362 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 had over slept by about an hour that morning and was awakened by a call at 6:30 a.m. (PST) from my boyfriend. Since I wasn't fully awake I couldn't understand what he was telling me, so I just became irritable and snappy, asking him to repeat again what he was trying to tell me. After it sunk in I quickly turned on the television and was stunned to watch the second tower collapse. I quickly showered and got ready for work, but I was in a kind of shock. I remembered that I had to give two major presentations that day at work and I wondered how I was going to get through them. When I got to work there was security all over the place. We all tried to pretend and "act normal" but it was very difficult. We all felt vulnerable and completely shocked that this could have happened. Remarkably, I was able to complete my presentations, however, I went home soon after them. So did the most of the rest of my fellow employees. I remember thinking, I have lost my innocence regarding my safety and security in the USA.......I will never feel that safe again. And I remember feeling an indignant rage against a then unknown enemy which I had never felt before. Never before in my lifetime had I ever been so deeply and personally affected by the events of that day; never before had I taken something so very personally. It wasn't just a remote event happening in some other country; it was practically in my backyard. I still ask myself, How could this have happened? 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 story9490.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. 2003-09-07 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 209.179.168.15 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 day I wook up late at 8.30 my uncle told me tahat something unbelievable was hapening in USA. When I saw the TV. I couldn?t believe it.It was terrible watch to died inocent people. Inocent people died that dayin World Trade Center, INOCENT PEOPLE died in Afghanistan and INOCENT PEOPLE will died in Irak (or other countries that Bush decide atack). If we want a better world we shuldn?nt permit more stupid wars. Alot of americans think that the arabians hate them . We , the latinoamericans and musulmans don?t hate you, we are against your goverments that kill people and put corrupt goverments in our countries just for protect your business. If Bush want to eliminate the opressors, what about PEREZ MUFARRASH ( who have nuclear bombs) what about Sharon ( who kill inocent palestinian?s children and women). What happen in the world? If there is a war there will be more atacks and will die inocent more people so we and you should?nt permit it. I HOPE SOME DAY WILL UNIT US AND THE WORLD WILL BE ONE(J.L.) SERGIO S. 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 story6681.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. 200.60.190.250 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 oblivious to everything that horrible day. I was living in the Bronx at the time and going to school at Hunter College. I was listening to the Stern show before I went to catch my bus. I left at around 8:45. I walked to the bus stop, the BX 42, and got on. I sat down and literally as I sat down I hear the drivers radio and the voice saying something about the WTC. I get to my 6 train and get on, still knowing nothing. We pull up to the Hunter College stop and get off the train. For those who don't know the stop you don't have to go outside to get into one of the buildings, you can go right into the building from the train station. So I go in and head up to where my class is. I sit down and wait for class to start and within a minute I get three pages; 2 from my girlfriend and 1 from my mom. I look up to where the payphones are and theyre being used, I go downstairs to another set of phones and theyre being used. I go outside and find an empty phone. As Im outside I see everyone looking towards downtown. I take a look and you can see the cloud over the city. A guy has a car door open and his radio blasting. Then, probably more than an hour after the first plane hit, I heard what happend. I go back upstairs at the school and hear about the Pentagon now. I was in total shock and disbelief. I wanted someone to pinch me so I could wake up from the nightmare. I sit back down, blank stare on my face and total disbelief. The teacher from my class shows up and says "Listen, this is bad, try to get out of the city." The only thing I thought about was my girlfriend. The radio said that they may still go for landmarks around the city. She works down the street from the Empire State Building. So I get down to the train to try and get to her and they had just roped it off. So I hoofed it from 68th to 34th. AS I walked I thought about a lot:my girl being safe, all the people who were closer to this, all the people who were involved in it. People had their car doors open so others could listen to what was going on. For me one of the weirdest things was getting to the CBS building by FAO Schwarz. They had their window screens on with their news broadcasts. People were packed by there. They had these intense aerial views from down there. The big, black smoke cloud in the clear blue sky. Watching it on the screen and turning to my right towards downtown to see the cloud in real life was just a trip. Scared the hell out of me. I make it to 34th and go up to her offices. I walk in and all of her co-workers let out a sigh of relief. She was apparently freaking out because she didnt hear from me. We hugged and held each other for a few minutes. I let her go and called my family who lived upstate to let them know I was okay. We hung out in the office for a few hours and tried as hard as we could to relax. After a while we hear that no plane or anything should be in the sky. So we decided to go to the TGI Friday's down the street to grab a beer or two. AS soon as we get outside we hear this low, loud plane engine over head. We all kind of freaked and looked towards the ESB and waited for a plane to hit it. Luckily it was a military jet. We had our beers and watched more and more reports. Hoping for some good news of surviors or something along those lines. We left the place and knew we couldnt leave the city, so we just walked around. We watched people and listened to conversations. Crowds were all around vendors and lil stores that sold WTC merchandise. They knew this was the last time you'd find postcards and stuff like that with the towers not as a memorial. Eventually at around 5 or so they had limited service out of the city. We caught a train and got back to my girl's apartment in the Bronx. We turn on the news and just watched in disbelief the events of the day. We hadnt seen the video, just pictures. At around 8 or so I couldnt keep watching it anymore. I channel surf to try and find something else. I needed to try and lighten up and relax, even Comedy Central and Cartoon Network had news on. I turn on HBO and the X-Men movie was on. So I watched that and tried to leave reality for 2 hours. My cousin picked me up and I went back to my place in the Bronx. My dad was working that night so he swung by. I just said "I gotta go home." So I went upstate with him to escape for a few days. School was cancelled the rest of that week and the next week there was Jewish holiday so school was closed for a few more days. It was good to be home though. I saw my frineds and they welcomed me with open arms. Everyone knows our world changed that day. Our grandparents had Pearl Harbor, our parents had the Kennedy Assassination and our generation has 9/11. 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 story10493.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. 2004-03-23 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 199.79.168.252 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was at work and one of my co-workers turned to me and said that the person on the other end of the phone told her that a plane had hit the WTC tower. I was in completed disbelief thinking that maybe it was a cruel joke or a movie clip or something and before I knew it another co-worker came up the hall to my office and told me that a plane had hit the 2nd WTC tower. At that moment myself and almost all the office got up and went to the break room to the nearest TV set to see for ourselves what was happening. We all stood there together, some in disbelief others crying, some taking the persons hand next to them and some seemed ready to attack Bin Laden themselves on a personal level as I am sure most of our country was feeling and still does today. What seemed like only moments later after seeing the WTC headline on CNN came a headline announcing that the Pentagon had been attacked also, and the plane that went down in PA(All those brave souls on that flight that saved the White House and many more lives by giving their own lives so unselfishly). I could not even imagine what it would be like to get a call from a loved one telling me that there plane had been highjacked and that I would never see them again, completely uncomprehensible to me. Thats when real fear struck me, "What is going on?" How could this be happening to the United States? I was thinking we are not at war with anyone that I was aware of. Well, we are now and for how long we are not sure, until the Taliban are obliterated? When? Something I had hope my children (daughter/19--Son/12) would never have to experience in there lifetimes. Now I pray more than ever for our souls and our country. And the tears flow even today a year later at all the grief and pain and suffering that all the victims and their families have endured. Pain that has reached to every corner of this GREAT land of ours. I was quite upset at the thought of my brother working so close to the Pentagon. I immediatly grabbed the phone from my desk to try and contact my brother in D.C.......I tried on into the evening that day B4 I was able to get ahold of him. He was OK, but I feel now only due to the fact that my niece was giving him a hard time getting ready for school that morning and that set my brother behind schedule by 30 minutes, just enough time to miss being at the Pentagon when the plane crashed into it. Everytime I closed my eyes I kept seeing the clips from the news reels scroll through my mind. Those images will be with me forever, burned into a section of my mind forever, and I nor anyone else I know will be able to forget that day. But our memories are our own personal memorials to all those that perished on SEPTEMBER 11, 2001. GOD BLESS THERE SOULS, THERE FAMILIES, AND FOR ALL OF US THAT REMAIN HERE TO CARRY OUT JUSTICE ON THERE BEHALF. 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 story6380.