story1880.xml

story1880.xml

born-digital

story

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2002-09-08

It started off as a beautiful day. Many people went about without jackets. The temperature was somewhere in the eighties I think, pretty nice weather for the City.
I wore one of my new outfits to school. It was the sixth day of school. It seemed like it was an unwritten rule that you wear something new the first couple days of school. Don?t ask me who came up with that. I wore a Billion Bay shirt. It was sky blue with the image of a tiger in its natural surroundings. I had on cargo khaki pants and a pair of moccasins. I thought I looked pretty decent.
It was senior year for me at the Richard R. Green High School of Teaching. I along with everyone else was very excited. We had all finally made it. My family was proud as they should be. I?m the youngest child. I have one brother and one sister both of who are grown and out of the house.
My co-workers at the New York City Mayor?s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) were also proud. They watched me grow from a curious fifteen year-old to a still curious seventeen year-old.
The school looked different. I guess anything would look different after not seeing it for two months. Richard Green wasn?t a big school. It had about 650 students in a five story building. The school was named after Richard Green, New York City?s first African-American schools chancellor. He was in charge until 1989 when he suffered a massive asthma attack and died.
We shared the building with PS 66, an elementary school serving mentally challenged students. We went by a first name basis at Green. The administration felt that going by last names would create an unnecessary gap. The school was located just two blocks away from Gracie Mansion, the Mayor?s official residence.
I came into the building that morning and went to English class. My teacher was Marissa. She was cool and all but she needed to lay off the drugs, ha-ha, just kidding. She was a little hyper though. To be honest, I cannot recall what I did that period but in an hour and a half, nothing would matter.
I had journalism second period. Second period started at 9 o?clock, twelve minutes after the first plane had struck one of the Towers. Journalism was a class none of the seniors had asked for. I would later come to appreciate it. Many of us were in the advanced placement (AP) program this year and the year before. For that reason, we weren?t able to take gym because our schedule was full. As a graduation requirement, a high school student needs seven gyms to graduate. To my knowledge, a lot of us didn?t have all our gyms.
We asked Marci, the journalism teacher, what was up with our schedules. She basically told us that it was none of our business. Those were the kind of answers the seniors were getting. I became upset so I asked to go to the bathroom. In reality though, I was going to Elaine, the principal.
She was such a charismatic person. She knew most of us by name. I stormed out of the classroom and made my way upstairs. On my way up there, I saw a girl crying in the stairwell. I didn?t think much of it because many girls in the school had their problems and I figured this was just another.
I went to Elaine?s office and knocked on the door. Inside, she was seated with the Deans John and Don; the assistant principals Barbara and Isabel; and the guidance counselors? Seth, Laura, and Donna. She told me to get back to class. I was even more upset. Never had she turned me away. I went back to journalism feeling more defeated than before.
We left journalism and headed to economics. The time was now 9:46 A.M. When I got to the room, Elaine met me by the door and told me that she was having a very important meeting and Don (who was also the economics teacher) would tell us what was going on.
We stood in Economics discussing the latest gossip when Don rushed in and told us to sit down for he had a very important announcement to make. We sat down and he shuffled some papers on his desk. He then picked up a memo, possibly the only memo I will remember for the rest of my life:

?There has been an incident at the World Trade Center. If you have anyone in that area, please leave the room right now and go to the Crisis Center in room 307.?

