399 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: Overwhelming disbelief, fear, anxiety, and anger when the 2nd plane plowed through the 2nd tower. Stunned umcomprehending looks on the faces of firemen, policemen, and the general public, who seemily were all momentarily rooted to pavement facing the doomed towers. As the first tower collasped, two co-workers and I were leaving the street underpass at the Brooklyn Bridge . Roaring thunder, then smoke and a frightened sea of humanity moved eastward in our direction as we navigated northward. The collaspe of the 2nd tower followed shortly. An inkling of the realization of the magnitude of this tragedy emerging through my thought patterns. Why? Why? Why? 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 story2652.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 216.236.135.154 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: September 11, 2001 had begun like every other day for me; there wasn't a strange or gut feeling about something going wrong that day. It had only been a month since I've started working at NYU Medical Center-Tisch Hospital. I had graduated from college that May, and it was my first employment as a Registered Nurse. I can remember the events of 9/11/01 as clear as day. About 15 newly employed RN's, including myself, were in one of our orientation classes up on the 12th floor. As the instructor began to teach, we heard sirens of all kinds. However, since it was NYC we just thought that there was nothing out of the ordinary going on. The sirens became louder and greater. Moments later, a charge nurse ran into the room and said, "An airplane has crashed into one of the twin towers! The hospital is now in emergency mode, and class is shut down as of right now!" No one knew what to do or say or think for that matter. We all went to the solarium to see the TV, and sure enough there was an image of a twin tower with an airplane in it. By the time we got to the TV, both twin towers were struck. A sense of panic filled the room, and all thoughts of it being a freak accident were shattered. We knew that it was something greater, and more terrifying than we would have ever imagined having happened in our own backyard. Our people were the targets of a terrorist attack. I then heard the news of the attacks in Washington, D.C.. This was when reality hit me. One of my dearest and oldest friends was in DC for school and an internship for that semester. Immediately I tried to contact my mother to let her know that I was fine and to check on my friend for me. It took about an hour to get through the lines but I finally did. No one heard from my friend, but they were going to keep trying to contact her for me (I later found out that she was safe and unharmed). The remainder of the day I went to help on 13east, the unit where I would work permanently after orientation was over. From the 13th floor all we could see is a huge cloud of dark smoke form were the twin towers once stood. I could only stare in disbelief. They kept us at work until about 5pm and then told us we can go home, since they didn't need any extra nurses as of yet. As I walked out of the hospital, an overwhelming feeling of needing to do something came over me. I wanted to help. I needed to help. Getting on a bus/train to get back home to NJ, when they needed Nurses, MD's, EMT's to help, just wasn't something that I could do. There was another Nurse from my orientation group that felt the same. We walked from NYUMC to St. Vincent's Hospital to volunteer our services. However, they already had enough coverage until the night shift and even until then they were pretty well staffed thanks to the outpour of volunteers. As we were walking away, an officer that overheard our attempts to volunteer, informed us about a triage that was being set up a Chelsea Piers. We then made our way to the west side to Chelsea Piers where we were welcomed. They quickly put us in groups that consisted of an RN, a student of nursing or medicine, EMT, and an MD. Once they set up the triage they gave us a tour and assigned us to stations. My eyes filled with tears to see such a sight. It looked like a scene out of a war film. "Unreal, unreal," these were the only words I managed to make out then. To the triage came officer's and firefighters with minor injuries. They needed oxygen, aantisepticointments, their eyes flushed, etc. Most of them refused treatment. They said things such as, "Just give a little oxygen and some water . . . I gotta go back . . . my friends, family, coworkers, etc.are in there." That night we hoped and waited to see an ambulance bring survivors. It never happened. As the night progressed, I saw how the city pulled together as a unit. Officers, firefighter, nurses, doctors, emts, civilians, everyone young and old. All working for our people, our city, our state, our nation. I would like to thank everyone that volunteered any type of service on 9/11/01. Your country shall remain forever grateful. God bless the victims, family, and our country. -Jesenia Collazo RN/BSN 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 story4263.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 205.188.209.38 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was at home in Silicon Valley at 7:00am, getting ready for work, when a friend called to say a plane had crashed into the world trade center, and I should turn on the news. I turned on the radio, and felt alarmed at the tone of emergency in the reporting. I figured it was a major airline accident, so sad. Then I checked the web, and saw rumours of a second plane, and a third crashing the Pentagon, and a fourth, headed for the White House, being followed by jet fighters ready to blow it out of the sky. I had no tv, but saw the images on the web. I went to work at 11am, two hours late, and found almost no one at work. My boss was there, and he said I could go home. An e-mail message from somebody high up in the company said to go home. So, I left. Even though many of us had expected a large layoff that very day, Tuesday, September 11. We were laid off on Wedesday, September 12, 2001, instead. I have spent now exactly one year out of work. I'm kinda bummed. So I start studing for a new field of employment. Best to everyone, anyone who reads this. Ralph. 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 story5014.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. 66.123.171.144 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: It was around three or four o'clock in the morning on September 11, 2001, when our phone rang. Our family friend, Robert, called us and said, "Hurry and turn on the TV." (He's in the military) My Mom sensed that something was wrong because it was very early in the morning. She ran to the TV and there it was. It was the site that changed the world. The first tower was burning! My family and I couldn't believe what we saw. We sat there and stared at the TV, then the second plane crashed into the other tower! I listened to the radio to see if we still had school and surely we did. But security was tight. No one was let into school without their ID's. Everyone was talking about it and whenever we saw a plane pass by some stupid kids would say, "Watch out we're next." I still remember the moment of silence we had at school that year. The whole school gathered around the flag pole and bowed their heads for all the poor lives that were taken. After school my family and I went to my uncles house because it was his birthday. He was very depressed because this act of terrorism had to happen on his special day. He said to us with humor, "My birthday is cursed." The three Arab kids that went to my school were being teased and threatened by the other students. A group of students were saying that they were going to vandalize their dad's store. During Halloween people were saying that they wanted to be Osama Bin Laden, but one of my teachers talked to the principal about it and it was forbidden. 