368 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 think the best way to do this is to include sections of my journal from the days before, during, and after the attack The journal entry from September 11 was picked up on the front page of the Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA) and I signed the rights to the story over to them. However, they appear to be liberal in granting permission to use it, as my alma matter (VCU) included the story in one of their publications. Contact Andy Taylor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch and I'm sure he'll give you permission to use the story. Sorry about the screwy formatting, I just cut and pasted it from Word. Chuck September 6, 2001 Well, its almost 8 AM now, so I guess I'm going to head down to the cafeteria to get some coffee. So now I'm back and enjoying the Starbucks breakfast blend coffee. It is pretty good stuff. Went yesterday and met Sid, Woody, and Kenneth for lunch at that sushi buffet bar place Sid was talking about at the beach. It was damn good. And cheap, too. It was nice to enjoy their company, and Woody even helped me out with an algebra problem that I couldn't figure out as part of the precourse work for this FIRRM class I'm going to next week. Oh yeah, I need to talk about my long Labor-Day weekend down in the Outer Banks. First off, after an epic struggle with Taisia, I won out, and we departed Richmond at 5:45 AM Friday morning. There was virtually no traffic for the majority of the ride down there, and we did so well time-wise that we decided to stop for breakfast. Since I was on vacation, I cast aside my strict eating regimen, and dove into a breakfast consisting of buttermilk pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and a buttermilk biscuit. It was glorious. That evening, after picking up Sid and Heidi, we headed to my favorite place down there of all times, Owen's. We had a feast fit for royalty, seafood of all types and description, served to us by a very pleasant waiter with a kind face and great smile. The food was absolutely magnificent. I being out of practice with such large quantities, left that establishment quite a bit slower than I had entered. Afterwards, Taisia and I retired early, before the others arrived. In the morning, as usual, we awoke quite early, well before anyone else. Taisia ran out and picked us up some dreadful coffee from the Texaco station, and we sat out on the deck and relaxed at the shore. Then we finally met the others for the first time, Mike, Robyn, and Doug. Mike is about 35, a couple inches taller than me, and built like a sherman tank. He has a cool face, that makes him look like he is a chronic wiseass, but he doesn't come across that way at all. Robyn is very cute, and has a waif-like body and short hair, which suits her. Doug is tall and of a medium build, with a face you just like right off the bat. Right away I knew we were going to hit it off with this group of folks. During the day, despite the mediocre weather, we headed to a beach for some swimming and fishing. That evening we ate at Sid's place, the 1587 club in Manteo. The food was stellar, and the company was extremely enjoyable. After dinner we walked down to a small dock with a patio out behind the restaurant, and we watched fish eat various creatures from the surface of the water. We had a lot of laughs and carried on a great deal, but fortunately no one was around to be disturbed. When we got home we sat around and talked before going to bed. Sunday's weather was greatly improved, and the day was spent on the beach for the most part. After returning from dinner, we all played Taboo with the homemade cards that Heidi had created. They all were of a sexual nature, which was pretty funny and added an interesting flavor to the Taboo concept. We really had a blast playing that game, and by the time we had tired of it, we decided to continue the fun with Guesstures, which is a modernized version of charades. We had even more fun playing that, and stayed up until the wee hours of the morning laughing and carrying on. I'm glad to say that the guys kicked the girls asses in both games, by the way. Monday morning came so quickly, and soon we were saying goodbye to our new friends, as they headed out immediately after the checkout time. Taisia and I, and Sid and Heidi stayed for the majority of the day, going back to the same beach we had been before, which was state park land. The beach was stunning, with no manmade structures whatsoever to mar the landscape, except the bathroom and shower facility off at the far end of the parking area, so courteously provided by the National Park Service. We laid out, and swam, and sunned, until about 3 PM, and then we showered, changed, and left the beach for the last time, lamentably. We went to Goombays for our last meal in the Outer Banks, and we gorged ourselves on various and sundry seafood items. I had a crabcake sandwich with fries that were out of this world, and we also had an appetizer of breaded and fried scallops that were killer. We all shared a couple of desserts that were pretty kickass, too. Then the time came to take Sid and Heidi back to First Flight airport, where we saw them off, and then headed on the road ourselves. Oh it was such a good time, I'm still lamenting the expiration of it. We hit it off so well with the 3 new people, and Mike and Robyn invited us to go out on their boat with them this Saturday. Mike is big into wakeboarding, and I'm really looking forward to going with them. I hope the weather cooperates. So, that gets the weekend events up to speed. This Tuesday marked my first day in the IT department. I moved my things from 12 to 13, and am settled in nicely up here. I've been meeting people while also preparing for this class next week. I have a fair amount of stuff to cover still, so I am going to wrap up this journal entry now. September 7, 2001 Its Friday, Yay! I am not happy to be here on a Friday but I guess that is the price you pay for having a 4-day weekend. We're on for boating with Mike and Robyn tomorrow around noon, and that also is cause for celebration. I am looking forward to doing that, and it looks like the weather is supposed to be good. This Sunday I'm leaving for NYC and the FIRRM class. I am both pleased and a little wistful to be finally going back out on the road. So lately what's new? I worked on Tyson's brakes the other day, replacing the drum shoes in the back for $40. I think I undercharged him, but that's okay. I'll have a customer for life, or as long as I want him anyway. I wish I could line up some more people to work on their cars, because it is good money. And tax free. And easy, for that matter. At any rate, I need to get busy working on this precourse shit. I'll report back sometime next week. Or maybe the week after that. I must remember to take this computer home with me, and to pick up my train tickets before I leave here. I'm going to do that right now. September 11, 2001 Well, today began exactly like yesterday, but I'm sad to say that it didn't progress with the same tranquility as the previous day. I'm in New York City attending the FIRRM class as part of my commissioning process, and up until 9:10 AM today that was exactly what was happening. I was sitting in class, trying to pay attention to the teacher, and follow the concepts he was presenting, which dealt with the term structure of interest rates. As I was looking out the window from time to time, I noticed that a lot of papers were falling from the sky past the windows. I remember thinking that it was probably a bunch of newspapers that had fallen off a rooftop or something. Then there was a loud boom, like a muffled crash or explosion, and my world, my being, will never be the same again. Looking outside, hordes of people were moving quickly in the same direction, towards the southern part of Manhattan. The class left their seats and pressed against the window, and then we all left the building en masse for the street. It was baffling at first to see virtually everyone moving in the same direction with panicked looks, and anguish on many faces. Then I heard someone say that an airplane had hit the World Trade Center. I don't know what happened inside of me, but I just began walking towards the Trade Center buildings, against the flow of literally thousands of people. I had to tuck myself in, and take the brunt of several impacts, as people trying to flee bumped into me. But I continued onward, and within a few minutes I was looking at the twin towers, each with a gaping hole in them and blackened floors, and black smoke and flames billowing out of them. The scene on the streets was chaos, and the emergency personnel were too stunned to pay any attention to the few people like me that were moving closer to the carnage. Eventually I wound up standing next to a building for shelter from the pieces of wreckage that continued to rain down, and I stood and looked at the buildings burn. Once I was ushered away, I headed down to the next block and cut over and moved back towards the towers. Heading down one street, I began to notice strange-looking debris all over the ground, and on cars, and draped across fruit in fruit-stands. Dimly, from somewhere deep within the recesses of my mind I knew these were human remains, but my brain didn't want to comprehend it, and instead I told myself it was damaged fruit. In fact, it was all so badly mangled and in such small pieces that you couldn't really identify what any of it was. Intermingled with these mangled bits of what I was trying to tell myself were fruit, were other items, flotation devices from aircraft, and pieces of fuselage, and a mangled cell phone, and bits of clothing, and shoes. All sorts of various items were strewn about everywhere. A limousine parked on the side of the road had a metal rod impaled through its hood and engine compartment. That was a sobering sign, as I was standing on the street next to it, unprotected. I wound up standing next to a guy in a suit who was trying to use his cell phone, and I told him it was useless, as I'd been trying to dial different numbers all along with no success. We then chatted a bit, and he informed me that a second plane had hit the other building, and that it was a terrorist attack. He asked me something that I can't remember now, and I wound up telling him that I was