then I saw printed on the shoulder of his uniform ?The Federal Reserve Bank of New York?. At that, I realized that he was not guarding me, but the Bank itself from terrorists. I wandered the streets which were covered with two inches of dust. A rescue vehicle sped by and left behind it a blinding choking dust storm. I had to carry my rolling case. I started toward the ferry that picked up at the World Financial Center but thick black smoke lay between me and that dock. I was still breathing through my handkerchief. I went up to every police officer I saw and asked if the ferries were running. Finally, I found the answer I was looking for. A police officer said that the ferries were running at the bottom of Wall Street to Brooklyn and New Jersey. I went straight for that ferry. As I got further away from the World Trade Center, the dust got thinner and thinner until it was hardly noticeable. I got on the line for the Hoboken ferry. Everyone was polite and orderly. No pushing and shoving today. The line was a long one and I was a little concerned that I would have to wait for the next one. However, the operators were squeezing on as many as they could fit and were not charging any fare. I made it on and went straight to the upper deck to sit in the warm sun. It was a perfectly beautiful day. When the ferry rounded the tip of Manhattan and headed toward Hoboken, all conversation stopped and everyone stared at the smoking hole where the Twin Towers once stood. Thick black and white smoke blanketed all buildings to the southeast. We arrived in Hoboken and were herded to a small fire truck equipped with a spray nozzle. I knew that they were concerned about asbestos dust. The spray was so effective that I was soaked through in two seconds. My briefcase was included as it too contained dust. Then we went through a line of EMTs that were checking us for shock. My pulse was 62. We were asked repeatedly if we had any problems, so I finally raised my hand. ?What is it?? asked the closest EMT with real concern in her face. ?I have to go to the bathroom,? I said and I heard people around me laughing. The EMT smiled and pointed to a bar across the street and said that I could go in there. After the trip to the bar, I found my way through all of the police lines into the Hoboken terminal. I boarded the 1:47 for Hackettstown. I settled into my seat and called Beth. After that call ended, I felt very tired and wanted to sleep, when I noticed that everyone was leaving the train. I followed them. We were being herded to a spot in the railyard away from the train. I was told that the reason for the evacuation was a bomb scare. I looked around and saw a shed to hide behind in case a bomb really did go off. Then I said out loud, ?I have had enough bombs for one day. I really think that I have satisfied my minimum daily requirement of bombs.? Nobody laughed, but I felt better. After 30 minutes we were told to exit the railyard into the adjacent street. I then had to circumnavigate all over again the police lines around the terminal. When I got back in, the train was still there but the sign no longer said 1:47 to Hackettstown. I boarded and saw Ratana from my office and I sat down next to her. We shared stories. She was at 14th Street when first Tower collapsed. When I tried to describe what it was like to be in fear of one?s life and she tried to correct my thinking. I dropped it immediately and realized that I had experienced something that few would understand. The train left at 3:30 and Beth and David were waiting for me at Dover when I arrived at 5:30. Beth gave me the choice of where we would go next. I chose to go to our church and participate in a prayer service. I wanted to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and pray for those who lost loved ones. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story11116.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2004-10-05 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 206.252.74.198 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: On September 11, 2002, my daughter, Marielle, and I planned to join another daughter, Adria, and her husband Mike and their two small children at the beach in Bethany Delaware (about 3 hours from my home) for 3 days. At a little after 9:00 Marielle drove up and asked if I'd seen the news. I had been watching the Today Show and like the rest of the world was in shock and denial about what I was witnessing. We decided to drive to Bethany Beach anyway, and turned off the television just as the third plane went into the Pentagon. I live in a suburb outside of Washington, DC and as we got onto the Beltway (I-495) we could hear sirens everywhere. We were heading east and they were heading west toward the Pentagon. After about 20 minutes on the Beltway we had to go up a ramp to get onto Route 50 E which took us to the beach. As we ascended the ramp we could see billowing black smoke from the direction of the Pentagon. I imagine that our learning about the 9/11 disasters, with the exception of those first incredible pictures on TV, was a lot like the world must have gotten to know about Pearl Harbor, 60 years earlier. Our news for the next three hours was via radio. Every radio station was affiliated with one of the large networks and slowly the verbal picture began to unfold of the horrors of that morning. The general tenor of the reports was that no one could believe what they were witnessing. When we arrived at the beach, Adria and Mike were glued to the television. For the next three days we alternated between the grim reality of life in New York and Washington and the seeming unreality of joining our fellow Americans who had picked that week for a vacation at the beach. We'd go from the horror of television images, into the most gloriously bright, blue, sunny uncrowded beach imaginable. There were a few other families with pre-school children, and a number of older people. We could hear snatches of conversations about the terrorist attacks everywhere. Being with my two grand