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 story8046.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. 2002-09-21 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 198.81.26.236 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: As I was sitting at work, people were going around saying first the planes hit the Twin Towers then the Pentagon. Soon after, my boss called us into his office to say that there wasn't any way to get confirmation from Washington , and if we wanted to leave work, we could and we would deal with leave slips the next day (it was 10:10 AM). After I left his office and went back to my desk, I was calm (why I don't know since Oklahoma really tore me up and changed me forever especially since I work in a Federal Government building), then thought, I'd better get out of there. The parking lot will be a bear to get off of. Sure enough, there was a line to get out, but miraculously people were starting to show acts of kindness and letting cars get into line. I drove home with the radio on and really got scared when I heard another plane crashed, this time in Pennsylvania (my boyfriend lives in PA, and they weren't saying what city). By the time I got home and flipped on the tv just on the oft chance my soap may be coming on, I stared at the screen and shut it off. I was like a James Bond movie then, shaken, but not stirred. I've since seen the specials on what happened that day (finally seeing the planes hit the buildings), but still have not seen the images of people jumping. I have to be the only one who couldn't watch it the day it 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 story1087.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. 158.72.29.135 Annotation Annotations to this item. Television Coverage DC:2 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was home with my newborn daughter (six days old). We had just gotten out of the hospital a few days before. My husband had already left for work and she and I were laying in bed. I had just awakened and I decided to turn the TV on and see what was on. The first thing I turned it to was one of the morning shows (Today or Good Morning America, I can't remember which). I saw the report of a building burning. The sound wasn't turned up very loud on the TV, so I didn't hear what was going on at first. I didn't recognize right off what building was burning and as I sat watching this and trying to comprehend what was going on, the second plane hit the tower. I was shocked, to say the least. Being stuck at home with nothing else to do but watch TV, I sat and watched the horror unfold all day. I know I cried a few times, thinking of what all those people who had been trapped in the buildings and on the planes must have been feeling in their final moments. It was such a sad day. I know 9/11 is a day I will always remember where I was and what I was doing. 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 story810.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. 2002-06-20 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 204.65.230.7 Annotation Annotations to this item. DOMESTIC Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I had just arrived at my school from Manhattan, where I live six blocks from the Trade Center. When I got into Chapel( Upper School Assembly) at my highschool, our headmaster approached us and said to the school "a small plane has just crashed into the World Trade Center" I then ran to the front office because my mother was on a plane leaving JFK at 8:30. My mom didnt pick up her phone at all and I was very worried that the plane that crashed might have been her flight. Luckily as I had later found out, it wasn't. I then ran upstairs where I knew there was a TV and watched as the second plane hit the trade center. I then proceeded to gather all my friends from my neighborhood, TriBeCa, which is the Downtown area by the trade center, and began searching for a ride downtown. Unfortunately we were locked out of the city and out of our neighborhood. We then proceeded to spend the next 5 days at our friend Adam's house in Sheepset Bay, Brooklyn. By the time we got to his house, smoke had covered most of southern brooklyn, including the layer of ash on our school ground, and there was a stench of burnt metal and rubber from the buildings wiring. All I could think about was the plane. All I could think about was what was next? What would we do, how would we respond. I began to question what went wrong. 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 story11414.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. 2005-05-22 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 152.163.100.135 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: On September 11th 2001 I was taking my 5 year old daughter to school when I heard on the radio a plane crashed into a building. I had caught the rear end of the report so I didn't realize what was really going on. My thoughts were how tragic that an another airplane had crashed and not realizing that it was not an accident. When I arrived at work that morning, radios and TV's were on full force and I had stop to listen what was going on and I couldn't believe my ears. When reality set in all I could think about is my daughter safe and I was pregnant at the time so my emotions really began to get the best of me. Just as I was about to call my daughters school, they called me first to inform me that the children were safe but they were going to dismiss the children early that day just as a precaution. Just as I was about to walk out the door my daughters' older sister called and said that she would pick her up and bring her home with her. I too work at a school were the phone rang off the hook and parents came to pick up their children early, it was such caos but finally all of my 960 school children went home and still through all that, all I keep thinking was how was my daughter which I called every chance I got. I too as did many other people believed that the terrorists would make there way to Chicago, which is also one of the biggest cities, but again thank God for a second chance at life. I rushed out of work and raced to where my daughter was and I finally reached her and hugged and kissed her as hard as she would let me. As I walked through the door of my daughters' sister apartment I could hear the news over and over again and channel after channel with the tragic news of the terrist attacks and all I could do was cry for those whose lives were lost and thank God that my child was safe. My daughter saw the news and really didn't understand what had happened but she new it was done on purpose. She had nightmares for a long time and everytime she saw a plane she was afraid that it would crash and she ran into the house or where she felt safe. Through it all I learned to live each day as it comes and look at it as my last so that I don't take my life and loved ones for granted. Again I am greatful for the safety for my loved ones but in my heart I too will always feel violated and sad for those who were not so fortunate to survive especially for those who lost their loved ones that they will never see again and worse yet never say goodbye. Every day I thank God for another day of life and especially for my two beautiful children as I had a new baby boy after terrible day that will live forever in our hearts and minds. 