521 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: The Impact of 9/11 on Our Society and on Subsequent Disaster Mental Health Efforts Complacency took a serious blow on 9/11 and millions of us began rethinking the ultimate priorities of life. Suddenly Americans had to stop and consider things wed prefer not to face about the ways we live our individual and collective lives. Everyone in the helping professions shared something in common with many of our clients we all came to better understand our own vulnerability as we watched in horror as others suffered. Many of us found it harder to cope, as our usual healthy defenses were tested and, in some cases, began to fail. At the time, many of my colleagues reported feeling fear, helplessness, and anger at depths theyd never previously experienced. Government workers were especially hard hit, psychologically, as buildings were evacuated. Returning the next workday was especially hard for Federal workers in DC area, as many worried What if we are the next target? Many usually peace-loving people found themselves with an urge to bomb someone in retaliation. Three years later, the ongoing war on terrorism continues and we all hope and pray it is successful in preventing anything like this from happening again. Since 9/11 we have seen dramatic changes in social relationships. Many people made major moves - some more quickly married than they had originally planned, others tired of unhappiness in their lives and separated or divorced. Many folks travel less and cocoon more - family time is more important to them. Finding time for small pleasures (like attending all kids activities) is easier and people make sure to stay in closer touch with family members and friends. People say goodbye differently and many people physically moved back to communities they long considered their real homes. In the short run, we became a kinder, gentler society. While I was in NY in late 2001, I saw an editorial page essay on fears about the city becoming the Seattle of the East (people were holding doors open, allowing lane changes without blasting their horns, and displaying less cursing and in-your-face attitude). The same types of positive changes happened in many other parts of our nation too. Sadly, this has, for the most part, worn off during the ensuing years and weve returned to our old ways. Our patriotism soared for a while, as people developed a strong sense of national pride, the likes of which wed not experienced since Pearl Harbor was attacked. Sadly, so did our nations racist tendencies, as many people began targeting Arabs, Muslims, and others who stood out as different and were visiting or living here in America with verbal harassment, vandalism, and even physical assaults after all, many people seemed to think, they could be terrorists too. As a society, we have begun to place increased value on public service and on volunteerism. Weve seen increased respect for the roles our police, fire/rescue, emergency service personnel, and even the roles other health/human service workers play in our society. After 9/11, many Americans also did some serious rethinking about issues of work and money. Folks were asking themselves: Did I pick the right job? (and the right career); Is it worth it? (to put in so much overtime); and Is this really what I want to do with my life? Consequently, there were many career transformations due to post-9/11 introspection on employment issues. We learned that 24/7 TV coverage created overexposure to trauma. Many people feared missing something that was new and important, so they watched and waited. In the process, they saw the buildings attacked over and over again (or whatever the event happened to be). Many people needed permission/direction to stop watching. It seems the media has gradually begun to recognize this phenomena and has become somewhat more responsible in their anniversary coverage. I continue to often think about the victims, the survivors, and the many dedicated colleagues who served with me on the two assignments. My volunteer work in disaster relief constantly reinforces the fact that people are incredibly strong and resilient. Most of what we value in ourselves and in others our character and our inner strength has not come to us easily and quickly. It has come to us via the slow and difficult process of experiencing and overcoming the adverse events weve already faced in our lives. The events of 9/11 have presented us with a defining moment and it is now our responsibility to do something meaningful in response to it. * * * If I had to pick one major lesson learned from my disaster relief experiences, it would have to be the importance of careful screening, proactive supervision and daily self-care efforts to keep the entire workforce safe and sound. My greatest frustration while serving in mass casualty assignments usually comes from the troubling behaviors of a very small group of my fellow relief workers who end up requiring large amounts of administrative staff time. Sadly, there have been many people who required investigation and intervention following incidents of sexual harassment no big surprise, as this is an unfortunate part of our culture. Nevertheless, it requires lots of careful work by skilled people to quickly and thoroughly resolve these distracting situations whenever they arise. Even more troubling to me, though, were the self-proclaimed trauma experts who told me they had wasted their time coming to help, because they had not gotten to spend their entire assignment working at ground zero. These same people had trouble following directions (and some seemed prone to freelancing). In retrospect, it strikes me that tighter screening of personnel might be able to help with this in future operations. Till we come up with a better vetting process, consider using this overly simple one. Ask people: How do you think you can best help us with this relief operation? A. By working at or near ground zero. B. By working anyplace but ground zero. C. By working wherever you need me. Those who answer A have a greater potential for becoming part of the problem rather than the solution use with care (if at all). Those who answer B probably have good insight into their own strengths, needs, and tolerances use them in low-stress settings. Those who answer C tend to be the best workers for sensitive and high-stress locations. 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 story21288.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. 2006-09-23 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 216.193.142.35 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: That morning was a late morning for me. I woke up late and was just about to leave for work and the neighbors heard me moving around. They grabbed me and told me to watch the TV. I went over right away. When I got their the first Tower came down and a few minutes later the second one fell and I cried. The rest of the day I sat at home hurt from what happened. I talked to my mom and my roommate and stayed by myself. 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 story4205.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. 198.81.17.21 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I was puttting my daughter to sleep on that terrible morning of September 11,2001. I was playing poker when someone said the WTC had been hit by a plane. I quickly went upstairs, put my sleeping daughter in her crib, and went to tell my husband who was off that day watching sport center. We turned to CNN and went to the Today show, and we horrified. When the plane went down in PA., which is an hour and a half from my home, I went to school to get my son out. I was in a state of shock. I told my 7 year old that there were bad people trying to hurt people and I wanted him home with his family. I think of the people who lost their lives that day quite often. My heart goes out to their families. I cried for days after Sept. 11 and still do. The firefighters and police who lost their lives trying to save lives hurts so much. They were so brave going in them buildings knowing they might not come out alive. They should make the meaning for the word HERO, cause that is what they are. They are and will always be hereos. The people on the planes who lost their lives not knowing what was going on is really sad. Flight 93, the people who lost their lives by saving maybe 1,000 of lives. They are heroes too.. I will never forget any of you. Never......... 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 story2462.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: It was a normal day, I was hanging out with my friends before class when the bell rung at 9:00. We all went upstairs to our class and went inside. Our teacher always put the news on so we didn't pay much attention. Until some people started saying, "Whoa, what happened?", and we looked at the T.V. We saw a building with smoke around it. At first, I didn't know what building it was and thought it was just a fire. Then my friends told it was the Twin Towers and a plane had crashed into it. I had know idea why it would have crashed. We weren't prepared for what was to happen next. I'm not sure why I didn't see it or remember it, probably I had my back turned or was talking to someone, but my friends did. A second plane hit the other Towers. A couple girls screamed and I looked. I saw the plane's explosion come out the other end. It was just pure black booming out of the building. Then we heard that it had been a terrorist attack. On T.V., we saw people talking to the camera and crying about what had happened. To tell you the truth, I didn't really feel anything at first. Of course, I didn't feel good, and although I tried, I couldn't feel sad for the people or for what had happened. It wasn't until this week, September 9-13, where we talked and watched things about 9/11, that I felt the magnitude of it. I saw the impact of the disaster, after hearing all the stories and looking at movies, I felt sad for them. I really feel bad now how someone could have done such a horrible, terrible thing. But I know America will still live on. 