daughters, aged 2 and 6 months, added so many layers to the experience. In the first place, I was grateful that they were too young to comprehend what was happening. I was appalled when I thought about how the world and their future had irrevocably changed. And it was surreal to bounce between the TV images with its terrifying commentaries and the delight of two babies at the beach. The 2 year old was overcoming her fear of the water,building sand castles with relish and the 6 month old was experimenting with how sand tastes and feels. So simple, so enchanting, so very innocent. At two different times, each of them fell asleep in my arms as I sat under the beach umbrella. Pure bliss for me mixed with the knowledge of the tragedy of so many families who were victims of the attacks. When we returned home after our trip, the reality of what happened still hadn't penetrated. Six months later, it is still difficult for me to get my mind around how humans could have so little regard for themselves and others to become suicide bombs. Perhaps they needed an idyllic time at the beach surrounded by supportive parents and relatives who could teach them the preciousness of life. 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 story32.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. 2002-02-03 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 207.172.11.147 Annotation Annotations to this item. Radio Coverage Television Coverage DOMESTIC Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I feel a little silly now when I think back to September 11, 2001. I never realized I was so naive. It was a beautiful fall day with bright blue skies and big white fluffy clouds floating in the sky. I was driving my grandson to school that day, when the DJ on the radio announced that a plane had hit one of the towers on the World Trade Center. My first thought was: What pilot could be that much of an idiot to have hit a building so tall and large? In my minds eye I envisioned a little four seater plane that could cause minimum damage. I shook my head with little concern about the event and continued about my business of taking my grandson to school. I wasn?t quite home yet when the DJ announced that a second plane had hit the other tower of the World Trade Center. My reaction was: Oh my God, that pilot was a bigger idiot than the first! He was so busy checking out the accident from the first plane that he wasn?t paying attention and hit the second tower!!! No sooner had that thought crossed my mind when the DJ suggested it might be terrorism. ?What do you mean terrorists??? Who would ever think to do something that awful? Didn?t they realize if they crashed the plane they would die too? What could make someone want to kill so many people along with themselves?? I don?t think that DJ knows what he is talking about, it was just a crazy accident!? When I returned home, I turned on the TV to CNN. I was not in the least bit prepared for what I was about to see. It was like watching a horror movie!!! I sat staring wide eyed at the TV thinking this was sheer madness. I was watching live coverage that showed all the dust and smoke and debris. I couldn?t believe it was a commercial jet that hit the first building. They had a film showing the tower before it was hit and after. You could see the damage the plane had done and the people running in the streets in mass confusion. People crying and screaming and gasping to get a breath of fresh air. When the second tower was hit, it seemed more devastating than the first. The people running and trying to get away were acting like they just wanted this nightmare to end. Please make it stop!! I could not peel my eyes from the TV. My emotions were building with such sympathy for these people. I had to try to control my stomach to keep from retching. Then it became even worse. As I sat watching all the live chaos, I saw the second tower collapse! There were people down there. That building was now burying people alive. The death and destruction was starting to overload my brain. The phone rang. It was my daughter in law. She was crying. She was sitting in the parking lot at her kids school. She told me she was so scared, she just wanted to take the kids out of school so she could protect them. I told her that was not a bad thing, this is a time that families need to stick together to love, protect and comfort each other. She left the school, kids in tow, and took them home where she felt a sense of safety and security. In the meantime, all the planes in the air were told to land. There was to be nothing in the air until further notice. Another plane hit the Pentagon. ?This can?t be happening, this has got to stop!!!!!? A little later, there was a plane missing. It was in trouble. A wife received a phone call from her husband stating terrorists had taken over their plane and he and some other men were going to try to take the terrorists. I was hoping for a happy ending like in a John Wayne movie with these people landing the plane and being heroes. Unfortunately, the plane crashed and they all died, but in my eyes they were great heroes anyway. Good over evil, they tried to defend themselves, they gave it an honorable shot. I didn?t go to work that night. I could not leave my TV. Radio could not relay the same message. I sat in front of the TV for three days. Maybe I was in shock. All I know is that it is now seven months later, and I still feel the same as I did on that horrifying day. I feel sad and empty, and very protective of my family. I would like to go back to the way I felt before September 11, 2001, carefree and secure in my American Dream, where everyone in the world is kind and caring and gives more than they take. I guess that world was never really there, September 11, 2001 was just my wakeup call to the harsh realities of this world. I pay homage to the heroes of that day, the firefighters, police, doctors, nurses, and the average American person who helped in any way they could. I honor and mourn all the Americans who died that day. Their