12 20 271 Dublin Core 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/. Title A name given to the resource 10th Anniversary Collection Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. How has your life changed because of what happened on September 11, 2001? form question Every day, I took the PATH to the base of the World Trade Center, under the towers, though 5 WTC and then past 7 WTC. On the morning of September 11, 2001, I got an early start. I passed by the shoeshine place, deciding that a 15-minute shoeshine would leave me less time to prepare for an afternoon budget meeting. From my office window, we could see a smoldering fire at the WTC and an airplane sticking out of it. We could not see the South Tower from our vantage point. I called Donna. "It looks like a plane hit the WTC. Get out of there!" she said. "Do you know what is happening?" I asked. "No. The news reports aren't clear," she said. "OK, I am in a safe spot, and we're going to leave." I hung up. My Dad called. "Dad, what is happening?!" "Mike, I don't know from here, I don't have a TV." I conferenced Kathy in. "Kathy, this is Mike and Dad, what do you see on TV?" "Looks like a plane hit the WTC. This is it for now." "I have to get out of here. Love you guys. Bye." I said to my team, "The whole city is probably going to evacuate. Beat the rush and get home. Stay away from the WTC. Go North. Work from home, if you can." At this point, someone yelled out, "Oh my God! A second plane hit." I could not verify this from our vantage point. Everyone ran to the window. All hell broke loose. One of my coworkers, John, who had just arrived said, "I saw debris coming down from the building. Then, I realized that there were bodies falling or jumping from the building!" We all left. I walked over to the West Side Highway to see what was happening. A procession of Special Operations trucks, police cars and ambulances passed us at 80 mph, speeding to the scene. Later, I would learn that most of these heroes would die. We were standing less than a mile from the base of the twin towers. We were grouped together, looking at the flames, when a gigantic fireball erupted and smoke spewed forth, like from the gates of Hell itself. Glass shards flew everywhere from behind the tower. A big plume of smoke and debris expanded. In slow motion, I saw this big wave of doom fall toward the people below. All I could think was that I was standing there witnessing the mass murder of everyone under this flaming wall of death. It was the most hopeless feeling I have ever felt. Men and women were wailing and screaming. A young child started to throw up. A woman in front of me lost her bladder. An old man fell down, sobbing. A big wave, seemingly taller than the tallest building, grew and started to expand toward us. At this point, everyone started to run. I said to my coworkers, "There was no reason for me to be here. Good-bye". Walking past Chelsea Piers, someone handed me a glass of water. Later, I learned that this would become the triage center where the majority of the victims were brought. My only regret is that I did not stay to help triage. But, in retrospect, who would have known this? After many attempts. I finally got through to Donna. "Where are you, Mike?" "I am far away and heading out. I have to go. Please tell everyone that I am OK, in a safe place." I did not stop until I had gone about 35 city blocks, or about 3 miles. Being on the West Side Highway, I still had a clear view of the one building left. Wait a minute... At this moment, I realized that there was only one building left. I stood there with my mouth open, unbelievably looking at the spectacle. Someone handed me a cigarette. I started to turn and someone let out a big, "Oh no!!!!" Turning back, I saw a huge fireball, expanding from the remaining building. Focusing on this 5 story long girder (60 feet long/10 feet wide), I saw it slowly swing out, in slow motion. I saw the antennae coming down and I knew that the whole building was collapsing. I sobbed with the group. I could hear people screaming, crying, yelling in anger. You could not take your eyes from the falling debris and the growing realization that many more were going to die. Right in front of your eyes. And there was nothing, nothing in this world that could prevent it from happening. All of the people who rushed in to help, the Special Operations team, the cops, ambulances, the motorcyclist, the people leaving the building. All would all be crushed. In disbelief, I turned and left the city (sobbing). There was nothing I could do. Referred to by Where did you hear about the website? Smithsonian website Dublin Core 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/. Title A name given to the resource 10th Anniversary Collection Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. How has your life changed because of what happened on September 11, 2001? form question My family was looking forward to a lot of things on the sunny Tuesday that was September 11, 2001. My husband was home because he had not yet started his new job at the World Trade Center; the company had asked to postpone his start date from the beginning of September to mid-month. So he was able to join me to walk our twin daughters to their