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 story5425.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 152.163.188.6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was a junior at high school when it happened. The principal announced that a plane had rammed into one of the Twin Towers. A moment of silence... No deaths, no destruction. I was glad. I was glad that some terrorists had launched something into the center of Amerikkkan capitalist greed. I yelled out "Right on!" and, though that may seem unbelievable now, a few students joined in. I hated the Twin Towers. They represented all that was wrong in the world, something that caused so much pain and suffering in the name of the dollar. Not long later I learned that BOTH towers were hit and collapsed AND the Pentagon was hit AND a hijacked plane had crashed somewhere. Fear was contagious---this was war. People spoke of bin Laden and taking out the towelheads. My friends and I spoke that day of how and why this had happened; the consensus was that because the terrorists weren't just after our freedom, and because the US likely wouldn't stop doing what we suspected the terrorists were REALLY after us for, the future would likely be a bleak one with just more incidents like this.Nevertheless, we weren't immune to the shock that everyone had and it set in on me sometime before noon. The rest of the school day was pretty normal---people hung out, kissed their girlfriends, fell asleep in class---but then we came home to televisions replaying the crash over and over and over. From an infinite number of angles. The explosion got numbing and after a few hours the TV was turned off. I slept that night saddened, yet I also realized that this was the moment young "anarchists" like me had been waiting for. Something we had hated was taken out in grand fashion for all the world to see; now NOBODY could be blind to just how evil my country is. Yet I felt no comfort from that thought. I just felt sickened. Now it's almost a year later and we've chosen to get back to normal instead of learning something. We still shop at the chain store of our choice, we still watch "Friends" reruns, we still take our lives for granted. September 11th should have been the day of realization for us. But it wasn't and I worry that, in light of what the world is like now, it was an opportunity we couldn't afford to miss. 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 story1587.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. 2002-08-30 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 152.163.188.195 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: Early on the morning of September 11, I was awakened by a phone call from a friend in New York City, telling me to turn on my tv immediately. He knew that I had worked in the World Trade Center and how much I had loved it. As I watched the scene of destruction unfold, so many images of my days there came to mind with such intense and painful clarity. The next day, I wrote down everything I could remember so that the "life" of the buildings should not be always overshadowed by their "death." What follows is my account of a real place and time: From the late 70's through the early 80's I worked for the New York State Department of Labor at Two World Trade Center on the 72nd floor. Many state agencies were re-located into the South Tower of the WTC when it opened, since commercial tenants were in short supply. Most of us in government service were accustomed to working in old undesirable space in "undesirable" neighborhoods. It seemed astonishing to us that we had been re-located to such a new, wondrous place. When we arrived for work the first day, we discovered that the powers-that-be had had our desks placed with our backs to the windows so that we wouldn't be "distracted" from our work by the view. By the end of the day, almost every desk had been turned, some 90 degrees and some 180. I remember our moving from office to office to help each other move the furniture. When people came to visit me at work, I would immediately take them to the window of my office and encourage them to stand on the heat riser to press against the glass and see the view. Some climbed right up, and others retreated, somewhat pale, to the doorway and said "Oh, yes, it's very nice, but I can see just fine from here." The first time the winds rose up, we were astonished at how much the building swayed. If you focused on a fixed point on the horizon, such as a neon roof sign in New Jersey, you could literally see/feel yourself moving toward it and then back. Using the bathrooms, which were located in the core, was a particularly lively experience. You had to hold on to the toilet seats and keep your feet firmly planted on the floor. We were assured by the building engineers that swaying was "good" and to think of it as akin to being on a ship. We may have felt "seasick" but we didn't feel "unsafe." On foggy, rainy or snowy days, we couldn't see the streets below. If conditions were right, what we would see were the floors above us reflected on top of the clouds at a 90 degree angle. It was an eerie sight and felt like being in Brigadoon. There was much debate as to who had the "better" view. The south offered Battery Park and the harbor and the Statue of Liberty. But north, especially in the wintertime, one could see all the buildings uptown turning pink and crimson and silver and gold as the sun began to set and the building lights began to go on. The concourse was still under construction and was a "hard-hat area." We walked through plywood tunnels, and the first restaurant open to the public had a construction site motif. Tools and signs were hung from pipes and beams and the ashtrays (one could still smoke in public areas then) were hexagonal rivets. Some of the earliest businesses were Plymouth Shop and East River Savings Bank. Every week brought new enterprises and new delights. It felt like being a first settler of a new city. You could shop for clothes, buy a Mothers' Day card, bring in your dry-cleaning, get new heels put on your shoes, order a dozen roses, deposit your paycheck, get a newspaper or the latest best-seller -- all without stepping outside. It got better and better and better. There were jazz concerts at lunchtime on the plaza and after-work drinks at Windows On The World, because it was someone's birthday, or just because. If we wanted to stay "in" we could eat lunch at the State Employees cafeteria on