brave and heroic actions prove to me that although everyone in the world does not believe in the American Dream, we as a nation stand proudly together as one united family. September 11, 2001 was just the beginning of this cold calculated war. Even thought the fighting is not on our land, there are still people dying daily, people we do not know, but who still have the right to live. It?s a sad thing that there are people in this world that feel they need to take another persons life, but this is not a perfect world. I think I will be sad for a long time, if not forever. I worry for my kids and grandkids, about their safety, happiness and freedom. No one knows the future and the total effect of September 11, 2001. All I know is, September 11, 2001, is one day in history that has affected our world as a whole, and has changed the lives of all Americans. The freedom we began to take for granted has been challenged, and is now a priceless commodity we have found worthy of fighting for. 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 story443.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-04-20 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 66.19.51.73 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: SEPTEMBER 11,2001 BEGAN AS JUST ANOTHER ORDINARY DAY. I GOT UP LIKE MOST PEOPLE DREADING GOING TO WORK. I AM A BILL COLLECTOR. I WAS SITTING AT MY DESK WHEN AN ANNOUCEMENT CAME OVER THE INTERCOM THAT A PLANE HAD HIT THE TWIN TOWERS. IT BROUGHT CHILLS TO MY STOMACHE. ONE OF MY GOOD FRIENDS HER HUSBAND WAS SOPPOSTED TO BE IN THERE, SO IT MADE MATTERS WORSE. A FEW MINUTES LATER WE HEARD THE SECOND PLANE HIT. NOW I WAS A MESS. IT WAS ROUGH AS CO WORKERS WERE FRANTIC. WE ARE CONSIDERED HEARTLESS PEOPLE FOR THE JOB WE DO, BUT HEARING THIS BROUGHT TEARS TO MOST OF OUR EYES. TURNS OUT MY FRIEND'S HUSBAND WAS STUCK IN TRAFFIC + NEVER MADE IT THERE. I WILL NEVER FORGET 9/11.......THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE. 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 story7338.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-14 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 152.163.188.6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I'm a biz reporter and was in DC, of all things, listing to FEMA talk about disaster insurance coverage. AS the heads of FEMA spoke to a group of bored reporters, the head of the National Press Foundation came in and said a plane had hit the WTC. We thought he was pulling our chain. He grimly flipped on CNN and we sat there stunned. Then we started discussing building insurance. The director then came in again and said the second tower had been hit. All the reporters froze and some started to cry. Then came news of the Pentagon and we all grabbed our notebooks and ran out of the room. As we left,. I caught a glimpse of something falling outof the corner of my eye on TV. Later, a woman I was interviewing said the WTC towers had collapsed. I was sure she was wrong. The streets outside were jammed and the sidewalks packed with people trying to leave the city. When we were interviewing a family near the WH, a guard came screaming across the front lawn, shouting to run as fast as we could away from the WH. "The next plane is only 5 min. out" he yelled. The crowd froze and then turned into the buildings. The family of six that a reporter and I were interviewing began to run. The adults figured if we heard the roar of engines, we'd each pick up a child and run like hell. No plane came. And the 3 year old in the group announced she had to go to the bathrooms, which were now being guarded by police with automatic rifles. While walking toward the Pentagon, following the black plume of smoke, I kept trying to reach my brother in law, who was to have B-fast that day at the Pentagon. I found out later that the morning meeting was switched to Crystal City. So he was alive. Otherwise, he would have been having b-fast in the outer ring of the Pentagon, in the Navy section, which took most of the brunt of the impact. I'm sure he's alive now, because of that last-minute switch. I'm also sure that many people, including myself, owe our lives to those who fought the terrorists on flight 93. barbara clements, Kent Wa. 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 story5252.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. 207.109.75.134 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was at work and we were just about to go on our first break at 8:00 AM(PDT) when the management of the contractor that I work for called everyone out onto the West loading dock to tell us about what had just happened...that someone in INS had just come over to the front office and reported it and that security had just ordered the building evacuated.We then were instructed by the management to quickly and calmly get everything cleaned up,get our things and go home.So we did and what was really remarkable was that all of us were driving in a safe manner but we weren't really paying much attention to the speed limit...but the police around didn't go after any of us.It was obvious they knew...so they just let us all go.It was clear to everyone including the police that at that time no one knew what location in the country might be next so everyone was trying to get away from the building as fast as possible in case it did go up.We wanted to be out of range of any possible flying debris if it did.Anyway,I got home,I live in the city of San Juan Capistrano,California and turned on the TV and like so many others found myself in a state of unbridled horrified shock.It was a very frightening experience and to this day what I felt emotionally has never left me.I doubt that it will ever will leave me...and I sincerely hope that it doesn't because I don't ever want to forget.A fan's sign during a baseball game in NYC at Yankee Stadium that I just saw on TV on Wednesday(9-11-02) night said it best I think.It read simply "We are ALL Yankees!" Go 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 story7449.