376 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: It is a day that I will never forget. I was at home doing my housework listening to the Today show, when I heard them say that a plane had hit one of the Twin Towers. Then a little while later when the second plane hit all I could think of was what in the heck was going on with the planes in New York. As the time went by, I like I'm sure everyone else was, sat there in front of the tv crying and praying to God that there would be people found alive. I watched the news coverage all day and night and into the next few days. I remember as a child the anxiety of the Bay of Pigs and all that anxiety came flooding back to me. Not concern for me, but for my grandchildren. I must say though, that when I heard the President speak I did feel a little less anxious. It it a shame that there are people that hate Americans, when in this day and age everyone should just get along. I still pray to God that these people will be stopped so no one else ever will have to worry about terrorism again. 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 story3608.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 12.110.173.2 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: on september,11 2001 i was lock up but it hurt me very much i wish till this day i could fight for the country i love but this country will never fell and pray that this want happen again but you never know what might happen i just thank god for letting me wake up every day thats really something we shall be pround of. GOD BLESS AMERICA FOR EVER ALWAYS Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story8633.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-11-07 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 216.109.8.110 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: On September 11th, 2001, I was an 18-year old college freshman. It was my second day of college, and I arrived at school at the exact moment the first plane hit the World Trade Center. I ran to find the nearest TV that wasn't crowded, so I went to the school bookstore, and watched in horror at 9:02 a.m. as one of the towers came down. It was so scary. The images played before my eyes over and over again. I went to class at 10:30 that morning, and the class was dismissed at 12:20, as it was supposed to. The campus cancelled all of its classes after 2:30, and all of the residents had to remain on the campus in the dorms and apartments. Commuters (like myself), faculty, and administration had to leave the campus. he next day, we discussed what happened during my Media, Culture, and Society class. I'm now 20 years old and will begin my junior year in September 2003, but I'll never forget what happened my freshman year, on that beautiful late-summer morning. 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 story9364.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. 2003-07-03 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 205.188.209.8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I woke up around 8:50 am. September 11, 2001, to get my daughter ready for her kindergarten class in the afternoon...turned on the tv. with the volume all the way down...which was set on CNN from the night before...., I called my sister and said something was on cnn that looked like a movie....only to soon after witness the second plane hitting the second tower of the trade center....I turned up the volume and realized then, that this was not a movie...it was completely real...and could not believe in my heart of hearts that someone would actually cause such chaos, hurt innocent people and ultimately end up killing so many......I will never forget that day for the rest of my life.....I now have a fiancee' who's buddy was Tommy Foley of Rescue Co. 3 NYFD, who ended up dying that day...it effects my fiancee' greatly and myself to see families, friends and aquaintances hurting so much.....May God Almighty avenge these victims and their families...and I believe He will...... 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 story3264.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. 68.60.226.30 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 still makes me feel a little bit creepy. Back in those days I used to work as a Flight Attendant for a portuguese airline (AIR LUXOR). And during the Summer 2001 we were having 3 flights a week LISBON (PORTUGAL) to JFK and NEWARK. I was in the last flight crew. As the plane returned to Portugal, we stayed in Newark resting and we were returning to Lisbon (in a TAP AIR PORTUGAL flight) during the 10th September afternoon. I was with my wife, Sara, who was also my colleague, and I remember crossing a bridge towards JFK Airport as we saw Manhattan, and the Statue of Liberty, and I said: "Look Sara, this is all we get this year. You know... I'm already missing those walks downtown through ChinaTown, TriBeCa, SoHo. And look the Twin Towers, the ...". Ten minutes later a car crashed into the van that was carrying us to the airport. We stayed still in a traffic jam for a long time and when we arrived at the check-in it was closing. We were the last 10 people to check-in. The next morning at home, watching those images I wondered what could have happened to me if had stayed there. As we had the car crash and were thinking about losing the flight, we were planning to climb the WTC the next day. Everyday in the Summer 2001 when I was in NY, we stayed in Newark and we used to take the train to the WTC station, where we were used to arrive about 8.30/9.00 in the morning and have breakfast near the station exit. Was it luck, was it God. I think will never know. But one thing I know. I WILL NEVER EVER FORGET THOSE TWO DAYS AND HOW THEY COULD HAVE CHANGED MY LIFE. God bless you all and that those who deceased rest in peace forever and in our hearts. 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 story6050.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. 