second day of pre-K phase in at PS 58. As we walked up Court Street, I saw sheets of paper floating down at us. I thought of the billets that had once been dropped from planes during wartime to warn the people about attack. Could these be some sort of advertisement? What a waste of resources. I thought I saw a page with a single Arabic letter. I know now that could not have been so. As we got to the corner, a man passed us with a transistor radio. He said a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I assumed a small commuter plane had gone off track, and felt sorry for those on board. At the time I was not consciously connecting the papers with the plane. We joined the other 53 children and families in the sweet, curtained pre-K rooms. We were expected to stay in the room with the children during phase in. Standing in a row with other parents, I felt the floor shake and heard a low rumble, as if a really big truck had hit a metal plate in the road on Smith Street. I remember turning to the parents on either side of me and seeing my own uneasy look reflected back. I cannot accurately recollect the timeline of the following events: I went outside with other parents into the hallway. I learned that a large plane, and then another, had flown into the Twin Towers. I smelled smoke. The principal told us to stay inside with the children, not to go home. A mom told me one tower had fallen. Fallen! We did not know what was in the air. The teachers went on as if nothing unusual was happening. But parents began to take children home. A mom arrived who had left her office and walked over the Brooklyn Bridge to get to school. There was no public transportation. There was no cell service. Soon we realized that we had to let Ms. C, the pre-K paraprofessional who stayed with us, go to her own family. We wet brown paper towels with water and walked home with them over our mouths and noses. Outside the air was smoke and dust but you could see through it. I found whole sheets of office papers in my front garden. I had left our windows open when we left the house (I did not do that again for many years). I closed the windows as my husband took the girls to our neighbor’s house across the street to get the news on cable. We had an antenna but there was no signal coming from the Trade Center any longer. I was alone in the house when a jet flew low overhead. The sound sent me rushing into the street to my neighbor’s house. We all watched the news as the second tower fell. We learned that the Pentagon was hit, that another plane had crashed near Pittsburgh. In the next days, we waited to hear news of my husband’s new company. Had their people made it out of the Tower? We could not reach them; their phones were gone. We were so grateful that he was not in the building that day, but did he have a job? The girls went to school the next day. The staff created a safe environment and advised against watching the news with the kids. The school learned of family members who were lost. Teachers learned that some of their former students were gone as well. In the face of all of this, everyone tried to keep things as “normal” as possible. I don’t know how the teachers did that. Miraculously, we heard from my husband’s employer that all of his colleagues were safe. Later, the children of Oklahoma City sent teddy bears to our pre-K children. (Many schools in downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn received them.) Our children did not know about the bombings there, and did not really understand why they got the bears. But we did. I will never forget that gesture. It was then that I understood that the events of 9/11 did not just happen to New York, or Washington, or the incredible people of Flight 93, but to the whole nation. Recently tourists asked me for directions to Ground Zero. I had to pause to think of where that could be. I always think of it as the World Trade Center. Referred to by Where did you hear about the website? Facebook, Twitter, other social networks Dublin Core 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/. Title A name given to the resource 10th Anniversary Collection Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. How has your life changed because of what happened on September 11, 2001? form question THIS TRAGEDY HAS MADE ME VALUE LIFE AND FAMILY MORE THAN I EVER HAD. BECAUSE IT MADE ME REALIZE IN A SPLIT MOMENT LIFE AS WE KNOW IT CAN CHANGE AND A NATION WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN. MY PRAYERS GO OUT TO THE FAMILIES WHO HAVE LOST THEIR LOVE ONES, THE CHILDREN, THE WIVES, THE HUSBANDS, THE PARENTS MAY GOD CONTINUE TO SHINE UPON YOUR AND LIFT YOU UP DURING THIS TIME OF REMEMBRANCE AND FOREVER MORE. TO ALL THE HEROES AND FOLLOWING SOLDIERS I THANK YOU. I SALUTE YOU, I LOVE YOU. YOU SACRIFICED SO MUCH AND RECEIVED SO LITTLE. TO THE SOLDIERS THAT CONTINUE TO FIGHT AND STAND AGAINST THIS WAR ON TERRORIST i SALUTE YOU. How will you remember the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks? form question I VOW ON THIS DAY TO FOLLOW AFTER PEACE WITH ALL MEN Referred to by Where did you hear about the website? News media https://www.911digitalarchive.org/files/original/7de0e03bb1867118046f11c8b836f459.jpg 337bc06246fcb95fd46239baa6997aea