email323.xml
Title
email323.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
email
Date Entered
2002-08-19
September 11 Email: Body
received September 12, 2001
Hi Jen -
We just heard the tragic news about the attacks in New York and Washington. It is almost unbelievable to think that we may be safer here in China than you in the U.S. The Chinese television stations are now covering the tragic
events. Mark and I checked to see how many people were killed at Pearl Harbor in 1941 - only 2,403. I can't believe that I am saying ONLY! We will continue to watch TV and pick up what we can as well as log onto the
Internet frequently for current updates. How could this happen to America? What happened to our sense of national security today is unimaginable. I never thought that something like this could happen to us. The horror of
the news stories and quotations from victims tell it all. We will keep all Americans in our thoughts and prayers. Mark plans to call the American embassy in China this afternoon to ask if we need to take any precautions.
We just registered at the embassy last week. I think that we should be fine, unless China supports the terrorists for any reason. Not likely.
What is the reaction of the people in China to this news? Unlike in the U.S., this tragedy has barely penetrated the country. Classes were held as usual today. Many students did not even know that this had happened. A few guys in my class were taking about the attacks today as if they were a
movie. One of them says to the other - "Did you hear about the plane crash into the building in NY?" - and then they both start laughing. They are both Korean. I do not think they have any idea how this event will impact the future of the world.
Please keep us posted about any news about the tragedy that you don't think would be easily accessible here.
Take care -
Molly
----
reply sent September 12, 2001
Hi Molly.
I thought about emailing you yesterday as all this was happening, but I had no idea how I would begin to write about this..... Needless to say, the entire country is in shock and mourning. I first heard news about it in the car, about a block from my parking lot. A woman came onto the radio in between songs and said that a plane or missle had just hit the World Trade Center. Then another song.....
At first it didn't hit me, then I switched to another radio station and they told me the same thing, with some more details.... I got up to the office and tried to log onto cnn or npr....both sites were overloaded with web traffic and I couldn't get anything. As people started arriving
at the office, each one knew a little more.... then one guy set up a little tv in the conference room. We watched in disbelief as the second plane hit, as the pentagon was struck, and then as the two towers fell..... All day I received calls (mostly from Alan, at home watching the news) and emails with updates -- many of them false rumors. I heard that San Francisco and Chicago had been hit, that LA airport had a bomb, that more planes were missing and assumed hijacked.... those all turned out to be untrue (except, of course, for the plane that did go down in Pennsylvania).
I called my brother in Brooklyn at about 9am - he was in a panic. His girlfriend's mother had called him as he was walking out the door to work -- just after the first plane hit. He was about to leave for his office in Manhatten, located about 2 miles from the WTC - within site of his window. He was home listening to the TV (the picture wasn't working) and watching smoke and debris fill the sky. His girlfriend was in lockdown at the school where she teaches. I called again last night and everyone is ok. Emily's school is closed today as is Adam's office.
My dad was sent home from the Colorado Springs airport when all flights in the US and Cananda were suspended. They may start flying again today, but no announcements have been made about that.
My cousin was in Cape Cod and was supposed to fly out of Boston yesterday afternoon - he's now stranded in Rhode Island.
Walt Disney World was evacuated yesterday and major league baseball games were cancelled for the first time since D-day. Wall Street is closed indefinately.
Here in Indy, things are affected as well.... the mall was closed yestedray and the city-county office buildings and federal building were evacuated. We didn't have trash pickup because the trucks were being used to surround the state building as a part of a barricade. All evening events
at the schools were cancelled. I went to the blood bank after work (5:15pm) and they gave me a number. My number wasn't called until 10:30pm - I got home about 11:30pm after making my donation there. People are even panicking about gas -- gas prices shot up to $4-5 a gallon in some of our suburbs and lines were 30-40 cars deep at the pumps.
The numbers of people hurt and killed are not being reported yet. It sounds like it will be substantially more than Pearl Harbor though (I didn't know that number - it does sound small now, doesn't it?). It is hard to believe that an entire building has dissapeared from the NY skyline.... My family was just there over Memorial Day weekend.... Never again...
The WTO-IMF conference is supposed to be here in the near future, as is a UN conference. They are talking about postpoing those or moving them to other locations. Speculation is on Osama Bin-Laden, but we are all trying to be careful about not jumping to conclusions.
A car was seized in the Boston Airport though, reportedly inside was a pilot training manual in Arabic and pictures of Bin-Laden... seems like a pretty safe assumption...