212.18.166.19 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I recently asked my mom if she ever contemplates how another terrorist attack would happen. She replied, ?I don?t know. You should get help.? I realized that I was causing her discomfort so I decided to change the topic. We chatted about my sister and her kids, argued over my dad?s business, and discussed the new door they?ve installed out in the country. I have always been capable of talking about one thing while thinking about something else. I responded to her questions with fluidity and coherence, ?What kind of door?? ?When do the kids start school?? At the same time, I was thinking, ?Will it be a brief flash followed by a mushroom cloud?? My mother and I hung up the phone and I was grateful that I didn?t cause her despair over my morose state of mind. I felt good about disguising my usual panic and terror for once and hearing her say, ?Goodbye, Sweetheart? instead of ?Would you like me to get on a plane and meet you?? The Office of Homeland Security has once again heightened the level of terror alert to "High". Now, as I write, I?m wondering if it will happen the very moment I glance out my window. Will it occur at Yankee Stadium tonight at 8? Will a van carrying nerve gas crash into the Brooklyn Bridge? Will I be lying in bed at 4:30 in the morning when I hear a sonic boom? Will I know what hit me? Will I have time to react as a loud rumble ripples toward my apartment in Brooklyn Heights as the wave of destruction obliterates me and my entire city? John Ashcroft is asking the American people to be vigilant but to go on with their business as usual. In the weeks following last year's attacks, Tom Ridge and the director of the FBI, Robert Mueller, repeatedly asked the average citizen to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Well now, that's rich. Suspicious people are precisely why New York exists; the maniacs and shysters of the world have been flocking to this city for centuries. I often suggest to my mom that I would like to move away from here. She reassures me by telling me that I just have to live my life day by day, and if I die, well? Then I die. She seems to be just a little too at ease with the idea of her only son being blown to bits. I mean, she?s mortified, yes, but she?s also resigned to the madness of human behavior; and that?s something she can not control. She reminds me that as a child in Budapest during the war, Jews were being rounded up as bombs rained over their innocent little heads. Some comfort! What have I personally done? What has my family done? My friends? What have any of us done to deserve to live in such terror? Basically, I'm just this stupid man thingy... I've got allergies and paper cuts; I have hair on my knees; I can imitate that guy from the B-52?s; I need to replace my cordless phone (I?m sick of having to buy a new one every ten days!); I can make people laugh. I'm just a big dummy who is being forced to live under this umbrella of fear for the rest of my life. Why don't I move? Sometimes I think I'm just like the Jews of Europe refusing to leave knowing they were doomed. I tend to push it all out of my mind as I bargain with myself: I'll just stay a little longer, until I can see some small success in my measly life; I don't want to move away without feeling that I've accomplished something; I don't want to move and have to start all over again. New York fills me with self-doubt and hate. I'm fat, bald, old, grey, unemployed, sexually dysfunctional, forever single and alone... Where am I going to go? How do I start over with all this damage and meshugas? I have so much emotional baggage; I don?t need a lover, I need a porter. And, why are my parents so complacent, anyway? They seem to be as impotent as I am, but I?m the one who?s hysterical. Oh yes, I forgot? I?m the one living within spitting distance of Ground Zero while my family is way up in Canada, shopping at Costco and buying doors at Home Depot. A few years ago, I had a New Age therapist when I moved back to Montreal after my second ?vacation? (that?s what I call my nervous breakdowns. What do you call yours?). The therapist?s office was filled with the soothing sound of synthesized classical music and smelled like a hippy who had finally taken a shower. In fact, my therapist was a kind of 60's-guru type with a PhD in Psychology: a spoiled, rich, WASP male, with all the luxury and comfort to afford a life of yoga, feng shui and organic food. I hated him immediately. In my second and final session, I walked into his office and saw him waiting for me across the room; sitting in his leather executive office chair in the lotus position. He unfolded his legs as I sat down, and rolled himself over to me using his bare feet for propulsion, just like Fred Flintstone. He came within a couple of inches of my face and stared into my eyes. He whispered in a soft and caring voice, ?Ernie, where do you live?? He placed his hand firmly on my head and asked, ?Do you live here?? Then he moved his hand down to my heart and continued, ?Where do you live, Ernie? Do you live here?? Finally, he slid his hand onto my crotch, and asked, ?Do you live here?? After getting over my initial shock, I pointed to my head and replied, (long pause) ?Here.? With all his shakra nonsense and crystals, I suppose he wasn?t as bad a therapist as I thought. Ten years later, I am still trying to move all the energy from my mind into the rest of my body and live more viscerally. In this city that never sleeps, I am wide awake. It is 3:20 am. Believe me, I would prefer sleeping over ranting at this very moment, but I can?t stop the neurons from bouncing around in my head. My mind is overflowing with ideas and thoughts; I, like many people, moved here for stimulation and to become rich and famous for achieving something or other. Even before 9-11, New Yorkers have been perceived as neurotic, self-obsessed and malcontent ? overall, however, I think we are the most resilient and well-adjusted people in the Western world. Contrary to popular belief, New Yorkers have a healthy balance of self-actualization and self-doubt. This city forces people to focus on the madness around them as opposed to the madness within themselves (and today, my dear reader is