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 story5010.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 65.80.247.176 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 remember waking up to what may have been the most horific tragedy I have ever witnessed. I will never forget this day. As soon as I heard the news all I could think of was where all the people that I loved were at that very moment. I could not imagine the hurt and the pain that so many people had to go through because of the terrorist act. I also feel that even though I did not lose anyone close to me from this incident, I still feel that I have lost something, but in returned gained the strength to move on and always cherish life and to cherish the love of my family and friends. It has opened up a place in my heart that just keeps getting bigger every day, in a way I am thankful because it has given me something that has made me realize what I have and what I do with it. I just want to say to all the families who have lost their loved ones that they are not gone, they are watching over us from the heavens above and will always be with you. 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 story4064.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 207.220.137.119 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 my daughter's 20th birthday. I was very pleased to have been able to phone her at her University in Belfast to tell her "happy birthday" and that I loved her before the attack happened. In a few hours I didn't know if I'd ever see her again. I didn't know if I'd ever get back to my family; I didn't know what was happening. It was two months before I was confident to fly back to them. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story4162.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: How did you witness history on September 11th? Share your experience. I was watching television when it showed that a plane had crashed into one of the towers. I was listening to the people on Channel 13 talking about what had happened when all at once they said the second tower had been hit also by a plane. I was shocked and couldn't believe what had happened. My mind kept telling me something was very wrong. Has your life changed because of September 11,2001? If so, tell us how. Yes, my life has changed alot. I pay more attention to other people, their actions and what their possible intentions may be. We need to be more caring about each other today. What do you think should be remembered about September 11th? I feel this was a dastardly act and that we should never take for granted that the United States is untouchable for being attacked. I feel that this could have been prevented if President Clinton hadn't cut the money and reduced the capability of U.S. intelligence services. We must be alert at all times. Did you fly an American flag after the events of September 11th? Have your feelings about the American flag changed as a result of September 11th? Yes, I did in order to show we can never be defeated for we will stand for the flag always and our freedom. Yes, because this is a symbol of our faith. 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 story8815.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. 2002-12-16 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 216.54.14.84 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 first awareness of what was happening came by way of a phone call from my wife after the first plane hit but before the second one. I immediately turned on a portable radio I keep at the office to confirm what was happening and then sent a brief "all hands" message (now unfortunately lost) to my colleagues in the Office of Space Science here at NASA Headquarters. I then went down to a conference room that had a TV to watch the unfolding events. An image came on taken from the roof of the White House that showed a huge plume of smoke in the background, and the commentator remarked that it seemed to be coming from the Pentagon. I remember remarking something to the effect that if this was true then we should be able to see it from the window in our office suite that looked due west toward the Pentagon. I stepped out to look and confirmed in a second that it was true: the Pentagon had been hit as well. The rest of that morning is now a blur of watching TV, talking to my wife by phone, emergency staff meetings, and hearing the announcement that the Government was closing for the day and that we were to evacuate the building as soon as possible. However, by then the local streets, as well as the freeway that I would need to use, were in gridlock so I decided to just stay put until things cleared out. I went down to our in-building deli to get some lunch and bought a bottle of water for the trip home whenever that might be possibe. Finally about one o'clock the streets looked clear so I retrieved my car and started out. Never had I seen the streets of Washington so absolutely deserted: it was as though everyone had simply evaporated. That memory itself remains in my mind as one of the most dramatic of that day. My route home crosses the Potomac River on the 14th Street bridge where I then exit onto the Washington Memorial Parkway to head south. When using this cloverleaf exit the eye sweeps across the entire east face of the Pentagon (indeed, one of the few places where it can be easily, though briefly, seen from a car on any of the major highways), and the smoke from the funeral pyre from its west side formed an ugly black smudge against the otherwise brilliantly clear blue sky. As I type this rememberance I'm listening to the recitation of the Gettysburg Address at the One Year memorial service in New York City. Some have disparaged that these words by Lincoln have been overused but in my estimation never before have they been more appropriate or meaningful, and indeed trying to find new ones appropriate to the occasion stikes me as a exercise in hubris. They're now reading the names of all those who died there, which will take the order of several hours according to the radio announcers. It's amazing how many of these names are distinctly not the usual sounding ones that we tend to recognize as "American." Clearly an enormous number of non-U.S. citizens, or at least recent U.S. immigrants, died that day, and I'm not sure that this fact has been properly recognized and advertised - the acts of barbarism that day were really against all peoples of the world and not just those of the United States. More and more I feel myself as a citizen of the world and not just that of one country. Maybe that's a consequence of working for NASA where I'm constantly exposed to various images of our Earth from space, images of our own Milky Way galaxy that show millions of other stars like our own Sun, and then the images of the myriad of other galaxies in the depths of space itself. Good grief, we can't even claim to be speck of dust in our own cosmic neighborhood much less one in the larger scheme of things. I'm led to recall those plaintive words by Rodney King, to the effect 'Why can't we all just get along?' I'm also reminded of Carl Sagan's wonderful essay entitled THE PALE BLUE DOT that I recast in free verse last year after the attack, and which I now use to end this memoir. THE PALE BLUE DOT - Carl Sagan (1934-1996) Excerpted from a commencement address delivered May 11, 1996, concerning the image of Earth as it appears in a ?portrait? of the Solar System, taken in 1990 by the Voyager 1 spacecraft from deep interplanetary space. ********** ? We succeeded in taking that picture, and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives on it. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there on a mote of dust, suspended in a sun beam. ? The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of the dot on scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner of the dot. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. ? Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity ? in all this vastness ? there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us. It's been said that astronomy is a humbling and, I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known. 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 story2481.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. 131.182.108.123 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 school when the plane crashed one of our teachers was watching the news during study hall. and he ran in the class I was in and said a plane crashed in the WTC1 was hit by a plane so we turn on the tv and saw the second plane crash in the other WTC when I saw what happened I was inraged with anger and said: ( who ever had a part in this sick act have mercy on their soul.) I knew this wasn't an accident when the second plane crashed. I asked myself who would do this and what did we do to them to make them want to cause this it was scary. and I went to my teacher and asked him what did we do to them to do this he anwered with I don't know then I told him if they tried to get our attention they got it for sure. but I felt bad for all the ones who lost their husband,wifes,mommys,daddys,and grandparnents. So I wish them love and support by all of us. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story2027.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. 2002-09-10 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 66.144.187.8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: i was at home i switched on the TV. Thinking i was watching a film. about a bombing. i actually thought it was a movie. then to my horror i realisled after watching PEOPLE!! really jumping for their lives. i thought, oh my god this looks too real. it was real. i just couldnt believe what i was seeing. it will sty in my mind till the day i die. along with billions of other people. horrific wasnt the word there isnt a word to describe the feeling everyone feels for that masacre of human lives. i used to go to church as a child, i havnt been there in years, as i do not believe there is a god above who could let this happen to human lives. innocent ones at that. my thoughts are with there families, not only them but the firefighters, and there famlies, it was a absolutely disgusting way to show the world how terrorism exists. it should never had nor should never happen again... we have had our fair share of war, murder,vietnam,911s, lockerbies, etc..etc...etc.. dont let there be any more........please!... our children and our childrens children.. need a world to live in ???? let us let them breath fresh air not a nuclear one!!!.. just bear that in mind. i do everyday. just let them see tommorow. 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 story11774.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. 2005-08-26 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 86.131.183.224 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 after dropping off my daughter at school. I was watching the local news when a special report came on and I watched in horror as the one tower was on fire. I was with my girlfriend and she and I kept saying get everyone out of the building and most will be o.k. When all of a sudden we saw the airplane come in and hit the second tower. All I could do was stare and think to myself this is a bad movie. Now I kept waiting to see if people would be coming out of the building. Nobody was coming out. I kept saying where are the people. I couldn't keep my eyes off the TV the whole time. When all of a sudden it seemed like seconds instead of minutes the first tower fell. I screamed and I said to my girlfriend I wish they would let everybody out. Then the second tower fell and I just sat there so horrified I couldn't speak or move. I was so scared. Then I didn't know where my husband was because he was on a plane in the air that morning going on a business trip. I was able to get in touch with a friend at work and found out he was safe on the ground in Pittsburgh. Then they said a plane had fallen in the Pittsburgh area. I started to panic. I can't tell you how upset I was because I didn't know how close he was to that plane that went down. I didn't get to talk to him until six hours later. I didn't see him until the next morning because he could not get out of Pittsburgh until then. He walked in the door at 11 pm the following night and I was never so grateful to see anybody in my whole life. I can't imagine how those people who lost their loved ones felt that day. I wish I never have to feel like that again. Unfortunatly, I don't think we will have that luxury. I hope that if there is ever another attack it is not as devastating as this was. I also have one more thought before I conclude. It could have been so much worse because those buildings alone could hold over I believe but don't quote me but I believe over 50,000 people and over 2000 perished. It could have been the whole Pentagon and it was only a section. Those heros that where on the flight that crashed in Pennsylvania kept anyone else from dying because the government believes that they were headed for the capital building. So there it is it was tragic and wrong and evil but I believe it happened so that the United States can come to realize that we are just as vulnerable as the rest of this world is to all evil. May God bless all the souls who I do believe are in heaven now and may he keep all of the families in his heart. Yours in Christ, Tracy A Auber 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 story4045.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: My name is Ron Bell and the following two stories are from two close personal friends of mine who were in The City on that fatefull day. I had the opportunity to go down to Ground Zero the following Saturday, Sept. 15, 2001. Here are their respective stories: This is just an account of what I was an eyewitness to. I was downtown in my old office @55 Broadway when a coworker said a plane had hit the WTC. We ran down to the street, of course, not knowing it was some kind of attack. Thousands of us on the street looking up to where the first fire was when without warning I watched a large airliner slam into the other tower. I remember thinking now this is no accident and I was too close, and we are under attack. It was a sight I will never forget. Like a disaster movie you see all on TV, everyone turned and ran from but only towards a safer distance. As we all watched in horror from what we thought was a safe distance and not being told to move any further away the buildings smoke turned from white building material to black soot and noticeable fires were getting larger. Pandemonium gripped the streets as ambulances and fire trucks headed towards the WTC. I personally did not see any jumping out of the towers, thank goodness, but all I could think of were the horrific circumstances happening 50 to 100 floors above the street before my very eyes. Also what occurred to me was where was all the air support, if were under attack why were there not air force jets patrolling the air, and where were the helicopters above directing rescue efforts below, like I witnessed after the bombing 8 years ago. The smell in the air was like the aftermath of firecrackers going off. The debris over the street was bits and pieces of the building. From the corner of Bay and liberty I decided to try to walk back to the court district where I was supposed to start jury duty at 10am but turned back thinking no way is a court bldg. going to be open. That is when I heard a tremendous crash and when I looked up what I thought was not possible was happening which was the implosion of the first tower. Only 5 minutes earlier I was much closer. I turned and ran towards One Chase Plaza corner of liberty and Nassau St. and felt pellets hitting my back, then a total whiteout. I feared a fireball would soon follow so I was running to get to the back side of the building I was headed to but the whiteout turned black and I among others I heard around me hugged the building. I remember thinking where am I and what seemed like a half a minute before I could see and make out that there was a safety on the other side of the glass building. People I could not see since my eyes and ears and lungs were filled with the soot pushed us forward but still that instant you see what you think is safety and knowing you are on the other side, that period is called panic. As someone is pounding on one of these huge windows trying to break in we were whisked towards a swinging doorway, and kept moving till we were 2 floors below the street. There I stayed for about an hour able to make some calls to my Mom and some friends. Soon afterwards I heard a huge explosion and heard it was the second tower that came down. As I walked outside I felt this is what war must look like. People dazed and confused, crying and hugging and shaking their heads. People, myself included, covered with white soot walking and looking down. Streets as far as 10 blocks away littered with burnt paper and soot as deep as 2 inches. I walked home and arrived by noon. I just write this account. I saw no acts of heroism and claim none but did witness all kinds of acts of kindness and dozens of brave emergency workers going towards disaster as I was trying to get as far away as possible. I am OK, but very sad, my eyes hurt me, I saw too much. May God be kind and may non of us experience close personal loss but not to be naive we all have experienced a personal loss our fellow New Yorkers an attack on our very way of life and first hand knowledge that we are not safe from global terrorism. I witnessed true horror today. Let us mourn our loss. Dave Here is Story number 2 from my former college roomate: I am so happy to be alive. If I had been on time for my appointment 2 blocks from World Trade or the poor misguided souls flying those planes today had been 15 minutes late on their gruesome errand this might have been an entirely different day for me. Fully swallowing this facts feels like... I don't know... indescribable... no try this. Mixed in with the feelings of grief, shock, fear, helplessness is the brightest vain of happiness, which is my total relief to still be on this planet. It makes me feel selfish and guilty to dwell on this when thousands of other people are in deep life altering pain tonight. Despite the fact that my backyard has become the scene of tragedy so much larger them my ability to comprehend. Through the luck of the draw I was spared and given a gift. The opportunity to spend the rest of my life making sure not a single moment is wasted, a beautiful day spent inside or the opportunity to smile passed up. This is only confronting what has always been true. My days here are short, wasting them is a crime. I wish the events of today on no one. But there is beauty in narrowly avoiding catastrophe, close enough to feel the suffering but far enough away to learn