We're all glued to our tv sets in this country.... hoping that the worst is over and waiting to hear how Bush will exact our revenge. I think most people are quietly very angry.... we will unite and we will fight too....
Hope that gives you some idea of life in the states yesterday. If you can get on cnn.com, you should be able to get all the news that we do.
I'll keep in touch.
Well, suppose I should be getting to work now - especially since nothing got accomplished yesterday......
Hope you both have a good day. I'll be in touch. Hopefully things will begin to return to normal around here soon....
Love
Jennie
-------
reply received Sept. 13th , 2001
Hello Jen,
Thank you for all the information. It is nice to hear more of an inside perspective regarding the past few days. We are getting information here, but it is in Chinese. We are able to log onto some websites, but others like cnn.com are blocked by the Chinese government.
Glad to hear that all of your family is safe. Mark's cousin is in New York for training. He is a stock broker. He toured the World Trade Center on Monday - if it had been Tuesday, he may have been dead. He feels extremely blessed to be alive today!
In some ways, I wish that I were home to "mourn" with other Americans. My mom said that they held a prayer service on Tuesday evening at St.Bridget's. I have a feeling that the number of people dead will be staggering. No doubt this event has and will continue to affect the nation like no other. I only hope that our retaliation against whoever will be determined by the best decision makers. There is no room for errors or second chances.
Please keep us posted as you hear more news. The personal accounts of reaction to the events are also helpful and enable us to understand what is really happening at home.
Take care. Lots of love to you and Al,
Molly
---
replied on Sept. 20th
Molly -
Things _are_ slowly returning to some semblance of normal around here. We all still are watching a lot of news and logging onto the CNN and NY Times sites often. My dad's company (Allstate) has put a ban on airline travel for the next week or so, so he has a nice break from his usual trips (he is gone probably 45 weeks a year on business!). My mom is flying in for a weekend visit at the end of this month. Neither of them are nervous about getting back on planes - hopefully the security is tight enough now to prevent further attacks. Everyone is still on high alert though....
The security at airports is now such that they suggest you get there 2 hours early for domestic flights!! They are confiscating any and all types of knives (incl. swiss army), wine openers, nail scissors, aerosol cans (shaving cream), and anything else that might possibly be used as a weapon. People are a bit on edge and will be for some time.
The nature of hijacking will never be the same. Before this, if a plane was hijacked, the passengers might think that they were going to circle around for awhile while the hijackers demanded money or for someone to be released from jail. Eventually, it was likely that they would be safely released.
That fourth flight - the one from Newark that crashed in PA - was probably the first time that the passengers being hijacked actually knew that their fate was sealed. It was thru cell phones that the passengers learned about the WTC and Pentagon crashes. They called their loved ones, said good-bye, and told them that they were about to resist the hijackers. We'll never know where that plane was meant to crash - who knows what devastation was next had the passengers had not fought. It really is amazing.
The stories coming out of that flight will break your heart and give you tremendous hope at the same time.
Anyway....I was talking about getting back to normal....
The day to day activities of life are returning to normal. We're working every day and attending meetings both in and out of work, getting haircuts, making doctors appointments, celebrating birthdays and anniversaries.... but at the same time we can't help feeling a little guilty doing that, because they are still working 24 hours a day to sift through the crash sites and the hope is still there that maybe somewhere deep in that pile of debris, someone is still alive.... so our flags are still at half mast or draped on nearly every house. Many candles burn on doorsteps and sidewalks....and we still talk about it with nearly everyone we meet.
Did I tell you that we went to mass Sat. evening - Alan and I, and his mom, brother, and brother's fiance?? We sang Amazing Grace and sobbed. The closing song was America the Beautiful. I even braved being struck by lightening and joined the Pyrz family for communion in the Catholic church. :-) I'm sure every church around the country had similar hyms in their services. It was very healing.
M.L. Baseball started again on Monday. Instead of the traditional "take me out to the ballgame" at the seventh inning stretch, the crowd sang America the Beautiful (or was it God Bless America? not sure...) and then chanted "U-S-A"...Many spectators waved flags, were wearing NYPD or NY fire dept. hats., or held signs with patriotic messages. It was a nice outward display of "we won't forget but we also won't let you bully us."
Oh well.... nothing much else comes to mind to email about right now. I'm sure I will be in touch again in a day or two. Until then, hope you're having fun! Give my love to Mark and enjoy your day!!