the maddest time of all). With the exception of the Son of Sam, New York has never produced a disenchanted young boy locked in his parents? garage building pipe-bombs or white supremacists forming militias. At very least, New York is the perfect antidote to life in quieter places where people stand out if they?re too bright, too happy, too depressed, too gay, too creative, too horny, too independent, too ambitious. For those of us whose minds are constantly racing, New York is the Kentucky Derby. Because of September 11th, however, my thoughts are stuck at the gate. I blame everything on the 11th: my weight gain, my inability to focus on editing a film I shot two years ago, my sleeping problems, my failure to be in a relationship, my anxiety, my drifting from job to job, etc. Nobody knows that I?m referring to the 11th of March, 1973, but why should that matter? The truth is, I came to this city because I?m a dreamer. I still harbor fantasies of becoming a Broadway dancer or an actor or David Bowie or an astronaut or a fireman; constantly reinventing myself in true New York fashion (even if it is only in the shower). When it comes to who I am or what I want to be, I know less at 37 than I did at 17. Although, I?m constantly depressed and bored with myself, typically, my Jewish sense of the absurd prevails; I shrug my shoulders and sigh, ?As long as a 767 doesn?t fly through my forehead, why get upset?? Everyone advises me that I can?t live in constant fear. ?You have more of a chance to die in a car accident than getting killed by Bin Laden.? I don?t think they get it. I suppose I?ve always been conscious of my own mortality, but in the past, I?ve never given much thought to Zabar?s being vaporized. I guess my mom?s right: I?ll just have to live my life day by day, and if I die, well? Then I die. In the meantime, I?ll just pour myself a Manhattan, pray for another subway series, and enjoy the time I?ve got 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 story3501.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 152.163.188.6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: While drinking coffee on our balcony early that morning, my husband turned on his pager, and read a news alert about a plane crash. We turned on the TV and saw the Pentagon on fire, and then the newscasters switched back to NYC. My husband left to go to work, and he called me to say that the roads were empty. As we spoke, the first tower collapsed. I remember simply sobbing to him, horrified and saddened for those unfortunate souls trapped inside. I know intellectually that human tragedies of enormous, soul-sickening proportion happen all the time... I am a history instructor, after all. However, seeing it in color on TV, and hearing the trembling voices of those left behind, mourning their loved ones has made a permanent etching in me, like acid on glass. I guess that like many fellow Las Vegans, I worried-- and still do-- that our city remains an easy target, but I will never walk in Vegas or fly throughout the US in fear. Fear is a victory for terrorists. 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 story1982.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. 2002-09-09 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 24.120.52.171 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 any other day I had taken my 8 year old to school and had my 11 year old with me for homeschooling. I was thinking how it was my brothers birthday and what I would get for him. I had to make a stop at the store and over heard someone say a plane hit the World Trade Center. I thought no big deal someone flew a small two seater to low they would have it fixed in no time. Well was I ever surprised when I found out what really happened. I know that I was in such shock I really did not know how to act. My son asked me what happened and I explained to him what little I knew. When I got to work and saw on T. V. what was really going on I thought oh my god how could anyone do this to all these innocent people. It has been a year and I still cry for all of those people that lost there lives on that day and wonder if my heart will ever stop aching for them and their families. I know now not to take life for granted kiss and hug my husband and children everyday no matter what and to make sure that the first and last thing that they hear from me is that I love them. 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 story3423.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 209.244.229.11 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: On this day of September 11, 2001, I was at home asleep, when at about 7:10 I heard the phone ring. It was a cousin of mine from San Diego telling me to hurry up and turn on the televison. So I awoke up, quickly, fearing something terrible had happened, sure enough my fear had come true. The first thing that crossed my mind, was my cousin who lives in New York,was he okay, was he in the Twin Towers. The worst fear that I've ever felt had come to me. All I could think of was, if he was alright, how can we get a hold of him and thinking about my aunt, his mother. I feared the worst. When talking to my cousin, from San Diego, I was so scared that I began to cry. I had this sadness in me knowing that my cousin may not be okay. Finally after hours of waiting, my cousin finally called and said that he was okay. We had great relief knowing he was alright. He was shaky but he was alright. He told us it was very scary and that he was sad and lonely. He was deciding to come home, but since all of the USA was in high alert, he would wait until it was safe to come back. He was thinking about returning in a couple of weeks after that day, but sadly he had to fly out seven days exactly, because his brother, our cousin, had passed away. Not only is September 11, 2001 going to be a day of rememberance for our country, the month will be, a month, we as well as many families will never forget. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story5980.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. 