unfamiliar with the area, as I was visiting from Richmond VA. He gave a dry laugh and said "welcome to New York." He said his name was Rich. I shook his hand. It seemed like the appropriate thing to do, I guess. What is appropriate when the world is exploding around you? As we were talking, he looked up and said "oh no, another one jumped." And I looked up and watched a man falling backwards through the air, close enough for me to see his white shirt and tie, and black shoes. He was motionless and in a backwards sitting position. And he just fell and fell, it seemed like forever that he dropped through space. I watched him, frozen in horror, right up until he passed out of my sight behind part of the structure, and then there was an amazingly loud crash, perhaps he landed on a car, I'm not sure. I looked down at the ground, stunned and in disbelief, and that's when I saw the first recognizable item on the ground; a human foot. Rich asked me if I thought the buildings could possibly collapse, and I said that I didn't think it was possible, and I mentioned the time that a U.S. bomber had flown into the Empire State Building. And in fact the twin towers didn't look like they were weakened, although several floors were burning badly on each side of them. I really can't remember what I did for the next several minutes, I just looked around at the carnage, spotting more grisly remains, and pieces of aircraft, and personal effects, and the like. Then a group of firefighters passed by us, heading towards the building, and I remember looking into some of their faces, and wanting to tell them to be careful. I was looking up the street away from the twin towers, and I saw Rich and another guy who had been talking a little bit suddenly look terror-stricken, as they apparently were watching another jumper fall through the air. The sound of the impact was so shocking, and Rich actually grabbed the other guy for support, and said "oh my God, he landed on a firefighter." I turned around and saw the group of firefighters dragging the two away, the jumper in a deep blue pinstriped suit, and the firefighter who had been struck by him. The jumper's body moved in impossibly pliable ways, and I watched, transfixed, as they dragged them both past me. Eventually some security person directed us away from there, and I walked through the building nearest to me, and back out onto the street and up to another vantage point. I kept looking at people, and the towers, and trying to call someone on my phone, and just generally trying to cope with everything I was observing. Then the unimaginable happened. With a deep rumble and an explosion, I saw the top floors of the building drop down, almost in slow motion. I stood transfixed, as the structure dropped down upon the lower levels, imploding and careening towards the ground. Then the survival center in my brain began shouting the alert for me to run, run for my life. I ran down the street, my legs pumping as fast as they could, dimly aware of both the people running in terror in front of me, and out of my side vision someone who had fallen down on my left side. I was next to a building, and I headed for the corner of it, throwing my head over my left shoulder, I gave a quick glimpse of Armageddon coming down the street behind me, pieces of the building, debris, and a massive cloud of dark gray smoke. I hung a left, and the pieces of building blasted past where I had been just milliseconds before, like a runaway freight train. I dove around the corner of the building and underneath a steel door that was just inches from closing, behind another guy and a cop. I'll never forget as long as I live the sight of all the cops who had previously been trying to maintain order and keep people safe, suddenly all running at top speed away from me and the carnage. Inside the building, the air was clogged with debris, you could barely see or breathe. The young squat cop immediately shifted from being afraid and running for his life, to concerned about the welfare of all of the people now in his realm of responsibility. He asked if anyone was hurt, and ushered us towards a tiny office in the back of the building. Two garage attendants offered us water at a small sink, and provided us with shirts to put over our mouths and noses to breathe through. Outside it was black as night, you can't imagine the depth of the darkness. Then, after a few minutes I guess, the young cop was talking on his radio and said that we had to evacuate that building, our refuge. I again got that scared feeling, like we were in imminent danger of the structure collapsing. We got our breathing cloths in place, and proceeded out into hell. The black had given way to a dense gray, and the air was still chokingly thick with debris. We made our way to a deli where others were huddled, and inside we got more water, and I set about cutting up my breathing shirt with a large knife, to give to others that were without. People were frantically grabbing for the pieces I was cutting, not even mindful of the large and very sharp knife I was using. I had to keep warning them to please be careful and watch out while I was cutting. I couldn't cut and tear fast enough. After a few minutes one of the cops said we had to get out of there too. They instructed us to take as many bottles of water as we could carry. I stood there, with a bottle of water in my pants pocket, and dumping one into my eyes, and the young cop next to me was grabbing bottles, and he turned to me and said "its like we're looting the place." Then we left and headed out onto the street again. While walking, people were just coming up to me and asking if I needed water, if I was okay, everyone just seemed to be pulling together in this mutual moment of need. Finally I wound up at the entrance to the Brooklyn Tunnel. Cops were telling people either to go into the tunnel or to head towards South Street Seaport. I decided to try the tunnel, since that's where my sisters' place was anyway. The tunnel didn't provide much refuge from the debris, I found to my dismay. I kept the breathing cloth pressed over my mouth and nose and forged ahead, walking on the catwalk, just above the sea of abandoned cars. At some point I came to a crossover to the other tunnel, and I ducked inside to see if it was clear on the other side. The air was just as thick with debris in the other tunnel, but inside that crossover I took my first clear breaths since the collapse-apparently this area was part of the air-handling system within the tunnel. Daylight was streaming in from somewhere above, and without even consciously thinking about it, I knelt on the floor of that tiny room, and thanked God for watching over my dumb ass. I enjoyed a few more clean breaths of air, and then emerged from the crossover and continued. I walked on and on, seeing few people along the way. I gave one of the people my water bottle, for him to take a drink from, and we continued walking together. Finally we got to where the cars ended, and from there we walked in the roadway. Ultimately, I ran into a bunch of detectives, in suits, and I walked with them, while the other people that I had been with got on a bus that was slowly backing its way out of the tunnel. While walking with the detectives, a cop drove up and we all piled in. He drove us the rest of the way out of the tunnel, and then left us at the mouth of it. I walked slowly towards the toll plaza, and then the overwhelming feelings began to flood in, and my emotions crashed upon me, interspersed with brief footage inside my head of what I had observed just a short while before. I wept as I walked, and two kind policemen came up to me and comforted me, and gave me a bottle of juice, and talked with me for a while. Their looks of concern, kind words, and hands on my shoulders helped me to calm down a little, and I gave them my information, and then asked them how to get to fourth and Pacific. They gave me directions, and some more words of comfort, and then I headed out for the last leg of my journey. Walking along Atlantic, I turned around as I heard a car approach, and two Spanish guys pulled up and asked me if I was okay. I said that I was and I asked if they could give me a ride. They told me to hop in. As we drove, the driver told me he was headed to the 59th street bridge, to pick up his wife. He said he'd drop me off before he turned. They said something about how we were all going to have to pull together now. They took me about a mile and a half, and then dropped me off, and wished me luck. Then I walked for blocks and blocks, pausing every so often to look over my shoulder at the huge pall of smoke that was rising above Manhattan. It was surreal in Brooklyn, because no one here really knew what had just happened in such close proximity to where they were. People were just going about their business, for the most part, talking, laughing, making phone calls, walking along the street. None of them knew what had just transpired a short way across the river. I walked, and wept periodically, not paying much attention to the people on the street, and they not paying me any mind as well. Finally I made it to Fee's apartment, where I now sit, trying to comprehend what has happened. Watching it on T.V. is just making it more unbelievable. I've seen footage of the second plane hitting the building, and I've seen footage of the buildings collapsing, but I still cannot fully grasp it all. I keep feeling like I'm going to wake up from it, and it will all be a nightmare. The human remains, the personal effects, the pieces from the aircraft, the guy falling, the panic in the streets, the buildings collapsing, it will all just be a nightmare. I wish I could wake up from this. September 17, 2001 Well, that last journal entry was something else, wasn't it? The further away it gets, the less real it all seems. That journal entry made it virtually unedited onto the front page of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Since that time, I've been working at wrapping my mind around all that I've seen and heard, but I haven't been very successful. After showering and changing in Fee's apartment, I was shocked at how normal and unruffled I was. I came out of the ordeal completely unscathed, and that has added to my disbelief of the whole situation. I've received dozens of phone calls and emails from people asking if I was