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. 2002-09-15 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 209.178.186.80 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: I was in my precalculus class at the time in High School, and we watched the whole bombardment on TV and we basically took the rest of day off. Me and my friends were talking about how lame the passengers were for just sitting in fear of a few guys with box cutters. They could have easily retaken the plane with the sheer number of people in the plane. At worst someone would have gotten a partially bad lasceration. I guess they felt like being blown up and not coming out as heros with a few scratches. 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 story10407.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2004-02-01 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 165.121.65.80 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: When my two year old daughter turned on our tv we were just getting up and moveing it took both my husband and i a moment to relize that the cartoons we normally listened to were being replaced by the news. My daughter told me that the tv was broken. We went into the living room just in time to see the second plane hit the second tower. For me it was life changing for my husband it was life shatering as september 11 is his birthday. that day i think was the first day he relized that the world was made up of more than just our little town and our lives. For me it was worse as the day wore on. First i called my mom in seatle and told her to turn on the t.v. we both whatch in horror as the towers fell and the pentagon was hit it was after we hung up that we heard about the fourth plane. it was then that i relized i needed to try to call my sister in paris. I knew she was suposed to fly in that week but i couldn't remember which day. when i finially got a hold of her she told me that her fiance saved her life that was when we heard that she was suposed to be on the second plae that hit the second tower. I thank god every day that her fiance had to work that day and that he delayed her trip, but its still sobering to know that had he not i would have sat in my safe home in indiana and whatched in horror as the plane carring my sister flew into the south tower and might never have seen her agian. I still wake up every morning a nd thank god that she is still here and that i'll be able to see her agian. For my small family september 11 truly is a celabration of life, god and hope.Now not only do we have a birthday party we have a life party. My husband is now learning a new way to share and as a family we found a new faith in god. 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 story6721.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. 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: We finally had achieved our goal! After a year of financial and emotional stress, we sold our old home and moved into our dream home that we had built. Eighteen blissful days later it happened. With the two older children at school, my husband and youngest son were enjoying a morning swim as I made lunches. My husband jumped out of the pool and turned on the radio. He was frozen in his tracks as I saw him from the window, so I asked "What is it?" "Turn on the tv" is all he said. It didn't matter which channel; all showed the same horrifying image. It felt like we could feel the pain of loss although we were a thousand miles away. I remember thinking or maybe I actually did say "Oh my dear God NO!" And then shear panic hit me, and I could think of nothing else but to get the kids home. I chose not to, in hopes of not worrying them, and also trying to set a weak example of courage. My father calls from his home in Ecuador and he is crying like I haven't heard since a girl and that is when I realize what an impact this has had on the entire earth. I will never forget those vivid scenes of people running in the street like an Apocolyptic movie, or the imbedded image of husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, jumping from their buildings with brave hopelessness. May God bless the World. 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 story4391.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 152.163.188.6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I just got out of my first class, Temple University in North Philly. It was about 11:40. I was walking east on Montgomerry between 13th and Broad street. A bunch of people were gathered around a lunch truck listening to KYW Newsradio 1060 am. "Terrorists attack World trade Center." "Planes crash in D.C., New York and a plane crashed outside of Pittsburgh." I said "Im glad were in Philly," half joking, but I was serious. No one heard me. When I realized the enormity of the situation, as I let the news roll through me, I was ashamed that I made that comment. I called my father who happened to be bricklaying at Temple that morning. I started crying a little, I was a little scared. He told me not to go downtown, but I had to. Bob Dylan's new CD came out that morning. I told my dad I wouldn't go downtown, but off i went. I sat on that SEPTA bus and pondered. I was the only white person on the bus. I asked this kid next to me if he heard, he said no. I informed him. I was emotional. He seemed less emotional. Did he care? I got the Dylan CD. Everyone in Center City was getting the hell out of there, rushing out of the skyscrapers and City Hall. Panicking! But I did not feel that Philly would get hit. Philadelphia used to be the economic and political capitol of America. The money moved north and the politics moved south. I walked back to Temple. Same lunch truck..different crowd. Some guy walked by and said real loud "Alright, get over it people. Life goes on." I watched him walk away, stunned. I saw this kid who went to my high school. "Got any weed?" "Na, you?" "Na" "Wanna get a beer?" "Yeah okay." I was 19, but I knew where to get beer, a few blocks north and west of campus, the ghetto, but I