65.139.44.48 Notes Notes about this item. From Tracy, CA 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: Will the one thing that realy brout home what happened that day was that when I looked up in the sky there was on air planes in the sky at all. That scraded me more than what Isaw on TV at day, because that made it real. That mite what happened really did happened. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story6539.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. 207.15.185.55 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 helping my grandson get some breakfast, preparing to take him to the hospital to see his mommy. I had the television on and saw the image of a large airliner crashing into a huge building in New York City. I thought that looked so unbelievable and wondered how such a mistake could happen. I shut the television off and took my grandson to the hospital. Only after we got there did I hear that there had been two crashes, and that they were deliberate acts of sabatoge. It was so unreal in the midst of a celebration of new life. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story8529.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. 2002-10-20 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 67.195.206.236 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: It was 9-11-2001 and I was preparing for a class that I and two co-workers were going to give that day. My dad called me, "turn on the television", he said. "Dad", I told him, "remember I'm at work and I don't have a television." He was out of breath and talking quickly, "terrorists have crashed planes into the World Trade Center in New York City. Get out of your building, get out of there." A co-worker was in my office and I quickly told her and another co-worker outside my office heard us and immediately turned on the radio and attempted to get news through the Internet. Soon, nearly all the 60+ employees on our floor had heard the news as we shared it over cubicles and out of office doors. My dad continued to be anxious for my welfare, since I work in a high-rise building, though only about one-third the height of the WTC towers. I asked him, "Dad, maybe two planes just crashed in mid-air over the buildings." I just couldn't believe that someone had purposefully done such a thing. But as I heard the news from my co-workers and I turned on my own radio, I learned that he was right. I assured him that I would be alright and told him that I loved him before we hung up. Later my brother called me saying the same thing, "Sis, get out of that building, get away from there." I assured him that I was okay and probably going to be okay. It was still incredulous to me that people would do such a horrible thing. Within a few minutes of this, my daughter called me from Ashtabula, Ohio in tears. She had turned on the television and see the second place hit the South Tower. Later, I was so thankful because when I looked at the flight path of United Flight 93, I realized that its flight had been changed from Cleveland, Ohio and probably flew over my daughter's home on its way to its terrible end in Pennsylvania. Today, I realize that people do such things. It is a fact that makes me more uneasy in my work place and, actually, in other familiar places as well. Now I carry my cell phone with me everywhere. I always tell my husband where I am going and when I expect to return. I am more watchful of the people around me and my surroundings, while at the same time, I try to let those close to me, including my co-workers, know that I appreciate them. A few days after the attacks a co-worker came to my office and gave me one of the lovely pewter hearts which her husband had given her. She said she wanted me to know that she values our friendship. I told her that I would carry it with me always as a remembrance of the care we should give one another. Now I know more of the story of why my parents were so worried that day. My dad and brother were talking together that morning and my mother was listening to a local radio station when she heard that a plane had crashed into the 'tower'. She immediately called for my dad and brother to be quiet because since it was a local station, she thought it was my work place. When they learned it was the WTC in New York City, though they were not as worried as before, they immediately recognized that this could happen anywhere. It bothers me that they suffered even one moment of worry and concern for my welfare. My dad passed away in April of 2002. In fact, on September 11, 2001, he was awaiting surgery that would, we hoped, give him more time to live. The surgery was postponed until November 30 and we had over four more months to have him with us. Whenever I think of 9-11-2001, it is difficult to separate my sorrow for our nation and the people who suffered such horrible losses and my own grief at losing my dad, my best friend. 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 story8167.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. 2002-09-27 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 66.144.136.32 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: The day of the attack it was not great for people. It was not easy for the people who lost their family members. This is the day people will never forget. I was in the computer room when my teacher said ?? the World Trade Centers have been hit by planes??. After I heard that I was shocked. I wondered who could do this to the Americans. And destroy a great building at all. One thing I remember was at Social Studies on the day. When everyone mostly discussed about the attack and who did it. Even though we could not see anything on T.V. but when I got home I saw what happened and I was sad for the people who die. I was also scared that the terrorist would come here to where I live and start killing people. When I heard that Bin Laden had done this I was angry at him but after that attack we still stand united. After 9/11 it has changed my life a little. It has changed my life because I almost lost my cousin but he was in California. I was never there or near there that close to see. So I did have pain for those who died in the attack. It will be hard on 9/11/02 but people can make it through. Even for the people who lost family members. It is going to be hard ever September 11 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story2408.