email272.xml

email272.xml

born-digital

email

unknown

yes

2002-08-19

>From: Deb Dreyfuss-Tuchman <ddt@videoaxs.com>
>Subject: In Jonathan's Words
>
>>Friends, Family, Co-workers:
>
>My slightly offbeat nephew is, we thank God alive. Would but for his
>missing a train and wanting to grab a PowerBar, he would have been on an
>elevator and our family would have been one of those ones not receiving
>the joyful news we did. In his own, shall we say colorful words, Jonathan
>describes not only the horror, but the humanity of Tuesday in New York. I
>share this because it is powerful and for me will make me remember to
>truly appreciate him and each moment of life.
>
>Much love,
>Deb
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>>Family, friends, east side, west side, and elsewhere:
>>
>>I am okay.
>>
>>Everyone from my office is okay.
>>
>>I was about to get on the elevator when the first plane hit.
>>Had I been 1 minute earlier, I would have been on the elevator,
>>and thus dead. I have never been so glad to miss the first
>>NR train than I was Tuesday morning. Some vaguely hobgoblinesque
>>(or maybe troll, you know, the squat, slow-moving, almost cubic
>>sort of shuffling mound) woman caused me to miss said train by
>>30 seconds, and thus, in her own irritating way, helped me live.
>>
>>The sound it makes when a 500000 pound airplane hits a building
>>you're in is pretty fucking amazing. Speak the word 'shoom'
>>aloud. Now pretend that word is being spoken by a 110 story
>>ventilation system at about 100 dB. Interestingly enough, the
>>way speaking the word aloud makes your lungs and diaphram feel
>>is pretty similar to the way the shockwave felt across my
>>whole body, only obviously much smaller.
>>
>>Anyway, so this humongous 'sh-OOOM' hits and simultaneously the
>>entire ceiling appears to fall in as an enormous upside-down
>>wave of thick, choking smoke tsunami'd from the glass doors
>>ahead of me.
>>
>>My immediate thought was that it was some sort of gas-based
>>attack, because the smoke was very vivid and dense and just
>>sort of rolled toward me in slow motion. I cleverly reasoned
>>that I should run like hell. Also, I held my breath. 15
>>strides later, I noticed that I was a: not breathing and b:
>>covered in smoke. This allowed me to deduce that it was not
>>a gas attack, since I'd be too busy dying to deduce stuff
>>if it was. I was more or less running like hell as this thought
>>process took place. Either there was not much screaming or
>>I just didn't hear any. An old lady fell down next to me and
>>as I tried to help her up someone crashed into me. I got up
>>and helped her up and then ran up the stairs and out of the
>>building.
>>
>>It appeared to be raining. Actually, it appeared that shit
>>was falling from the sky. Wait, in fact, it was. "Hmm," I
>>thought, "it appears to be snowing file cabinets."
>>
>>I decided it was probably relatively safe because nothing
>>heavy was falling (yet), but I wanted to see what had happened
>>so I walked across the street to this deli that I eat at
>>sometimes.
>>
>>There was an enormous, flaming hole in my building. I
>>figured a bomb had gone off. The entire side of the building
>>was on fire, and an enormous amount of paper was in the air.
>>(People I know in south brooklyn found documents from the
>>aircraft in their back yards, and it rained glass in DUMBO.)
>>
>>At this point the thought popped into my head, fully formed,
>>"Gee, I hope my coworkers aren't dead." This was slightly
>>irritating to me as I thought my mind should have conjured
>>a more eloquent expression of concern, or possibly even an
>>emotional response, but alas..
>>
>>So anyway I'm standing there looking at this big-ass hole
>>in the building, and it's on fire, and people are talking about
>>how a plane hit the building. I figured that was bullshit.
>>Someone mentioned a twin-engine craft, and I did a quick
>>mental calculation of how much Astrolite A-1-5 or RDX you
>>could fit into a ~10-seat prop plane, and realized there
>>was no way that would put an 8 story hole all the way through
>>the WTC.
>>
>>Right about this time, as I'm doing this sort of tangential
>>analysis, the second building got hit. From where I was
>>standing we could not see the plane at all. I have no memory
>>of a sound, either. Just a new, smaller hole, lower, and
>>on the other building. Also, on fire. Also, a huge hunk
>>of rubble flew off and hit the AT&T building next door
>>whereupon the top of that building caught fire. (Hosing
>>cellular, TV, etc..)
>>
>>I guess the plane hit the other side of the building from
>>where I was standing, because the hole looked really small
>>compared to the one in WTC1. On the street we all figured