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-12 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 205.188.209.38 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was driving to the office in Princeton, NJ when I began flipping around the radio for a good song. I put on my favorite radio station to hear the djs talking about a plane crashing into the World Trade center. The djs sounded so shocked and disoriented that I began to think that it was a practical joke. I did not think it was a very funny one, but began remembering the story of a famous radio hoax that made people think we were under attack by aliens. Many people, not realizing that the show was a story, really thought that aliens were landing and got scared and freaked out. I kept waiting for the usually comic djs to say "just kidding", but they didn't. I found myself stuck, just listening as they announced in horror that "another plane has just struck the other tower"! I couldn't believe what I was hearing and the car seemed to go on autopilot to the office. I remember the other djs not believing the one who announced the second plane crash. She was convincing them that it had just happened on the TV they were watching. All I remember was listening to the radio with my youngest baby sleeping in the back of our van. I called my husband on my cell phone. He was working from home that morning. I asked him if he was watching TV and he thought I was nuts and said, "No, why?" I told him what I had heard on the radio and he turned on the TV. He confirmed what I was hearing was true. By now I was almost at the office, where I just had to pick up and drop off a few things. My husband told me to hurry and to please, just come straight home. I don't remember anything particular about the office, just that it was weird how calm they were in the office and that maybe they hadn't heard the news yet. I don't know if I ever told them, or even what conversations we had, just that I had to get back into the car and hear the radio and get home as quickly as possible. Again autopilot drove me home. I pulled in our drive way having listened to the falling of the World Trade center buildings told by Peter Jennings. The radio had long since gone to ABC live to describe what was happening. The front door of my house was open. I came in in a rush. I called for my husband. No answer. I walked hurried through the down stairs. Still no answer. Then I ran upstairs, and still no one appeared. I was working into a panic, you see no one knew what was going to happen next. I was coming down the stairs, calming myself, telling myself that my husband couldn't be far and there was a reasonable explaination why the front door was wide open (something he never did). That's when I looked out the front door and saw him and our oldest daughter walking up the drive way. Anna had been at school, two blocks away, in her kindergarten class. He brought her in and said, "Now I'm going to go get Natasha." He lifted his keys off the holder by the door and kissed my check as he turned to leave. Natasha was our middle daughter and she was over at a local day care center for a few mornings a week. He didn't give me time to ask him any questions, and I didn't even try. I could see the look on his face. He wanted to get his family home, all his girls, in one place. When he came home he told me that some other parents had been at the public school too, also picking up their children. He told me that the day care had locked their doors and that you could not buzz yourself in like usual, so someone had to come and let you in. Again there were parents there picking up their kids. For the rest of the day we just watched, glued to the TV, tears streaming down our faces. The girls just coming up and touching us gently, knowing that something awful was happening even though they were only five, three and two years old. Just like at the office, the day kind of passed in a fog. I don't remember eating dinner, or even making any. I don't remember anything, just the TV, the towers and our family being together in our house. It was one of the saddest days in our lives. On the one year anniversary of September 11th, I was so surprised at my reaction. I had thought that the day would be fine and had planned all the things I would get done. That day I was astounded at how emotional, sad, empty, angry and disoriented I was. I'm glad that anniversary has passed. 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 story6371.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. 151.204.80.144 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: During the september 11 issue. I think I was at school in the fourth or fifth grade. But when I got home my mother and grandmother was telling me about it. I didn't know anything about it but I was listening very closely to what my parents was telling me. But I was thinking and about to crying at the same time because I thought it was a bad and sorry decision. I was feeling sorry for them people in New York . Well espically for the kids who lost their parents because without your parents it aint the same.I also thought the world was coming to a end and it really scared me. 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 story20450.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2006-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 68.186.239.238 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I had booked my car in for some warranty work, and I was supposed to be there at 8:30, but was a few minutes late. The dealership has a lounge at the back of the service department which seats about 50 people or so. I walked into the service dept., and literally no one was there! I heard people in the lounge and walked back there, saw some GM people crowded around a wide screen TV, and some of the girls were crying. A friend saw me and filled me in on what had happened. As we watched, the 2nd plane hit the tower, and all hell broke loose. The radio reported planes crashing in San Fran, Chicago, D.C., and PA. In fact, I'm getting that "cold chill deja vu" deal as I type this. The dealership sent everyone home, and I, like most, sat glued to the TV trying to make sense of the whole thing, seemingly for days. Later that day I felt the need to go to NYC, to offer what help I could, having a background in heavy machinery & transport, but was thwarted by the fact that the borders between Canada & the US were closed. So, like the rest of the world, I just sat around helpless, angry & confused. 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 story815.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. 2002-06-23 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 24.102.139.11 Annotation Annotations to this item. INTERNATIONAL Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was at home with my two small children on this horrific Tuesday morning. Watching with disbelieve, I prayed that this was only a terrible dream. I was completely in awe. What does this mean for our nation's future and it's children? What have we done to provoke someone to attack us in such an unthinkable manner. I knew at that moment that our country would pull together as one big family and work together to help each other cope with this tragedy. There is no doubt that 9/11 has changed our nation forever. Unfortunately, it takes a tragic event to wake our nation up and pull us back together as brothers and sisters under God. Everyday, I thank God that I am able to enjoy my children. And I remind myself that there are parents that have lost thier chldren on this day. I cannot image the feeling of losing children, parents, siblings or friends to such sensless death. I am even more proud to be American now for the fact that we are even stronger than before. Our leader has risen to the challenge and our military has placed thier lives on the line to bring the terrorist to justice. And especially, the rescue workers that aided our injured, guided others to safety and searched for the missing. The rest of the nation gave blood, money, food and so much more to releive all that were directly affected. This is what America is all about. We are undistructable and always will be. And I hope they all of us will relay to our children that "Love" conquers all. And instill in our children old fashion morales that they can grow with and in turn teach thier children. Our children are our future. I continue to pray for the victoms families and our nation. May God ease the pain through time and fond memories and help us to forgive those that have hurt us. 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 story3486.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. 67.201.184.242 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 started college in the fall of 2001. I was only a college freshman for five days when September 11th occurred. Billings, Montana is only 3 hours from my home in Wyoming but it always seemed farther, especially on that day. I woke up got ready for Sociology and received a phone call from a friend attending the same college as me. Scott told me to turn on my TV. "Haven't you heard? I think we are going to war? A plane has flown into one of the world trade center buildings!" I turned on my TV and my confusion turned to disbelief as I fell onto my extra-long twin bed. I was staring at what looked to be an action movie as I heard Scott's voice yelling from the phone, "are you okay, are you there?" I began to cry after I hung up with Scott. I called my mom crying telling her I wanted to come home, I didn't want to be this far away if the US was going to war on our soil! She comforted me the best she could before hanging up. Questions were swirling in my mind, like is this the end of the world, why would someone want to hurt Americans, would I be able to get married? I questioned if class would be held but decided to go. As I walked down the halls afraid that someone might fly a 757 into my dormitory, I watched other teens and twenty somethings witness the most horrific attack on US soil that Americans had ever seen. Everyone I passed walked in a daze, mouths open, tears brimming their eyes, quiet, and polite. I sat in class next hundreds of other students who seemed to be as clueless and as numb as I was. I do not remember what Professor Hart was teaching about that day but I do remember how one Montana campus pulled together and lifted each other up that fall. I recall that the only place I found peace was in prayer and no not all my questions were answered, but I am getting married next July 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 story20382.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. 2006-09-10 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 166.165.189.152 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I am a Teaching Assistant at George Mason University and that morning I was reviewing material for a Western Civilization class. Suddenly, both my landline and cellphone started to ring. My son and sister both called me and told me to turn on my television set. I was horrified to see the second tower get hit.The three of us cried and talked all at once. My sister decided to get off of the telephone and go take her daughters out of school. I went upstairs to my computer and noticed that I was receiving many email messages from friends who work in Washington, D.C. and New York City. Most of my friends in Washington work at major museums on the mall and were also trying to understand what was happening. Though we tried to call each other on the telephone all the lines were busy. Shortly thereafter they were sent home. They told me later that they walked home since no one felt comfortable taking the Metro. They also talked about how the city was in a gridlock with thousands of people attempting to leave. My brother and sister-in-law, who live in California, sent me an email to make sure that I was ok and not downtown. My sister-in-law's mother works in New York City in a building adjacent to the Twin Towers and they were very concerned. I spoke with my mother who said that she had not yet heard from my brother who often is at the Pentagon. My nephew's wife works for the Park Service on the Mall and no one had heard from her. This was upsetting since events were still unfolding and we were concerned about their safety. I eventually got dressed and drove to George Mason University. As I was driving I noticed people crying in their cars. There was a lot of conflicting information on the radio stations including a report that a plane had crashed near Alexandria, Virginia. Though we held classes many students were not there. We talked about what was happening and dismissed class early. After classes I called my sister. She had picked up her daughters, went to a flag store and bought fifty little flags, and was at Fairfax Hospital with hundreds of other people who were already in line to donate blood. The line by mid-afternoon was over six hours long. Her daughters passed out American flags and a television crew that was there filmed them. I drove to my parents house to see how they were and if they had heard from my brother. Though he had a cell phone, his wife had not yet been able to reach him. We decided to eat an early dinner at a local restaurant. I was surprised to see how many people were there...it was standing room only. I talked to a lot of people as we all waited for a table. No one had had lunch, everyone was agitated, many were waiting for family and neighbors to make it home from Washington, and no one wanted to be alone. The restaurant we were at is like a sports bar and had many television sets. All the various television stations were on. Service was slow because all the waiters were intent on watching the latest news. No one complained. People moved from table to table talking and comparing stories. Very late in the evening we heard that my brother was ok and simply stuck in traffic along with most of the city's federal employees. We also eventually heard that my nephew's wife had been taken to a safe place soon after the Pentagon had been hit. It would be another 24 hours before we heard that my sister-in-law's mother was ok. We would later learn that she was emerging from the subway at the Tower Center when the second plane hit.I could not sleep that night, nor could anyone I knew. We all had our t.v.'s on. I was on both of my telephones simultaneously almost the entire evening as I checked to make sure all my friends made it home ok. Various friends and family members who live in the mid-west and on the west coast called all night long to talk. 