352 20 70359 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was 9 months pregnant and had just dropped my 3 year old off at preschool and heard on the radio that the first plane had hit the WTC. Of course, I thought it was a terribly tragic but solitary accident. When I got home my husband called from work to ask if I knew what was going on. That was when I turned the TV on and saw images of the second plane crashing. I sat there on the couch not able to comprehend what was happening. I was relaying everything I saw to my husband and him to his coworkers, I was their link to information. I remember vividly the sick feeling in my stomach and praying that I wouldn't go into labor. I didn't want to bring my baby into the world on such a grim day. Fortunately, little Jacob Christopher waited 6 more days to make an appearance and he is such a blessing. I think that we all knew of someone who died that day, I was lucky enough to not have any close friends or family perish but I feel for all those who did. I think about 9-11 everyday, we went to NY for the first time since the attacks over Labor Day Weekend and I can really say that it is a wonderful city and that I love New York. God Bless NY, DC, PA and the USA. I will remember always. 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 story4567.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 was driving in my car, on my way to work, listening to NPR(NAtional Public Radio) when the programming was interupted by a somewhat confused commentator telling us that he beleived an aircraft had hit the world trade center. My first instinct was to think it was an airline crash, but within a few minutes, they reported that a second airliner had hit the world trade center. I knew at that moment..almost instantaneously..that it was terrorists attacking us. OF course the magnitude of the whole thing had not hit anyone yet..but even just the idea that terrorists had made such a blatant attack really hit hard. When I arrived at work, all work had basically come to a stop. We all just kind of sat in stunned silence and listened to the radio. At the time this occured, I was having a long distance relatinship with a man who worked in mid town Manhatten. I began to e-mail him..asking if he was okay. Within a few minutes, he did e-mail me and let me know that he was safe and sound He also mentioned that he was , for the most part, locked into Manhatten and even into his building. IT was a very, very scary time for those in New York. I had an insider view to this through his e-mails all througout that day. It really brought home how much technology made it possible for us to be in touch with those that we loved in cared about in New York. Although September 11th was a stunning, terrible, scary, sad day in our history, the most amazing part about it was how americans came together in a way that we never had in our generation. It is a shame that it takes tragedy to remind us all of our patriotism, but it was hard to find someone that hadn't become proud to be an american through and through. 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 story6676.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. 208.48.192.71 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I can remember sitting in my homeroom class hearing a few people talking about it but no one had heard any kind of confirmation of it yet. A few minutes later the bell rang to go to my first period class. I can remember wondering what all everyone was talking about in my keyboarding class when the announcements came on the intercom. Right after the announcements went off my teacher turned on the TV so we could find out a little more about what happened. I can remember a lot of other students walking to the office crying trying to call home. Everyone is my class mouth dropped. No one could believe what he or she had just heard. We kept the TV on all through first period. I think I started crying around when the towers fell. I can remember asking God how He could do such a thing to all of these innocent people. At lunch I called my dad and asked him how my family was and if he was planning on coming to pick me up. Later on when I got home my family and I just turned on the TV and watched the news from around 4 until 10:30 that night. Normally my family will all sit down and eat dinner together and turn off the TV but that night we left it on and our prayers that night were a little longer and my family got a little closer. 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 story6837.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. 68.11.101.143 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: For three months during the summer and early autumn of 2001, I was conducting fieldwork in Tanzania for my PhD in Anthropology and Archaeology. On 11 September I was enjoying my last day of a four day holiday to Zanzibar, taken with a postgraduate student from NYU who was on my project. We were preparing for a special supper to mark the end of our holiday, which we had taken once our supervisors had left us alone in Africa and we had gotten a handle on our work. I am an American student at University College London in the UK, so I am used to being far from my family when big events occur. What I remember the most when I witnessed what was occuring on CNN International, was the desire to be back in the States, despite the horror and fear and potential danger. It made me think back to the Persian Gulf war, when I heard on the news that a number of Americans with an Israeli background were heading back there. I thought that they were crazy to want to return to a land so fraught with danger, but when the US was attacked, I was overcome by the wish to be in the middle of the scene. My friend and I had ten minutes to spare before our driver was coming to collect us for dinner. On a whim we decided to turn the TV on. We were on temporary resident visas, so hotels and travel were cheaper for us than non-residents and we had been able to splurge on a very posh hotel with a TV in the room. Having spent quite a while out in the bush, and then in Dar-es-Salaam in a hostel, we hadn't seen much of the rest of the world. TV was novel and almost intriguing. When I first switched it on and saw an image of the WTC damaged and smoking, I switched the channel thinking that I was watching a lame Hollywood action film. The next channel showed the same image. And then the next. And the next. And of course by that point we'd seen all of the channels on the Zanzibari TV at the hotel! I can remember growing cold in the damp heat of the late afternoon and calling my friend's name several times to get her attention. She joined me where I stood in front of the TV and we grabbed each others hands when the replay of the planes crashing into the towers was shown seconds later. The second crash had not occurred that long ago. Our knuckles turned white, but we didn't notice at first. The trembling was much more obvious. I began to whimper "Oh my God" over and over again until my friend told me to stop so we could hear what the news reporter was saying. My family is from Connecticut and the closest city to us is New York. It has always been the city that I most affiliate with from home. My friend of course, being from NYU, has a community of her own in the city, and my sister, cousin, and numerous friends live there as well. We watched as our home of sorts was terrorized and destroyed. I felt so ill, imagining my sister getting up for class that morning and deciding to stray further afield than normal, maybe to meet a friend for coffee, maybe just to take a walk. She lived below 14th Street, in an NYU residence hall and would not normally have any reason to be in the vicinity of the WTC. But, in times like that, your brain churns through the possibilities and alarms go off with each new variation that is created. I remember in 1998 when there was a terrible train crash in London that made international news I received a number of emails from people I hadn't heard from in six months or more, begging me to respond so they would know I hadn't been on the train. It had made me snicker a bit at