the 43rd floor or the Custom House cafeteria in Building 5 or the Restaurant on the 44th floor in Building One. Or go out to Popeye's Chicken out the "back door" or walk a few blocks to Rosie O'Grady's or the Japanese dumpling place. It was our place of work and it was our playground. Movies were made there -- Three Days of the Condor and The Wiz, which transformed the WTC plaza into the Emerald City of Oz. (I hope some filmographer will provide a full list sometime soon.) Philippe Petit walked the tightrope, and even if/because it was forbidden, we loved it. Years passed, the WTC became a sought-after address, and the state agencies were all designated to move out, to be replaced by commercial tenants paying commercial rental rates. On the night we were scheduled to be moved, a colleague and I volunteered to stay with our department's furniture and belongings to be sure that the movers got it all. Several floors of offices were to be moved that night and we were given a schedule which indicated that the movers would reach us at 7:00 P.M. They arrived at 4:00 the next morning. We spent the night sitting in our packed-up office, looking out at the city by night, reminiscing about all the days and places and talking about how "lucky" we had been to work in the WTC. As those hours of waiting passed, we were impatient to get going; now I think how wonderful it was to have had that last long night for a long goodbye. In my mind and in my heart, the towers stand. 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 story5838.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. 4.47.17.92 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 9-11 I was in middle school and at about right before the end of the day which would be around noon in Washington D.C. I was in English class and a teacher rushes in and tells my teacher to turn the T.V. on and watch the news and we were just stuck to the t.v. It seemed so unreal but at the same time you felt this feeling inside of you like Oh my gosh I can't believe that just happened, so the bell rings and nobody jumps out of their seat we just sit and watch for about another 25 minutes. It was so terifying to sit their and watch what was being done to our Capitol. When I got home my mom phoned my dad at work and we had a good friend whos wife worked at the WTC and had just been returning and saw the plane crash into the section of her office. We were so thankful she was ok but this day had a permanent affect all over the U.S. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story20870.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: As a former Marine, when I heard that the twin towers had been bombed, my first instinct was to say bomb the whole country. It did not matter that innocent people would be killed also I just wanted retribution. My first instinct overrode the fact that I was a christian. I had to take a step back and realize that it was not up to me to put a whole country to death for what a few people had done. Today that instinct is still there. I woke up this morning remembering and wanting a country to disappear again. I had to once again take a step back. God was dealing with me. Today has been a blaugh day for me, but I really mourn for all of the people who lost loved ones in New York. I pray that God can bring some healing into their lives. September 11, 2001 was tragic, but it also brought our country closer together, and that is something positive. The country is in my prayers. God Bless America!!! Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story4256.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. 68.1.220.189 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: In September 2001, I went to the U.S. on holiday (I am from Germany). First, we went to see Niagara Falls, and on September 6, we flew to New York. We, that is two other young women and myself. I would describe our relationship as a loose friendship, and we had had the first arguments at the airport already. The squabbles continued throughout the trip. On September 10, we stayed out very late at night, as we went to see a performance at Madison Square Garden. I was back at the hotel at about 3 a.m., tired and still a bit jet-lagged on top of that, shivering in my thin evening dress, wet from the rain and in a bad mood. For a number of reasons, the evening had not been much to my satisfaction. The next day, we slept late, then I went to have a shower and one of my friends got breakfast to go for all of us from a little shop next door. And the minute she came back up, she turned on the TV. We had had arguments about this already - I had been dead tired and wanted to sleep, while she wanted to watch some TV. And now, it was about 10:30 in the morning. Couldn't she even have breakfast without TV? (Turning on the TV for breakfast may seem like the most normal thing in the world to you, but in Germany for many years TV programs did not begin until 4:00 p.m. so, among ?my generation? there is still some feeling in the back of the head that watching TV is something one only does in the evening.) I also have to say that I am definitely not a morning person. Before I have had my first cup of tea, it is not very much good talking to me. I came out of the shower, sat down on the bed to see what she was watching and right at that moment I saw how the second plane was crashing into the South Tower. Of course, then I didn't know yet that this was what I saw. I remember being intellectually aware of it being a newscast and non-fictional, but I didn't really take it in. For the moment, those were just pictures on TV and I wanted my breakfast. I mean, there was no introduction, no preliminary comment, nothing. The first thing I saw was the plane crashing into the building. It took me a while to really take in what had happened. Then, I thought it would be a good idea to call my parents back home. But I couldn't get through right away, so my plan was to send them an e-mail first and try calling them again later. I had seen an internet cafe some blocks from our hotel. My friends thought about sending their e-mails home from the U.S. subsidiary of the bank one of them was working for. She only knew these people from the phone, so far, and she didn't even remember exactly where the bank was but only had a vague idea. So we decided to go to the internet cafe together, but when we left the hotel, she simply started walking in the other direction. I asked her what this was about, and she said that her bank was in that direction. I doubted that she?d really find it, though, and I didn?t much appreciate her attitude either. So I went to find the internet caf?. It was a 24/7 place, but when I arrived there, they had posted a handwritten sign saying that they were closed, due to the recent events. Now, what was I to do? Maybe I still wasn't thinking straight, because I thought that my parents wouldn't learn what had happened until 2:00 p.m. local time, which is when they show the evening news in Germany. Only, I had forgotten that my grandmother watched TV almost all day, and of course they interrupted all other programs with the news. Maybe to you, this sounds like a stupid thing to say, but I do not place much trust in the press any more after seeing the way they handled the 1993 