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 story167.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-03-07 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 138.88.82.172 Annotation Annotations to this item. Telephones and Cell Phones Television Coverage DC:2 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: Tuesday September 11th 2001 I arrived in the office early as Gil Scharf; the CEO of Euro Brokers, and my boss, was in London and I needed to fax over the previous day?s New York reports to him. It was a glorious day, I had been up at six running, cooling down by walking through Battery Park. I left for work relaxed and happy at about 7.20am. I was at my desk by 7.30am, had breakfast ? sent the first fax, was working on getting the second set of figures for him, and had a wire transfer going through to CIBC. I remember picking up the telephone to dial London, and I heard a loud bang?my pc screen flickered, the lights flashed on and off, and I saw paper and dust floating through the office window opposite where I sat - it was like an American ?ticker tape? parade, as the paper swirled and danced in the air. I ran around the corner to see Brian Clark, who told me not to panic, that it was probably a construction explosion, and that he would investigate. I went back to my desk, sat down, and then I heard a mans voice shout ??Everybody Out??(I was later to find out that it was Bob Twohig from our Convertible Bond desk) I remember walking along the corridor, seeing Mary Paterno and telling her that I was going to leave?I then remember seeing Walter Dulski and telling him the same thing. I then went back to my desk to collect my bag. As I was about to leave, I hesitated and decided to call London to tell Gil what was happening. Kerry Stewart; the London receptionist, couldn?t find him, so I asked to speak to Robin Clark; the Managing Director of the London office, and until recently my boss, and I remember vividly my conversation with him: J: Rob, something?s happening next door, we?re all okay, but we?re leaving. R: Something?s happening next door?!?!?!?!? Fucking hell Janice, a plane?s gone into the building - get the fuck out of there!!!! The urgency in his voice made me move?I don?t remember saying goodbye nor putting down the phone, I just grabbed my bag and ran. I ran right and into the small bond dealing area where I saw Brian Clark, Dan Smith and Domenick Mircovich. As I ran I told them what Robin had said, I vaguely remember smelling what I now know to be airline fuel as I ran, and asking if I should stay or go?Brian told me that whatever I was doing that I needed to stay away from the windows, I remember Dan turning, walking towards me and smiling?I didn?t even stop to talk to him - I just kept running. I left the dealing area and ran into the main corridor, still not knowing what I was going to do. The first person I saw was Steve Chucknick - he and Jose Marrero were standing at the crossroads in the corridor, Steve said ?come on Janice ? down you go?. The decision to stay or go was taken away from me with those few words, and he herded me into the fire escape staircase. The staircase was already full with people coming down from above, it was a steady pace, but people were chatting, joking and relaxed. A chap from Euro Brokers had entered the staircase just before me, but three girls separated us, he kept looking back, but as the stairs kept turning I struggled to keep him in sight. I knew that I needed to be with someone I at least vaguely recognized, so I asked the girls if I could squeeze in. I felt happier being with someone from the same company, although I didn?t know who he was. I was wearing some ridiculously high clip-cloppy shoes, and he suggested that it would be quicker if I took them off, so I put them in my bag, and continued down in bare feet. When we got down to the 72nd floor, there was an announcement from the building security. They assured us that our building was secure, that the emergency services had requested they not evacuate our building as the space on the plaza was being used as an emergency medial center for those being evacuated from One World Trade. The announcement went on to say that we should take a note of which floor we were on, go back into the building at the nearest reentry point, and make our way back to our own offices. Our nearest was the 70th floor. We carried on down two more flights, and entered back into the building on the 70th floor?we followed the crowd, walking into and through the offices of Morgan Stanley, and into their lift lobby. There was a further announcement whilst we were walking, repeating again that our building was secure, and that the lifts would start to work again momentarily. When we got to the lift lobby there were already about ten people there, I was still with this chap I didn?t know, but now we had caught up with some other people from Euro Brokers who I did know, in particular ? Paul Gilby (Daisy), and Robert Coll (Woody). Daisy is English, and I remember saying to him that I hoped this type of thing didn?t happen too often??every eight years? I remember him saying, and I knew that he was referring to the bomb attack in 1993, when his dealing area was on the 31st floor of One World Trade Center. We waited for about three minutes, the lifts did not come back on, and a suggestion went up that we should start walking?Daisy and Woody turned and left very quickly?I tried to keep up, and remember calling to Daisy to wait for me?he called back ?hurry up, old woman? and then turned into the staircase. I never saw him again. I stayed with this unknown chap, and now several others I knew to be from Euro Brokers, but again I didn?t know who they were - we walked into the staircase which was still full of people walking down?we tried to walk up, and I remember a girl asking me where I was going. I told her that we had been assured that our building was secure so we were heading back to our office. She carried on walking down. We waited for probably a minute or so, for the staircase to clear, and then we started on our way back up. There were now about seven of us. After walking for about ten minutes, we left the staircase and walked into a connecting corridor. I was about five steps into the corridor when I felt a dull thud, the building shook for about five seconds, and I fell back against the wall, I also remember the ceiling coming down behind me, and smoke or dust filling the air, and I remember a man with a white shirt running back and forth. He tried both the door that we had just come through and the door up in front of us?both were blocked with fallen debris and rubble. Then I heard a woman?s blood curdling, high pitch scream, and I remember a man?s voice shouting for help and some frantic banging. We all moved further into the corridor to see where the noise was coming from, we could hear crying and shouting from the other side of the up door, so, led by the man with the white shirt, we cleared the rubble, and pushed and pulled on the door until it opened. About six shocked and dazed people came through?all were bloody and the women were crying. The first woman had blood all over her arm, which was cut, almost neatly, from her shoulder to her elbow, I remember seeing the bone, and her skin just flapping around?one of the guys took his t-shirt off and wrapped it around her arm, tying it in a knot under her arm pit, she also had a wounded foot, glass in her hair, and cuts on her face. She was with a man who had cuts all over his arms. One man had a cut across the back of his neck, and the back of his t-shirt was soaked with blood. Another man had a blood-splattered shirt and had huge pieces of glass in his chest, which the others were pulling out. One of the men said that he had heard a loud hissing sound, looked up and saw a huge fireball coming towards them from the direction of the other building, and that the windows were all blown in on them as they ran back to the door. My initial thought was that Tower One had fallen on us. The last person to come through was another woman who had long dark hair. She had cuts all over her face, and had one eye full of blood?this was the woman who was screaming?she was saying that she couldn?t see, and was waving her arms frantically in the air?someone gave her a bottle of water, she washed her face, and the blood in her eye was from a deep gash on her forehead, which had dribbled down. When she shook her hair, glass showered everyone. We all then moved towards the down side of the corridor, to the door that we had originally came through. This door was now blocked with rubble and the buckled wire ceiling grid that had fallen down. Together we moved all the concrete and plaster and the man with the white shirt eventually pulled the door open, as he looked down he said that the stairs were gone, and all that he could see was smoke and darkness. ?almost magically there was another door?flush with the wall, and the same colour?one that I had walked straight past and never even noticed?again, the doorway was blocked?the men all pulled back the rubble, and we opened the door?just a little at first, as something was blocking it from the other side. The man with the white shirt squeezed through?he then pushed from the other side, as the men on our side pulled?