okay, complimenting me on the story, and just generally reaching out. From meetings, to work, and even just random people like Taisia's work, everyone has been wishing me well. The time that has transpired between that Tuesday and today is somewhat of a blur. I've been having a hard time remembering what day it is, and what I've been doing, and my sense of time has been skewed as well. I haven't done anything for my employer since last Tuesday at 9:15 AM either. But that hasn't bothered me too much in the whole of scheme of things. Well, I'll try and do a recap of events after I returned to Fee's apartment. My step-cousin Schuyler came over, after he learned from Fee what I had been through, and that I was alone at her place. I can't tell you how wonderful it was to see a familiar face at the door, after all that had happened. We hugged, and it just felt so good-I'm so grateful to him for having done that for me, walking across the Manhattan bridge and coming to see me. We talked for a while, and I recounted the story to him, and he graciously listened even though I'm sure it pained him to have to hear it. Then we watched the television together in silence for the most part, both flabbergasted at what we were seeing. After the initial shock wore off, we talked some more, of what exactly I can't remember, but it was all dealing with the days' events, of course. I think that will be mostly what I talk about for a long time to come. Eventually we decided to try and find something to eat. We walked down some streets in Brooklyn, and on the way to a neighborhood with some restaurants, I found a charred piece of paper on the sidewalk. It had blown there all the way from Manhattan. It had writing on it that was related to some real estate court case. Maybe it was from one of the many doomed law offices that once occupied the WTC. We finally found a place to eat, with seats inside and outside, and the front of the place was opened up because it was so nice outside. You could smell hints of the fire everywhere, and not the warm and cozy smell of a fireplace, but the unsettling smell of a bad fire, a structural fire. It was unnerving. But people were there and eating, in fact the place was mobbed with diners, all chatting and eating, albeit in a somewhat subdued fashion. We ordered some food, and we sat and talked. When the food arrived, we both ate voraciously, I'm ashamed to admit. I discovered I was famished, despite everything that I had seen, heard, and experienced. After returning to the apartment, we found Fee and Brian sitting on the railing waiting for us. They had called while we were there, to let us know they had found a way out of Manhattan on a subway. So we went inside and continued talking. Eventually, Schuyler left, and so did Brian, and Fee and I stayed up watching the news and talking. I went to bed fully expecting not to be able to sleep, or to be plagued by awful incarnations of the horrors I had witnessed. Again I am ashamed to admit that I was not so burdened. I slept soundly, and until quite late for me, almost 9 AM. Upon awaking, I can't remember what I did, or at least I can't differentiate what I did on that day versus what I did for the remaining mornings I was in NYC. Drank coffee, watched the news, ate something, talked to Fee. It was all the same for the rest of my time there, I think. Thursday arrived both quickly and not fast enough. Fee and I got on a subway after having some coffee and something to eat. A bagel I think. Then we went to Penn Station, where I got my ticket transferred and then Fee and I went to a Dunkin Donuts place to hang out until the anointed time. Parting company with Stinky after so much time together and so many tragedies' shared was hard. We hugged and told each other that we loved the other, and then I walked down the escalator towards the gate. I helped a lady who was hauling a tremendous amount of luggage, and helped her stow it in the overhead rack, and we sat together. Her name was Daisy, and we talked a great deal on the ride home. She bought me lunch, and it was nice to have her as company for the trip. She said she was going to mail me copies of the New York newspapers that I had failed to be able to get copies of. I'm so relieved to say that the train ride was uneventful. I made it back to Richmond right on schedule, at 4:30 PM. Taisia was waiting for me, with a homemade sign welcoming me back. It was really nice to see her. She had a bouquet of flowers for me, and we hugged and kissed, and then she took me home. Home. I couldn't believe it. Just as I had left it, even the lawn didn't look like it had grown a bit since I'd last mowed it. Nothing had changed here, not one single thing. No indication here of what had happened a few hundred miles away. Events that threaten to change the entire planet. Since coming home, I've talked to and seen so many of my friends. Yesterday, Sunday, I went dirtbike riding with the whole gang of racers, minus Steve Sumner. Almost the whole old roadrace team, Tim, Steve Shoul, Me, Scott Nelson, and Bobb Seitz. It was great to see them all. We went to a motocross track down in Sussex county, about an hour south. I took Taisia's CR, after having raised it back up to its normal height the night before. The day was stunningly beautiful, the weather was absolutely pristine, and there were tons of people there. The track was not too terribly challenging, which was good considering how lousy a dirt rider I am. The CR ran great, and I had a pretty good time flailing about on the track, although I was one of the slowest ones out there. I managed to get the bike up in the air pretty good a few times, which was a lot of fun. I crashed a couple times, but nothing too bad, and I'm not hurting that much today, although I am a bit sore. It was a nice diversion, even though the horrors were never far from my conscious thought. Watching the little kids ride around the track was the best part, I think. Those little shavers were so great, doing their darndest to make it around the track. And when they'd crash, unless they got stuck under the bike, they would jump right up, and pick up their bike, and hop back on, and kick it back running and off they'd go! I almost began crying just watching them, because it brought me so much happiness, but at the same time I have this unbelievable weight on my chest all the time. Everywhere I go, everything I do, all the time, it is like my soul is weeping uncontrollably. I talked with friends, reminisced about old times, made jokes and did my standard routine, and had everybody laughing, but inside my soul was weeping. I just can't stop it. And so rarely do I show it outwardly. Every now and then it bubbles to the surface, but for the most part it is just inward. So here I am today, Monday, September 17, 2001 and I am going out in the canoe on the James tomorrow. I really should call work now, but it is too late. I guess I'll just have to be sure to call sometime tomorrow morning. I'm planning on going back to work Wednesday, and making the rounds for the rest of the week. That way, I'll only have to do that sort of thing for 3 days, and then I can go out on the road the following week and be completely anonymous. So I'm going to take tomorrow as my last mental health day, and then I am going to try and get back into a normal routine. I was just thinking about a picture I saw in the paper. President Bush and NYC Mayor Rudolph Giulianni were together, and Rudy was looking like he was going to break down and cry, and Bush was looking into his eyes, and had his hand on the side of Rudy's head. It was very touching. Rudy has been such a pillar of strength for the city, and I think Bush is rising to the challenge on behalf of the nation, too. I still haven't progressed to the stage of wanting revenge yet. I know we need to do something, but I'm still not ready to jump on the bandwagon of people crying for vengeance. I don't have the thirst for us to go over and do what I saw done to human beings in NYC this past Tuesday. So there you have it, getting things just about up-to-date in the old journal. Who would have ever thought that a piece of this journal would be front-page news? Life is crazy sometimes, I guess. It is only ten to nine right now, but I am already so tired and anxiously looking forward to going to bed. I wonder if this is the night where it all comes back. 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 story598.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. 2002-05-15 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 199.169.240.132 Notes Notes about this item. Revised story is posted as #612 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I witnessed history on september11, 2001, when two planes crashed into the World Trade Center.I was at school.A plane also flew into the Pentagon,damaging the one side of it.Another plane crashed in Pennsylvania into a field.That plane was probobly going to fly into a Goverment building but the passengers foughtthe terrorists.This is my story on this very sad 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 story8498.