the time because there was simply no reason for me to ever be on a commuter train in that part of the city, but that is just what happens when a crisis strikes nearby to a loved one. Rational or not, these things enter your head. When we managed to pull ourselves away from the TV and meet our driver, the first of the towers had fallen. We told him what happened. He became very serious and with a grave tone he told us that it sounded terrible and he would pray for our families. He told us to try to enjoy our meal and each others company and to be thankful for it. Rather than head straight to the restaurant, we stopped at an internet cafe. The people there had heard of the news and when we walked in, looking troubled and confused, they immediately sat us down at a computer and said they hoped we would hear our families were safe. Nobody needed to tell them why we were there. I emailed my family, suffering through the incredibly slow computer connections. I already had a number of emails from my flatmate who was watching the news unfold with our new flatmates who had come to London from NYC a week before. Their office at an architecture firm was three blocks away from the WTC. I asked my flatmate to call my family and see if they had heard from my sister. Minutes later I got an email from my father saying that her whereabouts were unknown. At supper my friend and I talked about what we had seen, our voiced raised a little louder than normal, perhaps in the hopes that somebody would hear and ask us to explain. We needed to share it, but were too shy to just cry in public, to scream with the rage and despair that we felt. An older English couple sitting next to us did lean over and ask us what we were talking about. It felt so good to tell them, to confide in these lovely strangers, to release the burden of our knowledge. Our conversation made me feel strangely peaceful, and the day died with a painfully beautiful sunset, soundtracked by the soulful call to prayer that projected over Stone Town, the main town on the island. We witnessed that night begin with our senses raised beyond the norm. We were at a rooftop restaurant, taller than the other buildings in town. The sunset was brighter than I would have normally noticed, the cushions upon which we sat were silkier, more comfortable, than they looked. The drinks were smoother, the food more aromatic. Later, when we returned to the hotel, news had spread. When I explained to the receptionist that my family was American and they might try to call me, he nodded his head and promised to pray for me. That night a number of calls from people with North Americn accents were connected to my room. None of those people were my Americans, though! The phone lines to the island are dodgy at the best of times - strangely my parents tried to call me twelve times that night but always reached a private residence in Zaire. It was 16 hours later that I was able to retrieve my email back in Dar-es-Salaam, and learn that my sister and cousin and friends were all safe. My sister had seen the second plane crash from Washington Square Park, and was caught up in the chaos that followed. Because of where she lived she was stuck in the city for a number of days before they reopened the roads, just in time for her to catch the train back to CT to attend the memorial service for a young man from our hometown who was killed that day. We had gone to high school with him and his brother. That is the closest person to me who died. My youngest sister is aquaintances with a girl in the high school whose father was lost. Three others from our town died as well, a very low number considering that so many people from our town commute into NYC and work in the finacial district. People say we were lucky as a town, but there is something almost too optomistic about that, I think. Back in Dar, people on the streets would stop me and my friend and ask us if we were American. It was obvious that I was mzungu, a white person, a foreigner. Before the 11th we were stopped a lot anyway, but they always asked where we were from. This time the question was more direct. Normally when I travel I hestitate to admit that I am American. I know that our country's policies and economics have brought hardship to many people in other parts of the world and I am ashamed of that. Because so many other regions of the world are drenched in anti-American sentiments (which for some reason many Americans don't know and don't understand), I try to be cautious. I often just say that I am visiting from London, which isn't a lie, but not quite the whole truth. After the 11th I looked everyone in the eye and said "I am American, my family lives near New York". The outpouring of love and support from every Tanzanian I spoke to was overwhelming. It got me through the rest of my stay in Africa. People would lay a hand on your shoulder and say they would pray for you, that they were sorry for what had happened, that they wished we would find it within ourselves to heal. Their openness gave me strength and helped me come to terms with a changed world. I accepted each blessing with gratitude. My parents were very worried about me after the 11th because Dar has a large Muslim population, but I felt safer there than when I returned to London. There was something about the honesty and concern of the people there that made me feel protected. And something my family wasn't thinking of at the time - the inhabitants of Dar had felt the wrath of bin Laden in 1998 when his people bombed the US embassy there. That story is always overshadowed by the bombing in Nairobi, because so many more people died, and Americans were injured. In Dar only twelve people died. All of them were Tanzanian. A memorial to the victims, constucted with salvaged materials from the site, stands in the garden of the National Museums of Tanzania, where I spent my days working with fossils held in the collections there. I was reminded every day that my country now had a certain pain in common with Tanzania. I spent the rest of my stay in Tanzania addicted to CNN International, despite the footage and the commentary growing stale. Every waking moment I was watching the TV. I was "lucky" enough to have one available, since I had met and moved in with a woman from Kenya who was working in Dar and living in a nice flat connected to my hostel. She had a TV that received two English language channels, so we watched it together, while my fellow postgraduate student often wandered back to her room after an hour, saturated. On the other hand, I couldn't help but stay up until 1, 2, sometimes 3 am to see what new piece of information was being fed to us. I flew back to London less than two weeks after the 11th. I'm nervous about flying on the best of days, but this flight was torture. I fought panic attacks for most of the journey, my nervousness not helped by the fact that our plane had been grounded in Nairobi for 16 hours with an engine problem. Back in London I felt like a fish out of water. I was very nervous. Some of my friends had attended a peace meeting before my return. One of the topics of conversation was how to differentiate between anti-Americanism and anti-American policy sentiments. It scared me to think that the world had felt our sorrow, but that many people had lost sight of that sorrow and had given in to a wariness towards our country's next move. The politcal arena infringed on everyone's emotional lives, and I became uncomfortable with many of the president's statements and decisions. If I had had a better solution, I would have offered it to anyone willing to listen, but I eventually grew tired of trying to explain the US's actions or position to my non-American friends. After all, I wasn't making the policy or implementing it, and I hadn't lived in the country long-term since 1995, so I felt a bit out of touch with the American mindset. I begged my friends to leave the topic alone in my presence, as I simply became upset with being forced to defend my country's actions, when I myself struggled to understand them and frequently disagreed with them. In public I began to worry about speaking out loud, lest somebody