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 209.158.163.14 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: I was working in my home office on September 11 and called my mother to see how she and my dad were doing and while we were talking my mother had the tv on and all of a sudden she screamed and said she had see a plan hit a building. I could not believe it and ran into another room and turned on the tv to see what was happening. I thought it was a movie and could not be real. It took several minutes for me to comprehend what was happening and then I saw the other plane hit the second building. Disbelief and fear for all those people in the buildings was what I felt. Fear took over because they were talking of other planes for other targets in the US. I prayed at this point getting down on my knees and asking God to be with us and protect us. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story6569.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. 216.76.230.214 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: My sister who lives with us was preparing to go on an all day outing with a friend. The friend is the one who alerted us to what was happening in New York. We knew my sister's daughter, Christine Snyder, had been in New York and Washington D.C. on a business trip for Outdoor Circle, Honolulu, Hawaii. She was due to fly home that day. My sister immediately called Christine's cell phone number but there was no answer. She left a message to call us soon as she could. This was 9:30 AM CST. Convinced that Christine would be leaving at noon from Newark and was alright, my sister went on her way. I worried about it all day and of course, continued to watch things on the news. I kept getting calls from family members asking if we had heard from Christine. All day long the phone rang. Around 5 PM I got a call from my nephew (Christine''s brother)in Hawaii saying that Christine had taken an earlier flight and had been on Flight 93. I refused to believe it, asking who told him and how did he know. We hung up and I sat there trying to digest what he said. 20 minutes later I called Hawaii and asked the same questions, this time talking to my other nephew. He, of course, told me the same thing...it had been confirmed by United Airlines. My husband refused to believe it so we put in a call to United ourselves to verify it. You give the information and then wait for them to call you back. Before they called us back, the counselor assigned to our family by United called for my sister. So we talked to him about it...a wonderful caring young man named Joe Hall, and a sweet lady named Sue Kment. I had the unpleasant task of calling another sister and a niece in CA, my son in MN and daughter here in WI. We are a close family and this news hit us all very hard. I also had the nerve-wracking task of waiting until my sister came home to break that awful news to her. She did not arrive home until 11 PM. That had to be the longest day of my life. I cannot end this story without telling how wonderful United Airlines treated our whole family. The flew us all to Hawaii first class, all 9 of us who attended the Celebration of Christine's Life. United provided rental cars, all the meals and expenses for us. Yet to this day, the whole horrendous day does not seem real and it seems impossible that Christine is gone. 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 story498.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. 2002-05-02 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 64.77.138.196 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: Before I found out I was in English class about to go to the library to check out a book. When we got to the library I saw a few men watch the t.v. I had no clue still what was happening until the men talked about it. When I found out I still realy didn't get the picture untill the next class when everyone in class was talking about it. Then I realized what happened I couldn't understand why people could do such horrible things. I went through the whole day with people talking about it. When I got home my mom and sister talked about and i did too. Later my mom and I found out one of my grandma's cousin worked in the pentagon but he didn't go to work that day so he was ok. I thanked god that none of my family was killed on that day but I felt sad for all the people who lost a relative. This day was a terrible day and I hope it will never happen again. This day will always have a spot in my heart for all the lost people including the firefighters, police men, and the civilians who did nothing but fight for our country. Also the people in the airplanes who died. I just thought what if I was on that plane that day, everybody asked that quetion to themselves. What if I was on that plane or in those buildings, would I be alive today or would I be dead? This day is a remembrance of all that has fought for our country to make us free but still today we aren't really that safe. We never will be safe untill human kind is gone. 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 story3520.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 207.193.126.63 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 tell you the truth I only remember a little what happened on that day. But I am glad that it diddnt happen to me and my family. It was horrible and scary to me alot of people had got hurt and killed that day. When the plane crashed into the pentagon and knocked over the twin towers I was mad because I loved the twin towers.I couldn't believe what had happened that day some of the employees here was crying it made me want to cry but I held it in. That day was very sad for me andalot of people. For all the ones that lived i'm sorry for the injuries and the hurt you been through but everything is okay now I hope. Have the best life ever. 