Omeka Image File The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files. Bit Depth 8 Channels 3 Height 1184 Width 1720 Dublin Core 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/. Title A name given to the resource 10th Anniversary Collection Still Image A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials. How has your life changed because of what happened on September 11, 2001? form question life is not the same for any of us after that terrible day How will you remember the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks? form question I will pray and I'll keep a candle burning all day in remembrance of all victims Referred to by Where did you hear about the website? News media Dublin Core 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 An account of the resource Times Square December 2001. We never forget. Thank you https://www.911digitalarchive.org/files/original/7b97bacf1457721c5fb7f56e95e6eb9d.jpeg 5befab350c7d89c052957cdbe3bb76a3 Omeka Image File The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files. Bit Depth 8 Channels 3 Height 496 Width 604 Dublin Core 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/. Title A name given to the resource 10th Anniversary Collection Still Image A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials. Referred to by Where did you hear about the website? Facebook, Twitter, other social networks Dublin Core 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 An account of the resource Pentagon Sept 15, 2001 Dublin Core 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/. Title A name given to the resource 10th Anniversary Collection Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. How has your life changed because of what happened on September 11, 2001? form question I never cared much about the news, or politics for that matter, until 9/11. It made me realize just how important it is to be involved in choosing who leads us, who represents our country to others. It also made me see that even if you try to ignore all the bad news that's reported, there are just some things you cannot pretend away. I was born and raised in NJ, and always madly in love with NYC, and the backdrop of the gleaming towers that had been there my entire life being gone now was devastating to me. We could see the smoke from Ground Zero from my living room window for days and days afterward, and I could only cry, have horrific nightmares, and relive the moments again and again. I think every single one of us in the tri-state area walked around like zombies for weeks afterward. I have respect for all the first responders like I never had before that day, also.. the sacrifices made were beyond imagining. This was no longer just a job for those people, each of them became angels of mercy on that day, and forever. How will you remember the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks? form question With prayer for everyone who lost their lives on that day and as a result of that heinous act since. Also, by giving in some way, either just time or financially, to your local fire or first responders department. Do something for a soldier. Make sure to give something back to those who gave all. Referred to by Where did you hear about the website? News media Dublin Core 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/. Title A name given to the resource 10th Anniversary Collection Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. How has your life changed because of what happened on September 11, 2001? form question I'm closer to my family. How will you remember the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks? form question My son was born in June 2001 and when I left my message back then he was 15 months old. My mom, me and my son got on a plane back in October 2011 and they were transporting someone in handcuffs and there was an arab lady who got on the plane and right before we were taking off her husband got on the plane. Scariest feeling and go figure we had a Texan sitting with us.....lol....not that it was really funny but it was really scary for us and he made the plane ride less of a stress. Today my son is 10 years and 3 months. And I want to send from me and my son to those little tikes who never met their parent they lost......YOU HAVE SOMEONE WHO LOVED YOU MORE THAN YOU WILL EVER KNOW....no person in their right mind does what they did that day and there were so many people who didn't even know what to do and for those people who couldn't bring it to them to say hey i'm dying and put it out to say hey I love you no matter what.........I send my most heartfelt prayers.....to the children......YOUR HERO gave me a life with my child...THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!!! Dublin Core 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/. Title A name given to the resource 10th Anniversary Collection Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. How has your life changed because of what happened on September 11, 2001? form question On Sept. 11, 2001 I was working as a temp at American Express in the World Financial Center. The day started out with an early morning. I wanted to vote in the city primary election before I went to work. I’m an actress and there was an