456 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: Wax I see wax along the promenade in alcoves at the end of each street dried flowers tied to railings adorning huddles of burnt candles broken glass nervous petals melted wax, red and white: swollen drops of blood giant teardrops now gray with soot wafting across the river. Across the river acrid clouds corrupt the sky in the night rescue lights search what's left no one believes life is there. What's left are street shrines in parks, around lampposts along walls and fences throughout the rent city-- and in Chicago, Amarillo, San Francisco-- ground zero coast-to-coast; shrines of vigil, of violation the helpless debris of candlelight strangers bearing witness and longing. When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd Lincoln's lonely corpse traveling by rail: Countless torches lit, Whitman sang, the tolling tolling bells' perpetual clang-- from Washington, Chillicothe, Terre Haute-- to Springfield's damp earth. War follows grief follows war water destroys fire, fire destroys water amid charred memorials photos of buoyant faces endearing heartrending smiles; whispers within the wax even now a relit candle burns raindrops poured away to distinguish among the extinguished cremation--simply--was unfair. Anguished Auden wrote of an earlier September: Who can reach the deaf, Who can speak for the dumb? Those to whom evil is done Do evil in return. We must love one another or die. . . Certainly April now is not the cruelest month. Across the river the sun like the soot also rises on the horizon. Bard Thomas railed for the living, railed in behalf of the dead: Do not go gentle into that good night Rage, rage against the dying of the light! # 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 story421.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. 2002-04-15 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 208.59.247.8 Annotation Annotations to this item. Memorials/Vigils (location or person) NY:3 Notes Notes about this item. Poetry 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 on the morning of September 11,2001 reading the morning paper and watching TV when I saw what had happened on TV on NBC I was really upset at what had happened to our Country. I have a Daughter that was a Flight Attendant for Continental Air Lines, stationed in New Jersey and I knew she was on duty that morning. I was very worried for all of America. I began to pray for all of the families that were effected by this attack and I prayed for my daughter to call and let me know she was ok and she finally did call and let me know that she was ok and not to worry. I watched tv all day long I just could not remove myself from the tv. I am very proud of America and all of the people that help in this time of need. My daughter did fly that day and for several month's after the attack she said she was not afraid to fly and some flight attendants were afraid to fly again and they did not fly after that day. She is no longer a flight attendant as she was laid off her job because of this attack on America but she enjoyed flying as this was her dream every since she was a teenager and she was living her dream. She has not been called back to work for Continental Air Lines. I am glad that I live in America and I am very proud of the way our President George W. Bush has handled things and still is handling America. He will go down in history as being one of the Greatest Presidents. I still Pray for all of America and our leaders and all of the Families of the 9-11-01. God Bless AMERICA is my prayer. Mary Margaret Wilson (Daughter is Kristy Denise Wilson) 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 story5717.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 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: When i woke up on September 11, 2001, I had no clue of what was going on. I drove to school and sat in my car waiting for the bell to ring for first period. I was listening to the radio and heard some commotion about something happening in New York but i changed the station to listen to music instead. When i finally walked into my first period, the televison was on and my teacher was watching. Everyone was kind of confused as to what was going on but it all came together quickly when we saw the replay of the towers falling. I was in shock as my teacher talked to us about how important this was and how this was going to be something we'd remember forever. None of us really understood the impact of what was going on. When i walked out of first period and walked to my second i thought of what this meant. I have family living in New York and people i knew that worked there. I all the sudden became frantic and ran to my car to call my mom. By then i was uncontrollably crying and the thought that i might have lost someone i loved in such a horrific accurance made me crazy. My mom hadn't been able to get a hold of anyone back east so we were all frantic with worry. I could hardly bare sitting in every class holding back tears that often times just came out. When i came home i ran and hugged my parents and just sat there and cried with my mom. We all watched t.v. with amazment that this could really happen. We finally got a hold of family members back east and found out that thankfully everyone was ok. We did know someone that was in the towers but she did make it out ok. It was hard for my family and me to overcome the shock of it all, and to tell you the truth i don't think we ever fully 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 story8240.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. 209.79.81.34 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 on a bus with some of my classmates and other classes. We had just got done with our first hour class in New Rockford. We got on the bus and the radio was on and it was talking about the Twin Towers and planes. We asked our bus driver, DJ what was going on, and he explained to us that the Twin Towers had just been hit by a plane. We got back to Sheyenne. The TV was on and the History classes were sitting in the commons area watching the news. Later on after the bell rang to go to our next class we heard people talking that the other Tower had got hit too. The whole day in every class we were talking about what happened and trying to get on the internet to find out more information. I will remember this day for as long as I live. 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 story3174.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. 