hear my accent and make a scene. I didn't go to any of the peace rallies or support meetings. All it takes is one nut in the crowd to create a disturbance. I had iamges in my head of one fervent anarchist lunging towards me screamimg "capitalist pig amongst us!". Thankfully, a month later, my paranoia calmed down and although life didn't - and won't - ever go back to normal, I began the slow process of coming to terms with what had happened on 11 September. Right now I am in Washington DC doing some research at the Smithsonian. One year ago I was sitting in the open air, breathing in the cool Zanzibari night, mentally reliving the worst event that I had seen my country suffer - all from the comfort of a chair in front of a fuzzy TV screen. And a year later, on the one year anniversary, here I am in DC. Isn't this what I wanted? To be here, near my family, with my countrymen and women, to finally partake in the community grieving process that I had missed...? I attended the 8am service of remembrance at the National Cathedral. I was moved by Desmond Tutu's homily, by the sight of businessmen crying and holding hands, by the spiritual presence of the Buddhist monk, the calm air of the other religious leaders. I was annoyed by the six mobile phones that rang, and the people who left the service early to get to something obviously much more important. When it came time to hold hands with the people next to you for one of the prayers, nobody was left next to me. They had gone. I felt as lonely then as I did a year ago in Tanzania, and being "at home" wasn't any better than being away. I suppose I learned that there is no suitable site for grieving, there is no perfect place to mourn. It occurs in your heart and in your head, while you do or don't clasp the hand of the stranger next to you. Grief doesn't wait for the right moment or the perfect circumstances to unfold. But I think that it must be easier with a hand to hold anyway - such is human nature or, at least, this human's nature. As an archaeoligst I am always considering the past and documenting the past of others. Having been able here to document my own, to re-create a small moment of the history of my experience in this world, has been perhaps one of the best things in my own grieving process. Thank you. This is what one of the readings from yesterday's service said: "Do not take lightly small good deeds, believing they can hardly help: For drops of water one by one in time can fill a giant pot". I hope that we, as Americans, will fill the pot to overflowing over the next few years. And as the Tanzanians said to me last September (and pardon my Swahili spelling), Mungu Akubariki - God bless you. 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 story6709.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. 160.111.67.101 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 just leaving my apartment when my neighbour stopped me and said "Have you heard about the WTC? It's been hit by a plane. You can watch it from the roof". I went upstairs and I saw that surreal image: a hole spanning for five floors in the centre top of Tower 1, and a huge cloud of black smoke. I live in the East Village, and the view from there was perfect. I went back to get my camera. When I was back in the roof I saw just before my eyes the explosion on Tower 2. I didn't see the plane, nor did any of the other guys on the roof. We speculated for a few minutes. The only thing we could imagine was on of the wings of the first plane hitting the other tower and provoking the explosion, but that was very unlikely. Finally one of the people on the roof said: "The radio is saying that there was a second plane." We suddenly got scared, and I could see tears on the eyes of my neighbour: his friend worked at the WTC. You can see original footage and blog at http://www.cruzate.org/nyhell/ 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 story20466.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. 87.216.156.167 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 it was like any other day at school. In fourth period I heard some rumors of terrorist attacks. We turned on the news just in time to see the second tower get hit. Then the first tower fell toward teh end of fourth period. We came back from lunch fifth period to see the second tower fall. I was stunned that this happened to us. When I got home I found out about the Pentagon. Why would they do this to us? What did we do to them? I think they are jelous of our freedom. 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 story6097.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. 156.63.116.141 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: ever since that tragic day, i have been at the point i can not watch anything that has to do with that incident. it is just too painful. i have sent a message to someones child who lost a family member. i put my flag a half staff yesterday to honor all those who were lost. i put a message for the quilt and had a candle over the web. it will take a while to get over this. thank GOD for all those who gave their all to the rescue/clean-up effort. no matter what, those who did this awful thing will have a rude awakening when they face their maker. GOD's punishment will be far greater than anything we could do to them and it will be for eternity. 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 story6780.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: Ich stand unten in der Lobby,als pl?tzlich ein dumpfes Ger?usch zu h?ren war.Die Leute schrien und meinten es w?re ein Erdbeben.Ich ging raus guckte hoch und sah wie eine dicke Staubewolke ?ber dem Gipfel des WTC hang.Als die ersten Journalisten kamen,habe ich gefragt was los sei. Sie sagten:"A terrorism attack is happened.America is down" Ich war geschockt.Amerika,die Weltmacht,so leicht verwundbar?Und wie kommen die Leute da wieder heil raus?Wer war das?Ein paar Minuten sp?ter knallte ein weiteres Flugzeug in den zweiten Tower.Jetzt war die Aussage der journalisten best?tigt.Es war ein Anschlag! Heute ?ber ein Jahr danach kann ich immer noch sehr sclecht schlafen und habe Alptr?ume von den Bilder des Tages. Tote,Feuer,leichens?cke,......,.... . 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 story8913.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-01-03 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 80.133.137.31 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: On the morning of September 11th I had a terrible feeling in my heart and for a couple of days before that I kept thinking that my boyfriend was keeping something from me. Being a woman, it's the first thing that comes to mind when you get that weird feeling in your heart. I had just gotten off the phone with him when I hear my co-workers screaming. When I walked to the back of our office I could see that the first tower was in flames. (I work 3 blocks from the Trade Center). My first reaction was to call my friend Sean who worked on the 102nd floor of the first tower. A lady picked up the phone and after asking if Sean was there she said that he was, but they weren't picking up phones anymore because a plane just hit their building. I told her that I could see it from my window and I told her to be safe. She said we'll try. Then she said she had to get off the phone in order to evacuate. I never asked her what her name was but I could never forget the sound of her voice. My best friend called me and while I was on the phone with her, the second plane hit. At that point I made the decision to leave my building. I met up with some people from my department downstairs and we just waited and watched. Then it happened. Tower 2 collapsed. We heard another explosion and when I looked up I saw just the top of the Tower coming down. I remember trying to run and stopping to cry. Then a co-worker tripped and fell and another lady trip and fell over her. So I went back to get her off the floor and we just ran. I work across the street from the Stock Exchange and as we ran down Exchange Place and towards Broad Street a huge cloud of smoke came towards us and a woman yelled "Oh my God, they