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 story20471.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2006-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 68.186.239.238 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: On that morning I walked into my office about 7:30a.m. all excited because today was my birthday. Then I can remember some of my office mates coming into the office talking about what they heard on the radio. At that time we only knew of the first tower being struck. I quickly forgot about my birthday and became glued to the television set to find out any information that was being released. 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 story4311.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 will never forget that morning, the sky was so blue and beautiful. I was on my way to work when I heard the news, I was in utter shock. I remember going home to pick up a TV to watch the coverage and the streets were so somber. You could feel the sorrow in the air, but at the same time I felt united. I felt a new connection with my neighbor and felt the pain and cries of those families who lost their loved ones like they were my own. I was scared, I wanted to take all my family in one room and hold them close. Me and my boyfriend made a special bond that day and the days thereafter which turned into a wonderful marriage and the birth of our son soon after. I will never forget that day, ever. 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 story10142.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. 2003-09-26 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 12.20.43.1 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: Dear Diana, On September 10, 2001, you were six months old. The next day the world around you changed as it rarely ever does - with violence, stunning in its cruelty; with mind-numbing speed; and with a decisiveness almost unheard of in human history. I bear witness to what happened because we were very close to the epicenter of this world-shattering earthquake. At 8:48 in the morning that day, we were in our apartment in lower Manhattan, one third of a mile north from what was the World Trade Center complex. You and your mother were in the living room, and I was still in bed. I was awakened by a loud screaming outside that sounded like a plane or missile, then I heard a huge explosion coming from the direction of the World Trade Center. Your mom thought it was a sonic boom. I thought it might be what it turned out to be. I put my head out the window and saw the gash, fire, and smoke in the side of the north tower of the Trade Center. I knew it wasn?t an accident. Not long after, while I was holding you, the second plane came screaming in followed by the explosion. In my remembering, you could tell that the engines were being revved up to full throttle as the planes came boring in for the kill. Your mom and I decided that I should go down to the scene to see if I could help. There were not very many people coming up the street as I was going down. The people were being evacuated to the east, south, and west. When I got to Vesey (the street bordering the complex on the north), I saw emergency vehicles off to my right, to the west, on West St., toward the Hudson River, and fire trucks to my left on Vesey itself. I went under the overpass that connected the main complex with 7 WTC. There was a lot of activity in the truck bays there, with people coming and going. I had worked for more than ten years for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The captain of the regional office?s police detail came by heading into the building. He told me that the Pentagon had been hit. I was considering where to go and what to do when I heard a third screaming that sounded to me like another plane or some kind of missile coming in. I dove to the curb and pressed up against a concrete barrier waiting for some kind of impact - and, it crossed my mind, my death. No shock came. I got up and moved toward the river, to West St., where scores of emergency vehicles and personnel were deployed, and where people from the Trade Center and other offices were escaping to the north. The screaming I?d heard wasn?t another jet or a missile. It was the sonic wave from the south tower collapsing, something I had no idea had happened. Suddenly a huge black-gray cloud with the debris and dust from the collapse of the south tower came roaring up the street, people running for their lives before it. I managed to outrun it and got home a few minutes later. My ignorance about the collapse of the south tower was bliss for me but unfortunately your poor mother had been watching this all on television. She had no idea where I was. She was quite terrified when the south tower went in and very happy to see me when I came through the door. We grabbed some things for you, put you in the carriage, and left. As we were heading up our street, your mom could see that the second tower was coming down. I couldn?t bear to look. The three of us headed to your Aunt Nina?s apartment on 12th St. in the East Village. On the way, there were thousands of people in the street, most of whom were going north, away from the disaster. On Fifth Ave., we saw a man being comforted by strangers. He was saying that his fiancee worked in the towers. Then we went into your mom?s church, the First Presbyterian Church (where we were married and you were baptized) and we prayed. I prayed to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas for the souls of the innocent dead and the dark souls of the terrorists. Then I took a Bible seeking the 23rd Psalm, tried to read it, and broke down. We went to Aunt Nina?s where your grandmother, who?d come into town from New Jersey for a doctor?s appointment, and your Uncle Roger, who worked downtown, eventually joined us. We watched the television for news. Later, I walked back downtown to the apartment to close the windows and to fetch a few items back. Then I walked back uptown. At six, we went for services at the church, had dinner at the apartment, then your