(the man with the white shirt I was later to find out was Peter Rogers, who works on our Caps desk). The door was then open enough for us to get through. I remember going through sideways?and feeling with my bare feet to find a hold?there was a huge plank of ceiling that had fallen, and that I eventually walked onto. There was one lady behind me, the same lady who was in the corridor when we heard the screaming, and she was coughing loudly. Then lastly was the man from Euro Brokers, who made sure that everyone was through before he left. He came through, and then we all set off down the stairs?the lady with the arm and the bad foot was in front of me, with the other lady with the cough behind me. (I was later told that three other people from Euro Brokers were in the corridor with us: Steve Hudson, Mario Lopez-Lena and Greta Mayans, all from our Mexico desk. I do recall seeing Steve Hudson ? but I did?nt know at the time who he was). We entered a well-lit staircase, which was littered with pieces of ceiling, wire, plaster and concrete. Plastic coke bottles had exploded, and there was a broken pipe gushing water down the stairs, which mixed with the coke made them very slippery? the woman in front of me was sliding all over the place. It was very dusty, I remember coughing, and my feet feeling sticky and wet. After about six flights of stairs, the debris cleared, and the staircase was deathly quiet. All that I could hear were people coughing, and the woman with the long hair still crying. As we were walking down, the man from Euro Brokers was constantly running back and forth between the people at the front, and me and the coughing lady at the back. He kept telling us to stay focused, watch where we were walking, to hold on to the handrail and to keep moving. I remember the woman behind me crying, and coughing even louder, she told me that she had asthma, and she had to keep stopping to take deep breaths. The woman in front, with the arm, keep saying over and over again that she was moving house on Friday, she was crying and saying that she would not be able to help her husband with a bad arm. Her left foot was bleeding badly and I saw that she only had half a shoe on. Each step she took left a bloody footprint, I remember looking down at my left foot and seeing blood oozing through my bare toes as I stepped behind her. I remember a sheer panic sweeping over me, and a scream building in my throat, until I heard a voice in my head telling me to calm down, everything was going to be okay, that it was not my blood, and that I needed to focus and listen to the man from Euro Brokers. I stopped dead a few flights later when I saw blood on my shirt, it was on the front and on my left sleeve, not much, but still it shocked me. I remember pulling my shirt from my body and mouthing to this still unknown man ?I?ve got blood on my shirt? I kept repeating it again and again, standing dead-still. He put his arms around me, told me that it was okay, but that we really needed to keep moving. I remember starting to cry, and stopping again a few flights later and saying ?I don?t even know your name?. His name was Bob Mahon. We carried on down ? we never saw anyone else until we were on about the 8th floor - when we saw three firemen walking up?they seemed to look us over, probably noting that there were walking wounded amongst us, but otherwise that we were okay, and then they carried on up without saying a word. With about ten flights to go, the lady in front of me stopped, started crying loudly and started shaking uncontrollably, her foot was hurting, clearly she was having trouble walking. She said that she couldn?t go on, that she needed to rest, that we were to leave her, and to send help when we finally got to the plaza level?Bob said no, and without much fuss at all ? he gave her a piggy back, down - I don?t know, eight, ten, twelve flights of stairs ? he carried her right to the bottom. At concourse level it was a tad chaotic, and we were directed by Port Authority workers past Cosmetics Plus, towards the Path Terminal, then across by Sabarro?s around past Nine West and then up the escalator by Torneau, all the shops were locked and empty. There was a steady stream of Firemen and Police officers going back into the building as we were leaving. We left the World Trade Center by Borders book shop, and came up onto Liberty Street, opposite the Millennium Hotel ? at that point the lady with the arm, and the man who had stayed with her all the time were taken to the emergency medical center which had been set up on the Plaza?the last I saw, she was being led away by a paramedic. As I watched her leaving, a policeman stopped us at the top of the stairs and told us to ?keep your heads down, don?t look up, don?t look back?. Bob grabbed my hand, and we took off running. As we ran I remember seeing a woman standing there, coffee in one hand, Krispy Kreme donut in the other looking up at the building in a total trance. I wanted to grab her?shake her, and tell her to run. We crossed the road, and ran towards a policeman who was waving frantically at us, we ran past the Church into Vesey Street, and kept running until we came to the mouth of the Brooklyn Bridge. Lower Manhattan was clearly being evacuated, and the emergency services were directing everyone over the Bridge into Brooklyn. Bob asked me where I lived, I told him Battery Park, and so we made a plan to start walking across the crowds to my apartment. He asked me what time it was?it was 9.43am. Then for the first time I looked up at the World Trade Center? I couldn?t believe what I was seeing, where our floor should have been there was a huge gaping hole, and I could see smoke and flames? I could taste sick in my mouth as a wave of nausea swept over me, and I stood in a trance?just like the Krispy Kreme woman, and I started to cry. I cried all the way home. I walked barefoot through the streets holding Bob?s hand and crying. He was wonderful, he kept me moving, and kept me calm. People were looking at us, someone pointed at me and said ? ?look that girl has blood on her shirt?. I cried even harder. The streets were full? and instead of leaving Lower Manhattan people were all just milling around, not knowing what to do, there were Police and Emergency Service officers everywhere, directing people, and still moving them towards the Brooklyn Bridge. We were still walking against the crowds, but eventually, we crossed the West Side Highway, and walked into my apartment block. The park opposite was full of people just standing around in small groups talking and looking up at the Towers in shock and awe. My apartment was on the 17th Floor of 225 Rector Place in Battery Park, Bob came in, tried to call his wife ? the lines were constantly busy, so he gave me a hug, told me that I was safe inside, and that I should try to relax. Then he left. Once he had gone. I just kept trying to call London. After about ten minutes I was able to get through and I spoke to Gil. He asked me if I was okay, where I was, who I was with, and who I last saw on the floor. For the first time, I thought about who I had last seen...I told him about Brian, Dan and Domenick, and that it was Steve and Jose who had herded me into the staircase. I told him about Bob, that he was okay, but that he had left and was going to try to get home to New Jersey. The line was disconnected after about three minutes. I kept trying and eventually got through again. This time I spoke to Robin, and then to my best friend Jill Whitfield. She later told me that I was hysterical, which was strange? I thought that under the circumstances, I was quite calm. I then tried to call my family and friends in Florida, and Ray, who was looking after my dog; Sidney, in upstate New York. I remember talking to him, and again the line being cut. Each time I finally got through to anyone the line was disconnected after a few minutes. When the first tower fell, I heard the rumble a long time before I saw anything. I thought that it was another plane, and I remember screaming and ducking and waiting for the inevitable crunching sound. There was a small flurry of dust and I saw paper swirling around outside my window. The telly stayed on, and everything in the apartment continued to work. I was still trying to call my friends, the lines were either constantly engaged, or just ringing, and then going to a voice recording saying that my call could not be connected at that time. Then I heard the same rumbling sound that I had heard before - this one was much louder?I was on the telephone to a friend in Houston, and the line went dead, the telly flickered off, I felt the building move, the crockery in the dish washer began to rattle, the windows were vibrating and making a humming sound, and as I looked up I saw darkness creeping around my building. I watched in a trance as the billowing cloud seemed to move in slow motion as one by one my windows were blacked out. It was as if there was someone on the roof unwinding a heavy roll of carpet?until eventually it was pitch black inside, and I could not even see my hand in front of my face, I remember sitting down and crying?I sat on the sofa rocking back and forth, and I thought that I was going to die. I was so frightened. I was going to die, and I was alone. I will never forget that feeling. Even now, in my dreams I see this girl sitting alone in the dark rocking back and forth and crying, thinking that she is going to die. The humming and rattling stopped first as the building seemed to shudder and come to a rest. I remember being shocked into action, and getting up racing to find a torch, trying the telephone, turning the telly on and off, the lights?nothing was working, and I had no water?I ran into my bedroom to get my sports radio, and I just sat in the dark crying and listening to the news. After a while the black turned to gray, then to light gray and then to just swirling paper and dust. I remember standing up and looking out at the Statue of Liberty in the harbour ? one side of my apartment looked like a picture-perfect summers day, the other side was chaos and people were dying. I was shocked out of my daze by the telephone ringing, the only thing in my apartment to spring back into life, it was Sylvia Connors who was calling me looking for her husband Kevin. Whilst I was in London, Kevin stayed at the apartment, and still had the keys?she was hoping that somehow he would make his way back to Battery Park, and just turn up on my doorstep, I was to speak to her at least three more times during the coming hours. Then I heard a commotion in the hallway outside my apartment?someone calling for help ? I opened the door to a cloud of black dust, and called out for them to walk towards the light?out of the darkness came firstly a young girl, and then a young man. She had been in the lift, which opened at my floor, as she got off ? the dust cloud came up the lift shaft. He was from an apartment on my floor, which was nearest to the World Trade Center ? he had glass in his hair, and cuts to his face and arms ? but was shocked more than anything else. He was looking out of his window as the second tower began to fall, and as he tried to close the window it smashed and fell in on him. We cleaned him up, putting plasters on his hands and arms, and then sat, alternatively trying the telephone ? but mostly getting the voice recording. The girl had a call on her mobile phone, one of her friends was at Pier 11, and there were ferries leaving for New Jersey, so she left almost immediately. She lived on the 19th floor, so was first going up to her apartment to collect some belongings. I gave her my telephone number and told her to call if she needed any help. I never heard from her again. After an hour or so, I went with the man back to his apartment ? there was dust and glass everywhere, all the windows on one side of his apartment had blown in, and his belongings on that side were scattered all over the place. He collected some clothes, and decided to make his way to Greenwich Village where his office was and where most of his friends lived. I went back to my apartment and decided that I needed a plan. After I got through, I had been leaving messages for Eileen McMahon; the Euro Brokers New York Personnel Director, and finally she called me. She had heard my messages, so knew that I was safe, but had trouble getting through to me. The train she was on had been terminated at City Hall, and she had come up onto the street about ten minutes before the plane hit our building. After walking for over an hour she eventually found a Queens bound bus, which took her