165.234.188.203 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was at work and happen to be at the back of them store in Mcdonalds where i work as an Swing Manager and was watching the t.v. and saw the first plane go in to the first tower. I thought it was someone who didn't know how to fly a plane but it never crossed my mind that we were under attack. When the second plane went in to the second tower I knew we had trouble coming. I turned to my boss and immediately told him i needed to go and get my children,(I have 3 of them, 2 girls and a son) and needed them to be with me. I didn't really know what I was going to do but I knew I needed my family with me. I went and got them, there were many queastions that we were to answer in the coming hours and i also called my husband on returning to work with the children. That was the only day that I really felt alone and didn't really know what to do. I still feel the fear of that day and will never forget the anguish and pain of so many lives lost. 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 story4822.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. 66.72.203.61 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: On September 10th I flew from National Airport in the D.C. area to Oceanside California. It was an early morning flight, and I remember driving past the Pentagon and taking a good look at it. I'd never really paid attention to it before, it was just a building that was always there, but for some reason I took a long look at it that morning. Thinking back to that feels a little weird. My fiance was in the Marine Corps, and was to return from a 6 month deployment to the middle east on Sept. 15th. The biggest worry on my mind was finding my way from the airport in San Diego to the car rental place, and from there to Oceanside, which is near Camp Pendleton where he was stationed. I didn't know that those worries would seem like the smallest most miniscule problems the following day. That night I checked into my hotel room, drove around the area a little, and fell asleep early. Around 630am California time I woke up and was about to get in the shower when my cell phone rang. I answered it, and it was my dad. I could tell something was wrong, but when he told me that planes had hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon I thought he was kidding, I was in shock. Then what he said hit me, and I turned the news on. Seeing the footage of the planes hitting both towers, and seeing the smoke coming from the Pentagon obviously made me extremely upset. Both of my parents work within a mile from the Pentagon, and I was worried that more planes would be heading that direction. Then I started worrying that the west coast would be next, and was afraid because I was there by myself. After getting off of the phone with my dad I tried to get through to my mom for over an hour. The phones were tied up, I couldn't get through to anyone back home in the DC area. My dad had been standing outside of where he works when the plane flew overhead going towards the Pentagon, and he had called my mom (she works in Crystal City) to tell her to leave. So she had gotten a head start on leaving the city, and was lucky in that manner. People were literally walking away from the city, because traffic was so tied up you couldn't drive anywhere. Back in California, I ended up in the lobby of the hotel trying to find the closest place that I could get on the internet. Seeing the news footage on the tv in the lounge started me crying all over again, and the girl who worked at the front desk was nice enough to give me a hug and try to comfort me. It's something I will never forget, having someone I didn't even know comforting me. I found my way to a public computer station so I could email my fiance and ask him to call me that night, and went back to the hotel. I finally got through to my mom. We did a lot of crying over the phone together, trying to understand why people could hate us so much to do that. I also eventually got through to my best friend back home, and tried numerous times to get through to the Red Cross to find a place to donate blood. Later that day I couldn't take sitting in my room alone watching the news footage, so I left to find something to do. The mall was closed, in fact anyplace that a lot of people would normally gather at was closed. I ended up at a Target store walking around, just to be around people and try to take what had happened off of my mind for awhile. The worst part was knowing this had happened in my hometown, where I grew up, and that I couldn't do anything to help. I was worried about the President's safety, but knew that our country was in good hands with President Bush as our leader and took comfort in that. The next 2 weeks were very hard. My fiance returned from his deployment. Something that I had looked forward to for so long and that should have been joyous and exciting instead felt numb. Most of that first week is still a blur for me. I just remember being glued to the tv a lot, and trying to find out if the people I knew that worked at the Pentagon and the WTC were ok. The second week I spent trying to figure out how I was going to get home. I've never been a fan of flying, and after this I was pretty much terrified. I considered staying in CA, and also considered taking a train home (3 days!), but in the end I flew home. I wasn't about to let THEM win, and I knew if I didn't get the courage to fly then, I probably never would 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 story491.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. 2002-05-01 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 12.91.133.233 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,was the first day of my sophomore year of college at Furman University. I had a 9,10 and 11 o'clock class. I left for my 9 at about 8:45, and went to class. Class ran as schuduled, no one had heard anything so everything was normal. I couldn't even fathom how radically my world view would be changed in just a short hour. I went to my 10 o'clock class, the class sits down at attention and waits for the professor. The professor was late, something that professors are never supposed to do the first day. Immediatly it was evident that he was upset and had been crying, this was an upper level psych class, so we all begin to theorize about what had caused his distress. The professor began to speak, his voice broke, and he started to cry. He told us that New York had been attacked. He didn't know anything more than that, but he told us to go home and call our families, and to watch television. Most of us at this point in time thought this was great, we just got out of class in under 10 minutes. No one had any idea what we were going to be faced with as soon as we turned on the television. Instead of heading back to the dorms, I went to the bookstore to pick up an aditional book. When I walked into the bookstore, I was confronted with the first image of the attack on New York. I had never realized that there were televisions in the bookstore, but now they were the main focus. When I saw the television footage of the plane hitting the World Trade Center, chills ran up and down my back. Some of the students were crying, some were dumbfounded and for the first time in my life I was scared to be an Amercian. The cafeateria was a buzz with information, mostly false but still passed on excitily from friend to friend. "The National Mall is on fire!", "They hit Regan Naional". No one knew anything, the cafeteria workers were huddled around a small television that had been rolled in, and that area had been turned into a congragation place for people seeking solice. It was amzing to watch a college campus, that is refered to in jest as "the Bubble", to be so profoundly affected by events that were so far away. From that day on the world that I live in and the school that I attend have never been the same. 