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-10-18 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 24.60.58.139 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: My husband and I had JUST started our vacation. We flew to London on United from Newark on September 10. We then flew to Madrid on Iberia. We were just leaving the airport when my husband got a call on his new cell phone from his friend. He said that a pland had flown into the World Trade Towers. Like many people, we figured it was a small private plane. We were in the cab on the way to our hotel, when our friend called back and told us it was a jetliner. We checked into the hotel and immediately turned on the TV to CNN. I was horrified to see the towers just collapsing and the repeat footage of the planes flying into the towers. Then the news reported that the pentagon was hit and showed footage of that site as well. About 15 minutes later they reported about a 4th plane going down in PA. When they said it was going from Newark to San Francisco and that it was United, I KNEW that I knew at least one of the crew members. (I fly out of Newark for United.) I was upset before, but when I heard about 93 I almost became hysterical. We then started calling people back home because we knew people would be concerned, especially since I work for United. Then we tried to get some sleep as we had been up all night. (Neither one of us sleep well on planes.) Later that day I called a friend of mine to try and find out who was on 93. My husband asked if I really wanted to know, but I NEEDED to know. I found out about half the names and checked to see if any of my really good friends were there, they weren't. As it turned out I knew 4 out of the 5 f/a's. My husband and I stayed in Spain and tried to enjoy our vacation the best we could. We were basically stuck there, so we decided to make the best of it, but I couldn't put it out of my mind for a second. We constantly tuned in to CNN when we returned to our room to get the latest news. The people in Spain couldn't have been nicer or more sympathetic. We cut our vacation short by a day and flew home. We returned to the states via London and we stayed the night in the West End. (Which is the Arab Quarter.) We were a little shocked to see the Islamic Cultural Center for the UK right next to our hotel. Now we just laugh about it. The most upsetting site was upon our arrival back into Newark. We saw the smoke rising from the Towers spot and then to see the same sceeners at security was VERY upsetting. These were the same people who allowed those monsters to get on the plane and murder my co-workers. Nothing had changed, despite all the talk on the news. I returned to work in October. I flew until mid-December and now I am out on maternity leave. The job has changed and will never be the same again. One of my best friends is quitting because as she says, she signed up to be a stewardess not a cop and martial arts person. I am saddened by her decision, but I am hanging in there. I feel to quit is to give those ugly people another victory. They took away my sense of security in this country, I will not let them force me out of my job. (I also have 13 years invested and I don't want to start all over again some place else.) But now when I work I look at the people a little more and try to see what is going on. My husband and I intend to travel again after I have our baby. We love to go to new places and we will not sit home out of fear. Is it a different world for me? You bet. But I am willing to try and make the best of it. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story780.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. 2002-06-12 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 205.188.193.22 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: This day of September 11 2001, will be etched in my mind forever. My oldest son Joseph, was entering the AIR FORCE, preparing to go, but had not signed his final papers to go yet. He and his recruiter were playing phone tag.Well while at work in a preschool setting, another teacher heard what was happening on the radio. I was too busy to talk and went back to my room. Another teacher came into our room and told us about the towers and that there were other planes still flying around. Well that's when the "terror" struck me. I went running to use the phone and call my son at home, who was only working part-time while preparing to go.I asked him if he heard what was going on, and he said yes. I asked him if he had signed his final papers yet and he said yes,he had just signed the night before. The answers were not what I wanted to hear, but I knew there was no going back. Joe also said," Mom if you don't want me to go I won't", so I knew there was nothing we could do about it.We are a very close family. After we hung up he had called his brother's grade school to make sure they were ok.And that he was home if they needed to come home.The secretary told me this later,and I never asked Joe to call, but he wanted to know that his little brothers w were ok.Joe left for TEXAS on Mon. Oct.8 with lots of support and love, we also had a going away party for him.I guess the hardest part was that I never thought that while I was holding him as a baby that I would be watching him walk away like that for the military, especially during a war.He mostly signed up because one of his good friends had joined and their recruiter was a friend. His reasons for going in were to get an education, travel,make money,and a career, because he knew college wasn't for him.Well that day put a whole new light on things,the not knowing if they would let him go in to be an electrician, or wether they were going to train him for combat and send him overseas. Luckily so far he finished basic training, graduated tech school with a "B" average and is working on DoverAFB in DE.He is very independent now, bought a car and drives home very often.I believe that the angels were watching over him the whole time because I have a few up there. I have also become very spiritual in this past year because I knew that I couldn't be there to keep him safe anymore, which had been his dad's and my job for so many years.How do you let go of someone you carried for 9 mo.,raised for 19 yrs., in a matter of minutes? I had a very traumatic childhood, and I swore that my children would have better, and they have. Well that is my story, one that I never thought I would have.We know it was the best decision he made, and we are all very proud of him.We didn't fall apart at home because he would not have wanted that.I have a few words of advice to parents out there. Don't be afraid to raise nice, caring, sensitive children, especially boys, because it will be worth it. They won't grow up to be "wooses", they will make you proud and they will be glad you did what you did!Thanx Kathy. 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 story7470.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-15 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 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: Going to school at NYU Law, a good mile and a half from the Trade Center, it was not until I began receiving emails from people back home that I realized people might be worried about me. Realizing how many emails I received, and how often I needed to tell my story, I felt it necessary to take my digital camera and html editor in hand and compile my "Longest Week" to place on my webpage. For anyone who wanted, they could read my diary entries those first few days and see what I saw, through my camera's eye. The website is: http://www.geocities.com/chenopimp/tradex.html 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 story3547.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. 128.122.129.4 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was just going in to surgey to have a total left knee replacement due to problems with my Rumathoid Arthritis I've had since the age of 4 years. I am now 30 years old; I had no idea what had happend until after I was brought up to my room. My husband and parents were watching the TV in the waiting room when they saw the first reports of the first collision to the building and then the second. My doctors found out that the first tower had been hit at exactly the same time that they had started the surgery. They found out because they were going to do a press release about my knee replacement being the first one in Rockford, Illinois to be done using a procelaine replacement. When they contacted the newspaper office they were informed of what had just taken place. I on the other hand had no idea due to all the medications and the fact that I waas trying to wake up from the surgery. I kept seeing the images of the plane hitting the building and I couldn't figure out why they kept showing it over and over all day long. It wasn't until that evening that I could fully understand what had happened. I was so struck at the horror of what had taken place and I was so terrible sad for all the families of the people on the planes and in the buildings. I never felt so helpless and useless than at that moment when it all sunk in. I spent the next week praying that they would find suvivors in the wreakage, but in my heart I knew that it would be almost impossilbe for anything to have survied such a terrible act for more than a day or so. My heart truley goes out to all those who did survive and to the freinds, families and colleuges of those who were lost in such a meaningless act of terrorism. Yuo are all in my prayers. Dawn Behm 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 story5331.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 205.188.209.38 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I arrived at work ready to begin just another day. The conference room closest to my office had a very large meeting going on and suddenly the door opened and someone screamed that a plane had hit one of the World Trade Center buildings. Everyone in my area crammed into that conference room to see what was going on. My most vivid memories were watching the second plane going into the second tower and then staring in disbelief as both towers collapsed. I could not believe this was happening in our country! I stayed glued to the television over the next several days. I didn't want to see the replays over and over again, but I couldn't seem to pull myself away. My sister is a flight attendant for United Airlines and lost several co-workers that day. My heart goes out to the families of those lost and to the bravery of those New York firefighters who risked their lives to save others. They are an inspiration to me every 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 story3490.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. 192.127.94.7 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 lying in bed, half asleep, when I heard a scream coming from my mom's bedroom. I paid no attention to it at first. "she must have dropped something or spilled something" I thought. As usual, I turned on my TV to watch the TODAY show. Complete chaos had taken over the moring program. I tried to wake up as quickly as possible so I could understand what was happening. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and hearing! As I watched, the second plane exploded into the second Twin Tower! For a moment I thought I was still dreaming. This had to be a nightmare! Reality set in as my mother flew into my room, tears streaming down her face. The WTC and the Pentagon have been hit! Who is doing this? Why are they doing this? Is it over? Suddenly, the rest of the USA seemed to freeze. Business were closing. Airports were closing. The USA stopped. We watched as the towers collapsed. We watched as the news reported the downed plane in PA. Shock was replaced by fear. Fear was replaced by anger. Anger was replaced by sorrow. I knew in an instant that the world would never be the same; my life would never be the same. The affects of that day are still being felt. I am certain that they will continue to be felt for eternity. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story240.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-03-13 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 12.154.73.37 Annotation Annotations to this item. Television Coverage DOMESTIC Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I would first like to say that I do not see that the fight that we are currently fighting in Iraq is the solution to 9-11. I was sitting in class on 9-11 wondering why everyone seemed to be in such a panic and then when we were dismissed early I found out the answer. I was in complete and total shock when I saw those horrible images on the television. I, like most Americans, thought that this could never happen to us yet there it was in my face. I was so scared! I wanted to see some revenge for all the Americans that lost their lives that day for no good reason. Nothing but hate was evidenced in the events of that day. How can one set of people hate another set of people so badly for no reason other than their race. This day brought racism into a whole new light for me and many others. I did want to see the people responsible for that day brought down but in my opinion more American soldiers are dying needlessly today and every day since that war was declared than died to bring on the war. My opinion is my own but I say its time to pull out and guard ourselves from another attack like this. Guard our home not invade theirs only to rebuild it due to our damages. I love this country and I will never another day in my life believe that we are untouchable, but I will also not let these senseless acts of hate keep me from enjoying what life I have left. 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 story11726.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. anonymously Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2005-08-16 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 72.4.14.17 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 was a totally normal day for me that year. School had just started, and I was liking sixth grade. That morning we were having our lesson as usual, when our teacher got a phone call. After answering the call with a look of confusion and slight alarm, he went to the back of the class and turned on the TV to the breaking news. We watched for an hour. I didn't even really pay attention... I didn't process what was happening. For some reason the information refused to compute in my head. One after another, kids from our class started getting picked up by parents. Since a lot of the kids' moms and dads worked for the government and in the Pentagon, the fact that the Pentagon was hit was especially troublesome. Then, my mom came and got me. When we got home, she told me she didn't know where my dad was. We tried to call him over and over, but the cell phone lines weren't working. Neither were the land lines. I sat in front of my house for four hours just waiting for him to come home. That's when it all hit. I cried and cried. He eventually came home, much to my family's delight. That day, we put up our American flag. It hasn't come down since. 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 story20823.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2006-09-12 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 151.188.16.21 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: i was about to sleep that i occasionally turned on the t.v ...and saw the big heading " attacks on world trade centre.....i felt shocked ...i was like how come anyone dared to attack on U.S.A....and suddenly i felt pity for those who were in the building ...i think voilence of any thing is rediculus...i never appriciate voilence of anything...so when the next headline came it was thousands of people have lost their lives...i felt the same as their close relatives felt...though america is not my country but sharing others grief is in my personaltly....and many people of different countries who worked there also died.....i think distruction of anything ...is very cruel thing to do ...and america will do justicewith those who did that ....and if they are not going to be in justice then god will bring them into justice...some of pakistani did died... 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 story5462.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 206.214.2.53 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I remember waking up at 5:50 am PST, turning on the TV, and seeing Tower 1 with billowing smoke coming out of it, and hearing them talk about how they didn't know what happened, they just knew that there had been an explosion on the top quarter of the building. Then I saw the second plane hit Tower 2 and I didn't know what to think, say, or do. I was just sitting on my couch in disbelief that a plane had actually flown into the World Trade Center. When I was seven, I remember living in an apartment in Manhattan near the United Nations Building and going to the World Trade Center one day and just being amazed at the shear height of the towers. I went to the top, and out on to the observation deck and looked out and I could see all of New York City. It was and always will be the most amazing sight I have seen. I have wanted to be a firefighter for about a year now and seeing the 9/11 documentary on CBS last night has just fueled that aspiration even more. I still to this day don't understand how somebody could do something like that, religious issues or not. I will always cherish living in New York and getting to go to the World Trade Center. Nothing will ever be able to fill those missing twin towers in any (past or present) New Yorkers heart. Those towers were and are the pride and joy of any New Yorker who ever touched or looked at them. Visiting this website was part of a homework assignment for a senior contemporary world problems class but reading others stories made me want to share mine with you. God Bless New York, Washington D.C., the United States of America, and the modern free world. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story230.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. 2002-03-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 64.154.184.112 Annotation Annotations to this item. Firefighters Patriotism Television Coverage WTC, pre-911 DOMESTIC Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I can remember coming home from school to find my mom and dad where sat on the sofa. everyone was quiet and as i began to wonder i turned around and looked at the television, we had the 24hour news on i saw the first photos of the attacks. i had a horrible feeling inside of me, i couldnt believe that someone could do that and kill all those people and put thousands more through pain and wondering whether there loved ones where still alive or had escaped. I used to live in manhatten, so close to this terrible insident. even though i wasnt in the states it seemed that the whole world stood still in shock. as it began to sink in, i sat down and hugged my family happy that i had them all with me but all the friends i made in NY and many worked around that area. as it turned out no one got hurt that i new, soon after we went to visit and stayed with my best friends parents. All i can remember of the day was coming home and watching it on tv then crying for all the loses that people had on that sad day, i made my mom turn the tv off as me and my sister sobbed over that amazing day that im sure no one will forget and im sure that i will be telling my kids about how and what happend. im still left wondering though, like millions more why would someone do this!? 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 story11618.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. 2005-07-17 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 62.254.0.14 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: As usual, I was about 15 mins early for my class. I exited the subway and saw the first tower on fire. I decided to walk block closer and find out what exactly had happened. I overheard someone said that a plane had crashed into the tower. I have to admit, I did not believe it. After standing there for about 20 mins, I decided to skip class and stay the two blocks away from the towers. I knew I couldn't walk away, I had to stay. I stood there long enough to witness about 5-6 people jump out of the towers - talk about having your heart drop to the floor. I thought to myself, "I wonder what it's like having to choose between a loose loose situation - stay in the building and have my body burn to ashes or jump and hope that my family finds my body, so they can have some closure. Standing there for those few hours was like watching a movie - it all seemed so unreal. When both towers fell down and everyone and everything had to leave the site, it was like hitting the rewind botton on the remote. To me it was all in slow motion. What I had witness that day did not sink in until I got home and starting crying uncontrollibly. I knew I had to do something to help. I signed up to do some volunteer cooking and cutting so the workers can eat at ground zero. After volunteering from 12 midnight to 7am, someone ask for help to carry some boxes. Not many raised their hands for that. I did. I turned out that those boxes was going to the Command Centre where all of our Major Heads were. It was the most amazing experience of my life. I was estatic at the thought of doing it again, and so I did. I am grateful I got the chance to have closure in a couple of different ways. Most of all, I have incredibly amazing friends who helped me work through the anger and hurt I felt towards the people who had done that awful crime. I had to understand that God was still in control and that unfortunately, that is the way that many of us know how to deal with conflicts - hurt and kill. I would like to let people know that there is a God and that he is still in control. If you would like to know more specifically what helped me, please contact me at: msoman74@yahoo.