mother, you and I went to our friends? place, farther west and uptown, where we went over everything. We exchanged solace and support with Uncle Charles and Aunt Stephanie. You gave us all wonderful hope, Diana. Believe it or not, you were completely good throughout all of the worst moments of the nightmare. I woke up at 3:00 a.m. that first night with a raging neckache, found some ibuprofen, then went back to sleep at 5:00, and stayed asleep, thankfully, until 11. The previous day had been more emotionally, psychically, and spiritually taxing than any I?d had in a very long time, and more than I ever want to have again. The same can be said, I am very sure, for scores of thousands of New Yorkers, Washingtonians, and others who were directly involved. That day, I walked back downtown to check on the apartment, to get some more things, and to see about volunteering. I was able to get downtown to the apartment with a photo ID. I took a hard hat from the apartment and managed to navigate police lines to get to where 7 WTC had collapsed onto Greenwich St. It was truly unbelievable, surreal, with fires still burning in the wreckage and being drenched by the Fire Department from an extended tower. There was an eerie quiet and a pall of dust and fine mist from the fire hose while I talked to a City truck driver who, it turned out, was studying structural engineering. We talked about how the planes had come in almost fully loaded with fuel and that the heat from the fires they had ignited was what doomed the towers. He was called to back his truck in to get debris out and I moved over to West St. to see what was happening there. There was lots of heavy equipment lined up. There was dust everywhere and office papers. I surveyed the scene from farther west, then moved back east and went down Church St. to Vesey. The block west of Church, where I?d seen the fire trucks deployed the day before, was a sea of crushed vehicles and debris. The spot where I?d been standing the day before when the south tower collapsed was underneath four stories or more of steaming rubble. I walked south, looking up and questioning the integrity of the tall and thin Millennium Hilton. Where the Trade Center plaza had been was a mountain of rubble continuing to Liberty St. There were lines of workers handing out small pieces of debris, one by one, or in buckets. Firemen, emergency service workers, cops, medical personnel - by the hundreds - were concentrating their efforts near the center of the mountain. Ruined vehicles were being cleared by heavy equipment and tow trucks. I can tell you that what you?ve seen and read about this is not an illusion and not a lie. It was much more real than you can imagine. There was a violence in the destruction that was without any light at all. After surveying the scene for a while, I simply gave up trying to grasp the scope of it. There was a volunteer hauling food and drink to the workers on the rubble pile from the makeshift canteen in the ruined Burger King at the southeast corner of Church and Liberty streets. There was a small first aid center there too, with medics treating workers for dust in their eyes and blisters on their feet. That people?s injuries on Wednesday were no worse than this was both a blessing and a kind of bitter irony. I grabbed a milk crate and filled it with sandwiches and drinks and took them around to the workers outside. There were hundreds of NY firemen and cops, construction workers, and police and firefighters from around the NYC metropolitan area. There were National Guardsmen scattered around, and medical personnel, both hospital workers and EMT?s. The work was not really dangerous, it seemed to me, nor requiring a world of skill, but it was tedious, working the bucket brigades. I took some drinks over to ten or so iron workers cutting beams with torches and I noticed a strange sight on the ground: ears of corn and other fruits and vegetables smashed into the plaza - these were the remains of the previous day?s Greenmarket; the same one to which you and your mother had gone many times that summer. The other arresting human face of the debris was the scattering, absolutely everywhere, of office papers. Mixed in with the gray dust of the buildings was almost thirty years of paper representing some of the work of tens of thousands of people. Of course - and it was too horrible to really grasp at the time, although I understood it on a visceral level - the dust was also composed of the bodies of close to six thousand people. When we ran out of drinks at the canteen on Liberty, I went around the corner to find more. There was another makeshift canteen a block south and a block west, at Cedar St. and Greenwich. I was loading up, when the firemen inside there saw people running outside, presumably because of another imminent building collapse. One of the firemen said ?Let?s get the fuck out of here,? and everyone bailed. Lesson One at disaster scenes: When a firefighter starts running, just go! We got down Greenwich a few blocks then stopped. The building in question, about ten stories, brick, seemed okay after all. Thinking though that I should check in with your mother, I found, miraculously, a working pay phone. I got Uncle Charles on the line and told him what I had been doing and that I was going to work a few more hours. The point, certainly, was not that I was doing anything particularly important myself but that I was there and I was helping in my small way. I, like thousands of others who came in from all over the country, needed to be there. I went back to where there was another cache of food and drink and started to load up again. It wasn?t long, however, before another stampede of emergency workers came tearing down from the east toward Greenwich and then poured south. I asked no questions and lit out. This time they were talking about One Liberty Plaza, an enormous big black office building occupying a whole block just east and up a rise from where the hundreds of workers were concentrated. The firefighters were quite serious about thinking it might go. As it turned out, this building was never at real