almost to the top of her road. I can?t remember if she invited me, or I invited myself?but a plan was hatched that I would make my way to her place if the power did not come back on in my apartment. The plan was set that I would have to leave my apartment by 5.15pm, in order to get to her before it started to get dark. So I busied myself packing a small bag. I tried to contact the house management, there was no answer at the reception desk of the building, so randomly calling ? I finally got an answer from the on-site dry cleaners?who actually told me that they were based at the far side of Battery Park ? he said that my building had been evacuated about three hours before, and that I should think about leaving?I told him that I hoped that the power would come back on, and that I could stay ? he told me it wouldn?t happen, that the whole area had no electricity, gas or water. I told him that it was pitch black in the hallway outside my apartment, he told me to get into the fire exit, and make my way to the ground floor. He asked if I had a torch?I did have, but it seemed to only flicker on when it wanted to?I told him that I had a candle ? he told me not to use the candle as he had been told that there were underground gas explosions ? I told him that I would open the door and see if I could smell gas ? he told me that by then it would be too late!! He wished me well, and said that he was just leaving and was going to try to get to New Jersey by ferry. I did not have a mobile phone, so knew that once I left the apartment that I would not be able to get into contact with anyone ? I remember feeling very vulnerable, especially not knowing where to go?every subway train that I had ever taken had been from The World Trade Center, so I really didn?t know where to start. Eileen told me to head to Canal Street, but again, the only time I had walked to Canal Street had been via The World Trade Center. I remember sitting and hoping that the power would come back on. It never did. I walked out into the hall, opened the fire exit door, and as I could not smell gas I knew that it would be safe for me to use a candle. So at 5.15pm, and after one final heartbreaking conversation with Sylvia, I left my apartment to head to Canal Street, in the hope of getting a train to Queens. I had two bags, my sports radio, and a scrappy piece of paper with Eileen?s address and phone number. As I locked my apartment, my bags strapped across me, and balancing a candle, I made my way to the fire exit?the door opened easy, but it was pitch black inside and echoey?I called out several times, but with no answer, I then started to walk down?when the door made a heavy clunk behind me ? I started to cry. I stood in the dark with my candle, my legs were like jelly, and my heart was beating so hard?I was ankle deep in dust and paper and coming down those 17 floors was so much harder than coming down the 84 floors in the World Trade Center. I finally got to the bottom, but when I tried to open the door?I couldn?t, it was blocked with dust and paper, and what looked like pieces of cardboard. I turned to put the candle down, and as I did it blew out, I was in total darkness?my heart stopped, and again I felt a wave of panic sweep over me ?but this time there was no Bob to help me, and I knew that I had to do it myself?so I started to kick all the paper and dust out of the way, and kept pulling on the door. After what seemed a lifetime, but in reality was probably only a minute or two, I was finally able to pull it open, and was blinded by a flash of sunlight?the reception area was deserted, one of the huge picture windows was smashed, and there was dust, paper and glass everywhere. As I pushed the front doors open, I waded out into almost knee high dust and rubble ? the park opposite was totally dust covered, and I was the only person around?I shouted out several times, but no one answered?it looked much like I image it would after a nuclear explosion, and it was so so quiet?it was really spooky, nothing?no traffic, no ferry horns, not even a bird. I would never have known that a city with a reputation for being so loud, could be so deathly quiet. I stood for a few moments looking around, and then I started towards the Brooklyn Bridge, going wide of the way we came before, as the road Bob and I had walked down was now covered in building parts, and I could see cars flipped on their sides. After walking for about ten minutes two firemen walked up to me and asked me if I was alright, I told them that I needed to get to Canal Street, and they waved me in the general direction?but each road I tried to walk down was either blocked by rubble, or by police and firemen. I walked for at least two hours, and knew that I was in the Canal Street area by the Asian supermarkets and shops, but could not find anyone who spoke English?then ? almost out of the gloom ? I heard a very commanding voice say ?this way everyone? and I looked around to see three girls and a guy following the man with the booming voice?I quickly tagged on, and the girls fell in beside me asking questions?they could see that I was upset, and when I saw them looking at my bloody shirt ? I explained, the best I could, what had happened to me?by the time I had finished I was in tears, and I remember giving the booming voiced man the piece of paper with Eileen?s address on, and told him that I needed to get to Canal Street station. They were heading that way, and he said that I should stay with them. They would look after me. When we got to the station, I just let them take charge?someone gave me a ticket and then I was on a train?the booming voiced man still had my piece of paper and was writing down where I should go, and which lines I had to change onto ? each time he wrote something down?someone would shout out that the line was closed and come up with an alternative ? I still have the piece of paper, it looks like it has been through the wars, discoloured and tatty, but with the vital address I needed to get to Eileen?s, and the trains I needed to take. Two of the girls got off one stop before me at 33rd Street. Then it came to Grand Central ? the stop where I had to get off?the booming man leaned out of the train pointed down the platform, and told me to follow the directions for the number 7 train, which would take me to Queens. Another man got out at the same stop, and told him that he would look after me. He took my arm and just led me?he took me to the platform that I needed, and waited until the train came in. I was aware of him talking to the conductor, and I got on. The conductor came out of his cab, made some people move, and had me sit down. He talked to me the whole way, and also started talking to two ladies that were sitting opposite, one of the ladies was getting off where I needed to change, and the conductor instructed her to take me to the R train. I remember walking up two flights of stairs, before being on the right platform. She put me on the train with the conductors cab, and as before, she spoke to him before putting me on. The conductor came out of his cab, talked to me for the rest of the journey and put me off at 63rd/Rego Park. I called Eileen from a petrol station just outside the subway, and she came to meet me. It was 8.55pm, a normal 45 minute journey had taken me nearly four hours. I cried when I saw her. Her niece Elaine, Elaine?s husband Rob, and their daughter Ciara were there, and I remember feeling very detached, as we sat watching telly and eating pizza. I don?t remember much about anything else that night?I do remember spending about an hour in the shower washing the dirt and dust away?and I remember looking at myself in the mirror and knowing that my life would never be the same again. I was aware of Eileen talking to Roger Schwed; the Euro Brokers legal counsel, on the telephone, and him telling her that 80 people were still missing, which I couldn?t understand, and I know that she said that we would go to the help-desk, which was being set up at Michael Scharf?s office on Madison Avenue, the following day. I think that I spoke to my Aunt, and my Dad, but I am not really sure?it is the only time that I can?t remember clearly what happened?everything else is so vivid and has stayed with me ? this alone I am vague on. I don?t remember what time I went into bed?but I remember looking at the clock and seeing 3am blinking at me ? I couldn?t close my eyes without seeing the flames and smoke coming from our floor, and that billowing black cloud moving slowly around my apartment. I woke exhausted. Wednesday September 12th 2001 We arrived at Michael Scharf?s office at about 11.30am on Wednesday September 12th. Already at the help-desk were Sue Sullivan, Roger Schwed and Steve Vigliotti, together with Debbie Leible, who works for Michael Scharf. Sue, Roger and Steve had been there since the day before at about 11.00am, so had worked through the night, together with Walter Danielsson ? who had left about ten minutes before we arrived. I remember Sue giving me the piece of paper with the names of the people who were still missing. Looking down at the list?with each name I saw a face, and recalled a conversation; some of them I had seen the morning before in the kitchen, others I had made plans to go out with later that week?I saw Dan?s name, Domenick?s, Steve?s and Jose?s - of the last five people I saw on our floor, four were missing?also included in the list I saw Kevin Connors name, and I thought of my conversations with Sylvia the day before, and I remembered how, with each call and the passing hours, her voice became more and more desperate, and I felt particularly sad?all these people were missing, and I didn?t understand. Overnight the list had come down from 80 people to 60. Our main job was to answer the telephones, and give out what sketchy information we had. Eileen and I arrived at the help desk at 11.30am, and did not leave until 2.30pm the following day, Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story11271.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2005-01-27 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 208.253.160.244 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: On September 10, 2001 I took 11 junior high kids to a contemporary Christian concert at the local fair. Uplifting songs of God's love rang out over the entire fairgrounds. We had a great time, but got home late after returning all the kids to their homes after the concert. On September 11, I got all my kids off to school and then went back to sleep to catch up from the night before. My husband came into our bedroom and said, "Babe, I know you're trying to sleep...but you have to get up, we're under attack". A little dazed, I asked him what he was talking about and he replied, "they're taking planes full of people and crashing them all over the country!" My heart jumped. I flung back the covers and asked, "Who?!? Who is doing that?" He said "I don't know. It's awful. Come and see." We walked into the living room and watched in horror as the news stations played the clips of the towers collapsing. We were horrified at the predictions that there could be 50,000 people in the towers when it fell. I had the full range of emotions from sadness to disbelief and anger. The one year anniversary was yesterday. I am determined to reconsider my life and live with purpose. 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 story6442.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. 198.81.21.158 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 10th, 2001 I buried my father. His death was sudden and quite unexpected. I had held up rather well under the circumstances but my heart was broken and grief had overwhelmed me. Because I was executor of his estate, my first duty on September 11th was to go to my lawyer's office for help in settling his estate. I had gotten up pretty early and went out on my front porch for a smoke. As I was sitting there, a neighbor boy ran from the house across the street from me to another house screaming "Those $%@!