audition that I wanted to go to that evening, so I wouldn't have time to do it later in the day. I got on the 8:15 Staten Island Ferry to Manhattan. I sat downstairs next to two girls in school uniforms. They talked to me for the whole ride about school and how hard fourth grade is. “We have to read books with chapters!” They wanted to know what it’s like to be an actor and if I had liked the fourth grade. They were so sweet and they were really one of the last normal things about the whole day. When the ferry docked I got off and headed for the 1/9 train to the World Trade Center/Rector St. It was so beautiful out that morning. The sky was clear, it was just a little brisk and I thought about walking to work, but I knew it would take too long so I took the train. Sometimes the 1/9 train will come to the South Ferry station and sit for a few minutes. That’s what it did that morning. I got on the train at about 8:45 AM. A man was talking to his brother on his cell phone and said something about a plane hitting the Trade Center. When he hung up I turned to him and asked if I had heard him right. He said yes, his brother said that a plane had hit one of the towers. The other people listened to this news, but nobody reacted much. We figured it was a small plane that must have had an accident. The doors closed and we were off. The train stopped at the next station (Rector St.) and the conductor told us to please clear the train. He said there was an accident at the WTC and the train would be stopping here. We still didn't think much of it and everyone calmly got off the train and headed out into the street. As I came up the stairs on to the sidewalk everything seemed wrong. People were standing still (which never happens on a weekday morning in the financial district) looking up at the towers. We were only a couple of blocks away. There was black smoke pouring out of one of the buildings and what looked for all the world like silver glitter falling down from the sky. I started to walk towards work. I just didn't think that it could be that serious and my building is right next to the Trade Center. There used to be an indoor footbridge connecting the two. I got about a block away when a shadow passed overhead. As I looked up, the second plane hit the building. There was the loudest rumbling/crashing sound I ever heard and the ground shook. It was the kind of sound that you don’t hear so much a feel in your bones. People started screaming and running the other way. I remember I was wearing a pair of boots with a pretty sturdy heel and as I ran I hoped I wouldn't trip and break my leg. There was another loud rumbling and stuff started to fall out of the sky and hit the street. At that point it finally occurred to me that I could really die out here this morning. I don’t think there was anything very big coming down, but you just didn't know what was going on. To make matters worse, the sidewalk I was on was underneath one of those construction awnings so even if I could look behind me, I couldn’t see anything above my head but plywood. I crouched behind a construction dumpster under some scaffolding at the end of the block and covered my head with my hands for a minute. All those years of tornado drills in the mid-west finally clicked in, I guess. When it seemed like it was a little quieter, I got up and started down the street again. At this point people were still in the street, some of them on their cell phones. Nobody knew where to go or what to do. I got to Rector St. and turned the corner. I found myself on the patio/alcove of the 2 Rector St. office building. There was a small, slim woman dressed in a business suit helping a big guy wearing overalls. He was bleeding all over from a bunch of cuts. I just stood there for a moment, confused. The woman looked up and saw me. She told me to go inside and see if they had water or paper towels. Suddenly, I had a task. Water or paper towels! Yes, I would devote my life for the next few minutes to that. That made more sense than anything else that was going on. I got some water from the security guard, but they didn't have anything else. It was pandemonium inside as well. We started trying to clean the man up. He seemed to be in shock. He said he was a maintenance worker at the WTC and he had been eating breakfast in the courtyard (where the fountain used to be) when the first plane hit. He dove under his truck when the first plane hit and ran as soon as he thought it was relatively safe. He said he saw people falling from the sky and lots of blood. He wanted to go call his mother and I think he left with a policeman to find an ambulance. I sat down on the ground and started to talk to the woman. We just talked about what was going on and shared some bottled water. Neither of our phones worked. She told me her name was Shira and she had been trying to call her husband back, but she couldn’t get through. There were people all over the place trying to use their cell phones. I think there was a major antenna on one of the WTC towers and it was gone. Shira told me it was her son’s third birthday that day and she needed to get home. I couldn’t have agreed with her more. At that moment all I wanted was to see my mom and my family. I didn't want to die on