allegations against Michael Jackson. We, that is at least 20 European fans that I personally know and many others who I only know by sight or not at all, had travelled to New York to see his performances, which were on September 7 and 10. Now I do not want to discuss his person or the allegations here, that would be out of place. But I would like to briefly define my position. I followed the case closely in 1993, wrote my diploma thesis on the subject, and am following the 2003 case. During my research, I have uncovered so much sloppy research and deliberate misinformation that my trust in the media in general has greatly suffered as a result. This is why I wanted to see this with my own eyes. I was not thinking, it was just instinct. I needed to see what had happened. So I started walking downtown, starting at 42nd street and just walking, walking, downtown all the way. The subways were, to my knowledge, not running at that time, I had no idea which bus to take and where to find it, and I did not want to take a taxi either. Maybe I wanted to walk. This was not about sensationalism, or trying to ?see something?. It was not as if I was staring at the scene of a mere car accident. This was something much larger, and maybe it was too large to be seen on a TV screen. I needed to see it with my own eyes. Now, I am saying ?it? ? well, at that time, I expected to find some skyscrapers with the tops of them missing, and a lot of rubble, and a lot of other people staring at it. I had not spent enough time watching TV to learn that the WTC had actually collapsed. Somewhere around 20th street, two men passed me by, walking uptown, and one of them said to the other ?no more twin towers?. I thought he was talking nonsense, and that they would certainly repair the towers, I don?t know, rebuild the missing bit or something like that. The streets were eerily quiet. I had not noticed that I had been passing a certain line, but suddenly (I think somewhere south of 20th street), there was no more car traffic. Quiet. A lot of pedestrians and many, many people on bicycles were still circulating, but no motor traffic. And still, I couldn?t see anything of the World Trade Center. Suddenly, at a street whose name I can?t remember now, my walk was at an end. (It might have been Franklin Street.) The rest of the streets was blocked off. That was it. There was nothing to see, because nothing was there any more. Clouds of black and grey smoke were rising up from the ground some streets down. It looked a bit like a really bad thunderstorm was brewing, only the clouds were on the ground. I saw a traffic light that was still changing from red to green and from green to red, but no cars were there, the road was blocked off and in the background there were black clouds. I took a photo of the now useless traffic light. So, I had not really seen anything, but I had had time to think and to take in the atmosphere, the eerie quiet. I walked back, all the way to 42nd street, where we had found a cheap hotel. Many shop owners had put their TV sets on the sidewalk, and people were gathering round, watching. On the way back, I tried again to call my parents. I had a handful of quarters, but the public phones spit them right back out after I had fed them some 5 or 6 of the coins. And it was the same at every phone I tried. Many phones were occupied, with people waiting in line. Slowly, I was beginning to get worried. I had to call my parents before 2 p.m.! I went back to the hotel, tried the public phone there ? same result, it didn?t like my quarters. Why? What should I do? I tried calling an operator, but she told me that I couldn?t make a collect call from a public phone. So I asked that lady at the reception whether I could use her phone to make a collect call. It was behind a wall of plate glass, though, and as I said, it was a cheap hotel, not one of those places that make you feel welcome and where they would probably simply have handed me the receiver over a desk with no plate glass around it. She asked me how I had tried to make the call, and I told her that I had used quarters. She said that I would never get through with quarters, and advised me to buy a $5 phone card at the shop next door. Now, I had no idea what difference that would make and why it had to be a $5 one, but I thought that living in the country, she probably knew best and bought the phone card. When I was back at the hotel, some other European tourists were calling home, and I had to wait for them to finish. Then I could finally call my parents, who were audibly relieved and told me that my grandmother had told them what had happened. How could I forget that she was watching TV all day, I was now asking myself. By the way, I now have a mobile phone which works in the U.S. too. So now I had made my phone call. I decided to walk to Michael?s hotel next. For those of you who are not so familiar with being a fan: Throughout Europe, wherever Michael is, sometimes dozens, sometimes hundreds of fans are gathering at his hotel. Some even sleep on the pavement there. It is not always in the hope of seeing Michael or being close to him that the fans go there, but his hotel is a meeting point in a foreign city. This is what it was to me now: a meeting point. Of course I did not expect so see Michael, or even think about him. It was quite clear to me that I would not be seeing him again on this trip. If I went to his hotel, it was to see whether some of the other fans were there. We were a large, loosely connected group and stayed in several hotels all over Manhattan. Some stayed at 42nd street, some at 67th street, some in Chinatown ? this is how we usually travel when following Michael, and it is how it was then, too. Usually we have mobiles, but now we didn?t because most European mobiles don?t work in the U.S. When I arrived there, one of Michael?s staff came out and asked us whether we were all ok. He was asking specifically whether we all still had hotel rooms and whether anybody was running out of money. (He knew that Michael?s fans often travel on a very tight budget.) While it is usually necessary to get to Michael?s people quickly before they vanish again, this time, there was no need to hurry. He asked us again and again, making absolutely sure that we were all ok. Those present at that time declined the offer; we do have credit cards and we can take responsibility of our own lives, although it was sweet to offer us help. However, I later learned that some fans had taken on the offer, so I know it was not just talk. We were all worrying a bit about how to get home. Nobody knew what was going to happen next. All air traffic had been blocked, and this was not because of something like bad weather which would disappear after a while. It had been a conscious decision to block air traffic, and we did at that time have absolutely no idea for how long we would be stranded here. I was thinking about my financial situation. How long could I hold out in such an expensive city as this? I did of course not have a U.S. bank account; I only had a credit card and did not even have the secret number with me to get cash on it. Staying a week longer than planned should not be a problem, but what would I do if this attack disturbed air traffic for several weeks? Some of the other fans