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: For the previous five years I had been working with a woman; the last two defined as pure hell. She was making my life so miserable and unbearable that I was thinking of suicide. Being a single mom of one child, I have tried my best to make lemonade from lemons many times in my life. But this was a situation that I had lost total control of. The woman was controlling every aspect of my life--what to wear, who to talk to, my after-work hour activities; my weekend activities, etc. She criticized my lifestyle, my home, my child, my family and my culture. Her choke-hold was that I had no where to go from this job--no possibilty for advancement and if I left this job, I would be unmarketable. Nevertheless, she instilled this incredible fear in me. Going to work was no longer enjoyable. Everything I said and did was criticized--I wasn't even allowed to speak to clients (I was front-office!) unless she gave me permission. Well, on the morning of 9-11 I woke up literally sick to my stomach--a burning sensation in my gut has worsened over the past month. I was convinced I had cancer. I called in sick at 6 a.m., then turned the tv on. When I first saw the news it didn't sink it--like any other day of "bad news". But as the minutes passed and I sat there and watched the horror of the morning unfold, I wondered if somehow I hadn't sensed the tragedy of the day. Even though I called in sick, she called me and yelled at me for not being at work--I told her I just couldn't be at work and my stomach was "on fire" and I was going to see the doctor. She called me a liar and said I wasn't sick and she'd deal with me later. I felt sicker and I cried the rest of the day. I watched tv all that day and that night into the wee hours of the morning, crying--but not knowing if I was crying for myself, my stomach pain or for the country. I felt dizzy and out of control. With little sleep I went to work the next day and she came in with the face of a demon, ready to fire me. I took control and told her that I could not and would not deal with her pettiness for the day--I was too consumed with our countries' tragedy. I walked out of her office and proceeded to work. She kept bitching and nagging and again, I felt dizzy and started to hyperventilate and ran to the bathroom to gather myself. I came out and sat at my desk and typed a resignation. The country was falling apart, my child was in shear panic and I was losing my mind too--but I had to try and save what was in my control. When she went to thr bathroom, I put the resignation on her desk and went to lunch. Unfortunately, I had to give 2-weeks notice to save my vacation, sick pay and retirement payout. It was the longest two weeks of my life, but at least I could see some light at the very, very, end of a long, dark tunnel. It has taken me almost the full year to recover from the lack of self-esteem, depression and unemployment, but I am coming out a better person. I started my own business, which has been slow, but steady and enough to keep bills paid and food on the table. I re-united with an old boyfriend I had lost track of back in the 80's and we are engaged to be married next summer. He has been a great supporter and healer! Most of all, my daughter is happy and she says I am happy and much easier to live with. It hasn't been easy and I sometimes feel depressed, but I am able to snap out of it when I think of all the positive stuff that came out of this. I believe everything happens for a reason. I still can't believe what happened on 9-11 and I don't feel "if it weren't for 9-11". But that days opened my eyes to reality--life is too short to waste time and energy and emotion. It helped me make a life-saving decision. It wasn't all about me--it was about the need and the instinct to preserve my life, my daughter's future and my sanity. I still mourn the events of 9-11 and I still fear the future of our country's safety. I pray that God keep us and never allow it to happen again. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource story1017.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. 2002-08-14 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 64.12.106.48 Annotation Annotations to this item. DOMESTIC