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 story9382.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. 2003-07-22 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 162.6.218.122 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 had just awoken to my mom saying Katie a huge attack has happened. I didnt think much of it until i got to schoool and realized that my dad was in New York at the time. I was so worried all day and cried so much at school. THat was the scariest day of my life. I remember it so well and that will be something that I will never forget. When he got home that thursday night, 2 nights after the event, i was soo happy that noone can feel how i felt that night to see my dad and have had him safe at home! 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 story9302.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-05-08 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 68.67.145.48 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 awoke about at about ten to the phone ringing at my girlfriends apartment. My girfriends mother was on the phone informing her that we were being attacked. She quickly passed that on to me as she turned on the television. By this point all of the planes had crashed. We were in utter amazement that this was happening. Soon after My girlfriend had to go to work so I went home. I had the day of but we had a departmental meeting, needless to say it was canceled. There was nothing I could do to get away from the T.V. I watched it for ten hours that day. While I watched updates and new camera footage I felt a whole range of emotions. These emotions ranged from empathy for the famlies who had lost loved ones to complete anger that anyone could do such a thing to innocent people. I also felt very vunerable, I as many other Americans could not believe that this could happen on our own soil. My mother always talked about remembering where she was when J.F.K. was shot and when we landed on the moon. I will always remember were I was on September 11 2001. I am sure we all 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 story4495.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. 68.104.200.158 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: It was about 7:00am or so and me and my mom were going around picking up kids from school. At one stop we picked up a boy Named Paublo and he told us that a plane had hit the World Trade Towers. In my mind I pistured a small personal aircraft hitting a small building. My mom dropped us off and we got on the scoohl bus. On the radio we heard about the collision, but it wasn't in great detail, so I still had the same picture in my head, but now I was a little nervous. When I got to my school I went straight to my class instead of seeing my friends, and my teacher had the t.v. on. I watched as five minutes after I got there the second plane hit. It was devistating. I had no idea of the enormous scale of the building or the crash. There were close ups of people leaping from the flames, but only falling to the ground. I was thinking why would they be jumping, unless they were afraid of being burnt to death. Class activities were canceled as we watched in horror. I remember people crying and people being angry. My teacher was in a state of shock, but he tried to comfort us as well. I remember one kid called his parents on a cell phone, and they came and got him in fear of more attacks. This only caused more panic in the kids. Then an anouncment was mad by our clearly shakin principal, he said to remain calm,and please take the matter seriously as some kids thought it was a joke. We then turned our attention to the t.v. where the reporters were in tears, and so were the people around them. Then came the moment when the first tower fell, that is when we all started to cry. People on the t.v. were running in horror and disbelief. Then the bell rang and we had to go to our next class. There we continued to watch as the next tower came falling with the wieght of thousands of people still on it's back. No one had tearless eyes. We knew all kinds of people were in there, but there was nothing we could do. Bobby Newsom, 15 Richland, Washington 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 story4672.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 198.81.17.22 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: i was on my way to second block, and had heard speculations that there was some big attack, but i mean its high school, you dont know whats true and whats not. And right before the bell rang someone came over the announcements and said that something had happened, i was still half asleep. the only part of the announcmet i had heard was something about the twin towers, which i barely even knew where they were, and they said that there was an explosion there or something bad ahd happened. they said dont panic and i didnt because i didnt feel i needed to, but as i started walking towards my next class, i started thinking about how big and important they were, and my stomach started to slowly turn. as soon as i reached class a t.v was on and no one was talking. i just set my stuff down and started watching. i was in disarray. i could not believe what my eyes were seeing. but then my teacher turned the t.v off and made us start class. it was hard to concentrate on work when u knew what was happening. as the day went on, u were just praying that everyone would b safe. as soon as i got home my mom was watching the stuff on t.v and i joined her. i couldnt move after that. i couldnt think about anything else. it was like u couldnt take ur eyes off the t.v screen because u were in such fear. i dont think i have ever prayed as much as i did that day. i prayed that my family would be safe and that everyone else i knew would b safe. 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 story5852.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. 