were talking about going home by ship. They had seen a travel agency somewhere and wanted to ask how much it would cost to go back by ship. But that was out of the question to me. I get seasick very easily, even on a very short trip such as from Calais to Dover, which is how one reached England before the tunnel was built. So I was thinking more along the lines of taking a one-way rental car to Canada or Mexico and fly back from there. (I guessed that if the worst came to the worst, I could always fly back maybe not from Mexico, but from some of the many countries in South America.) I do not know what I imagined to happen next. Maybe I could best describe it by saying that I was prepared for everything. I was beginning to think about how I could earn a living if I was stranded here for longer. That was a hard question since I have no work permit for the U.S., but I thought that I would approach a colleague from the U.S. who had been in Munich a couple of times and was not only quite a nice person, but also a senior employee in a multinational company. If I could not get home, maybe he would help me and give me some sort of job as a secretary. I knew that companies could sort out the immigration formalities if they really wanted a candidate from abroad, and I was sure he would understand my situation. Since I had told people at work about my plans to go to New York for my holidays, of course I had to let them know that I was alright as well. On September 12, the internet caf? hat opened again and I could send them an e-mail. But who should I send it to? To my boss? He might not see it for quite a while as he is very busy. Maybe it was best to send it to his secretary, which is what I did. She forwarded it to everyone who knew I was in New York, and sent me a very nice answer. My boss had asked her to give me the contact information of the U.S. colleague I was talking about, and she told me not to worry if I couldn?t fly back home on Saturday as planned. Now as I am writing this, it sounds like no big deal, but then, it really meant a lot to me. Manhattan may not be the worst place in the world to be stranded, but this was definitely not a holiday any longer. People had been asked to ?stay at home? through the media, and most of them did. But I couldn?t do this, as I had no home here. At 2 p.m. the streets of Manhattan were as empty as they normally are at 2 a.m. Needless to say that most, maybe all tourist places had closed, shops had closed, and we were not really in any mood to enjoy a holiday only a day after something like this had happened within walking distance of our hotel, anyway. A few days ago, I had been on a holiday in New York, and now I felt as if I had suddenly been transported to some place in the Middle East that you normally only see on TV. There were helicopters flying around all the times. Police cars or ambulances (I couldn?t tell the difference unless I actually saw them) were driving around with their sirens on all the time. Military planes were flying over the city. Now, I am very used to the sound of military planes, as I grew up in the country. On a clear and sunny summer day ? such as September 11 ? they would be flying around quite a lot. I don?t know if they do this as much in the U.S., but Germany is a densely settled country and there are no wide open spaces where they could practice. So normally, I associate the sound of these planes to nice summer days and have come to like it. But this was different. It was not right. These planes should not be flying over a city, and especially not over this city. I did not really know what to do, so I went to Central Park, sat in the sun for a while and bought a stupid book at one of the bookstalls. I didn?t really do much else on the following days either. Some walking around in the city, some talk at ?Michael?s? hotel (he was no longer there, of course), a little shopping. I noticed a lot of little details and in my mind they all form my picture of September 11. I saw signs posted somewhere in the streets where people where looking for their friends. And this was two or three days after the attack and you knew that these people would not be coming back. I saw a McDonalds near Times Square, proudly announcing on a sign at the door ?we never close?. Next to this sign, a hand-written note had now been posted: ?sorry, we are closed?. To this day, I regret not having taken a photo of this. It was very symbolic to me; it made the impact of the terrorist attack on everyday life so visible. There also were the newspapers of September 11. Nobody bought them any more. What people did buy were postcards with the World Trade Center on them. By the evening, they were completely sold out everywhere I looked. Of course we also watched TV a lot. In our cheap hotel, we had three channels. Two of them were in Spanish, which only I could understand, but not my friends, and the third one was in English, but it was in very bad quality. This one English channel is what we watched now, for hours. On Thursday, September 13, the first fans were due to fly back home and went to the airport. I had by now changed hotels and stayed with a different group of people, as I had had enough of my friend?s attitude. Those who had left came back after a few hours. Their flight had been cancelled, and they were now due to fly back on Tuesday. On Friday, some more fans left for the airport, but they came back as well. Their flight was now on Wednesday or Thursday. So, if my flight was cancelled as well, I would not be going back home before next Friday, I thought. This would be almost a week later than planned, and I was not enjoying myself here any longer. In the evening, we went shopping and I saw a German paper in one of the shops. I wondered how it could have come here when there were no flights and picked it up: it was from Tuesday (and had of course been printed before the attacks). This made it once more clear to me that we were stranded. Not even a newspaper could get through any more. The paper I usually read put their print edition on their website, though, which I found very thoughtful of them. I wonder who gave them the idea. Maybe people mailed them asking them to do this? I mean, normally I would never think of reading a German paper, or any newspaper at all, when on holiday. But it made me sad that this paper was three days old. On Saturday evening, I was to fly back. And on Saturday morning, the Empire State Building opened again. The timing was uncomfortably tight (passengers were advised to arrive at the airport several hours prior to their flight, and I certainly did not want to miss this one), but still I decided to visit the Empire State Building. There were two reasons for this. First, I still had not seen with my own eyes what had happened. It is hard to explain, but I needed to see in order to understand. Second, I had decided to look down from atop a skyscraper even before actually booking this holiday. And I would not let some stupid terrorists keep me from doing so. So I went to the Empire State Building at 10:00 a.m., as I wanted to lose as little time as possible. A couple of people were lining up, but not too many. At the entrance, they had metal detectors, and I would at that moment not have gone up if there hadn?t been any. Of course I