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 story2374.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 198.83.126.44 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: My bedroom window faced due east right over 2nd avenue. MY old apt. was right by NYU medical on 34th. It wasn't uncommon to hear ambulance sirens blaring early in the morning. At the time, I was between jobs, so I was just getting up. Some friends and I had been up late watching the Giant game on Monday night. I can still remember sitting around watching the game and eating wings. I woke up on the 11th to a continuous roar of sirens. Before I evern put the TV on, or spoke to anyone I sensed that something was wrong somewhere, because it was a continuous stream on ambulances and frie trucks shooting down 2nd avenue. Then, about 5 minutes later, my girlfriend told me to put the news on because she had been on a bus going to work in midtown and had noticed groups of people starting to gather around TV's through store front windows. A woman on her bus started hysterically crying and carrying on because her husband worked in one of the towers. I remember getting dressed, and trying to call my dad on Long Island. I luckily got through, because by 9:30, it was almost impossible to get through to anyone on the phones. Cell phones didn't work either. As I was watching the Today show, I remember them saying that there were 2 ore hijacked planes, and that one of them was still coming to Manhattan. I didn't know what to do with myself. Should I stay in my apt. on the 29th floor of an unprotected building, or dhould I go downstairs where who knows what could be happening. I walked out of my building and remember seeing peoples faces and body language. Everyone looked really confused. It was palpable in the air. Very tough to describe, but everyone was thinking the same thing, or was concentrating on the same event that was unfolding in real time. I noticed that people were already starting to walk uptown on 3rd avenue when someone on the street had mentioned that one of the towers had fallen. When I heard this I brushed it off as an impossibility. Could not be possible. I then stopped into various restauranrs and bars that were for some reason open along 3rd avenue and kept watching a bt more. I decided to go get my girlfriend who was working on 47th and 5th at the time. When I got to her, it was bedlam on 5th avenue. People everywhere, people in mass exodus heading uptown. I remember a woman in a car heading uptown yelling at everyone in the street to go to the nearest hospital and give blood, cause "we're gonna need it" I had a few interviews that summer in both towers. I don't remember the exct floors, but I do remember being above the sky lobby on 82. Crazy to think about that. I def. would have been up there had I taken on one of the positions, or offered the other. My girlfriend and I walked all the way up to her place on 73rd street. I went to Duane Reade, wheich was packed with people stocking up on water and canned goods and we watched TV for the next 48 hours straight. That night, the only place open for dinner was this Chinese restaurant on 78th. As I walked up to pick up the food, the surreal part was how empty and quiet the city was. Not a single car on taxi on the road. A few people walking around, but it was just like one of those scenes in a movie when they clear a few city blocks for a dream sequence. Beyond imagination. 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 story9400.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. 2003-07-31 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 207.230.138.240 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 worked late the night before so, I wanted to sleep in for a change. The morning passed quickly as I had a disturbing dream. I live near Galveston, Texas and, I was dreaming that the Causeway bridge was being targeted for bombs which kept missing and hitting the water instead. It was similar to the Pearl Harbor footage I've watched on the PBS channel on tv. Suddenly I was standing at the foot of the bridge and a man had his back to me and, he turned around quickly and laughed in my face with a sneer of a madman. The man was japanese and dressed in a red uniform. I looked at him in question asking, why? I awoke and lit my morning cigarette while looking for my remote control to the tv to watch the morning news. It was 8:47 am. The newscaster was announcing that the first plane had struck the WTC tower and was unclear whether it was an accident. I started yelling, "we are being attacked!" At the same time, I was thinking, who can I call? I woke my husband with my yelling and explained my dream and the reality that was taking place. We then watched in horror as the second plane struck the other tower. I was completely numb. You see, the Causeway in Galveston is the one true connection to the mainland and, it is a symbol of our connection to the world (Houston) and, a high point of the island. It is the most important land mark of Galveston. The japanese man and the bombs were a reminder of the Kamikazee which, is a representation of the hijackers choice to use the planes as a weapon. If only I had gotten off work earlier, I might have awaken sooner and, thought of someone to contact who would have taken me serious enough to prevent this tragedy in some way. My preminitions have always come true of events that I feel strongly about in my heart. Please forgive me for my lack of timing. 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 story5882.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-12 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 209.240.198.62 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: As a New Yorker living in lower Manhattan I was engulfed by the events of 9/11. Within hours I began to receieve emails and calls from friends and well-wishers all over the world. The outpouring of love and support was truly the silver lining in a terribly dark cloud. Here I am attaching a copy of the email I sent out during those first difficult days: Dearest Friends, I feel I want to share these observations with the many friends who are in my thoughts these days?. I imagine that sharing this with each of you is my way of feeling closer to friends and family in these difficult times? Tuesday, 9/11/12 .... I am safe and well, but it?s been a terrible, terrible day. As you know, my apartment is at the foot of Fifth Avenue with a clear, unobstructed view of the World Trade Towers. I stepped outside this morning at 8:50 on the way to the gym. It was less than 5 minutes after the first plane hit the tower and there was a clear view of all the damage, the flames and the billowing smoke. It was indescribably horrific...and that was, of course, to prove to be just the beginning. New Yorkers are at their very best in times of crisis and today was no different. All the trains, subways, buses, cabs were stopped (at least in this part of town) so the ONLY way to get anywhere was to walk. The streets were teaming with people either just being together on the streets or walking their way about town. You could easily spot anyone who was walking up from the trade center because they were covered in what looked like volcanic soot...some with small wounds wrapped in handkerchiefs or make-shift bandages....and many, many people walking around dazed or crying or just shaking their heads talking to themselves. The entire area feels like a war zone. The only vehicles on the street have been the emergency vehicles or the trucks carrying medical supplies, oxygen tanks, etc to the hospital. Several police cars drive around with the windows blown out. The Air Force had fighter planes patrolling the skies. The Red Cross and Salvation Army trucks started arriving later in the afternoon. They put out a call for blood and the streets soon filled with lines of people 4-deep from one avenue to the next...people waited as much as 7 hours in line to donate blood. With my years in ER Psych I went to volunteer at the hospital which is 2 blocks away and is the primary receiving hospital for this tragedy. They also asked if I could help translate (I could help with French or Indonesian of course) but in the end they were overwhelmed with people volunteering and I decided to come back in a day or two as people loose steam and can appreciate fresh replacements. I had had plans to have dinner with some dear friends but since many restaurants and shops were closed (the banks also closed by about 10:30 and the primary elections were called off) we decided to have an impromptu dinner at my place instead. It was good to be surrounded by friends this evening....this was not an evening to be alone. It will be so strange to wake up tomorrow and just have a hole where the Trade Center has been. It?s always been a special pleasure of mine to be able to step out my front door and see the Empire State Building to the right and the Twin Towers to the left...I will miss them...and the sense of safety that has been shattered forever by this experience. Perhaps the most eery thing of all has been all the people who have NOT arrived at the hospitals. With expectations of approximately 20,000 people in the Twin Towers, the hospital has only admitted 130...With the exception of these few and the few admitted to some other area hospitals, all the rest lie under the rubble....what a gruesome, horrifying picture...what a gruesome, horrifying experience. Well, I should try to get some sleep. It?s hard to imagine what I will see when I close my eyes, but whatever it is, I know it is far, far less to deal with than so many people around the city tonight...in the midst of all this horror, I am so fortunate. Hold someone you love just a little bit closer tonight. Barbara WEDNESDAY; 9/12/01 ??.It is as horrible today as it was yesterday but in different ways. With the primary triage hospital just 2 blocks from me, this neighborhood is now the epicenter of human activity...The information center for people searching for loved ones is on the next block so there are lines of hundreds of people, some sobbing, most just numb, lined up behind police barricades waiting their turn in line to enter the makeshift facility to ask