216.40.218.79 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 received a frantic phone call from a friend telling me to get to a TV immediately. She was nearly hysterical and I couldn't really understand what she was saying. I just knew whatever it was, it was very, very bad. I can remember feeling so frightened and shaking so badly I could hardly turn the TV on. What I saw is beyond my ability to describe. The total disbelief, the inability to comprehend how this could be happening in our country, the soul felt compassion for the innocent victims and their families....the horror of the barbarian attack and yes, the fear that that was only the begining of a nation wide attack and the selfish wondering when they would reach us. I felt numb and can remember all of us just sort of wandering around saying "oh God, oh God." There were no other words. I lived in NYC for 5 years and went up the WTC many times, I took all my out of town visitors up to the Windows on the World resturant. I've closed my eyes and tried to imagine the last image so many people had of a huge airliner coming straight at them and it is such a horrific picture I can't bear it. What happened on Sept.11th was pure evil. It must be eradicated from the face of this earth if any of us the world over are to ever feel safe again. One of the military men killed at the Pentagon graduated from my high school 2 years ahead of me. I did not know him, but I believe that everyone in this country was touched personally by some loss, no matter how far removed. My heart breaks for the families of the victims and the grief that today must be flooding back 100 fold, but to them I say "be proud." You're loved one died in a war for this country and we will all be forever grateful. And we will NEVER forget their sacrifice. Linda Pedersen 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 story4541.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 67.251.80.122 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was driving to work with a group at a hospital near the coast of Lake Michigan. I was driving through some beautiful woods, flipping through radio stations looking for a song when I stumbled on a simulcast from CBS but I thought they were talking about a fire in a local tower. When I heard it was the World Trade Center I picked up my cell phone and flipped through my planner looking for my cousin's phone number because he doesn't work very far from the Trade Center. I wanted to be sure he was okay. For some crazy reason my call got through to his answering machine at work so I left a message. My daughter called me on the phone and was crying and wanted to know about my family members in New York. I told her to call one of the cousins I knew would be home. My cousin called me back and said he was getting out of there fast. I didn't hear from him again for 6 and half hours. He left his building about the time the first tower collapsed. I started to cry because I have another cousin who works for Con Ed and I knew that because of his job he would be at the Towers assessing damage. I thought he was dead. I am originally from the New York area and my father was a New York city cop. I felt as though my hometown was being destroyed. I got home as fast as I could to check on the rest of my family-the Firefighter cousin, the policeman cousin, the teacher cousin. I found out everyone was okay by communicating online with a relative. The only one we couldn't find was the Con Ed cousin. My other cousin had to walk uptown and across the 59th Street bridge to get transportation home. We eventually found the Con-Ed cousin alive but he had a close call. All of my family lived, but I still cried for the others who simply went to work and died.When I visited the site in April it was mostly cleaned up but I remembered other happier times spent in the area, but I still cry for those who lost someone cause it could have been me too. My family was lucky. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story1411.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. 2002-08-22 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 12.245.229.176 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 never would have imagined such an incredible, terrible, hateful event would take place just weeks into the start of my college career. At the time, things on my mind included grades, getting along with my four roomates, visiting my girlfriend at her school, and homework. On that particular morning, I was sitting in my astronomy lab at GMU. My lab partner, whose name I forget, whose face I will probably never recall, was late to class. Holding his cell phone in his hand, he told someone told him a plane flew into the World Trade Center. I thought, and asked him, if it was an accident? He didn't know. Now, usually, I would take advantage of the lab and do a tiny bit of web surfing. I don't recall now if I hit any news sites during that class on that day, but I do remember this. I left the class after my assignment was completed. Walking back to my dorm in Presidents' Park (the freshmen living area), I noticed an abnormal amount of people on their cell phones. Being in the center of northern Virginia at a school diverse and populated as Mason, cell phones are not uncommon, but everyone, and I mean EVERYONE was on theirs, in the parking lot, on the walkways, and everywhere in between. I climbed three flights of stairs to my room, and opened the door. I don't remember if the TV was already on (I think it was), or if I turned it on, but from that moment on I joined the rest of the world in watched those fateful events unfold. It wasn't on TV, but on my web browser's main page that I first heard about the collapse, then later the Pentagon. I remember trying to call my family, but to no avail...with a campus of thousands, my measly call would not get through. I did manage to reach my girlfriend though, and I remember telling her we would be ok. Soon, parents began to arrive to some of their children, some calls did make it through, and the rest of that day, as they say, is history. 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 story1480.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. 2002-08-26 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 129.174.162.225 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: Words can not express the dismay I felt while driving to work on 9/11/01 when I heard the radio reports. At frist I thought that it was a hoax, a horrible attempt at bad humor. Upon arrival at work, being the only one in the office that AM I turned on the radio again and heard the reports coming in from all over. My husband and I had just made our first trip to NYC in April of 2001. We had taken pictures from atop the WTC and in the windows of the upper floor. I could not fathom such a building being hit with an aircraft and the damage, the people that it was affecting. Stunned I remembered my husband had taken the BART system early this AM to San Francisco to meet with an attorney with a partner to discuss and sign new papers for their new business venture. They were to meet right next to the Bank of America building. My heart sank as I realized if San Francisco were hit, he could be in danger. We however were fortunate. Fear and tears for the people who were trapped were constant that day. I will never forget the anguish and loss I felt for so many who risked their lives to help others. I will never forget the scene which unfolded through pictures as the days ensued. I will never again take for granted the freedom I hold dear to live my life as I choose. I know that I will never feel the loss of the thousands who never saw their loved ones again, but as a nation I know that we all pulled together and held our heads high, and we will over come. Lauren A. Womack 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 story6962.