was afraid. This was not something I was doing to have fun, I was going up because I wanted to see. Somewhere in the middle of the building, we had to change elevators, and I remembered that this was as it had been in the World Trade Center in 1991, when I had visited it. (At that time, the elevator had been out of order, and we had had to walk down a couple of stairs. Those same stairs that later saved the lives of so many people ? I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to use that staircase. It is a long time ago, but I still remember dimly what it looked like. Somehow unfinished. It reminded me a bit of a staircase in a multi-storey car park.) Finally, I could see Ground Zero. There were two or three cranes standing around there, and even after four days, there was still smoke coming up from the ground. Everyone was standing on the south side of the building. It was as if I was looking down upon a grave. That is exactly the feeling I had, as if I was visiting a cemetery and standing at the grave. I did not stay very long, as I was not comfortable on the now highest building of the city. Walking back in, I passed the souvenir shops that one finds in such places. That day, they could not have been more out of place. (I guess they did not sell much except a few rolls of film maybe.) When I came back down and left the building, an employee said ?thank you for visiting the Empire State Building today?. I don?t know what these people must have been thinking of those who went up that day. (My friends clearly thought that I was crazy to do that.) It is a sight that I will not easily forget. Now I left for the airport. I fly quite a lot and have come to like airports with their busy people, walking and often running in every direction. Today, there was nothing of the kind. Everyone was solemnly and silently standing in line at the check-in counters. There was one long line for check-in, and I stood in it for two hours! Everyone, including the crew, was nervous on the flight back. I had asked for a window seat on the right-hand side. Of course I did not know it then, but from this seat, I had a perfect view on Ground Zero. I was sitting in a starting plane (I have never liked starts, especially that one moment when the plane does no longer climb that sharply and you feel as if you are about to fall down now) and was looking down on the site of a plane crash that had been no accident ? and all this was only a couple of miles away. The sun was setting and black smoke was rising from the ground. On the way back, I had a lot of time to think about what it was that I wanted out of my life, and what I would regret if, for instance, this plane was to crash now. It was a very spiritual experience. Normally, I do not really like going back home. I usually have the feeling that Munich is a dull and boring place. But this time, it was different. I did not feel I was returning to a dull place, but to a safe place. The next day, I went back to work and I really enjoyed it. The company I was working for was then located in a small and indistinct building which no-one would be able to hit with an airplane even if they tried. I went to say hello to my boss, but he was on the phone, so I went back to my place. When he had finished his call, he came to greet me. Everyone was nice to me that day, asking things like where I had been when it had happened, and how I had heard the news. I learned how people at the office had reacted to the events: They had taken the rest of the day off when they had heard the news. (When the news had arrived, there had only been two hours of work left anyway.) I was looking out of the window, at the perfect sunshine outside. The same perfect sunshine as in New York ? only that sense of danger in the air was no longer there. It was good to be back home 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 story10217.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. 2003-11-29 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 193.159.137.45 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 just arrived at work at a local CD store. It was probably about 9:45AM when I heard the news over the radio which was set to a talk-radio show we would sometimes have on in the morning. My memories of it all are a bit jumbled, but if I remember correctly, I had first heard that a plane had crashed into one of the towers, or that there was a fire or something like that. Then I heard more about the second tower being hit and then the Pentagon and another plane going down elsewhere and I couldn't believe what was happening. I just remember hearing about what seemed like endless reports of hijacked planes going down. I remember how it all seemed so surreal, especially when I heard about the first tower falling. It just all seemed unreal, but with all the other effects of the events going on, like credit cards unable to be processed and busy telephone circuits, it let me know that it was, in fact, real and not far away with me being near Boston, where two of the planes had departed. I talked with my mother on the phone and it was through her that I learned that it wasn't just one tower that fell, but both. I just found it hard to imagine, and I hadn't seen any of it on TV yet, so I did have to imagine it all. I may have gone next door to a food shop during my lunch break and seen a little bit of footage on their TV (I really don't remember for certain), but I didn't see most of the coverage and earlier footage until I got home. I think that's when it finally started to sink in. I remember seeing a list of names of victims from the planes, and some were from Newton. It really hit home. It could have very easily been someone I knew or even me on one of those planes. I think some people I knew did know of someone who was personally effected by the day's events. That day at work I played the album "War" by U2. Many of the songs' lyrics turned out to be very fitting. 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 story4829.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. 172.182.229.64 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 are retired and were at home that morning. We had his mother down from Knoxville to visit for a few days. My husband had taken his morning walk and was in the shower. My mother-in-law was still asleep. I had awakened just before nine and reached over to turn on the television. "Good Morning America" was on. Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer were telling about a plane crashing into one of the World Trade Center Towers and were uncertain as to whether it was an accident or was intentional. The towers were visible in the window behind them. I could see the smoke billowing from the gaping hole in the attacked tower. Behind them appeared another plane which flew into the second tower. I could not believe my eyes. Charlie and Diane were shocked as well. At that point I believe everyone who was watching the events had to know that these were no accidents and our country was under attack from some evil source. By this time my husband, Michael, had gotten out of the shower and I proceeded to tell him about the shocking events of the day. What other attacks could we expect that day. The announcement was not long in coming. The Pentagon had been attacked and another hijacked plane was in the air over Ohio and had turned back toward Pennsylvania. My husband told his mother, who had finally awakened and gotten up out of bed, of the events. Needless to say, we were glued in disbelief to the television the entire day. Our hearts went out to all those affected and all of the innocent people who lost their lives at the hands of those terrorists. At supper we said a prayer for our country, for all those affected by the attack, and for the terrorists who did this evil thing. Our country and its loyal citizens will recover in time. We will survive but with a broken wing because our freedoms and safety have been compromised. We will proceed with caution, always on guard. God bless America! Mary Lou Finley 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 story8270.