bombed the Stock Exchange!" We ran back in the direction that we were coming from and the same cloud was coming towards us from that direction. We were trapped. The cloud caught us from all directions. I remember the feeling was like millions of little needles pricking my skin. You couldn't even see your own hand in front of you. Luckily we were holding hands so the person in the front of the "line" lead us into a clothing store on the corner of that street. We went in and I cried. I cried like I've never cried before. I was so scared. I thought I was going to die that day. I thought I would never see my family or my friends or the love of my life again. The people in the store were so wonderful. They gave us water napkins to wipe our dusty skin, they let us use their phones to call our families. They were just wonderful. We waited and watched from the television in their basement as Tower 1 came crumbling down. A couple of my co-workers cried for their siblings because they thought they were still in there. I kept reassuring them that I had called Sean over an hour and a half before and that they were trying to evacuate so they had nothing to worry about. Five of us walked 2 hours and a half back to my house in Brooklyn. We kept watching on my TV and I had so many phone calls. The phone lines weren't working so it was difficult for me to get through to anyone. But I able to get through eventually. What worried me the most was that I couldn't get through to my family in Puerto Rico. My mother and sister and brother all live there and I couldn't get through to them until about 5pm that day. At some point my co-workers left to get themselves home. And there I was. Alone. With no one to talk to. No one to hug. No one to cry to. (Except over the phone).Then I thought to myself, "I need to get in contact with Sean". I never did. After watching an interview that the president of Cantor Fitzgerald gave on a news program a few days later, I realized that Sean never made it out. I called my mother and cried. I was in a daze for such a long time. I couldn't even smile. I felt like I lost my mind. Luckily my two co-workers' siblings made it out alive. To this day the events of September 11th, 2001 still effect me in the worst way. I still cry for no reason. I still get depressed. I still remember Sean. I still have nightmares. The memory of the fear is still so strong in my heart. But everyday, I am grateful. I am grateful that I'm breathing and that I get to see another birthday. I get to call and see my loved ones. I feel like I've gotten a second chance. So I started singing again and performing. I'm following my life long dream. I love with all of me. I wish with more thought. I don't stress over much. I feel better about myself as a person. I'm able to give more of myself completely. I am thankful for all things small and large. Today, on the anniversary or these horrible tragedies, I give thanks to all those who gave their lives for the rest of us and I also give thanks to those who joined together to help. Seany, I miss you and I will remember you always. 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 story2910.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. 160.254.20.253 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: That morning , moments after the first plane hit, my manager paged me from her office in Atlanta (she knew I may have been there) with the words "WTC are you ok". Was leaving my house anyway , decided to call her from the car and learned a plane hit the WTC on the radio, tried calling, my cell was not working. A small plane crashed 500 feet from my house on its way to Teterboro 2 years before, expected the incident at the WTC was a light aircraft, an accident. Minutes later the radio station reported another plane hit the WTC, they said they didn't want to cause any confusion so they couldn't give any further details until they had information that was confirmed but they think it might be a terrorist act. Could see the smoke from the towers, on my way to work, it was far worse than any fire I had ever seen, traffic was delayed as usual in the morning but people were quiet, no horns or angry drivers, everyone was intent to hear their radio. When I arrived at my building many people were crying and frightened in the hall and on the elevator, some faces were red with sadness, others pale, in shock, all were affected their were police stationed on the elevators. Inside our office everyone was gathered around the TV watching CNN and looking out the window as the towers burned, trying to figure out what happened and what will happen next. Our telephone line weren't working for most calls, with no way to make calls all we could do was send email, shuffle our papers and wait. Was able to call our site on Hudson St. they were ok, agreed with the manager to get the guys out of Church St and advised I would also take responsibility for abandoning the site, was my role to interface with management and customers in person anyway. Later we watched from our windows in horror and disbelief as the towers collapsed, during the first collapse, we could see was white smoke blanketing lower Manhatten, we saw the second tower begin collapse and said OMG they're both gone.. an emptiness swept through everyone (it was such a priveledge to see the towers in the New York skyline from my desk every day, sometimes I looked at them before leaving for the PATH train into the WTC sometimes I'd use them as a guide while walking around Manhatten). It was almost lunchtime and I was at my desk, Angelo ran through our area waving his hands telling everyone to "evacuate theres been a threat to our building", my co-worker confirmed there was a threat, building management was only "advising" people they should leave the building for safety, 20 minutes later another threat was made and buidling management said everyone must evacuate. We were all in front of the building, the streets were totally jammed, dozens of buses were arriving from the city because trains were shut down, we knew there was no place to go for a while so many of us had lunch across the street, later we went to the Hilton and stayed with some of our co-workers who had no way to get home until they were able to make arrangements. We were told to go into the city on 9/12 so we could begin the process of restoring service. The PATH line from Newark to 33rd St. was running, we took it to Christopher st and walked the mile to the Hudson St. site about 6 blocks from WTC. Later, we were told to go to the other site at 100 Church st - 1 block from the north tower and adjacent to WTC 7. We went to the other site, the streets were full of mud, ash, streams of water, hoses and papers everywhere, parked cars and truck were burned into twisted heaps. The site it was full of dust, a few broken windows and no power - it was a switching center that processed about 500,000 calls/day, totally out of service, commercial power and battery systems were shut down by the fire department the night before for safety and the FBI closed it as a crime scene, pieces of the planes landed on it. It was shocking, sad, unbelievable and frightening to see what had happened in a place we were so familiar with, so busy and full of life.. its an outrage to know it was a terrorist act, not only on U.S. soil but right here in front of our own eyes, where so many Americans lived and worked. By Saturday we were given a mandate to work "7 days a week until futher notice due to the attacks" it wasn't necessary for us, we always stay until things are running again. We worked 24,36 and 48 hour shifts, sleeping in the early morning hours in chairs for a couple hours, no hot meals, no clean clothes, no fresh air. The smoke was very thick at times, when I got home and showered the acrid smell was still there. On 9/21/01 - 2 of my co-workers and myself took a walk through ground zero It was dark and early in the morning, the streets were full of mud, firemen everywhere, trucks, cranes working to remove the debris, when we walked by the WTC sites it was heartbreaking, so much innocent life lost, destruction everywhere in places I visited for business