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. 2002-09-13 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 64.161.201.106 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: On the morning of the 11th, I was up to my normal routine. I tookd my son to school and returned home,shortly after we arrived back to the house my husband called and told me to turn on the television. I knew that something was wrong by the sound of his voice. When I looked up at the TV and heard what they were saying I was numb. I stayed glued to the news unable to move. A few day's prior to the attack we had gathered for a family reunion, members had come from all over the country. I called my mom to see if any one was scheduled to leave out of the area Air Ports. For us we didn't have any one heading out that day. All I could think of was that I needed to have my family together. I called the school that my son attends to say that I would be coming to get him and was told that a number of people had the same idea. While on the phone with the school I was told about one of the teachers who's husband works in the towers could not be reached. When I arrived at the school I tried to help in any way I could find out about her husband. But the phones into the area were out. All means of communication as we've come to rely on were useless. I kept in contact with the school to check on the teacher and was releived to find out that her husband was in one of the towers when they came down, but was able to get out with a few scrapes. I recently took a trip around Manhattan on the Cirle Line, when we reached the tip of the island i cried. The view that we took for granted was not the same and never will be. 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 story1588.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. 12.89.181.250 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was at work and listening to the radio broadcast of a local radio station and they were talking about a plane running into the World Trade Center Tower. I remember not thinking much about it because airplanes go down all the time. Then a little bit later I heard them saying a second plane had hit the World Trade Centers Second Tower and I started to get goosebumps! As soon as we heard the second announcement everyone I work with just started talking about how there was no way a coincidence! So I started walking towards our breakroom where there was a 13" color tv because I wanted to see the news! I opened the door and walked in and seen a picture of The Pentagon on tv, and no sooner did I start walking towards the tv, I then saw a plane crash into our Pentagon and I just remember standing there in shock! It took me a couple of minutes to pull this all in and I went back out to tell my co-workers what I had just seen and they didn't believe me! Then the radio starting broadcasting the attack on the Pentagon and everyone at work just stopped what they were doing and we were all just standing there staring at the radio waiting to find out was happening. It was about an hour later that we found out about the plane in Somerset, PA. Which is about an hour away from where we were working! And all I could think about was getting home to my children! I just wanted to hold them while I tried to figure out what was happening!! 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 story7092.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. 2002-09-13 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 205.130.16.124 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 wrote the following "journal" for myself and to share with a few friends. After visiting your September 11 exhibit, "Bearing Witness to History," I have decided to share our experience. 11-14 September, 2001, Delta Flight 11 September 11, Tuesday It was 7:00 A.M. in London and we were getting ready to leave our hotel for the flight home to Phoenix. We had a wonderful holiday with our friends, Janet, Ann, Babs and Mike, and Nick and Vivian. The weather had been great and we had wonderful memories of England, Wales and Scotland. Check in and boarding at Gatwick were fine and with an on-time departure we were expecting an early arrival in Atlanta. Champagne and a nice dinner in First Class and we were feeling good, a little sleepy, but very comfortable. About 10:30 AM. (EDT) our Captain came on the intercom and said, this is your Captain and his name, twice; immediately you knew something was wrong. My thoughts went to mechanical problems. He said there were terrorist attacks in the United States, the US airspace was closed, and we had to divert to the nearest airport, which for us was St. John's, Newfoundland. The Captain told us he would keep us posted as he learned things. We were 120 miles from St. John's. Immediately, some of the passengers with international cell phones called business associates, friends and family and found out that two planes (one was American 11) had flown into the twin towers at the World Trade Center, they were down and burning, and the Pentagon was hit by a third plane. There were other rumors about planes missing. That turned out to be the plane that went down in Pennsylvania. It now appears that plane was heading for the White House or the Capitol and at least three brave passengers thwarted that plot. One very kind man let others use his cell phone to call someone in the States and let them know we were safe. We tried Rachel, busy signal, Roma and Harold, busy signal, and finally got through to Ira and asked him to call Rachel and Harold. About 11:30 A.M. (EDT), we landed at St. John's where the local time was 1:00 P.M. (1 1/2 hours ahead of Atlanta). We were the third plane to land. Eventually, there would be 27 aircraft. Our pilot told us we would probably have to stay on the plane for a couple of hours. After he returned several hours later from a meeting with the other Captains and officials from St. John's, he told us they were going to start deboarding the planes but starting with the smaller planes; we were one of the largest, a 777. He told us to prepare that it might take the Canadians 20 hours to get us off the plane because of security, fear of terrorist, and few people to check us through customs and security. St. John's gets four international flights a week; they were not prepared for so many at once, nor for wide body aircraft. From our window, we could see one plane unloading the passengers and we thought it was a security checks in "out houses." It turned out to really be out houses because the passengers had to stand on the tarmac so long and really needed restrooms. There had been a bomb scare on their United flight. We could use the restrooms on our plane. They were also able to keep air on our plane. The Captain lit up the seat belt signs a couple of times when they would allow the smokers to go to the back of the plane, open up the plane, and let them