^&*'s they have blown up the building." I didn't pay him any mind because he never made much sense to me anyway. I went on out to my lawyer's office and in the course of the conversation, she said, "In light of what has happened to our country today, you need to think of your financial future." I was puzzled at this comment and asked what she meant. She gave me the bad news about the attack and I was paralyzed with disbelief. Then I remembered my neighbor's ranting as he ran across the street earlier in the morning. That is what he was talking about. I finished my business with the lawyer and went to consumer credit to conductmore of my Dad's unfinished business. When I walked in the door there were no employees in the front office. They were all huddled around a small television in a private area for employees only. I disregarded the partition separating the TV room from the front office and found myself watching in horror with them. They hadn't even noticed that I didn't belong there. As we watched the second tower being struck I remember thinking "This is not a movie - those are real people in that plane and in that building". Suddenly, my thoughts turned to the lose of my Dad and the grief I felt at his unexpected death. My own fears and feelings seemed so small in comparision to what my fellow countrymen were experiencing in New York City. I remember trying to put myself in the place of those people running so hard down the streets away from the smoke and choking dust that chased them when the towers fell. I tried to imagine how it would feel to know I was going to die in those planes in just a few minutes'time. It was not imaginable. The world as I know it changed that day. I was joined in my personal grieving by thousands who lost loved ones and millions who watched helplessly as our great nation was attacked. Today, September 11, 2002, as we remembered the events of last year, tears flowed openly as our radio stations played songs written about bravery, God in the stairwells, last kisses goodbye and a proud nation filled with grief for the loss of those we have never met. School children gathered to remember our "real heros" - the public servants who risk their lives for others every day. Business people all over America wore red, white and blue and drove to work with their headlights shining. We won't soon forget this sad day in history when America woke up and realized how precious is our way of life and how much we love our country. 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 story5743.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. 216.128.136.19 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 about 7:30-7:45 Central Standard Time. I'm a Spanish teacher and I was preparing for the coming class. I decided to turn on the television and show a film before class started. When I turned on the televison my student and I noticed a building on fire. We thought it was some type of movie or some old footage. The tv had a lot of static and the volume was low. He said that it looked like one of the Towers in New York. I thought that was impossible that one of the towers of the World Trade Center could be on fire. At about 8:30 to 8:45 a teacher ran into my class and told me that a plane hit the world trade center and that it was possibly an attack. I turned on the televison and we all watched the tragedy. The kids could not believe it. There were sure that war was eminent. "We're going to bomb them" the students said. "They're not going to get away with this." The students somehow did not understand the magnitude of this incident. As adults we believe that the U.S is the greatest country in the world. Understanding that with greatness comes great responsiblity. And to see one of our great structures hit and thousands of people killed showed us that we are not as safe as we all thought. After my class was over I spoke to my colleague who is a German teacher. She cried. "How could this happen," she said. "These kind of things just don't happen here." It was scary for us all. It is still scary today. How can we trust again. How will we heal. The theme, "We Shall Never Forget" touched my heart. I will never forget this and my children and their children will never forget this. It's weird how an incident like this brings everyone together as a nation. It shows you who you really are. I'm an American, I was born an American and I will die an American. This is my country and this is my home. I'm proud to be a part of this great country. 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 story5933.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. 66.119.33.135 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was sitting in my living room watching CBS when they broke in to say there was a fire at the WTC. I watched the whole event unfold. I prayed for the safety of all involved. At the realization of what had really happened, I cried, I hugged my daughters close and I prayed for the lives lost, for the lives that were forever changed, for all the loss yet to come. I was numb. I could not imagine why this had to be. The lack of value that someone had on human life, that could so heartlessly take so many away in such a manner. I attended a church service that evening. There were many there. We wept and prayed and wept some more. It was a very quiet service. No one smiled or talked, we just silently comforted each other. Our pastor barely made it through his first sentence before he broke down in tears before us. He was still stuggling for answers while he was being called to lead his congregation.The fact that anyone could even attempt to justify these actions made us sickened us. A kind and just and loving God would never request of anyone to commit such an act of destruction and violence, and devastation. The true character of the American people has shone through and I have never been prouder to be an American than I have been this past year. I have watched a self serving country turn into a selfless community working together to help each victim of this horrific attack. I will always remember the footage that is now etched in my mind. I honor thse who died and I pray for their families and all the lives they touched. May God bless America! Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story4971.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 65.149.200.29 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: It started out like any other day. When I finished my shower, and walked up front, my mom told me that a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Centers. I had not heard of them, and asked several questions about them. The phone rang, and she went out front to get somthing out of the car when the second plane hit the second tower. I went running outside to tell my mom what had happened. She was talking to a neighbor when I interrupted. Mom, I yelled, a plane just hit the other building. The people on the T.V. say that we are being attacked by terriorist. She turned around and said that they were speculating, and that it probably wasn't true. I went back inside to see what else happened, and saw a plane had crashed into the Pentagon. Later I saw that the plane that crashed on the way to the White House. All the things made me very nervous. Later that afternoon, I remember my mom saying, "We need to get a gun. There is a good chance that somthing will happen during the night, and we need to be prepared." We never got a gun, but I will never forget what happened this day. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story11329.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. 2005-03-10 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 209.12.109.140 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: A Volunteer's Story I arrived in New York Friday night, three days after it experienced the most horrific act of terror in the history of mankind. I visited the World Trade Center two years ago and the scale of what happened on September 11 still refused to register in my mind. I was trying to catch the news after my 10-hour drive from Detroit, while being stuck in a tremendous traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge, which connects New Jersey and Manhattan. But the city had already recovered from the initial shock and all the radio stations were back to music. However, the feeling was not peaceful at all. The city was swarming with military and police, and the emergency could be felt everywhere. And while we were crawling across the bridge, all the drivers were looking to their right, where several miles away from us, among the contours of the skyscrapers, a giant cloud of smoke, lit with spotlight beams, was still rising to the sky. From Brighton Beach in Brooklyn, where I stayed at my friend's place, I was taking the subway to get to Ground Zero, the place of the rescue work. Lower Manhattan was closed and the train passed it without stops. Journalists and reporters formed a many-hour line to the central Police Department for the press passes. Even with these, the media was not allowed closer than several hundred yards to the place of the tragedy. The phone lines had been damaged, and the technicians from Verizon were installing mobile phone booths, but they hardly worked. It seemed that soldiers and police didn't have strict instructions on whom to allow at the site. While some let me go through without asking questions, others would look at my volunteer tag and turn me away. Together with other volunteers we were delivering water and ice to Ground Zero from Seamen's Church Institute, which became one of the suppliers of food, equipment and medical aid to the rescue workers. On the space between Vesey, Church and Liberty streets, we were assembling the supplied respirators, while doctors from the American Red Cross were demonstrating their proper usage. A day before that, on my way to New York, in a little town of DuBois, Pennsylvania, I bought rubber boots, a fluorescent jacket, work gloves, and protective goggles. I could have as well not bought it. Donations from the whole country, distributed by the Red Cross and the Salvation Army, provided rescue workers, police, firemen and volunteers with everything needed, from hot meals to underwear, to shovels and flashlights. I met people. Tshimsus Jesus, a Congo student from a New York college, worked as a volunteer on the Ground Zero starting the day after the disaster. Olya, a girl originally from Ukraine, worked a twelve-hour night shift serving food and removing dirty dishes in the mobile kitchen. Kenny was the operator of a huge, 200-ton crane that stretched 300 feet over the ruins. The work was progressing slowly, Kenny said. All the actions were coordinated between the fire department, police, FBI and construction team. The first tower fell through two stories of the mall and three floors of the parking lot located underneath. Its top, having slid to the side, smashed through the eight floors of U.S. Customs building, and damaged WTC building #7, the 47-story skyscraper at the intersection of Vesey street and West Broadway, which fell Tuesday night. Welders cut steel beams apart in order to fit in the dump trucks. Out of millions of tons of rubble, only 40 thousand had been removed. Even after several days of the catastrophe, the ruins were still burning. The smoke could be seen many miles away. Through this smoke you sometimes couldn't see the New York Telephony building, from which day and night the fire pumps were pouring water to extinguish the internal inferno. In the darkness, you could see the flames shimmering in the