before the attack. Looked at the mud in the street.. six inches deep, this is New York there is no mud it was ash. As we got closer, the WTC site could be seen, it was enourmous, very hard to believe it could be transformed into a mass of twisted steel and rubble. We walked down a side street to make our way to the south side, it was then very much like being in a war zone, blackened burned out buildings, abaondoned streets, military vehicles on every corner, as we got closer warnings of possible collapse was painted on some buildings in red. We walked up what was Liberty St., storefronts were blown out and being used as temporary camps for the rescue and fire teams, exhausted firemen were everywhere but there was nothing but silence, you could see a lone worker high atop the rubble with an acetylene torch cutting pieces of steel loose. He was up so high it looked like he was on top of a small mountain. As we walked north on Church St, the remaining buildings stood silent, windows broken as high as you could see, the smaller WTC buildings sat with no walls, debris hanging everywhere, you could see most of the site from there, it didn't resemble a place were people had ever been or could have survived. As we left a heavy rain began, nature was cleaning up.. trying to wash away time. 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 story8369.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. 2002-10-05 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 206.148.24.93 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I woke up early that day because I couldn't sleep anymore and didn't have to work until 11:00 a.m. I was enjoying my usual cup of coffee and watching the early morning news. It seemed like another normal day until the late breaking news came on the t.v. announcing that a plane had flown into the one tower. I can remember receiving the first piece of news and setting down my coffee. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, nontheless what I was seeing. Then as I kept watching, the second plane was on it's way and there I was watching all of it LIVE television. Once again, my eyes could not believe what they were seeing. For a moment I thought everyone, except for the areas where the planes actually flew into, was going to make it out of both towers. Then when they both crumbled to the ground in seconds I was absolutely horrified. It was alot to take in. I think I was in shock after seeing that because I didn't know wether to go to work or not and became hysterical. Well I went to work and listened to it all over the radio. Then I found out about the other planes that had crashed. I was really shooken up. It almost seemed to real to be happening, like it was a movie, but it was really happening. All of the employees at work were also reacting the way I was. No one could believe it. I can remember telling my co-workers how I saw the towers go down on t.v. Even though I had no family members that lost their lives, I felt sick to my stomach and began to cry for all of those poor innocent people who died the way they did on that day. I just kept thinking to myself: "what a horrible way to die". Those poor people didn't have a chance and they had no way to know that it was going to happen like that. I don't think anyone thought that they would collapse. I feel the same way today as I did that day. It still makes me sick to my stomach and to know that there are people in the world who do such things. My heart goes out to all of the families who's sons, daughters, husbands, wives and children lost their lives on this tragic day. May God bless you in many ways to come and bring you peace of mind. 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 story5475.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. 67.38.250.221 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I had gone to Nigeria for the burial of my grand Dad.I left on the 28th of August 2002.That night,it was night about 8.45pm in Nigeria, I just finished dinner and was walking from the dinning area towards the living room and on the large screen tv I saw a jetliner crashing into a building. I only casually asked my in-laws who were already in the living room, "what is the title of this movie?" One just shouted back oh my God that's New York, the World Trade Center. Then I sat down believing that they had used the image of the towers for the movie. But then I realised it was CNN we were watching and they don't show movies. It became a personal loss for me, New York is my city and I love New York though I was not born a New Yorker, like majority of immigrants in America,she became my home away from home. I quickly stared to find a way to get back to America. I will never forget, I am angry and I will be for a long time, the attack is like a stab in the heart of liberty and freedom, the heart may bleed but the soul is intact and we shall overcome.God bless all freedom loving peoples of the world, and God Bless America the shelter of freedom. 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 story5855.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. 209.246.132.20 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 left home that morning for a court appearance in Chattanooga, Tennessee. My pager went off before court and when I called my wife Alison told me that an airplane had crashed into one of the twin towers in New York. Remembering the old photos of the small plane that hit the Empire State Building several decades ago, I remember thinking what an unfortunate "accident". When more events unfolded, Alison paged me again. She was in tears as she witnessed on live television the second airplane hitting the second tower. We had less than a year earlier returned from around the world with our two children Alina and Mac, who were born in Kazakstan. Their first entry to their new country was in New York. It was the place I had courted Alison and the place we had returned each year. Our hearts were broken. We went through so many emotions in the following weeks. Fear and concern for our nation, and for our children, was overwhelming at times. We felt part of a national emotional depression that was hard to shake. We feared for our children, who were born in an Islamic region of the world, and what the reaction would be toward all persons who were Muslim, including people we remembered in Kazakstan. Our friends who operate a restaurant nearby, who are Palistinian Christians, got death threats. Suddenly, it seemed every car in Georgia and Tennessee was adorned with some form of an American flag. It was a good feeling at first, but later, paired with newly minted bumper stickers spouting hatred it started to seem a bit disturbing. In the Great American Tradition, there were plenty ready and willing to make a profit on the sudden surge in patriotism, which was also troubling. It caused us to do a lot of thinking and created a lot of discussion in our household. Overall, I hope that the events surrounding September 11, 2001 will ultimately prove good for our nation. It brought us together yet forced us as a nation to think of the world outside our borders. God Bless those who lost their lives in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. At the same time, God save us as a nation from our own national reactions. McCracken Poston, Ringgold, Georgia 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 story9467.