from it. Maybe this is what I was supposed to learn from so many other moments in my life. I regret it took until today. To say I fully comprehend everything happening around me today would be a lie. I was witness to horrendous destruction and loss of human life. These things do not pass lightly through the human soul. I will with my family, friends, neighbors and coworkers figure out what this all means and how to re-assemble what will pass for normal life in time. But a life without those 2 towers that seemed to watch over us. Reminding us with every glance what a special place we lived in. How invicible we all were. Even now looking downtown is disorienting because the view has changed so drastically. It was impossible but it happened. But for now time has slowed down, the city a ghost town but for the scream of sirens up and down the wide empty avenues. The anonymous faces on the sidewalks are hollow and expressionless from what I assume is the shock of trying to accept the unimaginable. The occasional roar of fighter jets passing over head causes a flicker of fear. I can't imagine what it will be like when the normal din of air traffic resumes. Fall is peaking out, the days are quickly getting shorter. Normally this change of season, the dry cool days, gives everyone a little spring in their step. The weather today was beautiful, a perfect fall day, which some how makes it worse. In the coming months the change to winter will help wash away the awful truth. I look forward to forgetting this day. - Dustin - 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 story1366.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. 2002-08-21 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 12.90.28.31 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 work in the travel industry. I was at work that morning when the tragic events occurred. The next hour, day, week seemed to be an endless string of phone calls. We had travelers all over the country and out of the country who just wanted to be home with the family and friends. We couldn't help them. All we could do was to encourage them to rent a car and start driving. We had about 300 or so travelers out in Seattle, and probably 90% of them drove home. The one call I remember most vividly was a woman who called to cancel her flight home from Seattle to New Orleans. She cried saying that she just couldn't do it and if it took her several days to get home, she would just have to do it. I cried along with her. We did what we could. We donated money to the Red Cross. We donated blood to help the victims. We watched the news for hours at a time though nothing changed. Over the last year we have seen drastic changes in the world of air travel. I have flown myself, and feel confident that everything that can be done will be done to avoid the same thing happening again elsewhere. I'm 28 years old, and I cannot imagine that I will ever witness anything so devastating again in my lifetime. At least that is my hope. My thoughts go out to all those directly effected by the attacks. 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 story2660.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. 205.242.228.40 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 story takes place the Friday after September 11th. On my way to work on that Friday after the Twin towers fell, I still cried that morning at the time when our nation lost the first lives of that terrible morning. As I was driving down a winding country back road still crying, I didn't stop in time and rear ended the person in fron't of me. It didn't do too much damage to neither one of our vehicles. The man that I hit got out of his car and I got out of my van, still crying. I told him that I was very sorry that I hit his car and that I would get my insurance information. He said not to worry about it and gave me a nice warm hug and sent me on my way. This story shows that I'm not the only one with a warm heart and a kind spirit in these trying times. 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 story6916.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. 12.229.190.125 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: A whole country away, we woke up at about the time the second plane slammed into the World Trade Center, then sat in stunned silence as the buildings toppled down to earth. I suppose at some point we got ourselves and our daughter ready for work and kindergarten, then made our way into downtown San Francisco with the radio tuned to news of the attacks. The news of a plane crash in Pennsylvania worried us as our aunt lives near Pittsburgh, but we later found out she was nowhere near the crash site. Downtown San Francisco was eerily quiet as people milled around the streets and buildings trying to make sense of the attacks. A unsubstantiated bomb threat at the hotel across the street from my place of work caused my manager to close the store for the day and send us all home to be with our families. I drove to my daughter's school to pick her up at dismissal time. I remember sitting on the steps of the school, trying to comprehend what was happening and wondering if the attacks would continue. The school is in the neighborhood I grew up in and is in the flight path of San Francisco International Airport. The silence was deafening - the absence of airplanes in the sky was so unusual. I couldn't help but think of friends in the police department and in the military, wondering what their necessary response would have to be. Although I did not personally know anyone who died as a result of the attacks, I still can not hear "God Bless America" without crying. Someday, we will understand the meaning of the September 11 attacks and look back to see how our country pulled together in the face of terror and tragedy. 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 story6976.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. 205.188.209.38 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 received a phone call from my niece telling me that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. She didn't know what size it was but everyone at work throught that it was a private plane that had accidentially crash into the building. Then the 2nd plane hit and we all realized that this was no accident. Panic struck. My mother was visiting relatives in Oklahoma City and was due to fly out on the morning of 9/11/01. All I could think of was telling my mother not to get on the plane that was heading to Newark, NJ. Then the towers came down and as the 2nd one fell so did I. Every emotion swelled inside of me and flooded to the surface. One year later to the day those emotions still swell as I think of all the people who died in the name of a cause. I am angry and will always be because they took something from me that was very precious "my freedom". I fear for my country, the world and our children. May God bless them all and God Bless America. Cathie Fanti 9/11/02 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 story3548.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 209.241.120.131 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: 9-11: A DAY TO REMEMBER A personal recollection of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center September 11, 2001 By Christopher P. Smith c.smith@christophers.org Version: 10-11-01 ? 2001 8:45 AM Boeing 767 (American Airlines Flight 11) hits North Tower (1 World Trade Center) 9:03 AM Boeing 767 (United Airlines Flight 175) hits South Tower (2 World Trade Center) I am the Administrator of The Christophers, located at 12 East 48th Street, close to the intersection of 48th Street & 5th Avenue in Manhattan. At about 9:10 a.m. I was alerted by our receptionist Shirley Oliver, who contacted me by intercom, saying excitedly, ?Did you hear, two planes hit the World Trade Center! If you go to the corner you can see it.? She said she understood that one ?large plane? and one ?small plane? had struck the buildings.? Perhaps a mid-air collision? I went to the street corner. Rings of flames were visible in sections of the upper third of both towers. Huge plumes of black smoke billowed to the southeast. The sight was so unbelievable, it reminded me of a Hollywood movie. (Since 1989, I have been a member of Bravo Volunteer Ambulance Service (BRAVO) in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. I had responded with BRAVO to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Our response was recognized by the New York City Council. See NOTE #3 at end.) While standing on the corner, I immediately tried to contact BRAVO with my cell phone. Repeatedly, I got ?network busy? indication because the system was overwhelmed with calls. I went back to the office and used the land-line to call BRAVO and ask if BRAVO was responding to the World Trade Center (WTC). The dispatcher said that one ambulance and the van were responding (BRAVO has three ambulances and a utility van). I told the dispatcher that I would join the BRAVO units at the scene. I was advised by the dispatcher that the emergency response staging area was the intersection of Vesey and West Streets. I said I would try to meet the BRAVO units there. Vesey street, which runs east-west, forms the northern border of the twin-towers complex. I met with Gerald Costello, The Christophers? president, and advised him that I would be leaving the office to meet up with my ambulance squad at the scene. He and Mary Ellen Robinson had the cable TV on. I didn?t stop to watch. Before I left, I called my wife, Ingrid, at home in Brooklyn to let her know what had happened and that I was going to respond to the scene. I left a message on the answering machine. (See NOTE #1 