Love
Jennie
Hi Jen -
We just heard the tragic news about the attacks in New York and Washington. It is almost unbelievable to think that we may be safer here in China than you in the U.S. The Chinese television stations are now covering the tragic
events. Mark and I checked to see how many people were killed at Pearl Harbor in 1941 - only 2,403. I can't believe that I am saying ONLY! We will continue to watch TV and pick up what we can as well as log onto the
Internet frequently for current updates. How could this happen to America? What happened to our sense of national security today is unimaginable. I never thought that something like this could happen to us. The horror of
the news stories and quotations from victims tell it all. We will keep all Americans in our thoughts and prayers. Mark plans to call the American embassy in China this afternoon to ask if we need to take any precautions.
We just registered at the embassy last week. I think that we should be fine, unless China supports the terrorists for any reason. Not likely.
What is the reaction of the people in China to this news? Unlike in the U.S., this tragedy has barely penetrated the country. Classes were held as usual today. Many students did not even know that this had happened. A few guys in my class were taking about the attacks today as if they were a
movie. One of them says to the other - "Did you hear about the plane crash into the building in NY?" - and then they both start laughing. They are both Korean. I do not think they have any idea how this event will impact the future of the world.
Please keep us posted about any news about the tragedy that you don't think would be easily accessible here.
Take care -
Molly
----
reply sent September 12, 2001
Hi Molly.
I thought about emailing you yesterday as all this was happening, but I had no idea how I would begin to write about this..... Needless to say, the entire country is in shock and mourning. I first heard news about it in the car, about a block from my parking lot. A woman came onto the radio in between songs and said that a plane or missle had just hit the World Trade Center. Then another song.....
At first it didn't hit me, then I switched to another radio station and they told me the same thing, with some more details.... I got up to the office and tried to log onto cnn or npr....both sites were overloaded with web traffic and I couldn't get anything. As people started arriving
at the office, each one knew a little more.... then one guy set up a little tv in the conference room. We watched in disbelief as the second plane hit, as the pentagon was struck, and then as the two towers fell..... All day I received calls (mostly from Alan, at home watching the news) and emails with updates -- many of them false rumors. I heard that San Francisco and Chicago had been hit, that LA airport had a bomb, that more planes were missing and assumed hijacked.... those all turned out to be untrue (except, of course, for the plane that did go down in Pennsylvania).
I called my brother in Brooklyn at about 9am - he was in a panic. His girlfriend's mother had called him as he was walking out the door to work -- just after the first plane hit. He was about to leave for his office in Manhatten, located about 2 miles from the WTC - within site of his window. He was home listening to the TV (the picture wasn't working) and watching smoke and debris fill the sky. His girlfriend was in lockdown at the school where she teaches. I called again last night and everyone is ok. Emily's school is closed today as is Adam's office.
My dad was sent home from the Colorado Springs airport when all flights in the US and Cananda were suspended. They may start flying again today, but no announcements have been made about that.
My cousin was in Cape Cod and was supposed to fly out of Boston yesterday afternoon - he's now stranded in Rhode Island.
Walt Disney World was evacuated yesterday and major league baseball games were cancelled for the first time since D-day. Wall Street is closed indefinately.
Here in Indy, things are affected as well.... the mall was closed yestedray and the city-county office buildings and federal building were evacuated. We didn't have trash pickup because the trucks were being used to surround the state building as a part of a barricade. All evening events
at the schools were cancelled. I went to the blood bank after work (5:15pm) and they gave me a number. My number wasn't called until 10:30pm - I got home about 11:30pm after making my donation there. People are even panicking about gas -- gas prices shot up to $4-5 a gallon in some of our suburbs and lines were 30-40 cars deep at the pumps.
The numbers of people hurt and killed are not being reported yet. It sounds like it will be substantially more than Pearl Harbor though (I didn't know that number - it does sound small now, doesn't it?). It is hard to believe that an entire building has dissapeared from the NY skyline.... My family was just there over Memorial Day weekend.... Never again...
The WTO-IMF conference is supposed to be here in the near future, as is a UN conference. They are talking about postpoing those or moving them to other locations. Speculation is on Osama Bin-Laden, but we are all trying to be careful about not jumping to conclusions.
A car was seized in the Boston Airport though, reportedly inside was a pilot training manual in Arabic and pictures of Bin-Laden... seems like a pretty safe assumption...
We're all glued to our tv sets in this country.... hoping that the worst is over and waiting to hear how Bush will exact our revenge. I think most people are quietly very angry.... we will unite and we will fight too....