smoke for a few short minutes. About 9:30 PM, we were allowed off our plane. We had to leave everything on the plane; no carryon could be taken with us. Women were allowed their purses; men only had their pockets. Len was smart and told us to put on layers as Newfoundland might be cold and who knew how long we would have to stand on the tarmac. We had seen the passengers on that one plane standing outside for a long time that had used out houses. The man that was kind to loan others and us the use of his cell phone to call family only had his shirt; his jacket was in check-in luggage. I loaned him my rafting raincoat. The jacket had three zipper pockets he could use for his fancy phones, jacks, etc. We also took Delta's pillows and blankets. Our Captain thanked us as passengers for cooperating and being so good. He said some of the other Captains had problems with some of their passengers. Our thoughts were only about the horror that had transpired in the US and what if we had been targeted. An American 11 crashed, we were Delta 11 and on 11 September. After about 9 hours on the tarmac, we walked into the terminal. It was under construction. Everyone at St. John's terminal was professional, kind, and understanding. They had to put together a rushed plan and were overwhelmed with 27 planes of "refugees." They had sandwiches and water available. We were loaded onto buses. The woman on our bus from the airport to the ice hockey arena had great sympathy for us but also a cute sense of humor and tried to make everyone feel comfortable. About 10:30 PM, we arrived at the ice hockey arena where all the passengers from all the planes had been taken. Each planeload went to a different section of the ice hockey arena to wait to hear when and where we would go. They had sandwiches (professionally wrapped and handmade by the locals and brought to the arena), pizzas, fruit, water, all sorts of food was available. It was very touching to see the entire city of St. John's was trying to help us. For the first time, we could see the pictures of the horrific tragedy on CNN but could not hear the TV in the center of the arena. Phones were set up for us to call free. They asked to keep it short and no more than 5 calls so everyone could use them. We were able to get Rachel, Roma and Harold at this time. Most of the stranded passengers were taken to schools and churches. The Delta 11 group went mostly to a school and a church. We went with the second bus group from our flight from the arena and we were taken to The Hub, a center for the handicapped. They had more soup and food available for us. We did not know where we were going until we were on the buses. We really felt like refugees, no clothes, at the mercy of their kindness, and going wherever they said our group would go. About 12:30 AM, we arrived at The Hub, many memories: Tom, the director, Becky, energetic and jumping, Jim, in the wheel chair. People helping and others dazed. We were glued to CNN on the TV. We could finally hear and see everything that was being televised. We were offered a home to spend the night with a family. We suggested this elderly woman, and another woman passenger that had stayed with her, be offered their home. We felt her needs were greater than ours. They did go. We started making our bed on the floor with the others. We were using donated sheets, blankets, quilts, and pillows. There was a restroom available but no showers. We felt so dirty and the floor looked so uninviting, noisy, lights, and more people arriving in shifts. We could not sleep so just watching CNN. A delightful young lady, Nancy Puddicome, had volunteered to help at the Hub and she asked if we wanted to spend the night with her aunt and uncle. Most of the other refugees were getting settled for the night so we said yes we would like to go. She said her aunt and uncle would come and pick us up. Others offered to take us as they felt we were waiting too long. Nancy said they would come and give her a ride home also. Her mother had taken in 5 people from the planes. It turned out that Cavell's brother was a bus driver and had helped drive buses to transport the passengers from the airport to Mile One Stadium. About 2:00 AM. Cavell and Ashton Stanley opened the door to their lovely, clean home for us. Clean seemed so important as we kept sitting and sitting on that plane and bused several times. Cavell and Ashton were so nice and wonderful to us from the very beginning. They made us feel very welcomed. The Stanley's were like angels from heaven. We were so fortunate. Their house was clean and nice. They were warm, kind, guessing our needs, telling us to ask for anything, offering a cup of tea, wanting to talk at 3:00 A.M. (it was now 24 hours since we woke in London). I had to crash. Len stayed up and talked. I showered and Cavell gave me her wonderful, soft nightgown; it felt so good and luxurious, like a princess. This was indescribable luxury after having made up the bed on the floor that seemed unclean and I felt so dirty, no showers available. It was so comforting to have soft, rich nightie, clean sheets, and a lovely room. Len said, "Peggy crashed; Len didn't shut up!" September 12, Wednesday Cavell made us a lovely scrambled egg breakfast. The Stanley's were warm and assuring us they were happy we were there. They love company. There was lots of warm sharing between the four of us. They enjoyed Len's stories, amazed with his memory, and historical facts. They wanted to be involved and helping the St. John's community help the stranded passengers. They hurt for Americans and like Americans. The word was given that no planes would leave St. John that day. The US airports were closed and no crafts moving. Our 27 stranded aircrafts and at other Canadian airports were freezing up Canadian travel. No hotels the first night we landed, few the next, as most tourist at St. John's could not leave. Len started calling this "the vacation that wouldn't end." Stanley's gave us a wonderful tour of St. John's. All the Canadian flags were flying at half-mast. We went to Cape Spear, the most Eastern tip of North America. Downtown St. John's is adorable, neat buildings, and pastel painted houses and buildings in a row. We went to Signal Hill, George St., famous for its nightlife, and Water Street, downtown. Both lighthouses are wonderful, gorgeous views from them, and wonderful picturesque drives. Everyone at St. John's was so kind and friendly and wishing us well, asking questions. A young woman working at one lighthouse said she had put her name in for 5 people to stay with her but had never been called. As we finished the tour of the lighthouse, she refunded the cost of the tickets for the Stanley's. She said it was nice of them to give us a tour while stranded. Cavell donated the money to their donation funds. We found everyone wanted to help. We were able to treat the Stanley's to a fish and chip lunch at a fun place they picked out for us as typical of St. John's. We stopped by the arena, but the "command center" had moved across the