Many things rushed through my mind after hearing those words. My first reaction was to look at the beeper given to me by OEM. They sent out reports of various activities around the City. However, the last page I received from OEM was about a water main break in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, nothing about the World Trade Center. I knew something was wrong so I literally dropped everything and ran out of the room on my way to the crisis center. My eyes began to tear up.
When I got there, people were already seated in a circle. In charge was Barbara, the assistant principal for security and pupil-personnel services. For some reason, I had that gut-wrenching feeling that something was terribly wrong.
She began to speak. ?From what we know, a small plane has struck the Twin Towers. Until we get more information, let?s talk about our experiences with our loved ones.? What the hell was she talking about?! Experiences? loved ones? What was she trying to say or do?
People were getting angry and I was one of them. The main reason I guess was because no one knew what the heck was going on. Almost all communication was lost and that was truly scary. Many land lines were down; cell phones barely received signals, fax machines. It was the worst.
Again, Barbara told us what was happening. She said something about the World Trade Center that wasn?t entirely correct. She said that from what people know so far, this was not an act of violence. In a matter of fact, no one knew what it was. But I knew it was terrorism right from the start. I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! For the thirty years those beautiful towers were up, a plane has never come close to hitting and now this! Ever since a small single engine plane struck the Empire State Building in the 1930?s, planes were restricted from flying over Manhattan Island.
Being that I was at the Trade Center daily, I explained to the people seated in the room that the World Trade Center was much more than just the Twin Towers. It was comprised of seven buildings, three of which were tall enough to be hit by a plane: buildings One, Two, and Seven. Each building had its own reason for being a target. One and Two World Trade Center was obviously the tallest with the most people in them. It was the symbol of America?s financial strength. Seven World Trade Center housed many government agencies those of which I am not going to reveal. Also in 7 WTC were financial giants such as Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Salomon Smith Barney. In addition, there was a mall in the concourse area that ran under buildings one through six. Underneath the mall, was a transportation hub that included several New York City subway lines and the PATH system which was a train that connected New York City and New Jersey.
I pulled out my cell phone. Although they were not allowed in school, I didn?t care at this point and I wanted someone to tell me something about it. The first call I made was to my job. I figured that if anyone would know what was going on, it would be OEM. I called and called but no one answered. I would later find out that they would have to evacuate.
I couldn?t control my anger anymore so I left the room. Laura, the guidance counselor, saw how upset I was so she asked ?who do you know down there?? I told her that I knew the kids at the day care center in Five World Trade Center and I worked in Seven World Trade Center.
We went back to her office and tried to see if any form of communication worked. But nothing did. I then decided to call City Hall. That?s one of the few calls I managed to get out. Someone answered the phone and I asked if ?the Mayor?s Office of Emergency Management was evacuated?? All they could tell me was that they didn?t know.
It was now time to switch classes. The time was roughly 10:33 A.M. The attacks, oh, sorry, ?accident? was the topic. My friends Rachel and Jenneal brought my book bag and stuff down from class. They comforted me and soon remembered something: our other friend Carlshea cut school and was supposed to be around 59th Street. Fifty-Ninth Street was the sight of another famous skyscraper, the Citigroup Building. At the time, we didn?t know what was going on so any and everything looked like a target. Rachel also figured out that her dad was in the area so she got real upset.
I needed and wanted to know what was going on so I decided to go downstairs. On my way down, Wallace the security guard stopped me. He told me that I couldn?t go downstairs or outside. I looked back and said ?what do you mean we can?t go downstairs? People we love are possibly dying and I will not stay up here if I have to make a phone call. Typical Board of Education.? What the last part of that statement had to do with anything else, I don?t know but I was to the point where I didn?t care who I was talking to. I stomped down the steps and went in front of the school.
I called my sister to ask if she had heard anything at all. She said that she didn?t. I called my mom who was in search of answers herself. When I called, she answered and asked if I had heard from anyone at the Mayor?s Office. I told her no.
The main reason I called her though was to find out what was going on. But all she could say was that the towers were flat. I yelled at her and told her that was impossible. She told me to shut up. I was yelling at her as I stood in front of my school telling her how impossible that was.
Just then, one of the poll workers (it was Election Day in the City) came to me and told me that it was true. The Towers were indeed gone. I went into the courtyard of my school where many kids were. Everyone was trying to get in touch with somebody. I found Rachel and Jenneal both of whom were trying to make phone calls.
We stood there trying to decide how we were going to get home. All public transportation in the City had been suspended. All three of us lived out of Manhattan which is an island for those of you not familiar with New York City. The bridges and tunnels were closed.
There was a rumor circulating that school kids would have to stay the night. I returned back to the Crisis Center. We weren?t being forced to go back to classes. I mean after all, this was no ordinary day. I got a page out to Jos? Garcia, one of the computer techs at OEM. He had told me that OEM was ?dead.? I also got another page out to David Longshore, a public information officer at OEM. Not understanding the magnitude of what was going on, I said ?David, where are we going to work??
His response was ?Jaffir, possibly tens of thousands of people could be dead. Where we work is the least of our troubles.?
I got several pages out to Frank McCarton, the public information head at OEM. I kept asking him what?s going on and all he could tell me was to stay home. He didn?t realize that I was in school.
As 2:30 P.M. came, an announcement was made that unless we have a way home or place to stay after school, we were to remain in school. This kid Richie who I only knew through a friend agreed to let me, Rachel, and this girl Dana stay by his house until we found a way home.
We walked to his house that was on 113th Street. For the first time all day, I got a chance to see what was actually happening. From the intersection of 88th Street and First Avenue, you could see smoke rising. By this time, my nerves and emotions had already been shot. We called Rachel?s mom to see if she could pick us up, but how could she? The entire island was shut down. Nothing was allowed in or off.
We thanked Richie and his family for their hospitality and we went back to school. When were got there, pizza was bought. I sat down and ate trying to figure out how to get home.
The trains started working again but still I didn?t want to travel by myself. If the events of the day didn?t kill me, the other passengers on the train would certainly have. I decided to go to Rachel?s house. From there, her dad would take me home. Dana, Rachel, and myself hopped on the Queens bound ?E?. When I got off the island, I wanted to fall to the ground and ball. I never realized how much I valued that crowded train or that hot City bus.
I got to Rachel?s house and her mom gave me dinner. By this time, the President began to address the nation. The time was 8:30 P.M. I am no big fan of ?W? but this night, it was different.
On the way home, everything was closed. All streets that led to Manhattan were closed with police officers on guard. My mom greeted me at the door. I remember stepping into the house and not feeling any sort of emotion. I wasn?t happy or sad. I was just? here. My mom gave me all my phone messages from people wondering if I was in the area when it happened and if I was ok.
I stayed home for about five minutes then headed to the roof of my building. From there, you have, well had, a perfect view of the Towers. All that remained now was a smoke cloud. Even after standing there not seeing the Towers, I was still emotionless. My mind couldn?t comprehend the destruction that had taken place earlier. I seemed okay on the outside, but inside, I was ripped to shreds.
From as far back as I can remember, the Twin Towers had a special place in my heart. I would stay late after work everyday just to see them light up in the night sky. When it rained, the clouds passing over created this effect that I cannot describe. When I had a chance to go to the observation deck, the view was breath-taking. I was on top of the world in the best buildings in the universe. Nothing could ever top those Twin Towers that seemed gold in the morning sun. They were indeed Twins. When one fell, the other saw it as its ultimate mission to join its brother. They defined a Country, a City, and most importantly, a people who stand tall and proud of its heritage and achievements.
God Bless New York City. God Bless America.