Hope that gives you some idea of life in the states yesterday. If you can get on cnn.com, you should be able to get all the news that we do.
I'll keep in touch.
Well, suppose I should be getting to work now - especially since nothing got accomplished yesterday......
Hope you both have a good day. I'll be in touch. Hopefully things will begin to return to normal around here soon....
Love
Jennie
-------
reply received Sept. 13th , 2001
Hello Jen,
Thank you for all the information. It is nice to hear more of an inside perspective regarding the past few days. We are getting information here, but it is in Chinese. We are able to log onto some websites, but others like cnn.com are blocked by the Chinese government.
Glad to hear that all of your family is safe. Mark's cousin is in New York for training. He is a stock broker. He toured the World Trade Center on Monday - if it had been Tuesday, he may have been dead. He feels extremely blessed to be alive today!
In some ways, I wish that I were home to "mourn" with other Americans. My mom said that they held a prayer service on Tuesday evening at St.Bridget's. I have a feeling that the number of people dead will be staggering. No doubt this event has and will continue to affect the nation like no other. I only hope that our retaliation against whoever will be determined by the best decision makers. There is no room for errors or second chances.
Please keep us posted as you hear more news. The personal accounts of reaction to the events are also helpful and enable us to understand what is really happening at home.
Take care. Lots of love to you and Al,
Molly
---
replied on Sept. 20th
Molly -
Things _are_ slowly returning to some semblance of normal around here. We all still are watching a lot of news and logging onto the CNN and NY Times sites often. My dad's company (Allstate) has put a ban on airline travel for the next week or so, so he has a nice break from his usual trips (he is gone probably 45 weeks a year on business!). My mom is flying in for a weekend visit at the end of this month. Neither of them are nervous about getting back on planes - hopefully the security is tight enough now to prevent further attacks. Everyone is still on high alert though....
The security at airports is now such that they suggest you get there 2 hours early for domestic flights!! They are confiscating any and all types of knives (incl. swiss army), wine openers, nail scissors, aerosol cans (shaving cream), and anything else that might possibly be used as a weapon. People are a bit on edge and will be for some time.
The nature of hijacking will never be the same. Before this, if a plane was hijacked, the passengers might think that they were going to circle around for awhile while the hijackers demanded money or for someone to be released from jail. Eventually, it was likely that they would be safely released.
That fourth flight - the one from Newark that crashed in PA - was probably the first time that the passengers being hijacked actually knew that their fate was sealed. It was thru cell phones that the passengers learned about the WTC and Pentagon crashes. They called their loved ones, said good-bye, and told them that they were about to resist the hijackers. We'll never know where that plane was meant to crash - who knows what devastation was next had the passengers had not fought. It really is amazing.
The stories coming out of that flight will break your heart and give you tremendous hope at the same time.
Anyway....I was talking about getting back to normal....
The day to day activities of life are returning to normal. We're working every day and attending meetings both in and out of work, getting haircuts, making doctors appointments, celebrating birthdays and anniversaries.... but at the same time we can't help feeling a little guilty doing that, because they are still working 24 hours a day to sift through the crash sites and the hope is still there that maybe somewhere deep in that pile of debris, someone is still alive.... so our flags are still at half mast or draped on nearly every house. Many candles burn on doorsteps and sidewalks....and we still talk about it with nearly everyone we meet.
Did I tell you that we went to mass Sat. evening - Alan and I, and his mom, brother, and brother's fiance?? We sang Amazing Grace and sobbed. The closing song was America the Beautiful. I even braved being struck by lightening and joined the Pyrz family for communion in the Catholic church. :-) I'm sure every church around the country had similar hyms in their services. It was very healing.
M.L. Baseball started again on Monday. Instead of the traditional "take me out to the ballgame" at the seventh inning stretch, the crowd sang America the Beautiful (or was it God Bless America? not sure...) and then chanted "U-S-A"...Many spectators waved flags, were wearing NYPD or NY fire dept. hats., or held signs with patriotic messages. It was a nice outward display of "we won't forget but we also won't let you bully us."
Oh well.... nothing much else comes to mind to email about right now. I'm sure I will be in touch again in a day or two. Until then, hope you're having fun! Give my love to Mark and enjoy your day!!
Love
Jennie
September 11 Email: Date
September 12, 13, 20, 2001
September 11 Email: Subject
Subject: Unbelievable!
Collection
Citation
“email323.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed June 17, 2024, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/36981.