risk of going, but that wasn?t properly determined until the next day. In any event, with you and your mother in mind, I figured it was time for me to leave. I headed toward the Hudson River, came across West St., moved up past the shattered facades of the World Financial Center, where I got stopped and questioned by a National Guardsman, then I made it over to the yacht basin, where there were a number of fireboats and other work boats docked. The work boats were positioned at several spots along the bulkhead. The esplanade area along the river was part of the running route that I used when I went south from our apartment and where you, your mother, and I would go for long walks. At the north end of Rockefeller Park, there was a helipad on the lawn where people would normally be sunbathing on a beautiful day like it was that Wednesday and the kids from Stuyvesant High School would be hanging out. The high school was a major staging area and rest center for the workers. I had learned earlier in the day that a former colleague of mine at DEC who had been working for the Port Authority had gotten out okay. I talked to him on Friday and learned that when the first plane came in, only 20 or so stories above him in the north tower, the building swayed and he and others thought it was going to topple, before it righted itself. His floor was evacuated. A few floors down the stairway, he remembered that he?d left his wallet behind. He didn?t think twice about getting it, but a colleague of his did, and my friend thought that the man who went back was probably caught in the explosion and shattered windows from when the second plane went into the south tower. In any event, the colleague didn?t make it out. One former coworker of ours at DEC who also worked at the Port Authority died. The only other connection I had to a casualty was the brother of some teammates of mine from the White Plains Rugby Football Club. Your mom and I have heard about many more people who died, though, who were friends, family, and colleagues of our friends and family. My friend at the Port Authority said that in 1993, when the first attack on the World Trade Center took place, there was no emergency lighting in the stairs. I knew from talking to people back then that the evacuation from the towers took many hours. I certainly had this in mind on September 11th when I was thinking of the probable death toll. When told later in the day that many, many thousands had gotten out in the hour before the south tower collapsed and the hour and a half before the north tower went, I thought it nearly a miracle. The lights in the stairs made a big, big difference. I was also told of the firemen who were going up as my friend and the others were going down. One heard this story over and over from the other evacuees. These heroes didn?t make it out. The firefighters and emergency medical technicians, and NY City and Port Authority police who went into those buildings were responsible for saving many more hundreds of lives than would have been saved had they not facilitated the evacuation. Almost four hundred of these truly incredible heroes died. A very close friend - and the man who introduced your mom to me - worked on the 32nd floor of the south tower. As soon as he and his co-workers heard the explosion from the first plane, they were told to leave. We all came home on Friday evening, after I?d scouted the neighborhood and after we?d bought a cell phone. The main consideration was air quality, so that you wouldn?t be in any danger at all. There was a big storm on Thursday night and that helped, and the wind direction seemed to be only occasionally blowing to the north. The fires in the ruins of 7 WTC went on for weeks, though, and sometimes we did have to close all the windows. Although we had power, we didn?t have phone service for weeks afterward. I had and have my opinions and my views about why this all happened and what I think should happen and what I think will happen. As you grow older and get to understand me better and understand history, you and I will share our thoughts. One thing I have to say now: As I heard that first plane going in, I pretty much intuited what was happening and why. The night we came home, I was on the cell phone with your Aunt Hannah. She was describing the coverage of the moments of silence and other ceremonies that happened in Europe that Friday, three days after the attacks. What she told me was all deeply moving, climaxing in the story of the woman in front of Notre Dame de Paris who said that she thought: ?We are all a little American today.? Aunt Hannah encouraged me to try to get our TV to work by trying to set up some sort of an antenna hookup. (The cable television line was out.) I did, and it worked, and your mom and I were able to see the stories on the news. We were both crying because of the tremendous feeling of relief that we were not alone in this, that the Europeans knew that we Americans needed their support after the horrific attack and they were opening their hearts to us. They also realized what we now knew: that there was a terrible depth of violence and hatred, ignorance and corruption at work in the world that had to be confronted. We would all have to get better at understanding and working to alleviate the conditions that bred the terrible, cancerous political movements that fostered such viciousness. This was one of the lessons from the Second World War which some people learned but which was forgotten in too many other places by far too many others. We may yet learn how to treat ourselves and our children with love and respect. We may yet learn how to live with some peace, prosperity, and harmony. I, for my part, am not going to wait for your generation to grow into adulthood to see if it happens. I will be trying harder than I ever have to help bring the world to a better way of living. I think that on September 11, 2001, many millions of people in the world made the same decision. Love Always, Dad 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 story9851.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 68.160.227.87