>>that a bomb had gone off in WTC2, or that a missile had
>>hit it, or something. Nobody knew it was a plane, at least
>>where I was standing.
>>
>>So at this point I'm just standing there looking at these
>>two beautiful buildings burning. It was one of the most
>>beautiful mornings in recent memory, not a cloud in the
>>sky, 78 or 80 degrees, just beautiful. And it was quite
>>a tableaux, these pillars of industry, towers of babylon
>>or what have you (gosh I like that expression), burning in
>>the morning sun.
>>
>>Hmm, speaking of morning, I'm not really sure what happened
>>to the coffee I was drinking when the plane hit the first
>>time. I had been awake for less than 40 minutes.
>>
>>Watching the buildings I saw some objects falling straight
>>down, in contrast to the lighter stuff that was just filling
>>the air like some kind of sick tickertape parade. I said
>>something to the effect of my, those objects must be heavy,
>>they're falling awful straight. Someone said, "Dude, those
>>are people." I couldn't fucking believe it. It wasn't
>>just people, it was A LOT OF PEOPLE. After the first dozen
>>I just couldn't stand it, and I turned around and walked
>>away, north.
>>
>>I stopped in front of the federal building to turn around
>>and gawk, and then realized that was probably a poor choice
>>of location in a terrorist war zone.
>>
>>Groups of people were huddled around radios, in shock,
>>listening. The calm and reasonable way the citizens of
>>NYC handled themselves was ASTONISHING. People were
>>walking briskly but not running, other people were calming
>>those in histrionics, etc.
>>
>>I figured well, I can't go home unless I walk across the
>>bridge to Brooklyn, and since I've had such a rough morning
>>I really don't feel like walking to Brooklyn, so I better
>>go find a bar and get a beer. Even if it was 9:15 am.
>>
>>Unfortunately, modulo terrorist attacks, there is little
>>demand for bars in downtown manhattan at 9:15 am on a
>>tuesday. So I proceeded north, thinking, "dammit, I will
>>find a beer." [Note: beer from a bodega was not an
>>option because the last time I'd seen someone do that
>>(well, actually, encouraged them) I accidentally got these
>>two idiot brokers from Jersey ticketed when they failed
>>to recognize my slang ("six-up!") for "there's a cop
>>driving by, put your beer down."]
>>
>>Anyhoo, (got distracted there, sorry, forgot to take my
>>ADD meds today), headed north to ~houston and sullivan.
>>No bars open. Okay, fuck it. There are lines 10 deep
>>at the payphones, which don't work anyway. I wait for
>>one, since I didn't really have anything else to do.
>>As soon as I try dial 1800COLLECT (damn, it was that
>>ad with mister t) people start screaming from the
>>corner, crying, and really, really losing it. There
>>was a straight view down sullivan to the WTC complex,
>>where instead of 2 buildings, there was now 1 and an
>>enormous plume of smoke. Like a mushroom cloud. Over
>>manhattan.
>>
>>After being hugged by some dred with a table selling
>>fake sunglasses and rapping with him for a little bit,
>>I decided to use the phone again. Once again, as soon
>>as I started to put my call through, the other goddamn
>>building fell down. Where there used to be two enormous
>>buildings, there was nothing but fire, smoke, and chaos.
>>
>>At this point I'm having a really, really shitty morning.
>>So I sit down on the ground and petulantly jut out my lip
>>in the hopes that some knight errant, perhaps a female one,
>>will come and provide me with something better to do with
>>my morning than sitting on the ground hugging my knees and
>>rocking back and forth in the middle of a war zone.
>>
>>This occurs.
>>
>>Some dutch woman gives me a hug and helps me up, and we
>>decide to walk up the west side highway to 63rd street
>>where she works. We had a brisk walk. It was such a
>>nice day out. I kept being struck by that.
>>
>>As we reached chelsea piers I was suddenly struck by the
>>urge to go to their driving range. [They have a driving
>>range where you can hit golf balls into the river, and
>>it basically faces the now-missing WTC complex.] Ironically,
>>she was having the same idea. It's unclear why, but it
>>just seemed like the only appropriate thing to do. We
>>tried to execute on this plan, but unfortunately the piers
>>were occupied by medical workers doing stuff involving
>>ambulances, stretchers, and really damaged human bodies,
>>who didn't appear too interested in allowing us to complete
>>our mental scene. Bother.
>>
>>So we walked up to the hotel, I made some phone calls,
>>discovered that my ssh applet wouldn't work through their
>>goddamn firewall, swore a little bit about my lack of