that street in NYC. I remember looking at the burning towers and wondering how the firefighters were going to get everyone out. It simply never occurred to me that they wouldn't be able to, that they were walking into a death trap. After a little bit, we got up and started to walk down to the corner. We wanted to take a look and see what was going on, find out if it was going to be safe to move. There was lots of smoke now and more silver glittery bits floating down from the flames. We turned around to head back to our spot when another, more sinister rumbling started. We couldn’t see anything because the buildings are so close together downtown. People began to run again and we could finally see this solid looking, dirty cloud speeding towards us. We turned and ran, but we were engulfed before we could reach the building. We made it to the railing and held on while the filthy stuff swept over us. You couldn't breathe and it just seemed to get thicker and thicker. I thought it would just keep coming until we all suffocated on the street. There was just no air. I lost Shira for a second but we found each other again and held hands. The stuff was in my nose and mouth and you couldn't see a thing. A woman next to us kept saying, "Cover your nose and your mouth." So we tried to do that with our shirts, but it was already everywhere. After a while it began to thin out and we could breathe a little. We hadn't suffocated, but now what? A man came outside from the safety of one of the buildings. He was relatively clean and I could hear him telling everyone to join hands and make a chain, to follow the sound of his voice. I don’t know who he is, but he is a hero to me. He led us all into a building where they had water bottles and clean rags to put over our faces. Shira and I tried to spit out some of the stuff and actually laughed a little. It was one of many very surreal moments. They moved everyone to another part of the building and we waited and listened to the news on a small radio. That’s when we first heard that this was a probably a terrorist attack, that the debris cloud that had just swept through the street was the first tower collapsing, that the Pentagon had been hit as well and that no one knew what the hell was going on. After about an hour a policeman came in and said that the Ferry to Staten Island was running. A lot of people were talking about walking north or walking over the South Street Sea Port. I told Shira that I lived on Staten Island very near the ferry and that she could come home with me if she wanted. I was not prepared for what we saw when we got outside. Everything was covered in the dust. There were papers and parts of office equipment (I think) in the street. It was all one bleak dusty mess. I had no idea where we were or which way was downtown. I had walked up this stretch of Broadway everyday for a year and I was completely lost. Finally I recognized the Dress Barn store a block down, got my bearings and we started on one of the longest walks of my life. We passed Wall St. and the Bull statue and the Native American Museum. I was terrified to have to walk past the entrance to Wall St. I thought for sure the stock exchange building was going to blow up at any minute. We actually found a working payphone and I called home. My brother answered and I told him to let everyone know I was all right and that I would try to call when I got to my apartment. We got to the ferry and waited downstairs for the boat. We all looked like a bunch of refugees. When the boat finally docked and they opened the doors we saw that it was completely full with firefighters, EMTs and their trucks. As they walked off the boat everyone began to cheer and applaud. It was amazing and kind of eerie. These people were heading into the war zone and we were all scrambling to get out. We rode the ferry past the Statue of Liberty and stared at the mess we had left behind. It was like a bad movie. The smoke just kept pouring into the sky and the towers were gone. It made no sense. Shira stayed the night. Her husband was able to get across the bridge the next day and pick her up. I was happy for her, but that was the moment when I finally lost all composure. I hadn’t cried until that moment. When I think of 9-11 these days, I try to remember things like meeting Shira, the man who came for us in the street and the firefighters faces as they headed uptown. For better or worse, it is a day that changed my life forever. How will you remember the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks? form question These days I live in Los Angeles, closer to my family. I've gone back to school and gotten married. Every year 9/11 rolls around I try to remember the little details about that day and the days afterward - the "Missing" posters all over town, the firefighter's funerals almost every day and how the city came together to grieve and begin to heal. This year I'm going to go to the Los Angeles Firefighter's Training Center where they have a large piece of the World Trade Center on display. They will be having a memorial service in the morning. I like to go there to somehow feel closer to that day. Sometimes I really wish I could get back to NYC where I know people "get it". But I'm so glad to be here near