<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<item xmlns="http://omeka.org/schemas/omeka-xml/v5" itemId="36718" public="1" featured="0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://omeka.org/schemas/omeka-xml/v5 http://omeka.org/schemas/omeka-xml/v5/omeka-xml-5-0.xsd" uri="https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/36718?output=omeka-xml" accessDate="2026-04-08T13:01:18-04:00">
  <collection collectionId="29">
    <elementSetContainer>
      <elementSet elementSetId="1">
        <name>Dublin Core</name>
        <description>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/.</description>
        <elementContainer>
          <element elementId="50">
            <name>Title</name>
            <description>A name given to the resource</description>
            <elementTextContainer>
              <elementText elementTextId="456412">
                <text>September 11 Digital Archive Emails</text>
              </elementText>
            </elementTextContainer>
          </element>
          <element elementId="41">
            <name>Description</name>
            <description>An account of the resource</description>
            <elementTextContainer>
              <elementText elementTextId="456413">
                <text>This collection contains emails which were sent or received on or around September 11, 2001.  As of this writing individuals have submitted more than 1,500 correspondences.</text>
              </elementText>
            </elementTextContainer>
          </element>
        </elementContainer>
      </elementSet>
    </elementSetContainer>
  </collection>
  <itemType itemTypeId="18">
    <name>September 11 Email</name>
    <description/>
    <elementContainer>
      <element elementId="65">
        <name>September 11 Email: Body</name>
        <description>The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end.</description>
        <elementTextContainer>
          <elementText elementTextId="456618">
            <text>I can see why you've been so freaked out. It seems like everyone is either in some stage of denial or fright. The only way to not be scared is to pretend like none of this is happening. 

I have to admit I am seriously terrified now that the FBI has issued that statement saying that other terrorist attacks in the US are indeed possible. Earlier this week someone in NY sent around an e-mail that Joe R. got forwarded. It basically said, "My uncle is in the military in Albany. He says to GET OUT OF NEW YORK NOW, because he knows for sure that something is going to happen on October 11!" Well, of course nothing did, but the way I helped Joe decide to dismiss the e-mail as nothing but a rumor was to assure him that if the military knew of a threat to New York, and they couldn't stop it, they would issue a pubic statement. Joe and I kind of laughed it off, rolling our eyes about people's paranoia. And then a couple days later the FBI does exactly what I was talking about: issue a statement saying that something is going to happen, but they don't know what, and it's up to us to try to stop it. George W. himself, who has been so vague since this whole thing started, was saying on television last night, "If you see someone getting into a crop duster who you know isn't supposed to be flying that crop duster, report it to your local authorities." It so frightening to think that even our own government isn't sure what's going to happen to us next.

It's been relatively easy, I suppose, for me to try to convince myself that what happened in New York on 9/11 was just a nightmare or a hoax, a la Orson Welles' "The War of the Worlds." Even though I still know about 100 people living in New York City, I only communicate with them via phone or e-mail. The people I see with my own eyes on a daily basis are much more removed from New York City, literally and figuratively. I got my hair cut last weekend and the stylist was shocked to hear that the twin towers were only about 20 feet shorter than the Sears Tower. "Yeah, it'd be like two Sears Towers falling down in the middle of downtown Chicago," I told her, and she was shocked. How can people not know how big the World Trade Center is? Was.

Bit by bit, the national trepidation has crept 700 miles west to Illinois. My daily walk from the train station to my 60-story office building takes me past the Sears Tower, the Chicago Board of Trade, a large post office, and the Dirksen Federal Building. Early on the timeline, large concrete barriers went up on the sidewalk around the Dirksen Building. "What are those for?" a coworker of mine wondered as we walked to the train one night. "To prevent car bombs, I guess," was my reply. I added on the "I guess" to try to tone down the fact that the barricades' purpose had been immediately apparent to me. A week later they had multiplied to circle the post office. The post office is bordered on one side by a plaza with a large red Calder sculpture called "The Flamingo," and an open-air market was held in the plaza once or twice a week. The market was canceled indefinitely and three police cars have been sitting in its place ever since. 