ruins. It would be a long time before this gigantic, devilish cake cools down. The shifts of rescue workers and firemen were resting on the plaza in front of building number five. On the other side, The Millennium Hilton hotel was gaping with its torn facade letters and broken windows, while peaceful white curtains blew in the breeze. From time to time a group of firemen would pass, through the lines of troops, toward the remnants of the second tower. I also passed the lines, giving out respirators, looking for those who didn't have them. I rose up the stairs, passed by what used to be a granite sculpture at the plaza entrance and approached the edge of the pit, where the firemen and police stood. It was the most monstrous and surreal view I will ever see. There was a gigantic foundation pit, filled to the brim with mutilated metal. There was no concrete. The gigantic cloud filling Manhattan was from the buildings' concrete floors, pulverized into dust, which settled as a thick gray layer on the roads, sidewalks and buildings for many blocks away. Excavators and bulldozers were removing rubble from near the hills of chaos. Orange tapes, stretched across to keep people away from the carcinogenic asbestos dust, separated the onlookers. Across the street, in a field kitchen on the first floor of a house with broken windows and crashed ledges, a generator supplied light. There was no running water. Inside, it was noisy from the voices of the many who dined there, but from time to time an order was heard from the street and the silence reigned. In this silence, the dog-accompanied rescue workers, who were climbing over the five-story tall ruins, froze listening, trying to catch the voice from underneath. No survivors were ever found. Bodies were - scorched, torn apart, without arms, legs, eyes. To keep the air clean, the bodies were put away, into the Brooks Brothers store, where they were later picked up by ambulances. Near hospitals and churches all over Manhattan the walls were covered with photographs of the missing. The Armory at 26th and Lexington was turned into a center for families of the victims. Crowds of people were always there. There were lots of photos and lots of names - American, Spanish, Greek, Chinese, Russian, the list goes on. It was beyond comprehension to look at the mountains of disfigured metal and think that there might still be people whose last memory was that of a crazy, unstoppable fall into a tornado of steel and concrete. I wanted to believe that the surrounding structures would stand firm while the hopes and forces were aimed at finding miraculous survivors. http://www.doblevych.com 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 story9314.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. 2003-05-13 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 68.42.158.160 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: September 11th began as a very happy day for me. Just two months earlier, I had resigned from a hectic job as an associate at a large law firm and was still revelling in the wonderful feeling of having some down time. I got up and made breakfast for my husband and sister, and saw them off to work at their respective offices in downtown Washington, D.C. I spent the morning puttering around the house, and still had not gotten dressed for the morning by 8:30 a.m. when I wandered into our bathroom to do a little tidying up and organizing. I flipped on the radio to the country music station where the Lee Greenwood song about "Proud to be an American" was playing. I thought twice for a second, because the radio rarely plays that song unless it's the Fourth of July or something tragic has happened. I continued tidying, singing along with Greenwood as he belted out "And I'm proud to be an American, for at least I know I'm free, and I won't forget the men who died, and gave that right to me, and I'd gladly stand up, next to them, and defend that right today, . . . God bless the U.S.A." And as the song closed the D.J. came on and reported that a plane had apparently crashed into the side of the World Trade Center. My heart stopped and still holding the glass I had in my hand, I froze and just stared at the clock radio. And then, almost without a human concious thought, I knelt down on the tile floor to pray. Despite not being a terribly religious person, I prayed and prayed for everyone in that airplane. I prayed for their families. At that point, I had no idea that our nation would need the prayers of the world for that which we were to endure. I went straight to the living room to turn on the television. Every station was covering the World Trade Center. There it was, on fire. Watching it there on television was truly surreal. Saddened and dismayed, I called my husband to let him know what was going on. He had already read the news on the Internet but had not yet seen television coverage. As we hung up, I flipped the channel to the local television station which was covering the WTC. Suddenly, the local station flipped to its television traffic camera, which was located on the highway that runs along by the Pentagon. A news reporter came on "live" and was frantically reporting in a completely unrehearsed story that something had just exploded or a bomb had gone off or a plane had hit the Pentagon. The traffic camera operators had seen it happen. I remember trying to add up all the events in my head, clicking through them at light speed. Watch t.v. Dial cell phone to husband. Cell lines busy. Run for cordless phone on land line. Dial cordless and cell phone simultaneously. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, I got Ryan on the phone. I was nearly histarical, begging him to get out of his office building (on K street, next to the IMF and World Bank buildings). I have never, in all my 28 years (at that time), felt such panic for my family. Ryan was calm and thinking through everything. Was it safer to stay put or leave? Some of his colleagues had seen the plane crash into the Pentagon from his office building. I could see the office scene playing out in my head: People milling around. Talking. Coffee. I can't believe it. As if in slow motion. But in my mind I was in hyper-gear, crying and begging him to get out of the building because there could be more to come. At that point, my mother-in-law clicked in on the call waiting and said "are you guys ok" and I replied through tears "I've got him on the other line. He can see the smoke coming out from his office!" She replied "oh my God" and hung up the phone before I could say anything else. I found out later that she did not know at that time about the Pentagon, and therefore assumed that Ryan was in New York and possibly in the WTC because he is often there for long periods of time closing business deals. She spent the next long minutes praying the prayer that only a parent can pray. I clicked back to Ryan and he assured me he was making plans to exit the building, but he wanted to be sure he would be safer outside than inside. He had his bike at the office, as he often commutes to work on his bike, and he would just ride home. With that settled, we turned immediately to my sister --- all this time, I had been speed dialing her cell phone in desperation. Her office was behind the Ronald Reagan building in downtown D.C. Ryan and I decided that he would come home, and as he did I would work on contacting Viv (my sister), and when were all safely home we'd get in our truck and high tail it to the mountains. I was to stock the car with all our camping gear, pack a cooler, and fill both cars with gasoline. Finally, after what seemed a lifetime, I got through to my sister. She was fine, hearing her voice was like a sweet melody in a dream. Looking back on it, and as I watched person after person report what it was like to have had contact or not have had contact with their loved ones, I cried inside for them, because here we were in Washington, near danger but not in any immediate danger as it turned out . . . and yet that sweet melody of her voice. Despite her being four years my senior, my sister was hesitant on the phone --- saying "well, I'm not sure what they want us to do or whether they are going to close the office." I exploded into my lawyerly demonstrative voice, saying "get yourself out of there and home now, please, I'm begging you." My urgency seemed to affect her, and she began making her way home then. Getting everyone reassembled took time. My sister began walking from her office, stopping by my husband's office to retrieve his running shoes as they wear the same size. She walked and walked, calling us from her cell phone every so often to report her progress. Meanwhile, Ryan cycled home and I frantically threw camping gear into the Land Cruiser. I remember seeing our neighbor, an older woman who is now a grandmother. We just held each other and wept in the parking lot of our condominium. She was leaving to go to her daughter's house. I remember her saying she could not be alone that day. My self-defense mode was so high that day. I was convinced all the sky was falling. I urged her to be careful in making her way to her daughter's home. I talked to the garbage collector man that morning too. We had never spoken before. But that morning we had a common bond. I remember him saying "there's bombs going off everywhere." Well, luckily that was not quite the case, but his instincts were right. We told each other to be careful and shook hands. Ryan got home a few minutes later and in his adreline rush said "are we ready to go?" I said "not without my sister" and he immediately replied "of course, let's go get her" and we did just that. We sped down 66 as far as we could get to the D.C.-Virginia border, where police had blocked the roads. Streams of people were walking home. People in suits and ties, just walking along, person after person. Finally we saw Viv and I ran to her and just hugged her. We made our way back home. How strange it was for us all to be home on a work day. The sun was bright and we were all just stunned and thankful to be at home. We discussed whether to actually go to the mountains to hide out. In the end, we decided we were probably safer just staying put. I remember Ryan saying "I think they're done for today." I still think about his comment now, a year later, on so many levels. His comment was correct --- they were done terrorizing the nation for the day. But even in the immediacy of the moment, my husband was already thinking to the future . . . that there could or would be days other than today when we'd be at risk. His comment for me was a defining moment, a moment that marked the end of my fight or flight response of the events of the morning, and the beginning of this new and never ending chapter of acknowledging our vulnerability as a nation. We spent the rest of the morning watching the news accounts of the towers falling. It was just so unbelievable. We called our family members. My mom was listening to accounts on the radio, but couldn't yet bring herself to turn on the television. I cried to my dad and we talked and talked. He has such wisdom. He was already talking about the Blitz bombings in London that he'd lived through, and how we would make it through this as a nation. We got a hold of Ryan's parents and reassured them we were all fine. As the day wore on, other friends called. Some of them ones we don't hear from very often. Just wanting to verify we were ok. Did you know anyone affected? I felt so funny answering that. We are all affected! And I felt thankful and yet guilty when I answered "no, we don't know of any friend or family member injured or missing or dead." Our little house reacted differently to the events of the day, yet we were all dealing with the tragedy in our own way. My husband eventually turned to his work, setting