wasn't really scared. "Did yous hear what happened?" I said to the crowd of black dudes outside of the small food and beer joint. This guy told me that it was our own fault that it happened. Us, America. Or white people? I don't know. I think he meant rich powerful white men, the few, but that's an assumption. We sat on a stoop and downed these malt liquor pounders, sharing our shock. We went our seperate ways. I made my way to this building that was showing the footage. This was the first time that I saw it. I would see those images thousands more times. It hurt. Life did go on though. I had to start a new job that afternoon. I went in and worked. In the coming weeks and months, September 11th was the issue of the day. For some reason I turned to the American Civil War. I found peace in this bloody event. I related to those Americans. They had their tragedy and we had ours. They couldn't escape history, nor should we. Still it hurt. The music... The Battle Hymn of the republic, Ashokan farewell. Abraham Lincoln. Grant. Lee. The Irish. The slaves. The masters. New York City. Washington D.C. The fields of Pennsylvania. Bob Dylan. I got closer to the past that Fall. I could feel the presence of the Indians of the past. 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 story11295.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2005-02-15 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 155.247.166.29 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: Although we in Montreal were not as affected as those in the U.S., we felt attacked as well and sickened by what happened. Most of us have friends, relatives and/or business associates in the U.S. and in particular in New York, being so close to us. I spent the next few days calling everybody I knew in N.Y. to make sure they were O.K. (fortunately they were). No work was done in our office that day as the news came in. As close neighbours we were appalled by what happened and felt helpless that we could not do anything to prevent these attrocities done to our close friends in 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 story3519.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 209.71.207.33 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: THE TOWERS (essay on September 11) by Michael Gates "The World Trade Center is _gone_," I said. By then, of course, everyone already knew this sad fact. But I said it anyway. I thought if I heard the words coming out of my mouth, I could begin to accept the unthinkable. It was "that day," and I was talking to my mother on the phone. We had finally reached each other after several dozen tries. ("All circuits are busy" was the phrase I heard most often on September 11.) She wanted to know if my wife, who worked in Building 7 of the World Trade Center, was alive, safe. As it turned out, she was, so my anguish wasn't for her (praise the Cosmic Muffin) but for the thousands lost--and for the towers, the twin monoliths that had been part of the backdrop of my life for 20 years. As anyone who lives in the New York metropolitan area knows, the twin towers of the World Trade Center were a constant, looming presence, visible for scores of miles in all directions. Wherever you were in New York--or in Jersey City, across the Hudson River, where I live--you could orient yourself by looking for the twins. At 110 stories, the towers, designed by architect Minoru Yamaski, were sometimes criticized as too big; their lack of ornament was also disparaged as "bland." That's wrong, I think. To me, they were majestic--so enormous that they transcended architecture. They were New York's answer to the pyramids, two surreal pillars holding up the sky. Whenever I visited the Trade Center, which included several smaller buildings besides the towers, I felt both excited and a bit overwhelmed by the "city within a city." The complex encompassed an enormous underground shopping mall, sprawling subway stations, and a five-acre outdoor plaza modeled after St. Mark's Square in Venice. The twins were the main attraction, though. Standing at the base of one of them and staring up its neo-Venetian facade was a surefire way to induce an oddly pleasant feeling of vertigo--like being mildly drunk on the Promethean splendor of New York. I ascended to the observation deck at the top of Tower 2 three times over the years, if recall correctly. You reached it via a high-speed elevator that was larger than many Manhattan bedrooms. It felt like going up in a rocket--your stomach seemed to have been temporarily left behind. You exited the elevator into a vast, window-lined room with--to put it most prosaically--quite a view. The vista reminded me of one of my favorite childhood fantasies: sitting on a cloud and staring down at the world, like omnipotent Zeus. There were little metal seats next to the tall, slit-like windows; you could sit there and meditate on the roofs of skyscrapers. It was somewhat like looking out of an airplane's window, except that the toy-like world below didn't pass by. Time seemed suspended. There was a stairway to the roof, where you could stand on an outdoor platform that seemed to hover in mid air. The top of the other tower, crowned by a huge broadcast antenna (used by every major TV station in New York), floated nearby. On a clear day you could see the curvature of the earth?I think. I imagined I could, anyway. I wasn't always a tourist at the Trade Center. One of my freelance editing clients, Morgan Stanley, was located in Tower 2, on the 72nd floor. I usually did my editing for them remotely, via e-mail, but one day I was asked to come into the office and proofread some documents. Entering the building involved a complicated series of steps. I had to line up in the lobby with about 100 other "guests," then present two forms of ID at a long desk manned by a score of what looked like airport ticket agents. I was given a stick-on badge to wear. At the elevator, I had to show some ID again, despite the badge. And once I arrived at Morgan Stanley's offices, I had to explain