street to the Civic Center. Many had slept there. They had phones available for people to call their loved ones and lots of food. We did not use their phones as we could use our calling card at the Stanley's. We stopped by the Hub. They had no news. We went back to the Stanley's; Ashton did some work; he works out of his home. Cavell took a little nap. Len and I watched CNN. Later in the afternoon, Cavell took us to the mall. At Sear's, we bought clean underwear, socks, and a duffle bag to hold our things instead of looking like the homeless. The clerks were very interested in us, helpful and friendly, and said many had come and bought underwear. Cavell fixed us a lovely stir-fry rice dinner with egg rolls, meatballs, and sauces. The weather was great, lovely sightseeing, and enjoying talking and being with the Stanley's. They are wonderful. We feel like we will be friends for life. Cavell and I had lots in common. Cavell let us do a wash and that was wonderful as we now had another set of underwear to wear. I wore one of her robes and Len wore one of their son's jeans. We stayed up and talked and checked the TV news from time to time. Papers were full of stories of Osama bin Laden being expelled by his native country, Saudi Arabia, and had moved to Afghanistan. The St. John's paper also said: "many flights from Europe ended up in Canada, where people were truly dependent on the kindness of strangers." How true. We were experiencing it first hand. We met some passengers that had to sleep at the schools, churches, but other St. John's people were offering to drive them around to see the harbor, lighthouses, and do some underwear type shopping. There were touching scenes over and over of the Canadians being so kind and friendly to the stranded. The flights from Europe, Sabina and KLM, were sent back to Europe. Many of the Americans on those flights were unhappy. They did not want to go back to Europe and start their flights to the States all over. To let people change flights was just to overwhelming for the airlines to try. It was too bad, as some of the business people on our flights had only come over for a meeting and it was already missed or cancelled and would have preferred to return on the European flights. The Americans that left the flights and would not return to Europe on their original flights were told they would be completely on their own. The airlines could not help them financially. September 13, Thursday We had a nice breakfast at the Stanley's and then Cavell took us to the Hub. She went to work. Everyone at the Hub continued to be cheerful and working hard. Many had very little sleep as they helped the stranded. There was one family with four small children moving from Great Britain to Florida. It was amazing to watch them cope. The children were very good. A house across the street, invited the three oldest to watch videos and play at their house. This gave the young parents a break from time to time and only had the baby constantly. There was another young couple we enjoyed with a baby and "Speedy" who was four and really cute. The Hub provided a hamburger/hotdog cookout lunch. Jim, in the wheelchair, did all the B-B-Q. He was amazing. Everyone else was helping with the salad, buns, baked beans, and drinks. It was very tasty. We were becoming friends with the many that worked at the Hub. Again, they were so kind and friendly. We took two walks from the Hub and toured the area, including the Basilica and churches. We could not go for longer as Tom scheduled updates through out the day and we did not want to miss hearing the time to board the planes to the states. The Stanley's had told us be sure and plan to stay with them if our plane could not get out that day. We agreed if they would let us take them out to dinner. We found a wonderful place as we walked and asked people for suggestions. We also liked one of the owners. We said it was a nice restaurant but we could only come with what we were wearing. She said we could do a wash while we dined and wear blankets! She had a washer and dryer downstairs. We stopped at the post office and were short of a few pennies. The postman said to forget it we had gone through so much. He had helped unload passengers from the plane and wanted to hear about our experience. On one walk, we were walking in front of housing that was clearly subsidized housing and two women were sitting on their front porch. They called out asking if we were people from the planes. We said yes. They said wouldn't we like to stop and have a cup of tea with them. We found everyone wanting to reach out and help all of us! As we were dealing emotionally with the horrors in America from the terrorist, we were experiencing the best in mankind. It is hard to explain and put in words all the emotions we were experiencing. At 3:30 P.M. Tom had talked to our Captain and we were told we would not get out that day, Thursday, maybe the next day, Friday, but most likely Saturday. We called Cavell and she said she would pick us up about 4:30. At their home, we had a drink with the Stanley's and enjoyed talking and sharing. I have also neglected to mention their adorable dog. He was cute, fun, and enjoyable and just loved to be where the people were. Len even became pretty attached to him! We took Cavell and Ashton to Chez Brianna. It turned out to be a wonderful restaurant.. We all enjoyed what we ordered. The Stanley's had never been there. It was nice to treat them to a restaurant that was new to them. When we got home, Len called Delta and they said our flight was given a new flight number and scheduled to leave at 8:30 the next morning. Len called the Hub and they said they were getting ready to call everyone and ask them to return at 4:00 AM. We started talking if we should go back to the Hub now or wait until 4:00 in the morning. What would be best for the Stanley's. I decided it would be smart to go and take my shower now so I would be ready for either decision after more calls. Len agreed and took his shower also. We decided that we should return to The Hub. September 14, Friday About 12:30 AM, we were back at the Hub. No one else returned until about 4:00 AM. I made up two beds on the floor with used sheets and blankets. We still had our Delta pillows. Len slept pretty well. I was up and down constantly checking all the noises. Amazing how all the workers were running around and doing things to get ready for everyone to return. Donuts and coffee were available for everyone for breakfast. Many of us "refugees" looked so tired. At 5:15 AM, they bused us back to the ice hockey arena to have the same drill. Sit with your flight and wait until you hear you will be bused back to the airport. At 7:10 AM, we left Mile One Stadium. We drove to the airport and then we got to sit on the bus and wait our turn to go through customs. We finally got to escape to go to the restroom but back on the bus! At 8:30 AM, we got off the bus and were taken to a room to find our carry-on luggage. Delta flight 11's luggage was altogether in one room. Our four pieces of luggage were in various places. After getting your luggage, you were lined up again to go through customs. Security was very tight and took a long time. They took away everything: Len's Swiss army knife he has carried forever, tweezers, fingernail clippers, little kit for screwing your sunglasses, razors (just Len's blade, but my entire one), many of them seem to have different directions on what to confiscate. They emptied your entire carryon and made such a mess. They took away one man's welding tools, said they were too heavy and could be used as a weapon. Eventually, they said they would put it in the belly of the plane with the other baggage. Who knows if he ever saw it again or not. We did not get our items that were taken. 