at end) I closed the computer document I was working on at 9:16 a.m. and left the office for the WTC. I had had only coffee and no breakfast, and went to the deli two doors down for a bagel with cream cheese to go. I was not hungry at all, but I knew I might have problems later if I didn?t force something down now. When I got to 5th Avenue to flag down a cab, traffic was light, and, amazingly, empty cabs were just lined up along the curb. The drivers were standing next to their open doors, staring at the burning towers in the distance. I entered a cab, and when the driver said ?Where, to?? I said ?Get me as close to those buildings as you possibly can.? The driver gave me this look ? which I countered by saying that I was part of the medical response, and off we went. Having responded to the 1993 WTC bombing, I had a mental map of what to expect. The primary response area would be West Street. In the hours ahead, several hundred, if not thousands of ?walking wounded? would be streaming out of the towers on to West Street. I would render whatever assistance I could, and hopefully meet up with my BRAVO crew there as well. There was less traffic than I thought there would be, and I got closer to the towers than I thought we would get before the police roadblock, about eight blocks north of the north tower. I gave the cabby double fare for being a good sport. The neighborhood is not one I am closely familiar with. I headed south, closer to the huge burning towers, trying to recall whether Vesey Street bordered WTC complex or whether it was a couple of blocks north. The thought that the towers might collapse never crossed my mind. In fact, I was thinking that when the fire gets put out, its going to be a one hell of a repair job. There were gaping holes in the sides of the buildings, but they were immense structures and looked solid. Then I saw a person falling through the air from the upper portion of the North tower. That shook me up. I moved on. I was walking south on Greenwich Street to where it intersects Barclay. West Street was the next block south. Ironically, the closer I got to the towers, the more obscured my view became because of a huge 47 story building: 7 World Trade Center (Later in the day, this building would collapse entirely as the result of damage caused by the collapse of the north tower). Standing next to 7 WTC, my view of the south tower was obscured entirely, but I could see the top of the burning north tower. There weren?t many people around, and I saw a pay phone with a person using it and no line of people waiting. Pay phones I passed previously had lines of people waiting. Cell phone service was still dead. At about 10:03 a.m. I used this phone to call BRAVO. Our dispatcher told me that BRAVO was transporting a patient from the scene (See NOTE #2 at end). I said I would proceed to the staging area (about a block away). At the moment I hung up the phone there was a loud whooshing metallic noise. Immediately, I looked up, believing this sound to possibly be a low altitude jet turbine. My reaction was, ?Oh shit! -- There?s a third plane coming in right at me.? I immediately looked above me expecting to see an airplane or something over my head. This moment of terror was interrupted by the sound of debris hitting the ground and the sight of huge thunder-clouds of dust shooting north up East Broadway on my left, and Greenwich Street on my right. The tower (2 WTC) was collapsing (10:05 a.m.), but 7 World Trade Center had acted like a giant shield for me. Still, the wave of dust was a smothering rolling cloud. Everybody ran north. I glanced back and saw chunks of concrete-colored masonry the size of softballs on the sidewalk where I had been standing. I tried to make sense of what I was seeing, as I never saw the stuff hit the ground. About a half dozen people and I ducked into a white building with revolving doors. I stayed there a couple of minutes and left when it appeared that there were no more falling debris and the dust was not getting worse. The lobby attendants urged everyone to remain inside ?because it was safer than outside.? (I think he ate those words about twenty minutes later). I jogged north a block or two to, I believe, Warren Street, between Greenwich and East Broadway. On the north side of the street there was a tiny parking lot with a vacant pay phone. I called BRAVO, the office, and left a message for Ingrid at home letting them know that the tower was down but I was OK. I walked a half-block east to West Broadway, which was saturated with dust. The depth of the whitish dust was approximately an inch. It looked as though there had been a snowfall. I picked up a handful of the dust. It was the color of concrete but seemed to be very fibrous. It was just me and a cop at the intersection. The police officer said, ?Are you a cop? If you don?t have to be here, I?d get out of here. You don?t know what?s in that stuff. Unfortunately, I have to be here.? I told him, ?I?m trying to meet up with my volunteer ambulance unit,? and I moved on. I proceeded north and then west to get to West Street. I won?t know my exact path until I go back there some day. I remember crossing a footbridge that gave me an unobstructed view of the remaining burning tower. At this point I was wondering if the north tower would go down as well, and if it went down would it go straight down, or would it flop over. And if it did flop over, would I be within range of the fall. I was on West Street, and decided to pull back, and I proceeded north. I gave the thumbs-up sign to several firemen. They were the only people heading toward the remaining tower. It had been about ten minutes since the first tower went down. The scene on West Street was total confusion. The street was a flood of fire, police, and EMS vehicles of every description. Everyone was in shock. I was worried about our BRAVO crew, but took comfort in the fact that they had begun transporting a patient before the collapse. What about the people in the BRAVO van? Were they OK? At 10:28 a.m., the final horror unfolded. I was on West Street, about four or five blocks away when the North Tower went down. The center went straight down. The mast at the top remained erect. The floors pan-caked down and exploded in dust and debris. There was an order to it, a violent grace in death. The sides of the building peeled in giant sheets and broke away like a fractured banana peel. One of the world?s tallest buildings had disintegrated before my eyes. How could anyone have survived? A tsunami wave of dust thirty stories high was shooting north on West Street. It took several several seconds for it to register that we had to get out of the way. Suddenly everyone was in retreat. People running and vehicles in reverse gear. Some drivers already had their vehicles headed north. Good for them! It was total confusion. We retreated a couple of blocks or so. The air was very dusty, but not pea soup. The wind was in our favor at our location. The prevailing wind that day was south-east, so during the whole incident the dust and smoke ultimately was blowing away from where I was. People east and south of the WTC complex were smothered. Day became night. After the retreat I found myself at the corner of West & Monroe Streets next to BMCC (Borough of Manhattan Community College). Crew members were just opening the doors of an ambulance from Flatlands (Brooklyn) Volunteer Ambulance Service. I told the Flatlands crew that I was with BRAVO and asked if I could hook up with them. They said OK. The ?walking wounded? were making their way up West Street. FDNY EMS set up a treatment area in BMCC for less serious cases. Serious cases got immediate transport. We set up a triage area around the ambulance on West Street next to the median. A fireman staggered up to us stating that he had been struck by a vehicle in the retreat and knocked out. He had pain along the entire left side of his body neck pain and dizziness. He got a rapid take down and immediate transport. We loaded him into a FDNY bus. What we were seeing mostly were the effects of the dust and smoke: irritated eyes, throats, lungs and a few cuts and bruises from people falling and crashing into things during the dust blast. After about forty minutes there was a rumor about a possible pending third explosion. Then, suddenly, it was evacuation time ? fast. It was load and go, out of there. Word was that there was potential for a gas line explosion. This time the retreat didn?t end until we hit Chelsea Piers, a huge waterfront recreational sports facility at about 16th Street, portions of which were being set up as an emergency treatment center. It was also a staging area for ambulances, which meant that our ambulance got on a huge line of other ambulances, in anticipation of being sent back to ground zero. Also joining the Flatlands Volunteer Ambulance crew with me was a fellow named Thane Thompson. Thane, an employee of Morgan Stanley from California, had been in New York for the first time for only a day or so. He was on the 61st floor of the south tower when the first plane hit. He successfully evacuated from the building. When the tower collapsed, he ducked into an underground garage and was briefly trapped with a group of firemen. They found an alternate route out of the garage, and had to share their respirators in order to breathe. After all of that, he volunteered to help on the ambulance. Although he wasn?t an EMT, he had medical experience from the Army. (See NOTE #4 for Thane Thompson?s Account in his own words) I asked the Flatlands crew chief to ask their dispatcher to call BRAVO and let them know I was OK, and that I working with them, and to call my wife and let her know the same, which