up his laptop at the dining room table. My sister went to play a game of tennis with her boyfriend. At the time, I was furious with them both for doing anything other than mourning and trying to make sense of the day. But that was my way of dealing with it, that day, in full force, and I later realized that everyone deals with tragedy differently --- that they too were profoundly saddened and moved but they were recharging their emotional batteries so they could comfort me --- as I would later do for them. I realized how much my husband processes emotional things even while he is working. A true multi-tasker. My sister can only take so much of these major issues at one time, but she is such a strong soldier for the "duration" of emotional pains and has always taken care of me without a thought for herself. The day faded into night, nothing but a fog. We had the television on up in Viv's room, the news showing people with photos of family members begging for any news. One woman was our age and had a wedding photo of her husband. I broke down and wept again for her. Eventually, my sister turned off the t.v. and said we had to collect ourselves and go get some dinner. We all set out in the car, and for the first time in all our time living in the D.C. area, the streets were empty. Tysons mall was closed, lights were off, there was no traffic anywhere. Tysons and Falls Church were like a ghost town. We finally ended up at "Chicken Out" and I ate for the first time since that morning. The food just all sort of mushed around in my mouth. I can't really remember what I ate, but it was smooth like mashed potatoes or soup. I couldn't take anything beyond that. We went home again and got ready for bed. My husband and I just held each other, and I lit a candle. Sort of a personal vigal of sorts. I don't remember falling asleep. My body just finally shut itself down. The next day I woke up feeling numb and disoriented. For a split second I asked myself whether it had really happened? And before my rational brain could say yes, my stomach answered with that same knot from the day before. That was the only answer I needed. It was real, and would stay real. We donated money to the United Way funds, splitting our donation between New York and D.C. We wanted to give blood, but soon learned so sadly that there was apparently not nearly the need for it that had been anticipated. Could we pack anything up for the relief workers? Turns out dealing with all the donations was becoming a logistical nightmare. I wrung my hands at the inability to DO something, ANYTHING. We set about finding flags for our cars. We made little red, white and blue ribbon pins for our lapels. At least that was something. Every bridge in D.C. and Virginia around where we live had flags and posters up. Some of the tiny silver lining in all of this was beginning to show through. The next few months would be an education for us, and for a lot of the country I suppose. Suddenly the world felt smaller. The newspaper articles about things in foreign lands mattered a lot more. I knew I needed to educate myself much more than I had in the past about muslims and Islam, the Middle East, and terrorism in general. I spent a lot of time reading anything I could get my hands on about terrorism. I began to have nightmares about bioterrorism. I emailed the CDC and Virginia health care workers about getting vaccinated against small pox and anthrax. The return emails alone were enough to convince me that my family and I, as members of the general public, were sitting ducks. Should we sell our house, located just outside D.C.? Should we go ahead with our plans to move abroad for two years for Ryan's work? Should we bring a baby into this world? I wanted answers to all of these questions, but they wouldn't come right away. And questions like those were second to the suffering and tragedy of all of the victims. There were days I felt angry, days I felt sad, days I felt vulnerable, days that I wept for our country. I tried, and actually today -- a year later, still do, pray for individuals when I hear their stories. Each could have been me or my family --- but the more important thing is that it was someone, and everyone in this world is important and so undeserving of such a cowardly, stupid, despicable human act. 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 story8119.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-25 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 202.135.84.28 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 as I was working on some reports I received a call from my mother. She asked me if I was listening to the news on the radio. I had my radio off at the time so I asked her what was going on...she said something just hit the WTC. I thought she might be mistaken, but I turned on my radio. This was just as the first plane hit. I told my co-worker what just happened and we pulled out our TV from the storage area. We turned it on and began to view the most horrific event we had ever witnessed. We sent an email to all the employees in the company and they rushed to every conference room and training room where TVs were available. I work for a General Aviation company so it was a major impact to our business. Our executives where immediately on the phone with each of our bases throughout the country. Meanwhile we sat in our office staring at the TV as if it was some Hollywood movie. Some cried, some got mad, some could not watch, some just stared in complete silence. When the second plane hit, the posibility of an "accident" scenario was destroyed. We stared in horror! We could say nothing, but why is this happening? Are we under attack? The media began to report that all planes were grounded. I stared out my window on the 14th floor and searched the sky for planes. Then the pentagon was hit. Another plane down. Finally the first tower colapsed! All I could do was cry. I just kept saying, "they're still in there, they're still in there! My God all those people! They couldn't get out!" Everyone was in such a state that we were sent home at around noon. I spent the rest of the day calling my family in Puerto Rico and trying to reach my relatives in NYC. It would be 3 weeks before we could get through to our relatives in NYC. Thankfully they were OK. They had seen the whole event from the window of their apartment. For the first few weeks I had recurring nightmares of walking through the ruins and seeing people hurt and screaming for help, the smoke so thick that I could barely see. I would wake up shacking and crying unable to fall asleep again for the rest of the night. Our business was paralysed for a month. We still haven't gotten to our feet entirely. I have flown since then 3 times. I must admit I didn't feel afraid. Somehow through this experience I was able to get back in touch with my spirituality and have gain a sort of calm. I know that no matter what happens we will be OK. I pray that we will never have to go through anything so tragic ever again and hope that tomorrow the leaders of all countries and rebel groups will gain the compasion and understanding to see that killing is not the answer to any question or conflict. 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 story1174.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-08-19 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 12.108.45.5 Annotation Annotations to this item. Economic effects DOMESTIC Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: At the time, I only worked Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. After watching Monday night football, I preferred to sleep in on Tuesdays. I was sound asleep when the phone rang at 9:19 a.m. central time. I answered, figuring it might be the office calling. My friends and family knew better than to call me before noon. It was my mother. She wanted to know if I knew what was going on there. There, I took to mean California, where she lives. I said no. She then responded incoherently. All I heard were the words "tearing up the East Coast." It still being hurricane season, I figured one had come out of nowhere and was destroying the East Coast. I told Mom to slow down, I couldn't understand her. She again asked me if I knew what was going on, since I always watched the news. I said, I had been asleep until she called so had no clue what was going on. She became incoherent again. I told her to hang on, I would go turn on the tv. I did. The South tower had already come down and I saw the fire engulfing the north tower. My first though "Oh my God, it's a Tom Clancy novel." I got on the phone with my mother in tears. Right about then the North tower came down. I babbled the news incoherently to my mother. Now, she was telling me to slow down. I said I would call her back. I hung up and called the office to make sure they knew. One of the attorneys I worked with was from New York City and still had family and friends there. I then called my mother back, while getting online. We talked a bit a more. Then I called the rest of my family, including my grandmother in Florida. Nobody was near ground zero or the Pentagon, but still I felt the need to check in. I also cancelled my plans to go the State Bar archives that day. I was later informed the building was evacuated anyway, since it is near the State Capitol here in Austin. While I was checking in and checking things out online, I heard about the call to ground all planes. But one was missing. One was down in Pennsylvania and no one knew at this time whether it was the missing plane or if there was another flying bomb out there. There were updates ont he whereabouts of the President. Who knew we had an Air Force base in Barksdale, Louisiana? As I told my mother, I want him [the President] tucked somewhere safe like Cheyenne Mountain. Too bad we closed that base. I know the politicaians wanted him back in Washington, but safety was more important than looks to me at this point. He could lead just as well from South Dakota as from the White House. The comparisons to Pearl Harbor were immediate for me. I had seen the movei "Pearl Harbor" the previous May and loved it. I also wondered how the people reacted to the horror and the everyday aftermath. Now I know. I would have preferred to learn about it from the historical record. Then I got what had to be the most personally scary news. The Girl Scout network had swung into action with offers going to airports to get any stranded Scouts or their families. I posted on the Girl Scout list, I was willing to go the Austin airport to get anyone stranded. A friend saw my post and sent me a reminder that a mutual friend worked in the Pentagon and no one had heard from her. We were frantic. Thankfully, she had been travelling that week and was in the Netherlands when the plane struck. Okay, she was stuck in Europe, but she was alive. I was able to give blood that day by getting to the blood center early. At the time, we thought there would be thousands of injured and blood would be desperately needed. All in all, it was a surreal day. I was actually glad to go back to work on Thursday to get away from the tv. I suffered from panic attacks for a couple weeks afterwards, but then I decided to not give in to the fear. I wanted my life back and those terrorists would not take it away from me. Also, believe it or not, reading about how Londoners survived the Blitz during World War II helped. These people endured bombings for weeks at a time, not just one day. Thousands of men, women and children were killed. If they could survive and go on to win the war, so could America survive September 11, 2001. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story510.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. 2002-05-05 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 12.83.15.214