11:00 AM, we boarded our plane, 72+ hours late. We were the first plane to leave St. John to return to the US. Everyone clapped when we were in the air again. We exchanged our stories of our experiences in St. John. Everyone praised the city. We felt we were one of the most fortunate because Cavell and Stanley were such wonderful people and made us feel like they had been expecting us and happy to see us. 2:35 PM Atlanta time, we landed with so many emotions, the horrific tragedy, and unbelievable stories, in stark contrast with our unexpected time with the wonderful people of St. John's. Delta's reception to our plane took us by complete surprise. It was wonderful. As we taxied to our gate, hundreds of maintenance people were lined up outside our window, waving their hands, flags, and signs. It felt so good. We were not forgotten. Some people understood what we had gone through. I wondered if this was what it felt like to receive a war hero's welcome. Len suggested I get my camera and try to take pictures. More was to come to our surprise. I am glad I put the camera in my pocket instead of in the luggage. When we entered the terminal, more Delta employees were waving their hands, flags, and had signs to welcome us. As we left customs, the largest crowd of all was cheering us on with signs, flags, and waving. One large black man was at the center and gave me a big hug. Then, Len gave him a big hug. It felt so good to be in America again. Delta also had personnel to greet each of us and to help us. If you had luggage to claim, you went one way; another way if Atlanta was your destination; stations set up right there for those of us that needed to find connecting flights. Delta could not have tried to help us more. They were great to help us and to welcome us back to America. Len changed our flight several times to Phoenix because of delays and gambling which plane would leave first. All over the terminal, you heard announcements that the plane was ready but they were waiting for one more crewmember. Flight crews were stranded all over America or had flown too many hours and were grounded. We finally boarded Delta 689 which was running 3 hours behind schedule. Airborne to Phoenix in First Class and it felt great to be on the last leg of this odyssey. Landed in Phoenix around 10:00 P.M., got our car and headed for the house. It never felt so good to be back in our own home and only 80 hours late. Another nice touch was the Boy Scouts had an American flag flying in front of our home! The entire experience was surreal. As most Americans, we are trying to come to terms with what happened. Are we going to war? What does that really mean? The enemy seems invisible and scattered everywhere, even throughout our own country, not just Afghanistan. I am wearing lapel pins of the American/Arizona flags and Canada/Newfoundland flags. Why does this symbolism feel good? There is much to try and understand. NY Times: "We've never been faced with anything of this magnitude simultaneously. Even people who have dealt with bereaved kids a lot are struggling to understand how this will be interpreted by children." How will everyone, adults, children, our leaders, and I interpret this? Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story9313.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-05-12 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 198.81.26.177 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 DROPPED MY 4 YEAR OLD SON OFF AT PRESCHOOL AND WAS VERY PREGNANT WITH MY SECOND SON. I REMEMBER HEARING THE RADIO STATION CUTTING IN TO ANNOUNCE THAT A PLANE HAD JUST CRASHED INTO THE TWIN TOWERS. I TURNED THE STATION NOT REALIZING WHAT WAS ACTUALLY HAPPENING, I THOUGHT IT WAS AN ACCIDENT. WHEN I GOT HOME MY MOM CALLED ME TO TELL ME WHAT WAS REALLY GOING ON, THAT THIS WAS NO ACCIDENT SO I TURNED ON THE NEWS AND SAT THERE ALL DAY IN AWE. THE COUNTRY I THOUGHT WAS UNTOUCHABLE HAD BEEN ATTACKED. I WAS TERRIFIED. I REMEMBER THINKING WHAT AM I BRINGING MY BABY INTO. I WAS HAVEWAY AROUND THE WORLD AS MANY OTHERS WAS BUT AT THE SAME TIME I WAS THERE WITH EACH ONE OF THE VICTIMS AND THEIR FAMILIES. I SAT THERE CRYING AS I WATCHED THESE FAMILIES SEARCH FOR THEIR LOVED ONES. DESPITE THE PEOPLE THAT LOST THEIR LIVES SO MUCH GOOD HAS CAME FROM THIS COUNTRY AS A WHOLE IN THE LAST YEAR. WE AS A COUNTRY HAVE FOUND OUR HEART AGAIN AND WHAT WE STAND FOR. MY FAMILY PERSONALLY HAS DEVELOPED MORE LOVE AND FIND TIME TO SPEND WITH EACH OTHER NOT KNOWING WHAT THE NEXT DAY MAY HOLD,WHICH HAS BROUGHT US CLOSER TOGETHER AS I HOPE IT HAS MANY OTHERS. MY THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS GOES OUT TO ALL THE FAMILIES WHO LOST THEIR LOVED ONES THEY WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN. SINCERELY, AMANDA CUZZEN 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 story4138.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. 12.96.202.1 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: It all started September 10th we went out to the bars, to celebrate my 21st birthday which is September 11th! I woke up that morning with the biggest hang over ever. We had only lived in our house about 3 weeks, and our TV was not yet hooked up, my aunt had called prior to all this to let us know what was going on, we plugged in our little TV, and did our best trying to see everything that was happening. We had planned on going to the casinos to party for my birthday, we still did but it was just not the same, we were having a great time, but we knew what was going on outside those casino doors, and it was heartbreaking. I will never forget my 21st birthday, I always pictured it to be the greatest day ever, well I had a good birthday but it was not at all the way I would have ever pictured it. That day will always be with me, Here a year later I'm turning 22 and I look back, and still cant believe what happened, I went to work this morning just all cheerful and ready for the day, I ended up crying twice, cause I heard so many sad songs, everyone says i should change my birthday to the 10th but I wont! September 11th has always been my day and it always will be, I cant change what happened, but I can Pray! -Kymber 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 story5744.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