they did. Cell phone and pay phone service was dead. We were with the Flatlands Ambulance crew on line with dozens of other ambulances at the Chelsea Piers staging area for several hours. During this time we restocked with supplies which were being delivered by truck. In anticipation of being sent back to ground zero, we organized the nine of us into three groups of three. Slowly the ambulance line moved along. I subsequently concluded that none of them were ever sent to ground zero, but rather were sent to other ambulance staging areas, and eventually sent home. FDNY said they didn?t want crews working more than twelve hours straight. Word on the street was bleak. It was said that in addition the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial, White House, and Mall had been hit as well. (My brother, David, a US Navy Captain, had left the Pentagon just prior to the attack there). My parents, who also live in Washington, had gone to France on Labor Day and were expected back on the 17th. I wondered what they were thinking. Around 3:00 p.m., the Flatlands crew said that their own members would staff the ambulance, in the event that it was sent to ground zero, and that the rest of us help at Chelsea Piers. That made sense and Thane and I went to see what we could do. We moved on. There were many other volunteers, everything from doctors and nurses and people with basic medical experience, to people with no medical experience. Thane and I hooked up with the American Red Cross. We got a quick, and grim refresher in patient triage. Hundreds of patients were expected and we were to help with patient administration. At Chelsea Piers, in a series of four huge adjoining rooms, a field hospital, including an ?operating room? was being set up. The ?operating room? really brought home the immensity of what were potentially facing. The operating room consisted of about 150 portable beds, each with one high intensity light, a side table with surgical hardware and a side table with an EKG / defibrillator. This was the RED room for trauma patients. RED patients were not expected to live without immediate medical intervention. The fact that the field hospital was setup, stocked and staffed so quickly is testimony to the preparedness of the city. At MCIs (Multiple Casualty Incidents) patients are literally tagged. The tags indicate one of four colors: BLACK: Deceased or mortal injuries; RED: Death probable without immediate intervention; YELLOW: Patient stable but in need of medical intervention; GREEN: Patient stable and ambulatory, in need of relatively minor treatment. The field hospital was divided into treatment areas by color code. The RED room was the major trauma room, and every one of the 100+ ?beds? had a surgeon and at least one assistant next to it. The air was electric with anticipation of what was to come. Our job as ?Volly-PADs? was to meet the arriving ambulances, and escort the patient and crew to the appropriate treatment area (RED, GREEN, YELLOW?) We were to complete the patient information section of the PCR, and take vital signs if we had the experience to do so. In the case of unconscious trauma patients or the deceased, we would have to take the patient information from their wallets, etc. We were told we may be dealing with ?pieces? of human remains. Hot and cold trays of food were available for the emergency crews at a restaurant called ?Pier 60,? so we took a break to eat. There was also food and refreshments available at the field hospital. It is amazing how good food can appear at the scene of an urban disaster. The same thing happened at the ?93 bombing. Only in New York! At a certain point, if you don?t eat and stay hydrated you can end up being a victim yourself. On two occasions, word was that up to 500 patients were imminently expected but they never appeared. The only wave that ever came in was about 100 people, mostly Police Officers, complaining of irritated eyes, throats and lungs. Some cuts, bangs and bruises. I personally took vitals and wrote up about 15 police officers. After the preliminary write-up, the patients were escorted to a doctor for treatment. After that wave, all was quiet. I never saw a single patient treated in the RED (trauma) room. This was a bad sign but nobody talked about it. I got word that the ?lettered? subways were running again and made the decision to go home shortly after midnight. Nothing more was happening and I came to two sad conclusions: All the patients were dead. And there weren?t any bodies. There was no more job for me to do. Cell phone service was back but spotty, and my phone battery almost dead. I told Ingrid previously that I would probably stay at Chelsea piers over night, but called her now to let her know I was coming home. I walked to Union Square and got the ?R? train to Brooklyn. The train had to be re-routed because of tunnel damage from the collapse. Well, I was glad to get home and see Ingrid and Ashley and Bonnie. I smelled like smoke and death, and Ingrid made me get in the shower right away. I called my brother in Washington at about 3:00 a.m. to make sure he was OK. He was. I should say something about the odor from the disaster which permeated the city?s air. It wasn?t the kind of smell you would associate with a fire such as burnt wood, fabric or paper. The odor, which we still live with, has a distinct burnt plastic, burnt electrical smell to it, probably from all the synthetic materials used in the construction and furnishings. A whole lot of people experienced much worse than I did that day. This is just my story. Over 5,000 people perished including about 500 firemen, cops and other rescuers. I didn?t witness the worst of the terrible sights and sounds of this tragedy. Seeing the north tower go down right in front of me was an experience beyond words and imagination. And prior to that, when the south tower went down, I felt I dodged a bullet. For an instant I had the terror of thinking I might get killed, and at the same time felt incredible guilt for voluntarily putting myself in that position. I thought of my family. I thought of my job. And I thought I had just made the biggest mistake of my life. All this in just the wink of an eye! But there was no bullet for me that day. Just a click. I moved on. Three days after the September 11th attack, I called Willie Wright, my EMT instructor, to find out how I could re-certify and upgrade my EMT skills. Every three years New York State Emergency Medical Technicians have to have their skills challenged in a state test and take a refresher course. Willie had a refresher course just starting, and I signed up. My personal way of honoring the lives lost, is by being as prepared as possible for the future. 10-08-01 NOTE #1: As it turned out, Ingrid was home, but did not get to the phone in time. She did hear my message, and immediately after, her brother, Albert called her as well. The cell phone networks were down, so she could not return my call. Ingrid left home with her camera and drove to a recreational pier (69th St.) about 30 blocks away that has a commanding view of the Manhattan skyline. She witnessed and photographed the collapse of the south tower. So devastated at what she saw, she drove back home, only to hear on the car radio that the north tower went down as well. NOTE #2: BRAVO-1 with crew Pam Carlton, Ed Handler and Aaron Waks arrived at the scene at approximately 9:10 a.m., and reported to the EMS staging area in front of the towers. They soon treated their first patient. They left the scene with the patient literally seconds before the first collapse, which meant their lives had been spared. Ambulance Bravo-2 and the utility van, BRAVO-4, responded to the scene shortly after. NOTE #3: (1993 Terrorist Bombing) The Council - City of New York Proclamation Whereas: On February 23, 1993, in demonstration of their readiness to help those in need of emergency care, members of Bay Ridge Volunteer Ambulance Service of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, responded to the tragedy caused by the explosion at the World Trade center in Manhattan; and Whereas: At approximately 12:30 p.m., upon hearing of the incident, BRAVO President Christopher Smith telephoned BRAVO Base to establish whether the City Emergency Medical Services (EMS) had called for help, and arranged to meet a BRAVO unit at the scene of the explosion; and Whereas: Mr. Smith assisted EMS at the Mobile Emergency Room Vehicle Command Center on West Street in front of the Trade Center, while BRAVO Vice President of Operations Dave Wildner arranged for a crew to respond to the scene while maintaining coverage for Bay Ridge, and Whereas: BRAVO members Walter Jehle, Wil Ketelsen, Nick Nikolopoulos, Ed Slomka, Fred Agnello, Jim Muller and Rober Mustillo joined President Smith at the scene, remaining there to about midnight; and Whereas: Immediately upon their arrival at the Trade Center, BRAVO members began treating patients, most of whom suffered from smoke inhalation and fatigue, and Whereas: BRAVO transported twelve individuals to various medical facilities, including three men who had who had been trapped in a smoke filled elevator and repeatedly told BRAVO members that they didn?t think that they would make it out alive; and Whereas: BRAVO dispatchers Sadie Cecere, Toni Olsen and Victoria Monk maintained vital communication links between all BRAVO members; and Whereas: BRAVO members Nick Cagliuso, Patrick Mitchell, Jennifer Smith, Gene Anderson, Anthony Angotti, Jim Howe, Gayle Zarrin, Jerry Lande, Bernadette Cherry; Henry Cordero, Patricia Holtz, Patricia McElroy, and Michael Swannick worked to cover the Bay Ridge area while the disaster management continued, upholding the