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-09-04 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 64.18.108.16 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: It was my second year as a Long Island high school social studies teacher. I had ironically finished an Enighlenment lesson in which we had analyzed a Voltaire quote which he says something to the effect of: "religion does nothing but make one stupid and evil." It was a risky thing to discuss and I was proud of my students and how they linked that quote to modern issues- ironically including terrorism. That waas between 7:30 and 8:01 am. Then the bell rang and someone informed me that a small plane had just hit the Twin Towers. Honestly, I thought it wasn't a big deal. I imagined a two- passenger plane possibly making a small dent on those Towers that have stood as long as I could remember. I then proceeded make my way down the hallway to purchase some tea when a collegue told me to go to the faculty room to see what was happening. I watched the second plane hit and I got scared. My friend put her hand over her mouth and said "my best friend's husband works there." Myself and other collegues were crying. We all had loved ones in the city. We were scared for them and for ourselves. What was going to happen next? We did not know. This was the scareiest day of my life. I will never forget the feeling of the unknown and of helplessness. I couldn't get into contact w/my family in the city. I was a mess. But I was lucky. . . 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 story11743.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. anonymously 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. 2005-08-19 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 24.184.174.232 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 can remeber it like it was yesterday. i was sitting in my forth period class, and a teacher came in running "It's been hit! It's been hit!" I didnt understand what was going on so i just continued doing what i was doing. Five minutes later my teacher turned on the television and we sat there and watch the live coverage of the events. I notced that all the teachers were shocked and almost crying, but i had no clue what was going on. I didnt understand what they were making a big deal of. When we got out of 4th persiod i remember my Best friend left sonn after the events becauz her dad was working at teh pentagon while it happened.My other friend also left school. Finally after i saw everybody leaving i noticed what was gonig on and that it was a serious matter. After school i went straight home, and my mom came home soon after. She explained to me what happened and i remeber being scared the rest of the day. Later that night i went to my firneds house and spent the night, beacuse my mom had to go ot work the next day. THe rest of the night me and my fiend stayed up late listening for any noises that could of been another attack. the next day i still lived the day on in fear but knowing that i had GOD on my side if anything else 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 story10866.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2004-09-10 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 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: The news continues to pour in from the short-wave radio. For the PCVs (Peace Corp Volunteers)here in Atbasar, this machine is our primary source of information. It owns our attention when we sit in our apartment trying visualize and come to terms with the reality of the events of this week. Our phone lines are down again so our access to the internet is limited. There is only enough time to send and receive emails. So I write this with great care before connecting again. We have seen footage from America once. However we hear the voices of fellow Americans who are intimately connected with the situations at hand again and again. I still get chills. It hurts to be here right now. My sitemates and myself feel very disconnected with this event that is shaping America as I write. The thought of a dozen American flags at every blink of an eye, friends and family all coming together to console each other, and the pure unity that is in the air of my home country makes me proud. I wish I could be there to witness this. I am more proud to be an American now than ever in my life. I feel safe. There is only concern from my neighbors. However, the radio speaks of a campaign that will begin soon and stretch on for sometime to come. The target of these actions may be close to my country of service. This concerns my sitemates and myself. I'm not sure what to expect in the next week or so. We begin to wonder if evacuation will be an option for us. We have been told the following from PC office in Almaty: 1. Do not leave site 2. Do not make public appearances 3. Continue to work. 4. If anyone begins to ask questions about my home that makes us feel uncomfortable contact PC. There are reasons to believe that if war hits the lands of Afghanistan that we will be affected. Kazakhstan is close to Afghanistan. Almaty, the largest city in Kaz, is only 250 miles from the closest Afghan boarder. Almaty holds the PC office and the U.S. embassy, which is on alert. As you may know Russia has pledged support for America, as well as Kazakhstan. Afghanistan and Russia have an unmerciful history. Ironically we helped support Afghanistan during this conflict in the 80's. If Russia decides to contribute military support Kazakhstan would be directly in the middle of the conflict. Furthermore, Kaz holds vital resources needed for a war, oil. So this countries role in this campaign may be great. Again, I want to say that I feel safe. There is no hostility here. This next Saturday, Papa Roma (the Pope) is scheduled to visit Astana, the new capital and a 4 hour train East from my site. We were planning to attend, however this may not be the wisest action now. Chances are we will not attend. I would be surprised if it actually takes place. In other news I start teaching tomorrow. I must admit that I am not mentally prepared to begin. My mind is preoccupied. I don't know if I should go to the bazaar to buy food for next week or if I should pack a bag that I could grab in a moments notice. I want to thank everyone again for informing me of our friends and family. It?s better to know than wonder. I am sorry to hear of those loved ones who have fallen victim of this atrocity. Our hearts are heavy here in Kaz. There is little email between Kaz volunteers. What is sent is encouraging. Mostly, our groups of volunteers feel that this is a reason for us to work harder at what we do. To show the people of Kazakhstan that peace is also an option and that as Americans we will not stop our way of life. This is, of course, assuming that we will not evacuated. Thank you again for all your thoughts. You all are in our minds and hearts. Please keep me informed. Brian 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 story652.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-05-19 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 12.239.161.150 Notes Notes about this item. Av has email consent 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 Sptember 10th myself and my fiance were moving into our first apartment.. So as we were opening boxes I got a call that my stepdad had a stroke and only had a 25% chance of living. SO I work for AMEX Travel and I booked everyone in my family on a flight to OH where he is for the next morning. So I am sitting in my living room waiting to get ready to leave watching the today show like I always do and I watched the entire thing take place.. Could it not be the worst feeling in my life. My brother and his family were due to fly one of the AA flights but things were going so wrong in the ariport that they for some reason didn't get on the plane.. THANK god but anyway we ended up driving 16 hours to OH and being with my mom but it was the worst 16 hours of my life.. There was 0 people on the road and when we did stop everyone was crying, it was just awful.. on our way home from this tragic experience we did the stop on the Washington Bridge and lit a candle at 7pm and just said a prayer with everyone in the country and I have never felt more at home and more loved than anything.. The whole country was one and it felt awesome to live here and be AMERICAN...... It sucked but it was great to feel the pain and let everyone know that we loved them no matter who they were!!! Today is 9/10/03 and it has been 2 yrs to the day my stepdad had the stroke and he died last Saturday on 9/6.. So from now on everything I do is for him.. WE LOVE YOU FRANK!!!!!! 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 story9598.