email76.xml

email76.xml

born-digital

email

unknown

yes

2002-03-13

Hi Tina,

Phones are sporadic, seems we can phone each other here in the city but have trouble calling out, and no one can call in. So internet is the way to go.

I am just logging on. Lisa was here much of the afternoon and had her lap top hooked up. She was still trying to locate all her team from KPMG. She was there right after the planes hit, and saw the towers on fire up close. People coming out of the towers told her that they were told they might collapse, so Lisa started walking uptown then. She had left messages for me, but I had gone into the office. She ended up at Met Life building at 23rd since she consults for them. No cell phones worked, so I was leaving messages on her KPMG line, and she
on my audix until we finally talked in the afternoon. We both tried giving blood, but they can't take it fast enough, so will go back tomorrow. Anyway, I am pasting what I just wrote my brother and parents:

I just can't get over looking south and not seeing the twin towers anymore -- very unsettling.

I was getting ready to leave for work this morning, when around 8:45 the television switched to a picture of the world trade center with a gaping hole in the side on fire and speaking to eyewitnesses saying a plane flew into the side of the tower. It was eerie to say the least. I called into the office to tell them what was happening, when I saw the other plane hit the other tower and explode -- at first I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

It was macabre watching on television, and I decided to go to work. I could see the towers on fire in the distance when I went to the subway, and emergency vehicles were everywhere -- police, fire, red cross, etc. The subways were still running except for the 1 and 9. It wasn't until I
was walking to the subway that I was overcome with the thought that they may bomb them next. When I got to work, they were all listening to radios, and we heard the pentagon was hit as well. I had to get a hold of the model and
photographer to cancel a photoshoot planned today, and get delivery info off to Canada for catalogs. I had friends coming in from Indiana (Mike and his wife Kimberly) and couldn't get a hold of them. Once I finally talked to them, I told them to find a nice spot in Pennsylvania and hang out. There is no way they will get into the city today. Tomorrow they'll have to decide what we are going to do but I can't imagine trying to show them around the city any time soon.

By mid morning, they were sending us home from work, but all bridges and tunnels and subways were closed, so I was waiting to see if anyone needed to stay at my place. Our CEO got hotel rooms for everyone from NJ, and so I left for home. By
this time all subways were cut off, so I walked home. I was going to give blood and walked down 7th Avenue from work towards St. Vincents. I had not seen the towers collapse on tv, but others in the office had told me they did. When I walked downtown I was amazed that I couldn't see anything remaining of the the towers -- I had assumed they had toppled from the point of impact and that the stubs would still be visible. It wasn't until I got home and saw news coverage that I understood why I couldn't see them at all. When I got to St Vincents, most of the streets were closed off awaiting incoming wounded -- but I didn't see anyone coming in. There were people walking up from lower Manhattan -- many disheveled and everyone was in a state of dismay. The lines for blood donors were amazingly long. One guy said it was over 6 hours wait so I decided to wait and possibly give blood the next day -- I thought there would be an ongoing need. Later I tried to give blood with Lisa at Met Life, but they were backed up too.

Before I had left my office, I had talked to my friend Pat who works at Gouveners Hospital on the lower East Side. She saw both planes hit the buildings from her office and was quite shaken up. We were cut off abruptly. I called back and someone told me she was whisked off to trauma. We haven't hooked up since, but she left me a message saying they set up a trauma unit in her hospital (which is more of a clinic than an ambulatory care unit), and her day was grueling. Hope she is okay. She said she had seen a small green plane hit the second tower, which is what I thought I had seen as well. Looking at the newscast over and over this afternoon, I think from the angle I first witnessed, there was a small green plane flying close to the tower, and the jet came from behind the tower and went through to the front and exploded, thus it looked like it was the small plane in front that had crashed on the corner -- thus my confusion. (the more I look at the footage, it may have just been the way the light was hitting the jetliner (in the shadow of smoke from the first tower on fire it looked green, and it looked small?????) It is unreal.

Lisa and I went back to Met Life because they gave her a number for she and I to give blood. We had 312, and they were only up to 115. National Guard soldiers with guns were patrolling streets by this time, as well as police, etc. They
closed off most streets, 2nd Avenue is only emergency vehicles. Gramercy Park was open -- I have always wanted to see inside the park and now I have! I guess they opened the gates to make it easier for all the people walking north. Later in the day, on television officials called for all surrounding communities to send fire departments and ambulances, there was a whole line of emergency vehicles from NJ, Long Island, Upstate, and Connecticut coming down 2nd Avenue in a long procession soon after we heard this announcement on tv. Right now the city is like a war zone. You can walk around and feel safe, but everything is shut down and emergency workers are everywhere. Streets are blocked and manned with National Guard soldiers and police.

Anyway, I hope that airlines get back on schedule in time for me to visit :-)

I am scheduled to be off work, because of Mike and Kimberly visiting, so will be home tomorrow and will be checking email.

I'm fine and Ricky's fine. The smoke is all going into Brooklyn, so there is no smoke here -- I know when I left to work I thought to close all the windows thinking there would be smoke.

Will talk soon. Hope all is well in the neighborhood!

Love,
Kent



(address removed) wrote:

> Hi Kent,
>
> Well, needless to say we are stunned that the twin towers are gone and hope that you are OK. I know you tend to leave later for work and I hope you were either still at home and stayed there, or safely uptown when this allhappened.
>
> We tried to call you but have not been able to reach any 212 numbers, we just get that "all circuits are busy" message. Mike was able to reach Artie in Brooklyn. They evacuated the court building (also in Brooklyn) he works in and he was OK and at home, but he said the smoke smell was pretty bad in Bay Ridge.
>
> We have had our own little neighborhood war going on today in tandem with our nation's tragedy. It involved Mike, an incessantly yapping dog, a policeman (twice) and neighbors feuding over who is responsible for cutting palm fronds! Everyone's fine, no one was arrested, the dog has stopped barking and the palm fronds are trimmed. I promise to tell you the entire story in person, while we are consuming a pitcher of Margaritas!
>
> Take care, keep running from the crazy Kamikaze terrorists and hoping to still see you at the end of the month!
>
> Love,
>
> Tina, Mike & Laura

Tue, 11 Sep 2001 21:26:43 -0400
Date:
Tue, 11 Sep 2001 21:26:43 -0400

Re: Hope your OK?!