>>internet access (the only meaningful kind of internet
>>access is a shell account--I mean what is this everything-
>>over-HTTP crap anyway #*@!@!#).
>>
>>This woman (whose name I don't think I ever got) booked a
>>room at the hotel for me, on her, but I figured I'd just
>>jet down to my friend's house at 29th street. She attempted
>>to get me a beer from the bar, but the bartender was missing.
>>So I just gave her a hug, and jetted. (Oh, another amusing
>>anecdote, as we walked down the street we passed a fella
>>unloading a Grolsch truck and she attempted to obtain beers
>>from him by repeatedly insisting, "I'm DUTCH, dammit. I'm
>>DUTCH!". He was not interested.)
>>
>>So yeah. That's the corpus of the story. I've basically
>>spent the last two days sitting around with friends who
>>lost many of their professional and personal relations,
>>watching CNN, and wondering what the hell to do. I have
>>no office, it's unclear if I have a job, it's unclear if
>>the software we spent a year building is gone (the
>>'off-site' backup was in 1WFC next door, which may or
>>may not fall down and is in any case completely destroyed.)
>>
>>But I'm alive.
>>
>>Now a brief answer to some of the press conference Q&A:
>>
>> > Exactly how much porn did you lose on your office computer[lr]?
>>
>>None. We don't have office doors. Hmm. Now that I think of
>>it, we *REALLY* don't have office doors. I did lose about 10
>>gigs of MP3s and a bunch of perl scripts.
>>
>> > Did you take the elevator or the stairs to get out[lr]?
>>
>>No.
>>
>> > What floor did you work on[lr]?
>>
>>46.
>>
>> > What did it feel like when the first plane hit your building[lr]?
>>
>>See the above description involving the onomonopoetic
>>characteristics of the word 'shoom', which may have been
>>evocative in the way I intended or simply just a bit
>>manic and effusive.
>>
>>It really did feel like 'shoom', though.
>>
>> > How was the evacuation announced[kmc]?
>>
>>PA system.
>>
>> > Does the hand of god...tickle[lr]?
>>
>>It's not clear that I'm any more conventionally religious than
>>I was before this. I don't remember invoking 'god' at any time.
>>If there is a god, though, thanks, I owe you one. I actually
>>felt like I should pray or something but to date have not
>>defined a mode of communication appropriate to express my
>>relationship with the divine.
>>
>> > Are you glad you bought glasses in time to see your way out?[kmc]
>>
>>Yeah, although I mostly got them cause they look cute. :)
>>
>> > What do your new glasses look like[kmc]? /insert photo here-->
>>
>>http://resin.csoft.net/~jdc/my-name-is-dieter-glasses.jpg
>>http://resin.csoft.net/~jdc/business-casual-ha-ha-glasses.jpg
>>
>>Please excuse the condition of my pores, skin, and unibrow.
>>Exfoliation and tweezing have not been my strong points this
>>week, and jet fuel smoke is about the least noncomedogenic
>>thing I can think of except maybe lard.
>>
>> > How do you feel about the loss of Saleem's beloved grey squirrel[lr/kmc]?
>>
>>It's a tragedy. I offered to help him build a mylar pyramid to
>>bury it in, but he demurred. Perhaps a weekend's squirrel-fishing
>>would yield another fuzzy playmate.
>>
>> > Where were you when the buildings collapsed? How did you get out of
>> the way[mdz]?
>>
>>See above, but as an aside:
>>
>>You know that Quasimoto song where he goes, "...come on feeet...walk for
>>me..."
>>over and over again? By repeating that in my head.
>>
>> > What is the most terrible thing you saw? Most heroic[mdz]?
>>
>>People jumping out by the dozen.
>>
>>The UTTERLY, UTTERLY wonderful behavior of all the people on
>>the street.
>>
>> > How long did it take you to get out of the building? Did you have to
>> run down 71 flights of stairs?[ks]
>>
>>It took the dudes on 46 25 minutes to get down.
>>
>>Said and I did this before for the hell of it and it's quite a
>>long way. Probably a lot longer with a bunch of scared people
>>going down and firefighters running up.
>>
>> > Have you been able to work out a way to use this to pick up chicks?
>>
>>Well, kinda, but she was married and the driving range we tried to
>>go on a date at was closed.
>>
>> > Have you come to any great life decisions because of this event? [sHouse]
>>
>>Working in a huge building that has already been a bombing target is
>>not smart.
>>
>>Fire is real hot.
>>
>>New Yorkers are good people.
>>
>> > Did those plane tickets escape the WTC or did you lose them as I
>> predicted? --hh
>>
>>Alas, two separate sets of tickets are lost. Also, my keyboard,
>>which has been through many timezones, companies, source files,
>>and a thesis with me. I will miss her.
>>
>>Much love,
>>
>>jon

9/13/2001

In Jonathan's Words