my family and old friends again. Referred to by Where did you hear about the website? Facebook, Twitter, other social networks Dublin Core 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/. Title A name given to the resource 10th Anniversary Collection Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. How has your life changed because of what happened on September 11, 2001? form question My life has changed not because I knew someone who lost someone or because I personally lost a family member or friend, but because I was alive when it happened and felt the same effects that everyone else in America felt. I still remember watching the second plane hit the twin towers and minutes later the tower just collapsing on itself; the fear I felt that maybe they might come and attack the school. Being in fourth grade I really didn't understand all that I do now- but my life will always have the events of that day as being one of the pinnacle moments in my life. Randomly my friends and I will talk about what we remember of where we were or what we were doing on that day and its amazing how clear the memory is, not of the day before and not even really the day after, but on 9/11/01 its crystal clear. How will you remember the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks? form question I will do the same as I always do, a thought and prayer for those affected, remembering the events and all those who lives were lost. The memory of the events that happened on 9/11 will always stick with me because of how they affected the United States and its hard to believe that it has been ten years since it happened. Referred to by Where did you hear about the website? News media Dublin Core 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/. Title A name given to the resource 10th Anniversary Collection Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. How will you remember the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks? form question The way people can remember now and in the future can happen in the morning or night. If you hear/see that it is 9:11 say a prayer or take a minute or two to think . It won't cost anything but love. Referred to by Where did you hear about the website? News media Dublin Core 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/. Title A name given to the resource 10th Anniversary Collection Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. How has your life changed because of what happened on September 11, 2001? form question My sotry on 9/11 is different then most, My boos and I stopped by the Pentagon around 5am on 9/11 on the way to national airport to catch a plane to new york for a safety meeting at our corporate office. We walked off the street into the office at 8:04am, we attended our meeting and during the middle of the meeting they came in and told us that a small plane had flown into the twin towers. We turned the news on and the meeting kept going. Then we got the news that they Pentagon was attacked, the company we worked for was AMEC, we were the contractor who had just finished the renovations of Wedge 1 of the pentagon. We had just turned the last area over on 9/10/01. We still had people on site doing punchlist and cleaning up, we were concerned because we didn't knew who was there but the early news had said the plane struck the building where the renovations were just made. We didn't find out until nearly noon that all of our workers had escaped harm, and one of them went back inside an helped other to escape. AMEC was one of the 4 contractors at ground zero as well as the pentagon. AMEC was brought in early to help start the clean up on 9/11. That night we walked done to the staging area, as close as we could get to the affeced area to see what had happened. It was strange walking down Broadway and no people or no vehicle traffic at all, we simply walked down the middle of the street. Just my luck get sent to NY on the company dime and the only place we found open to eat was a howard johnson's. NY was a ghost town, there were about 10-12 of us walking around and we were the only people we saw until we got nearer to ground zero and the place nearby were full of the people who lived in the area and were dislodged and hanging out at bars, restaurants, a chess club and even street corners all pretty silent for the number of people involved. We got up the next morning, we did check early on that we still had hotel rooms and that was a fiasco in its self, the meeting was still taking place, so we went. Early that morning we found that the governement had ask AMEC to assist and plan for the renovation and clean up the pentagon, After finding this out we tried to make arrangements to exit the city and return to washington, we were able to get train tickets out of penn station around noon. We left the meeting got our stuff and headed for the train station, it was packed, standing room only. we got out of the station minutes before it was closed due to bomb threats. It was very eery coming up on the other side of the rver in New Jersey and looking back to see no twin towers and just blumes of smoke rising from where the towering structures once stood, the empire state building now stood out in the haze, We arrived back in dc that