email42.xml

email42.xml

born-digital

email

unknown

yes

2002-03-06

Subject:
       RE: New York
  Date:
       Thu, 13 Sep 2001 09:09:32 -0400
  From:
  To:

C----,

Terrible stuff. Glad you and your family are alive.

G----

-----Original Message-----
From:
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2001 3:30 AM
To:
Subject: New York


I thought I would try to tell you what it's like from mid-Manhattan.

I used to be able to see the World Trade Towers from my window.  As a
matter of fact, I saw the plane hit the second tower and the Tower
implode. I happened to be home that morning, something I don't ever do.
But I began working at home at 6 a.m. and sent my daughter off to school at
7:30.  Just before 9 a.m. I received a phone call from a co-worker so I
put on the television and realized that I could see the Towers out of my
window.  What you saw on television is what I saw from my window.

I saw the plane flying so low and I thought that maybe it had been
blinded by the smoke except that there didn't seem to be smoke on that
side of the Towers.  But I also dismissed the idea of terrorism.  And
then, it looked as if the building opened up to swallow the plane and
then the Tower burst into flames.I saw the Tower fall.  It just got
swallowed by smoke. Like a grade B movie there were sirens constantly.
A---- tells of black smoke over all of City Hall Park with silver shards
shining throughout.  What were they?  Metal?  Paper shreds?  The sun was
shining through the smoke, making these things look shiny.  Dust was
everywhere.  People were walking without shoes having taken them off to
run down stairs as fast as they could.  Glass was everywhere.

The smoke is less now. It looks as if there never were Towers.  The
skyline looks normal.  There isn't a shred of the buildings to be seen
from my viewpoint.  The smoke was going towards Brooklyn yesterday and
people as far away as Coney Island report dust and those right over the
bridge had pieces of charred paper falling everywhere.  The smoke was
black and blanketed everything to the east.  By the end of the day, the
smoke has become almost all white until another building (#7) fell and
then the smoke became black again. This morning, the smoke was whiter
and moving towards New Jersey.  Tonight, in the hole that was once the
World Trade Center, there is white smoke.  This time it is lit up from
lights workers have put up in order to search for bodies and clean up
the rubble which is two-stories high. The problem is that the wind has
changed and the smoke is going north, and everyone up to 100th Street on
the West Side smells as if something is burning down the street.  People
are wearing masks.  My daughter can't sleep in her bedroom.

The hospital was obviously on alert the whole day yesterday, ready at
any moment for the ER to be overrun with the injured.  The ER was
practically empty.  Doctors weren't needed at all ERs.  Very few
impromptu blood banks were erected.  I know you have heard all sorts of
things about how many injured there were, but the injured were few.  The
death toll is enormous. They are just beginning to say how many
tonight.   There must be a blackout for news journalists but I have to
tell you that the stories of carnage, of body parts, is unbelievable.
Today, people are beginning to come in to the ER with dust in their
eyes.

The streets have been relatively empty of cars, and filled -- teaming
with -- people as they walk from place to place.  Certain areas, such as
our hospital and the Red Cross are cordoned off by yellow policy tape.
The hospital ER street is blocked by sanitation trucks.  Volunteers are
everywhere.  So much clothing has been collected that it is going to the
homeless.  People have offered their apartments.  People are manning the
phones.  Yesterday there was an unreal feeling, almost an excitement
from the activity and the togetherness.  Today, nobody talks.  Reality
is setting in.  The air is thick with burning smells.  It is a war
zone.  It is unbelievably sad.  The one thing that gives people heart is
the generousity of strangers banding together to help in any way they
can.  People are hugging each other.  Any problems that existed before
are so minute, that all of us are happy to be alive.  We are so lucky.
Even Alan and I are getting along.  We have a common horror, a new
perspective of what's important.

Nobody can get into the hospital without an ID.  I saw a child of a
nurse.  The child walked from Battery Park, right next door to the
Towers where his school is.  He couldn't get into the hospital to tell
his mother he was okay.  I went up to her floor to tell her.  When I got
there, the entire staff collapsed in tears to find that he was okay. And
the child's father was walking down there to find him (he came back
safely).   I do not know when these
children will be able to go back to school.

The firehouses are covered with flowers, and letters of love, and food.
The firefighters are old fashioned heroes, raising American flags on
their trucks, getting applause as they pass by.

The smoke is much less now.  It seems to be going east again.  The smell
of burning isn't so strong. Schools open tomorrow above 14th Street.
The hospital goes back to normal patient hours. Some subways are still
not working but buses are back in business. Some life goes on.

Thu, 13 Sep 2001 09:09:32 -0400

New York