if their loved one was one of the few to be admitted to one of the hospitals or, as is most likely, how they can learn further about those who are, until now, unheard from. There is such a heaviness in the air... Today trucks full of rubble roll by fairly regularly, but still no ambulances? The smoke continues to rise, but the wind has shifted?today we smell and breathe the smoke in a way that we did not yesterday. To sit in the middle of all this and not be able to be helpful is, for me, almost torturous, but the reality is that there is so much personnel (hospital, army, Red Cross, police, etc.) that there is no real need for additional people. I am extremely impressed with how well organized everything is and how smoothly it all seems to be running. People continue to be helpful, accommodating. Walking next to the endlessly long lines of people searching for loved one are people offering bottles of water, snacks, fruit, sandwiches?whatever they can find to help ease the burden of those suffering the most. Things do not always run smoothly but everyone understands that the city is "winging it" and trying its? very best. I spend some time each day on the streets to remain in touch with this unphathomable reality, but mostly I just stare at the television or spend time with friends. We have all sought one another out. This is not a time to be alone. In addition, the outpouring of concern from friends and family around the world has been extraordinary. It is the only way that I know sometimes that this is not a terrible personal dream...not something that I am exaggerating and dramatizing... but truly a cataclysmic event that is affecting people around the world. I have been having a strenuous debate with myself about whether or not to go to San Francisco tomorrow. I am booked on a flight from Newark to San Fran...the identical itinerary as one of the hijacked planes. It is most likely that the decision will be taken out of my hands - that the flight will be cancelled - but if it does fly as scheduled I remain conflicted. Torn between a feeling of fear at how close this all hits home...not only in my line of vision as it unfolded and then in my neighborhood as it gathers, but also a duplication of the intended flight of a planeload of victims...this is very close indeed. I also have a certain reluctance to leave my hometown at a time like this, even though, in reality, there is nothing that I can do. On the other hand, I argue with myself, that if ever there will be tight, effective airport security it will be in the next few days, so the reality is probably that it will never be as safe from terrorists as it will be tomorrow. And the fact is that I have been looking forward to visiting with Karin and the family and I would be genuinely disappointed to cancel those plans. So, as I write this I am unsure what I will do. In writing this email to you, I follow the lead of my cousin Laurie who, with her family, recently lived through the wildfires of Wyoming. She routed a lengthy description of her experience which helped make it feel more immediate for me. I hope this helps you understand what has happened here. For certain, I find it helpful to share what is going on here with my "village". It's late afternoon and I want to go out once more before dark. ....Barbara At holiday time 2001I receieved a card from a cousin who gave news of her year and ended by saying it was a "joyful" year for her and her family... I responded (for myself and for all New Yorkers): Dear Anne and John, A ?joyful? year?.? We have had very different experiences of 2001. For me, this year has been the most difficult and painful year of my life. I have not yet recovered from the brutal, painful and lasting attack on my city and my home. There is not yet a day that goes by when I do not reflect back to those terrible days or try to adjust to the realities of my new life. The gaping hole, aglow at night from rescue lights and barren with blue sky during the day requires a recalculation each time I look up. New Yorkers still address one another as family, still understand unexpected outbursts of tears, still make way for emergency vehicles, and still maintain makeshift memorials at places of loss ? My neighborhood holds visions that, though fading from reality are ingrained in my mind? and in the mind?s eye of my neighbors and my community. We are still trying to comprehend what has happened to us. I was able for the first time yesterday to trace my running route which now ends at a broken and torn Winter Garden of The World Financial Center?the trees covered in ash, the windows smashed - a corpse of my old life?.and yet a life that was so recent that my ankle is still sore with wounds from jogging that very route. Reconciliation of the realities still eludes me. No, for all my good fortune, and all my good health, for all my friends who were unharmed and for all the bounties I enjoy, for all my trips for travel and all my visits with family, still, with all this, for me, this has not even been a ?good? year, let alone a ?joyful? one?.Our experience of 2001 seems worlds apart. 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 story10103.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. 2003-09-15 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 165.247.35.195 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 live in Sumner, WA and left for Columbia, SC with my best friend to celebrate my 17 year old son's completion of basic training at Fort Jackson, SC. He was graduating on the 13th of Sept. so we had arrived a few days earlier to sightsee and were planning on leaving the day of his graduation. We had planned to go to Myrtle Beach the day of the 11th and had risen early to get ready. Turning on the TV, everything seemed normal until the breaking news came through that a plane had hit the Trade Center. Like the rest of the country we assumed it was just a tragic accident and felt for the victims. Although that had the two of us surprised at what we were seeing, nothing could have prepared us for what was about to happen. As we listened to the news show reporting what was happening, I sat there watching another plane come into view. My initial thought was that plane should not be flying that low and they must be wanting to get a closer view of the accident. When suddenly there was a fire ball and black smoke coming from the second tower. Unbelievable! At that second there was no question this was no accident. Words cannot describe the sick and sudden quiet panic that came over me. Needless to say, we did not go on our usual happy selves that day. Confusion surrounded us trying to figure out our next move. Ft. Jackson went on high alert immediately and no one knew if we would be allowed on the base. I was scared for us as individuals, as a country and I was frightened for my child. But with the highest level of security, checking all bags and cars, they did allow us to come onto the fort for the ceremonies. And I could find no better place to be to feel energized by the patriotism. A calmness came over me by being around the military personnel that helped me through those uncertain days. Although we could not get home that day, or for several days after that, I felt a determination to keep calm and find a flight that would return us to our families. The Military would not allow the boys to fly home and they were put on Greyhound buses and told not to wear their uniforms. As for me and my friend, it took us another 3 days to get a flight and then 27 hours 6 different airports to make it home. Flights were cancelled and there was a lot of waiting in lines to get another flight. From Columbia, Washington DC, Chicago, Denver, San Francisco and finally Portland. From there I drove the rest of the way home just to avoid having to wait until the next day for a flight to Seattle. Of all those airports only Chicago proved to be the least patient and the most crowded (of course). I still carry that feeling with me today of how I felt on that fort. Although I worry a great deal about the military personnel having to fight, I am secure in the knowledge that they are ready and able to take care of business. 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 story7606.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. 2002-09-16 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 209.11.135.214 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: to the people i knew and worked with in the world trade ,ill never forget you. .it all started in 1997 when i got this job working for mcs business solutions fixing canon copiers.i had just finished a course for electronics at rets institute.this is what i wanted to do after serving in the us army from aug 1990 until jan 1993.as i flew back to nj from my duty station.the plane flew by the world trade on its way to newark airport.i looked at them like i always did when i was growing up from my bedroom window.what marvel!i finished the school,and took the test to see if i even qualified to take the job.i passed.then they asked us where did we want to work "we have different locations".i thought to myself wow i could work in ny,and not just anywhere,downtown.so i had an interview,and i got the job,working in the financial powerhouse that it is on may 12 1997. right after i took the job i had a baby girl born may 19th 1997,7 days after i took the job.my company gave me 3 days off,thank you .so after that i focused on training and becoming what i was,a professional copier technician.well now the years started to pass,its now 1999 and im a great technician,fixing copiers for companies in downtown manhattan.im working on an exclusive account,lehman brothers at 3 world finacial building.it was great.i got to be in there all day.they had a lot of copiers.it was known as an in-house account.a lot of floors,people and copiers.i worked there for about a year,then sometime in late 1999 me and another technician switched places his name was zack levy,he worked in the world trade account servicing our canon copiers.now i was the one working in the world trade with another technician,his name is derek morgan.i live in jersey and now my travel is better,i take the path in newark and get off in the world trade,the gave me an id card,and now i get off the and go right upstairs.thats when i begin to work with people and know the places and floors and