myself to a guard in _their_ lobby. By then, I felt like I was entering CIA headquarters. The massive security--how na?ve and pointless it now seems--was in reaction to the 1993 bombing of the Trade Center. A terrorist named Ramzi Ahmed Yousef had parked a truck bomb in an underground parking garage. When it exploded, six people were killed and thousands were injured. The towers filled with smoke but were otherwise unharmed. It was said that the terrorists had hoped they would collapse. "How absurd," I remember thinking at the time. The towers were so enormous, so permanent a part of the landscape, that I couldn't imagine anything short of a nuclear warhead bringing them down. If that. As if in mockery, September 11th was a preternaturally beautiful day. A cerulean bowl of fresh air was suspended over the city, and the temperature was somewhere in the Mediterranean 80s. That morning, my wife, Beth, left for work as usual, and I made sure my son got on his school bus, as I do every weekday. I puttered around for a while, then sat down at the computer in my home office with a cup of coffee. The phone had rung twice earlier, but I hadn't bothered to answer it. I played back the first voice-mail message. It was my sister, who never calls me (since I see her several times a year at family gatherings), which gave me my first inkling that this would not be a routine day. "I saw on the news what happened at the World Trade Center," she said. "I just wanted to know if Beth is OK. Please call me." For some reason, I wrote down "Sept. 11" and "WTC" on the notepad I use for phone messages. (I look at that note now, and at the mundane phone messages I had scribbled on the page above it the day before, with a real sense of nostalgia.) I played back the second message, which was from my wife: "I'm OK?." With a slight sinking feeling, I went into the living room and snapped on the TV, tuning it to CNN. The next thing I remember is being in the park next to my house, Riverview Park, which has a Cinemascope view of the New York skyline. I had grabbed my digital camera and I was snapping pictures of the towers, which, for the moment, looked like huge smokestacks. Immense plumes were billowing from both of them. The park was filling up with spectators, many of whom were also taking pictures. Someone had a radio, and I heard that the Pentagon in Washington had also been hit. "Am I awake or asleep?" I asked myself. I decided I was, indeed, awake. Then I thought: "I am a witness to history." The clich? seemed perfectly apt. Then the first tower collapsed, accompanied by gasps and a chorus of "oh-my-gawds" from the crowd. I began to have a peculiar feeling that I've only experienced a few other times in my life: a contradictory sensation of time standing still while events rush forward at terrible speed. I'd felt it before, for example, in a car wreck, as the vehicle I was in was rolling over on a highway. Involuntarily, it seemed, I climbed up on the iron fence at the edge of the park that faces Manhattan. So did several other people of the sort who normally don't climb fences. I watched a huge cloud of smoke rise from lower Manhattan, as if an atomic bomb had just exploded. "What about Beth?" I thought. "She was 'OK' before, but what about now?" I ran back into the house and dialed her number at work. "All circuits are busy. Please try your call again later." The recorded voice was maddeningly calm and businesslike. I turned CNN back on, just in time to see the second tower collapse. I tried calling several more times, but only got odd-sounding busy signals or recorded messages about "technical difficulties." Then the phone rang, but it was Trish, a friend of ours, wanting to know if Beth was OK. "I honestly don't know," I said. "The second tower just came down." I ran back to the park. I didn't know what to do with myself, so I took some more pictures of the smoke/dust cloud, which now appeared to extend about a mile up into the atmosphere. I don't remember how long I stayed there, gawking. Eventually I went back inside to try the phone again and to see what I could learn from TV. The phone situation was no better, and what I saw on TV was far more horrific than what I'd seen from the park. I was sitting there, mesmerized, watching footage of people jumping from 100 stories up, of roiling dust clouds chasing people through Manhattan's canyons, when Beth suddenly walked through the front door. She had caught one of the last trains out of the city, she said, just before the entire transit system shut down. For several days after that I went to the park every few hours to observe the ghostlike cloud still rising from where the towers had once stood, trying to convince myself that I had really seen what I thought I had seen. After dark, the cloud glowed eerily, reflecting the stadium lights that had been installed at "ground zero" so that search and rescue operations could continue all night. In the days that followed, the cloud occasionally drifted across the river, giving off a faint smell of burning plastic. F-15 fighter jets roared overhead, but otherwise the skies were quiet, all the airports having closed. On Saturday, I went down to the Jersey City waterfront to help load trucks with relief supplies. There was a huge crowd of volunteers there, of all ages and "types," though the majority seemed to be of college age. There were even some uniformed cops there who had driven overnight from Chicago to help load supplies. The atmosphere was surprisingly jovial as people formed "bucket brigades" to pass along an endless amount of bottled water and packaged food for loading onto trucks. Every so often, a boatload of exhausted firemen would arrive from the other side of the Hudson, to cheers from the volunteers. All of this bonhomie felt a bit forced, however, against the background of the smoking, gap-toothed skyline. I look now at the new breach in Manhattan's jagged profile with a painful sense of loss. I didn't know anyone personally who died in the attacks, so I'm not sure if I can call if