obligation BRAVO owes to the residents of Bay Ridge who graciously support BRAVO?s work; now, therefore, Be It Known: That the Council of the City of New York praises and thanks the officers and members of BRAVO Volunteer Ambulance Service, Inc., for their unselfish and heroic response to the World Trade Center explosion. Signed this 9th day of March, in the year Nineteen Hundred and Ninety Three. Sal F. Albanese Council Member, 43rd District Brooklyn NOTE #4: From: Thane J. Thompson [thanej@attglobal.net] Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2001 11:10 PM To: c.smith@christophers.org Subject: Re: WTC Account Chris, Great to read your story. I think is therapeutic to talk or write this stuff out. Not only have I been talking about this to friends and family, I've also been reading some Victor Frankel. I'm struck by his wisdom and its relevance to this WTC attack. Frankel's messages have a certain raw, hard reality that ring true. The WTC was such a senseless act of violence. The massive loss of life in such a small space is staggering: 5000-6000 Mommys and Daddys gone. This terror has unsettled the psyche of a nation. The suffering just rippled through our society hitting even the sleepy little town that I live in. Frankel's existential truths easily fit this situation. To live is to suffer. To survive is to find meaning in the suffering. If there is a purpose in life, then there must be a purpose in suffering and in the dying. But no person call tell another what this purpose is. Each person must find there own meaning and must accept the responsibility for what that meaning prescribes for life. If you succeeds you will continue to grow in spite of all indignities. My short story is this.... I was in NYC on the 61st floor of Tower 2 sipping coffee and looking out toward the Statue of Liberty. It was sunny, beautiful and I was thinking about how grand it was to be in Manhattan again. When the first plane hit it sounded like muffled, distant thunder that I didn't understand. I soon saw papers merrily falling from the sky like a ticker tape parade. I knew something was wrong when I saw balls of burning material falling to the street. We started evacuating down the stairs. I was in the stairwell on the 20th floor when the second plane hit tower 2. The awful explosion and the shuddering building told me we were in extreme danger. After helping a big lady down and out of the building, I went over to the west side of WTC and reported to a fire department control point. I thought I would put my army medical training to good use. That command post was right across West Street from the WTC and, in retrospect, it was way too close. The fire chief told me they'd hook me up with medical team in a few minutes. So, I waited wondering if the terrorists were using this as a warm up for additional planes, bio, chem or truck bomb surprise. You know, the old 'bloodly nose' trick. I saw those poor people either jump, get pushed or get sucked out of the building. Just I as I decided to put these ugly thoughts out of my mind, tower 2 started to come down. Because we were so close to the base of the tower, the visual on this was truly terrifying. It looked like it was coming down right on top of us. I ran as fast as my slippery wing tips would carried me. The firemen and I ran for our lives down into an underground garage while the rumble and dust plugged the mouth of garage. "Trapped...", I thought "...so this is it happens." I feel we could have easily have been buried alive and bought it there in the dark with that stifling dust. I made a makeshift mask out a rag I found in a Janitors closet. Luckily, some of fireman had respirators and they searched around in the dark, dust fill garage to find a clear emergency exit going up and out. Up top, you saw it on CNN I'm sure, it looked like the moon, or a volcano... inches of dust on the ground and in the air... gagging everybody without a mask. I could see no farther then four feet. Keeping the building to my left, I made my way around the base of a building to the corner and the dust thinned, then for a half block then I was out of the cloud. I linked up with a nurse who was helping people as they emerged from the dust cloud. I helped a couple people by washing the dust and crap out of their eyes. They looked like they been spray painted with dust an 1/8 thick, but generally in good condition. I think you either got away without much injury or you were dead. The nurse had wandered off and I saw three ambulances start to setup a triage point on the corner. I gathered up an aid kit, an O2 tank and a backboard and went over to join up with an ambulance crew. Just as I got there the second building started to fall toward us and that panicky, "run for your lives" behavior started up again as the Tower 1 collapsed. I jumped in the back of an ambulance and we raced ahead of the boiling dust cloud as it rolled through the building canyons like some scene out of a cheap action flick. The driver made a wrong turn into a cul-de-sac, stopped suddenly, shouted "everybody out" and we debussed into a crowd of kids evacuating from Pace Univ? Walking north a block later I linked up with different ambulance crew from the Flatlands Volunteer Ambulance Corps. There we helped a guy with some minor head trauma who had been pummelled by debris. Soon we were ordered to pull back for fear of gas explosions. I rode with the crew to Chelsea Pier where an emergency treatment point was being setup. It was like a hasty MASH unit with 50 emergency operating tables, 30 minor treatment stations all improvised out of folding banquet tables and heap of medical supplies. But sadly very, very few casualties every came to Chelsea Pier because most people died. I heard later that they only treated 100 or so public service folks with eye abrasions and dust inhalation. I stayed until about 11p and left when I realized that there were plenty of volunteers lined up to help and no casualties coming to Chelsea Pier. I took the train uptown to my hotel and slept awful. The emotional aspect of all this really hit me on Weds after watching CNN in the morning and heard more details about people and families. I spent the afternoon walking in Central Park trying to sort out my thoughts and memories. I called a blood center to give blood and they said they'd call back with an appointment in 4-5 days! The outpouring of volunteerism was inspiring. Rather then fly, my employer chartered a bus and that was just the right answer.. low stress and no airport hassle. So Chris, you and I were at ground zero and suffered that indignity first hand. When I tell people this they often ask kindly if I'm ok and look at me cautiously as if I might burst into tears. More and more, I tell them that I am doing fine and ask them back how they are doing. They often believe that I must be suffering more than most. I'm not so sure. While I was physically involved on Tuesday, you and I were able to act in response to this event and that a big step in coping: action. I did not fully appreciate the magnitude and depth of the event until I was subjected to CNN and the power of global media on Wednesday back in my hotel room. Sitting in front of the TV, I was emotionally beat up. The TV new emotionally traumatized me. Story after story took me into the victims homes, lives and I saw their children. My point is that even though people were miles and miles away in a sleepy little foothill town, I know people are suffering and some are changed forever. My question is whether or not this changed you? If if has changed you, have is your behavior different? You said you're getting back involved with EMS by re-certifying. That's additional action and put that down to coping in a meaningful way. What do you think? Regards, Thane *************************************** 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 story3449.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. 12.39.245.182 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: March 16, 2002 Almost Spring Everyone is wearing green corsages and beads, buttons and hats. Tomorrow is St. Patrick?s Day, and today the parade is marching past at almost the moment we arrive in the city. There is also green just starting to dot the trees in Central Park. Buds are swelling and the forsythias are already in full bloom. The yellow makes a splash in the midst of the gray. It?s cloudy but warm as we walk briskly to the American Museum of Natural History. Maybe I?m just imagining, but it seems that when you head uptown you hear planes more. At home, I don?t immediately look up anymore at the first hint of an airplane sound. But here, I feel myself struggle not to. Just as we open the doors to the museum, a jet engine thunders nearby. I see heads swivel upwards, searching the clouds. Inside, I keep watching through the windows, secretly bracing for some sort of explosion. Nothing comes. I turn back to the dinosaurs. We go to the much-talked about planetarium show. Sinking back in my seat, I let the sounds of thunder and crashing waves and baseball games wash over me. Then the sky becomes awash with stars. We travel to the depths of the ocean and then to other galaxies. After that, the rest of the museum is anticlimactic. There is almost too much to see, so we wander rapidly through the rooms of precious gems and fossils and mammals, looking but not really seeing anything. In an hour or two, we?re finished, so we walk for awhile and then head underground. ? The Bridge Now we know it?s time. Dan and I have talked about this off and on for weeks. We?re going to walk the Brooklyn Bridge. The sun is out but the day has grown much colder. I shove my hands in my pockets and try to stop