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. 2002-10-02 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 199.35.147.55 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 sitting in my living room folding laundry while watching CNN. As the terrible events kept unfolding, realilty became more and more horrible. An isolated plane crash was terrible enough, and New York had seen at least one other plane crash into a skyscraper. (The Empire State Building in the 1930's I think.) It was a tragedy, but not beyond the scope of any other. Then the second plane crashed, the Pentagon was crashed into and the plane went down in Penn. As the day progressed with more and more tragedies occurring, I became more and more appalled and confused. I was unsure what was happening. Were we being attacked, and if so, by whom? Was this the beginning of the End Times that the Bible predicts will happen? All I could do was fall on my face (literally!) and pray to God to help the survivors and rescue workers, that those who lost loved ones would be comforted in their grief, and that the horrors would stop. Tom Mcguiness of Flight 11 was a friend of a friend and began attending our church a few months before we moved. I still wear a ribbon in memory of him, and all those who lost their lives that day. Some would say "Where was God on that day?" I say that He was there, keeping people from flying and going to meetings in the WTC via running late, and traffic jams, etc. Up to 75,000 people could have died that day had all the planes, offices and tourist spaces had been filled to capacity. God kept so many safe that day. I say He was there guiding people out of the WTC, and was visible in the selflessness shown by those who risked their lives to help others evacuate, in the bravery of Mr. Beamer (sp?) and the others to keep the highjackers from crashing the plane into DC. Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts on that very dark day. Out of the ashes have come stories of bravery and selflessness that shine like gold in the greyness of the evil of the terrible events. 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 story8737.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. 2002-12-14 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 24.147.153.100 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 in my classroom teaching math, when a student entered the classroom with a note from the office. When I opened the letter, it briefly stated that there had been an attack on American soil. The letter also mentioned that parents would probably start to pick up their children early. Other than that, the letter was very evasive. As the day continued, my class started to wonder why several parents had come to pick up their children, seeing that this was not a normal behavior. I told my students that when they went home, that they should watch the news. I also told them that I was truly unaware of all the details, and would have more clarity once I was able to watch the news. At the close of school, I immediately ran and turned the television on. Needless to say that I was shocked regarding the days events. I was also afraid, for I have a good friend who resides in New York. I was worried about his safety, for he is a policeman there. I tried to call him, but in light of what had occurred, I was unable to get through. I left an e-mail message for him to contact me whenever he had the opportunity. In about a 24hr period, he called me to let me know that he was okay. I can't describe how emotional I was after seeing what had taken place. It is truly a day in history that I 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 story5379.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 216.148.246.134 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was sitting at my desk when a co-worker who was home ill called to tell me the news. Having read the book `America the Vulnerable' several years prior, I commented to my other co-wrkers, `This is only the begining". One week later I sitting at the same desk listening to the latest reports when the poem `9-18-01' poured out of me. 9-18-01 take down the flags and with respect fold them into their nest silence the televisions and let the journalists put their messages to rest let the world's evils be attended to by spies and comfort our fears by whispering to us sweet little lies 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 story10471.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2004-03-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 136.142.197.20 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: The first day of my life where i felt pain for another outside of my family. I was watching T.V. and I flipped out. I didnt want to go to school I was mad. I was in shock because i never thought that anything like this could happen during my life time. While watching this i started to feel pain for the people that were trapped in the building. I don't think anyone would have ever thought of this happening to the Word Trade Towers. Then after it was all over it began all over again. The towers collapsed and now I felt the full impact of what happened. All that remains are the memories, pictures, and feelings inside. I wish that i could have reached out and helped those families who lost the loved ones in there lives. I cant even begin to imagine how they feel and I hope i never have to. through all this pain and suffering we became more united as one nation. In the end I guess we should all realize that, Hey it can happen but are you ready if it happens to you. I know that I am not. 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 story8277.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. 2002-10-02 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 209.79.73.71 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I go to a catholic school, Bishop Ludden. We regulary go to mass about once a month, this is ironic because september 11 was the day we celebrated our mass, for opening school. We heard an announcemt over the PA in the middle of mass to return to our classes. Everyone paniced and ran back to their classes. All the TV's were on with the NEWS. The kids paniced and rushed to payphones and cell phones. Every one called parent's and left. School was empty. 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 story4477.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. 64.12.96.8