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 66.31.208.38 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 commuted from Riverside on the Metrolink every morning into downtown LA. That morning was no different from the rest. As I got into work that morning at about 6:30 I was told that a plane had crashed into a building in the World Trade center. I stood there in shock as did everyone else. It was like the world stood still. No one moved we all just stood there like zombies. We had the radio on and we were crowded aroundit as the second plane hit. I just couldn't believe that this was happening. People were crying and staring in a daze. I got a call from my Mom making sure I had heard what had happened, and then she told me very panicly that there were 22 planes unacounted for and that some were on there way to LA. Before we hung up she told me that if I felt like I was in danger to just leave. This scared me to death for my Mother to say something like that especially since she had called in the middle of her first grade class. The radio confermed that thre were planes in the air that had not checked in and some were indeed on there way to LA. This send people into a panic leaving to get there children runing out of the building and others just standing there not knowing what to do. No one was working,people were calling loved ones and looking out the window expecting to see a plane at any moment. A announcement came over the intercome saying that the building was being evacuated. This sent me in a panic since I had taken the train into work from 50 miles away. I realized that if they were to shut down the metrolink and the freeways I would be trapped in LA. I called my husband who was on his way to work to come and get me. His work, since he worked in a hosptial in Riverside, did not feel the urgencey that was felt in LA and they made him choose between his job and his terrified wife in LA. He choose me and they fired him. As I waited for my husband to pick me up almost the whole building was gone. I was almost completing alone with no where to go. I found myself needing to be around other people for comfort and was hugging complete strangers. We had no idea what was happening and if it was going to be mulitable attacks and if we were next. As we went outside other offices were being evacuated and schools were being shut down. There were people on the street wandering not knowing which way was safe. None of us knew what to do or where to go. When my husband finally arrived I found out he had to take the back roads because they were closing parts of the freeways. I got in the car and we drove as fast as we could out of LA. we even passed police cars who didn't care what speed everyone was driving. Some what safer at home,but fearful of the unknown , we turned on the TV. For the first time we saw what I had only heard on the radio. Images to painful to be real,of the planes going into the buildings. We just sat and watched most of the day trying to come to grips with this horrible shock to our nation. No longer could we look at an airplane the same way ever again. No longer would I walk to the train station and not look up at the sky scrappers with uncertianty. I was watching people on the subway differently and not taking anything for granted. As I look back on that terrible day one year later I still feel numb. I woke up early this morning to hear each name, a real person who was killed in these horific attacks. I felt like my emotional wounds were open again I cried with those who had lost loved ones. Driving down the freeway this morning I saw two people on a motorcycle with a huge American flag waving in the wind, and it comforted me. Yes we lived through this tradgy and no mater where in the nation we were that day,the nation cried together, uniting us forever. We will never be the same but we will never forget! Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story4445.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 24.205.178.35 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: If you had asked me before September 11th if I was patriotic, I would have said, "yes," not really giving it much thought. I just figured that I was patriotic because I was an American citizen, would wear red, white, and blue on the Fourth of July, and would recite the Pledge of Allegiance every morning. I never thought about my immense love for this country. I never thought about the unity of the people of this country. I never thought about those who are not fortunate enough to live in a free world. I never thought that my patriotism would change greatly. On September 11th, all that would change. I was sitting in my 2nd period drama class, goofing off with my friends and just chatting like we usually do. We were just going about our normal day. A fellow classmate received a news bulletin on his watch. It said, "Plane crashed into World Trade." It just kept running across his watch like a scrolling marquee. We weren't sure exactly what it meant or what was going on. I just ignored it figuring some small private plane must have hit it. I didn't think anything of it. The bell then rang and we moved onto break and onto my 4th period class, chemistry. About 45 minutes into class, my teacher turned on the TV. What I saw just made me sick to my stomach. We just sat there, motionless, and watched in horror. Students' faces in the room just froze in sheer panic. Classmates were getting upset because many of their parents work in the Pentagon, where another plane had hit. While watching the news, I didn't understand at first what was going on. The World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon had each been hit by a commercial airplane. This was serious. "Why?" I kept asking myself, "Why would they do this?" The news had said that they believed it to be an act of terrorism. I didn't really understand what terroism was. I never really heard much about the subject. After a few minutes, it hit me that I had no idea if my mom was safe. She doesn't work in the Pentagon, but she was going to Pennsylvania that morning with my grandmother and would be on the highway that passes right in front of the Pentagon at around the time the plane hit. I didn't know if they made it or if they were stuck because of closing of the highway. It wasn't until after I got home that I was able to get in contact with my mom who had safely arrived in Pennsylvania. We got out of school early, and I just came home and sat down in front of the TV with my dad. I just sat there watching the horrifc replays of the planes crashing and the towers falling. Almost every single channel had switched over from their regular programming to the terrorist attack coverage. There was no way to escape it. I just didn't believe that it was really happening. All I could was sit there, in shock, and just cry for all those who lost their lives. Children would growp up not to know their loved ones. It was such an awakening experience. We are not safe from anything. We take for granted almost everything in life. I never thought in a million years, would an attack of this magnitude occur in America. I thought we were on good terms with other countries. I thought wrong. Even though America lost many great lives that day, we became stronger. Everyone in this nation united and became one. People were holding services, candelit vigils, and making memorials. Patriotism was shooting up all over the place. Everyone was donning our nation's colors: red, white, and blue. I found myself thinking about how proud I am to be an American. In the days, weeks, and months afterwards, life was melancholy. The news showed the clean-up of Ground Zero and would periodically do feature stories about 9-11. I was able to get back to my daily routine of life. But I never forgot those thousands of people who were innocently killed. I have the utmost respect for them and their families. I feel slightly guilty that I participated in the increase of patriotism right after the attacks. It showed me that it had to take something so terribly disastrous to make me realize that I love my country. I should have been this patriotic all along. But now, if you ask me if I am patriotic, I would say, "With all my heart, body, and soul." 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 story7745.