shivering as we search for the walkway over the bridge. I thought when I came here and did this I would remember so much of that day. Besides the obvious horrid images of planes crashing and buildings falling on September 11, the other visual that melded itself in my mind was from that afternoon, when hordes of people covered in dust crossed the bridge in a panic. Is this really New York? Is this actually real and not some B-movie? I remembered thinking. But now I am here and that place I saw on television seems like a dream. Today the air is clear and the bridge is not lost in a cloud of dust. People dawdle, pushing strollers, and tourists pause to snap pictures. I look up at the cables rising far above me on either side, squeezing me in. Cars rush below us and shake the wooden boardwalk on which we stand. To our left is the Manhattan Bridge; to our right the George Washington in the hazy distance, as the mouth of the river opens to the sea. Behind us is the skyline, but I don?t want to really look there yet. Our walk to Brooklyn takes maybe a half-hour. We stand at a map arguing, unable to find Old Fulton Street. We want to try this pizza place, Grimaldi?s. Finally this older couple points us in the right direction. Before stopping to eat we walk to the bottom of the street, which ends at the water. There is a pier and some sort of boat landing. It looks private. I see a white limousine parked but running, with one of the back doors opened. A bride, white dress and all, is stooping halfway out of the door. I can?t tell if she?s getting out or back in. I look up at the bridge. Now it?s almost directly over my head, just a little to the right. I see its underbelly, secretly thrilled to glimpse the side not visible in posters but only if you?re actually there. The bride slams the door and the limo roars away. Now we have this place to ourselves. For the first time I really take in the span of the city from this point. The sun has disappeared behind the buildings; the sky is golden. I turn around for just a moment and find myself staring through the window of a restaurant that looks out at the city. A waitress is standing, arms folded, gazing across the water. Her eyes look sad. But maybe she is just bored, waiting for customers. It?s difficult to tell. The street is so quiet that when we open the doors to Grimaldi?s, the noise is a sort of pleasant shock. Every table is full and the air is steamy and full of oregano. We rest our elbows on the red-checkered tablecloth and order a large pizza with pepperoni and garlic, onions and mushrooms. There is a stone oven right behind the counter, and the guys have this clockwork system for churning out pizzas. About every 30 seconds one opens the oven door and another shovels a steaming pizza out, then slides a new one in. The pies are whisked to tables immediately. Ours arrives within 10 minutes of ordering, and we quickly occupy ourselves with eating. It?s too loud to talk anyway. Everything has changed when we walk back outside. Day has become night. The sky is blue-black and the city is lit up now. Then we see the towers, the Tribute in Light ? two blue beams stretching endlessly to the sky. As we walk, I look and look at them, always in front of us, standing in that empty place that I can?t imagine full. Even though it?s dark now and windy I don?t feel cold anymore. I?d heard people say the lights, the tribute, is healing. Now I see why but don?t really understand why. Later this night we will walk past the floodlights of Ground Zero, illuminating boarded up windows and gouged walls, casting strange shadows, like lightening in the middle of the night. We will make our way through the crowds, our hands numb with cold, to Battery Park and stare soberly at the bronze sphere that once stood in the World Trade Center plaza. But now we are still walking on the bridge and watching the new city. Several small groups of men and women are walking toward us. As they draw near I see they are New York City police officers and firefighters. I think, but I?m not sure, that they have come to see the lights. I try not to look at them. They must always have strangers watching them now, wondering what they have seen and how they are coping. I wonder too, but there is no way to know, as they pass by, some laughing and talking, some utterly silent. I am a stranger here. I am only an observer. I wish there was a way to tell them I am trying to understand and trying not to forget. Looking out at Manhattan and at the thousands of lights that speak for millions of people, I ache to make a connection. To the north I see the Empire State Building, bathed in red, white and blue light. In the south I can just make out the Statue of Liberty, lighting the waters around her. But for a moment, it all seems so small. I feel as if I could stretch out my arms and touch the city from end to end, then draw it close to me, in an embrace. 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 story639.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. 2002-05-17 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 146.96.95.21 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: It Was Going To Be A Beautiful Day As I went to bed that evening, I looked forward to the next day. It was going to be a beautiful day, a special day. A beautiful day weatherwise; a special day because we were going to celebrate our 53 rd. wedding anniversary. That next morning, I slept-in as was my habit. ?Sleeping-in? for me the night owl meant I would get up about 8:00 A.M. Although my husband had risen earlier, as was his usual habit,he always rose quietly and left the bedroom, closing the door so as not to disturb me. While I slept,he enjoyed the relative peace and read the newspaper while sitting in his armchair.Such is his routine. I was therefore surprised to find him leaning over the bed and gently kissing me awake. Upon opening my eyes I could see that despite the fact that the blinds were still closed, the sunlight leaked through the louvers. Another blessed day which was a special day for us and that was why he was waking me. Was there a surprise in store? He was saying that our daughter had called and said something that I had difficulty focusing on.Planes had hit the World Trade Center towers. My mind and heart raced and before I raised my head from the pillow, I burst into tears. Actually, I bawled because of the memories that flooded in. Memories of our last visit to New York City during which we had spent five days studying the history of lower Manhattan. During that visit, the Marriott Millennium Hotel was our home. It nestled between the soaring 110 storied-towers almost like a sleeping puppy between its master?s feet.And, each morning,as we exited the lobby of the hotel, we walked in the open plaza between the Towers enroute to our rendezvous with our guide and fellow classmates. As we walked, the contraflow of people streaming towards and into the Towers , seemed to be like the march of many foot soldiers of a modern army poised for the day to be combatants for their daily bread. We too were foot soldiers as we went about our explorations of Lower Manhattan and visited sites of its early history. Wall Street,known world-wide as the center of finance got its name because there was a wall that defined and protected the original Dutch colony. A subway ride to Brooklyn enabled us to stand on the promenade at Brooklyn Heights and imagine General Washington?s troops battle the Redcoats to regain a foothold on Manhattan Island. The experience of walking back to Manhattan via the Brooklyn Bridge was an experience to be savored. And always enroute, the experience of the architecture and street art excited me who had once been an urban planner. And thus each evening footsore and weary, we returned to the plaza between the Towers enroute to our hotel. Again, we met the contraflow of some of the thousands of people exiting from the buildings enroute to their places of rest and comfort. But, on September 11,2001 that was not to be. For those who were lost and not found, and for those whose mortal remains have not been found,nor never will be, I ask where is their rest and solace? And those that they loved and those that loved them, will there ever be a satisfactory closure of the wounds that pierced their hearts much like the piercing of the Towers by the planes flown into them? And again, a lament from the past is heard. A voice raised in anguish hoarsely screams,?Oh the humanity?. August 2002 911DA Story: Contributor Estelle Feinstein 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 story1505.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. 2002-08-27 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 129.174.27.149 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I will never forget the morning that I woke up to see the news on the television. It was the second morning of my new job. I was fresh out of the Navy, and fresh in the Naval reserves. I sat glued to the Television as I tried to get ready, in disbelief. As I drove across the Dumbarton Bridge and then onto Palo Alto, I could not turn down the radio. I remember thinking, "Okay, it's time to go back active duty and fight for this wonderful country I live in. I remember at times it was difficult to see due to the tears streaming down my face. Although, no one I knew passed away, I grieved for those people who had lost their lives as well as the families of those people. I still grieve for those people, but feel that through all of this tradgedy and despair, we are becoming a stronger nation. 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 story4746.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 209.213.222.178