grief. Can you grieve for lost buildings? They were more to me than buildings, though, just as they were more than that to the people who destroyed them. Symbols of "capitalism" or "imperialism" to some, to me they were symbols of all that is "over the top" about New York: not just one awesome skyscraper but two, side by side, in relationship, "trading partners" if you will, and tall enough to rattle the gods. To me, their "two-ness" stood for something else, as well: it was a constant, iconic reminder that, though it's possible to be lonely in New York, it's never necessary to be alone. When the towers fell, the citizens of the New York metro area came together, as they always do when disaster arrives. There's a hole in the sky that may never be filled, but, for now, we've filled the gap between ourselves. ### [a copy of this essay, including photographs, is available at: http://www.panix.com/~mgates/towers.htm] 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 story846.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-07-01 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 166.84.217.118 Annotation Annotations to this item. Rescue/clean-up workers/volunteers WTC, attack WTC, pre-911 WTC, worked in (ever) DOMESTIC feature Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I will never forget September 11th as long as I live. When I woke up in the morning I got ready and went to school as usual not expecting anything unusual or weird would happen that day. I attend Tarpon Springs Highscool. I was in my 2nd period class, which was ironically American History, when our principal, Mr. Nicely came onto the intercom system. He told us that a plane had hit the first tower of the world trade center. At first I thought it must have been an accident, I mean whose crazy enough to purposely fly a plane into that massive building. Then, a little while later, he came on the intercom and told everyone it was terrorism and that they hit the second tower and also the Pentagon. I was in shock. I was sad, scared, and angry all at once. How could these people do this? I looked at my best friend, Carly, who was in the same class as me at the time, and we were so shocked that someone could be crazy enough to do this and literally murder thousands of people for no reason. A lot of people in school were crying. When I got home I just watched the t.v. and cried and cried. Some kids lost both of their parents, some lost sisters, brothers, a father, a mother, a uncle, an aunt, a friend, you name it. I just wished to myself that I could help in someway. My Uncle Ray's wife's sister worked in the world trade center and sadly was lost on that tragic day. My hearts and prayers go out to the families that lost their loved ones. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story7311.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-14 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 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: On September 11, I was in ESL class. The school principal came on the PA and briefly summarized what had taken place in New York, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania. This was the first year that I had living in the U.S. so this event had a great impact in my life. I felt little insecure and vulnerable as most people most have felt. I was also very angry and scared that any other attacks that may take place. I was confused because then I spoke very scarce English so I didnt realize of how horrific the event was until we were able to turn on the television in our classroom at noon that day. My teacher told us that we could make some calls to our parents to see how they were but that wasnt enough. When I got home I got to see my parents and they were also terrified. We watched the news for hours and hoped for the best. Later that day I thought that this could be the start of another war like the attack on Pearl Harbor. Some of the reactions to the events taken that they lead to unnecessary consequences, but we all hope for the best of the nation. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story20428.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. 151.188.16.21 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: Early morning on September 11th, my husband had just left for work. I was just waking up and turned on the T.V., expecting to see Good Morning America. The image I saw was the World Trade Center tower on fire, with an airplane sticking out from the side. At that time, no one knew that this was not just a tragic accident. Then, while I was watching, the second plane struck the second tower. The shock was tremendous - we now knew this was not an accident, but must be a vicious attack on innocent citizens. My son, daughter-in-law, and 4 grandchildren (ages 12, 4, 3 and 1) were visiting from Florida. My daughter-in-law received a call on her cell phone from her sister, knowing it was very early on the West coast, but wondering if she had heard the news. They knocked on my bedroom door and we all sat together crying and praying. My husband called from work - afraid I was still sleeping but wanting me to know what was happening. Many phone calls after that - "Do you know...", "Have you heard...", none of us being able to talk clearly or make much sense of things, but needing to reach out and make contact with loved ones. My daughter, who lives in Florida, called just to say that she loved us. A very unusual thing for her to do but in this strange world we now lived in she also felt the need to express her love of family. All she could think about was getting home to her husband and children, ages 4 and 2. I know we all gave our kids a special hug and kiss that day. My kids were scheduled to head back to Florida from Oregon in a few days. Of course, at that time, no one knew when flights would resume. My son was able to get a flight out the first day service was resumed. We were all very concerned, but knew security would be very tight. His 4 year old son was especially worried, but we were able to keep him occupied all day until his Dad called to let us know that he was home, safe and sound. The rest of the family stayed for an additional week, but then had to go home. A very hard thing to do, especially for the kids, but they wanted to get home to see their Dad. After a long, tense flight everyone was back together. We are lucky in the fact that we didn't have any friends or family lost in the terror attacks. However, we are all family in a time like this and we weep and grieve for everyone killed or injured. There were so many heroes that day - common people thrust into a situation where they showed how Americans step forward in times of need. I know there were people of many faiths and nationalities involved that day, but, I'm sure in their heart, they were all Americans that tragic day. 