whos machine is who's.we had two desks and two closets for copier parts on the 82nd floor of tower one,facing north.derek was there before 830 ready for his morning muffin.id go the 43rd floor and get breakfast and eat it while looking at the statue of liberty and the river,man that was a great view.what could be better than working in the tallest buildings in manhattan. ill always remember the time i met cory miller,who worked on the 101st floor for cantor fitzgerald.he was the one who called for service for the copiers up there,and also ran the stockroom from what i saw,also there was a girl named karen montague,she also worked on 101st floor.i see her on the way to see cory.that day i met him he was a little hesitant to let me touch his machines,but after seeing my work,he liked me a whole lot.then there were his pals that worked across from him,they were cool too.i dont know their names. then there was the lady from the 82nd floor her name is nancy nunez i fixed her copier lots of times. i mention them because i saw them alot,but i also saw many people and fixed many machines in world trade centers 1 through 7.chances are if you worked in those building i probably fixed your canon copier. so many days and hours spent in those buildings and not one day did i think of them being destroyed,until the day i went down to sublevel. i was walking to fix a copier there when i say the memorial that was built for the 1993 bombing victims.i stared at it,then i stared at it some more.i then said a prayer to god. i said "god please dont let this happen to me". fast forward to 2001.after working with people in those buildings for about 2 years i feel like were friends,productive friends.friends that laughed with me,got mad at me when the copier didnt work and id fix it and they'd be happy and thank me,and id thank them back.friends that chatted with me,i remeber talking to cory miller about some new speakers he bought from J&R in lower manhattan sometime in spring 2001 or so,he kept playing a song from silent bob strikes back and were listening and were talking about how the speakers were great,and i talked about how i took the family to dorney park,and he told me about a place in long island thats a waterpark and we even looked it up online.everytime id go to cantor fitzgerald me and cory would talk up a storm.we were cool,we exchanged aim screen names,his was jedinyte44,mine was livetildoa,and we would chat sometimes after work. now its the week before sept 11th i had went to fix some copiers for cory 2 times that week,and 1 of them was in the 105th floor. as i was leaving and seeing them for the last time,karen montague asked me to donate for diabetes foundation,i said ok and paid 2 bucks for 2 paper boots and i put my name in one and taped it to the wall,and she taped the other to the wall and she forgot to write my name in.so she looked and then she realized it and wrote it in.then i went into the elevator never to see them again.its friday sept 7th 2001,there werent any machines called in so my manager decided i could help out in the field.i didnt like that at all.id rather be in "the trade".so i went in the field and did my job.friday morning same thing.monday morning same thing.monday afternoon i get a call to fix a machine at the federal couthouse at 500 pearl st ,its 430 and i said to myself ill go in the morning,the call specifies that i need to bring a part with me to the call,so i go home. tuesday morning sept 11th.as i leave my house my and my fiance which i pregnant are having an argument about being late to work,and when i get to penn station,i leave her in the car without a goodbye or a kiss or a hug.and i hurry to catch my train thinking im going to be late,its about 755am.i get off on the platform in the world trade and i look at the clock and it says 825 am,so i hurry up and go up the escalators and through the mall,and just past victoria secret theres an escalator .that was my usual way to go to our office at 90 william st.i get there and theres a clock and it says 835am i think to myself "great im late".i take my elevator the the 11th floor and i walk to the parts room.i pick up the part for the call at 500 pearl st.,then i go to see my manager .he looks in out system and sees theres no call in the world trade.its 843 or so,he says go in the field if anything comes in ,youll go back to "the trade",i looked at him not liking the news but i dont argue.i say to myself "its ok a machine is gonna break down any day now,and ill be back in "the trade".just then my coworker calls me on the jobs nextel and says"the world trade is on fire".i said "what?"stop playing man.and he says " for real the world trade is on fire".so i walk towards the front of our office.thers a conference room we use with big windows,and when i look through them .they face the world trade and i could see both of them.and i could see a really big hole.i could see through the hole to the other side.i dont know what to think.all i know theres people on the top floors and theyre waving stuff and theres papers flying everywhere.then the people start jumping out.so i go to the back and make a call to let my pregnant fiancee know that i was ok.i went back to the windows.then all of a sudden a big explosion flew out of two wtc.i looked like someone set off a big bomb because all i saw was yellow water like orange fluid coming out of the building.i didnt know it was a plane.1 liberty plaza building was blocking the other side where the plane came in.so i thought it was a bomb.at this time i dont know what to do.i must have been in shock because i just stayed in the office for a good while.next thing i know i feel our building swaying.so we all try to run down the stairs ,11 flights,,by the time we got down there was smoke and white stuff coming into our building.we had to go back up,but the floors where locked so we couldnt get back in.we found exit on 3rd floor and we kicked the door in of some office and closed it behind us not knowing what just happened.we saw nuthing but black and white dust when we looked at the windows.we thought about what was gonna happenn to us.i thought about my daughter, my fiancee,and my unborn child.then the smoke started to clear and get lighter.so we ran outside and walked uptown.im looking back where the towers were,and i didnt see them there anymore.and i thought about my coworker derek who was there on the 82nd floor.and the people i knew there.thinking about what happened to them.i walk uptown for a while.alot of people on the street.trains didnt run.i waited a while,i called my fiancee at home after she got off work and told her im fine.that i missed her.i finally got home around 830-9 pm.clothes and shoes were dusty.i didnt know who lived or who died.my manager called me and said take the next day off.so on thursday he said come to work in lyndhurst,our refurbishing and training facility.we got some donated copiers and we fixed them for the port authority,they had lost all the machines in the world trade and they had setup a command post and they needed some copiers to do their stuff.monday sept 17th were back in downtown ny,backin the place i worked in and loved and had known so many people in such a short time.and god let me know he heard my prayer.he let me live .then my son was born 11-09-01. 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 story1072.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. 68.36.222.209 Annotation Annotations to this item. Economic effects Personal connection to someone at sit Victims WTC, attack WTC, pre-911 WTC, worked in (ever) NY: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: Like most on the West coast, I received a phone call from another, in my case it was my No. 2 son, asking me if I was watching TV and seeing what was happening. Usually I would be up before 6am but not this morning. My TV was on and I thought something was wrong with it as I couldn't recognize what I was looking at. Look like a split screen still picture of nothing. As my son began telling me what I was looking at, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I spent all day at the TV with my family. It was like it wasn't real, a movie that was stuck and repeating not ending. I was numb for days. This event was all consuming. I had to see and hear about survivors, I spent days watching and waiting in front of the TV, waiting, praying, sharing with the news reporter and his or her interviewee, feeling every much they're pain and fear. I watched for new footage as more and more became available to make myself realize this was real ... it was happening before my very eyes. I lived thru the TV of the Viet Nam War as it became, it slowly seemed to become normal, seen at the dinner table day after day month after month year after year. This event must not become a TV spectacular. Our country was ATTACKED, thousands were killed. It would I believe have a very different feeling and NOT be forgotten if our news were as it was when Peril Harbor was attacked. Then my parents and grandparents had to wait for the bits and pieces of this tragedy. News reels came by movie theater's. The meaning of what was happening had time to sink in. It wasn't instant. It seems that in our instant, fast paced, living today, we are in a hurry to get on with things and sadly the flags that went up to show the world we stand united started falling off in about the same length of time our parents and grandparents were finally receiving their first newsreels of the events in their day. Let's reflect this day in 2002 to keep our standard high, fly our colors with and in respect at all occasions, teach our children about our flag, it's meaning, pick apart each and every color, strip and star and what they stand for and the proper respect and care so we are not just flag waivers but truly deep in inside each of us lets bring our hearts and with pride hold that banner high, salute it and always remember when ever you see it flying to stop, think, of all who passed to give us, you and me, the chance to be free this very second. And that there are those enemies who want and will try to take this all away from us. And I say NO you can't. I believe the quote "Victory belongs to those who believe it the most and the longest!" 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 story6035.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. 198.81.17.172