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-17 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 151.188.17.4 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: Of course, it started out as a normal day. I was at work when my husband called & said that he had just gotten back from taking my daughter to pre-K & heard on the radio that there was a plane crash. Thinking that it was "just" a plane crash, I remember asking a couple of people around me if they knew anyone there & if they had heard the news. Then a teammate who had her headphones on & hadn't heard me tell the people around me about the news report my husband had heard, threw off her headphones & said that there had been a plane crash & that it might be linked to terrorists. My husband, still on the line with me, said that they were probably just looking for reasons for a plane to crash into a large building & that perhaps it was an amateur pilot who made a terrible miscalculation. We hung up & since he works nights, he was going to go to bed. We have televisions in our hallways that are always tuned to our internal news & announcements, but they are capable of picking up outside channels. So someone had turned all of the tv's to CNN. I had just gotten out to the hallway with one of my friends to see what they were saying since it seemed to be such big news all of a sudden. We were on our way to get coffee & looked up to the tv to see what they were saying. The newscaster was saying that a plane had crashed & that they were trying to piece together what had happened when out of nowhere comes the 2nd plane & crashes into the other tower! We could not believe our eyes. Tears were pouring & there was absolutely no question in any of our minds that we were witnessing acts of terrorism live on the news. It was unfathomable. Coffee was forgotten as I ran back to my desk to call my husband & he was already watching the news. I remember him saying that he was going to try to rest so that he could go back to work that night, but we both knew that he would be glued to the television to see what happened. I turned on my radio at my desk & the station that I picked up was of course talking of nothing else. As if the towers were not bad enough, we then heard that up to 9 planes had been hijacked & everyone was in an uproar. To add to that, we then heard that the Pentagon had been hit by one of those planes. The newscaster was livid. He was saying that they had hit not only the center of the financial world (the Towers) but they also hit the center of our National Security & I think he was as scared as he was mad. That is when the entire day just became surreal. Who would do this? I kept thinking. Who hates us so badly that they would do something this awful? I just remember people all around me calling their friends & family & their kids' schools & it all seemed like it wasn't real. When my friend that I was going to get coffee with earlier came by my desk to tell me that the first tower had collapsed, he was crying. I remember thinking that he was a guy & he was crying. Seems odd to think of that at that moment. I only remember bits & pieces after that. There are gaps when it just seemed confusion ruled the moments after the first plane hit & I don't think that anyone did any work. I can remember praying alot. I remember trying to stay calm when I was worried that there would more targets. Our building is only 6 floors, but people were concerned that we could be a target, although that was very unlikely. Everything goes through your mind when something like this happens. ((Of course, there was news concerning the American Express Tower in New York as well because we didn't know if it had been damaged or not since we were not there. I am happy to say that it is still standing & there are people working there now.)) In between all these things, I made calls to my mother-in-law to see if she knew what was going on. I called my husband when I heard about the Pentagon because I let the newscaster scare me so bad. I scared my husband because I usually do not get so upset unless we are alone & here I was at work getting all worked up. Then my mother called me from West Virginia because she had called our house & my husband told her how upset I was. I told her I was ok, but didn't she think I should go get my daughter from Pre-K. By then, some of my teammates had already left to get their kids & when the team leaders told us that we could leave if we felt that we needed to, I called my husband & told him that I was coming home. I refused to look at the televisions when I came out into the hallway to go home. If I had looked, I would have seen the replay of the towers falling & I didn't want to see that & have to drive home. I know alot of time passed between 9am when my husband first called & 11am when I left work, but it seems like only a few jumbled, awful minutes, almost like a dream. It still seemed unbelievable to me. On the radio going home, the religious station I was listening to was not playing alot of the news over & over. I agreed with them when they said that they thought inspirational music & prayer was needed much more than the sounds of this awful day playing over & over. The host of the morning show said that this was an unthinkable day & all she could think of was to play song she was going to start & she could barely get the words out as her voice cracked: "The Lord's Prayer." Needless to say, I was in tears the rest of the way to my daughter's school across the street from our home. I was not the only parent with the same idea. The teachers had not told the children anything except that there had been some bad accidents & that their parents would explain when they came to get them. I am grateful that there were no televisions on & that the teachers prayed with the children before they went home. I told my daughter that some bad people had done some horrible things & immediately, she thought that they were in our town. I explained that they were far away, but that we needed to pray for all of those people even though we didn't know them. She went to play & watch a movie on our television in our room while my husband & I watched the news for a little while -- not in front of our 4 yr old. We didn't want her to see all of this tragedy, but of course she knew something had happened & did see clips in the following days which really upset her. The rest of that day was spent with my family & being on the phone when we could actually get a line to speak to anyone. That day had to be the busiest in phone company history as everyone was checking on everyone else to make sure they were all accounted for. I later learned that an old high school friend had been on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. His older brother had been killed the previous year leaving him an only child. When the plane crashed that day, his parents were left childless. It angers me to think that anyone should be able to do this to us & to our country. It saddens me that someone would do this to all of us. My 4 yr old should not have to see these images on tv. We made the most of the rest of our day spending it together as a family & thanking God that we were still alive. This year, my daughter, now in Kindergarten, wanted to know why they had to have a moment of silence for the heroes. I still don't think she really understands & I sometimes wish I were in her shoes. I understand & I am sad. We are lighting a candle tonight & having a moment of silence here in our home to remember the heroes, the lost ones, the victims & the survivors & we will be praying all the more. Thank you for letting me tell my story. I have not been to that field in Pennsylvania, nor have I been to the Pentagon or to New York, but my heart still mourns for all of the loss. Yet my heart soars when I see the patriotism & the unity that this tragedy has brought. May we draw closer to God, even if it is through this horrible ordeal. Thank you again for listening to my story. ---Tomi in Coral Springs, FL 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 story4552.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