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 story3484.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. 12.241.221.53 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I witnessed history on September 11th. This day was extremly sad. I first found out what had happened when I was attending a bus evacuation drill. The bus driver was listening to the radio when I overheard him tell my teacher what he had heard on the radio. Two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center. At that time, I did not know how serious the attack had been. When we went back to out homeroom, we turned on the TV and watched replays of the planes crashing into the World Trade Center over and over again. We were only allowed to watch it for a few minutes because my teacher was already getting teary-eyed, and she did not want her students to get distracted from their work. However, after watching those few minutes of the news, I was already distracted. As soon as I got home I turned on the TV and had no trouble finding news on the terrorist attacks beacuse it was on almost every channel. I watched the news until I could not watch it anymore. My life, as have lives of most Americans, has changed since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. I am much more cautious and I do not enjoy going on planes as much as I used to. I also learned that I should live my life to the fullest because now I am aware that it could end any second. Although that was a tragic day, not all bad has come from it. Many more Americans have gained pride in their country. I think as a country we are much closer together and more united. I think everything from September 11th should be remembered. If we forget a part of that day, a huge part f our history would also be forgotten. Many people's lives were taken on that day, they should always be remembered. All of the firefighters, police men, and volunteers should never be forgotten for their heroic deeds. I know I will never forget anything from September 11th because if I did a part of my life would be missing. 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 story8550.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-10-22 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 24.60.58.139 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: My husband and I were with a group from my church. We were on a mission trip to help build apartments for elderly women near the Austria/Italy border in the Alps. I called my mom when we had our afternoon break to check on our two children. We had a quick conversation and they were going to eat breakfast. After I hung up, I walked across the street and returned to caulking the new bathrooms. One of the elderly women came over to tell us in broken English that America was being attacked. We continued to work thinking she was mistaken. Thirty minutes later, another elderly woman came over to tell us someone had bombed the World Trade Center. We thought they might be watching an old news clip from the car bomb that went off in the parking garage several years ago. Finally, she insisted our team leader go to an apartment to see CNN. When he came back, he said, "Guys, this is very serious. America is under attack. The World Trade Center has collapsed, the Pentagon had a plane crash into it and there are several flights still in the air that they think are being hijacked. President Bush is on Airforce One." We sat stunned for a moment but we returned to work in silence. Those elderly women were counting on us. We were their help. Nobody in their village cared enough about them to help. If we didn't get their apartments in move-in condition, nobody would. Americans love and help other people. Villagers came to watch the Americans work all week. Apparently it is uncommon for people to work so hard for so long. They came again to watch us work even though our countrymen were dying. The next day, as we worked, an old man with a cane walked down the lane and called to me. He spoke Corinthian so I could not understand him. I said, "I speak English" and pointed to myself, "I am American". He began to cry. He made a motion with one hand like an airplane and his other hand was a building. When he crashed one into the other, tears rolled down his cheeks and he took off his hat and held it over his heart. No words necessary. We cried together and I hugged him. Five days later, we arrived at the Vienna airport. It was the first day flights were allowed to return to the United States. It was so crowded with Americans, the line must have streched a mile long. Austrian citizens showed up in droves with drinks and refreshments and walked around serving Americans and expressing their sorrow. We felt loved. Arriving in Washington and seeing Old Glory draped on the control tower was too much for most of us. Tears and clapping errupted from that entire plane. We had all been stranded in Europe and were thankful to be home. We arrived home, to One Nation Under God, Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for ALL. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story1553.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. 2002-08-29 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 205.188.209.40