Two weeks ago -- or maybe three -- the concrete barriers were added to the block the Sears Tower is on. That block was rid of newspaper dispensers and mailboxes almost immediately after the terrorist attacks, and police were stationed on every corner. But it seemed as if security doubled overnight, with the prevention of cars stopping anywhere near the Tower, and the observation deck being closed. This morning the cops patrolling the area weren't just cops, they were the SWAT team police. I walked past them and thought, "Jesus, this is really happening." Two out of the three entrances to my office building have been closed and everyone must pass through a security checkpoint. Employees have been given "key cards" to swipe, visitors must sign in and leave photo ID at the security desk. There are no metal detectors installed but something stopped me from bringing a knife along with the quiche I baked for our company pot luck. I just didn't want to be caught with a large kitchen knife anywhere outside of my kitchen.

I don't blame you for being scared of drinking the water or of getting Anthrax. To answer your question, "I'm crazy. What's up with u?" I'd have to say, "I'm crazy too."

love
Anna</text>
          </elementText>
        </elementTextContainer>
      </element>
      <element elementId="66">
        <name>September 11 Email: Date</name>
        <description>The local time and date when the message was written.</description>
        <elementTextContainer>
          <elementText elementTextId="456619">
            <text>October 11, 2001</text>
          </elementText>
        </elementTextContainer>
      </element>
      <element elementId="67">
        <name>September 11 Email: To</name>
        <description>The email addresses, and optionally names of the message's recipients</description>
        <elementTextContainer>
          <elementText elementTextId="456620">
            <text>Eddie Robinson</text>
          </elementText>
        </elementTextContainer>
      </element>
      <element elementId="68">
        <name>September 11 Email: From</name>
        <description>The email address, and optionally the name of the author.</description>
        <elementTextContainer>
          <elementText elementTextId="456621">
            <text>Anna Boudinot</text>
          </elementText>
        </elementTextContainer>
      </element>
      <element elementId="69">
        <name>September 11 Email: CC</name>
        <description>The email addresses of those who received the message addressed primarily to another.</description>
        <elementTextContainer>
          <elementText elementTextId="456622">
            <text/>
          </elementText>
        </elementTextContainer>
      </element>
      <element elementId="70">
        <name>September 11 Email: Subject</name>
        <description>A brief summary of the topic of the message.</description>
        <elementTextContainer>
          <elementText elementTextId="456623">
            <text/>
          </elementText>
        </elementTextContainer>
      </element>
    </elementContainer>
  </itemType>
  <elementSetContainer>
    <elementSet elementSetId="1">
      <name>Dublin Core</name>
      <description>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/.</description>
      <elementContainer>
        <element elementId="50">
          <name>Title</name>
          <description>A name given to the resource</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="456624">
              <text>email458.xml</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
      </elementContainer>
    </elementSet>
    <elementSet elementSetId="4">
      <name>911DA Item</name>
      <description>Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item.</description>
      <elementContainer>
        <element elementId="52">
          <name>Status</name>
          <description>The process status of this item.</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="456625">
              <text>approved</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
        <element elementId="53">
          <name>Consent</name>
          <description>Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item.</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="456626">
              <text>full</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
        <element elementId="54">
          <name>Posting</name>
          <description>Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item.</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="456627">
              <text>yes</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
        <element elementId="55">
          <name>Copyright</name>
          <description>Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item.</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="456628">
              <text>yes</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
        <element elementId="56">
          <name>Source</name>
          <description>The source of this item.</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="456629">
              <text>born-digital</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
        <element elementId="57">
          <name>Media Type</name>
          <description>The media type of this item.</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="456630">
              <text>email</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
        <element elementId="59">
          <name>Created by Author</name>
          <description>Whether the author created this item.</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="456631">
              <text>unknown</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
        <element elementId="60">
          <name>Described by Author</name>
          <description>Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author.</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="456632">
              <text>yes</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
        <element elementId="61">
          <name>Date Entered</name>
          <description>The date this item was entered into the archive.</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="456633">
              <text>2002-08-20</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
        <element elementId="62">
          <name>IP Address</name>
          <description>The IP address of the device used to submit the item.</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="456634">
              <text>12.84.20.164</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
      </elementContainer>
    </elementSet>
  </elementSetContainer>
</item>