afternoon and headed straight for the pentagon, we were not there an hour before we heard that there were bomb threats and the building was being evacuated again. I got home later that day and had something like 120 messages on my home phone, like "I know you were at the pentagon, i am just checking to make sure your ok" and then the same person " i called 3 times, please call me back, I'm not calling back I hope your ok and there is a good reason you have not called back". Being that we flew up there that morning family didn't knew where we were and couldn't get a call through. I finally called my brother who had a 800 number and had him call everyone and let them know we were ok. Up until thanksgiving that year I only had 3 days off, working 12 to 15 hour days assisting the FBI and the Arlington County Fire Marshals with clean up and then starting to begin the rebuilding process. We had promised that we would get the people back into there building by 9/11/02 and we did. It was an amazing process watching how workers how had just completed their work and now they had to come back and start over. It was amazing how everyone hade a goal and they put petty differences behind them and worked as one big machine with a singular goal. One of my task was to get the countdowen clock, to count down the days, hours and minutes until 09/11/02. It was not easy to find and had to listen to grief daily as to where it was and when is going to get here. Over the the month that made that year I made some great friend and will always think about them and the task we had and what we accomplished. I really could go on, it's amazing how much of this has stayed in my mind but this is a good place to stop. Although my boss said he would never fly with me again How will you remember the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks? form question I will spend it with family and friends ( my boss) lives near me I will either go and see him or call him. We thought that there going to be a reunion for the 10th aniversery, we had one at 5th and had 2 or 300 people there. We were looking forward to that, but nothing ever happened, too bad. Referred to by Where did you hear about the website? News media https://www.911digitalarchive.org/files/original/07ec94e3c3feaac94d5684da1148a1c5.pdf 143b2fcc1ffad12c4171a50cd0433a76 PDF Text Text The sky above is incredibly clear, a glorious shade of blue, and a cool breeze is blowing. Lucy is being her happy dog-self, running around the roof, while I sit on the steps, in the early morning sun, watching her and looking at the window cleaning machine as it slowly inches it’s way down the long, long, right leg of the World Trade Center. A beautiful day, a clear morning, and I think again, what a smart thing. I watch this machine, as I have hundreds of times over the 21 years I’ve lived in this place, and I think again, that’s smart. I watch these towers like I have thousands of times before. I think of them as Big Eleven. They are tall companions to the life I live, and I watch them in the snow, the rain, the dusk, the dawn, with the afternoon sun dipping in back of them, with a crescent moon a hammock in between. I think of the people inside vacuming all the floors when the lights are lit at night, and when the fog eats those slabs of steel and glass in the early morning drizzle, I pretend that they don’t exist. They were never built, and the white sky swallowing them is open and deep. In the last few months, satellite dishes have sprouted on the roof of my elevator. They sit alert, pointed at the south, aiming at the blue slice left open between the far tower and the 20 story building across the street. I’d better get mine up soon, or there won’t be any open sky left. Back inside, I can turn off the air conditioner . It’s a great day to push up the windows and crank open the skylight. I hear the noise as I type in my password on the computer. A loud sound, a roar, a jet, and I spin and jump to the window, craning my neck, looking up, up----excited, I don’t want to miss the show if there’s something great going on. The sound is enormous, filling more and more of the sky but I can’t see the plane. A ripping sound, velcro coming apart, amplified a million times, and the seam tears open--so so slowly it seems--The red spilling out so red, so hot against the cool, blue sky. ‘Oh my god,” I scream. “What, what? ‘ Jim is at my side. "The World Trade Center just exploded. Oh, the people." It was hard enough to see this happen, so shocking, but each event that day seemed like it was orchestrated to top the last---to twist your brain, your heart, your comprehension. A sound, an event, turned into an explosion, an accident,--and oh my god the sound again, another plane, diving out from behind the building and coming at us, hanging there, enormous against the blue sky, no way to stop it, �no no no----the second building---There is no where to put this in your brain. All those people. oh the people and the white sky swallowing them is open and deep. There was, of course more---The most monstrous moments have no photos, we could barely watch with our eyes. But isn't that enough? Two weeks ago, overworked and overwhelmed, I started yelling, "Stop! I just want it to stop--just stop for a while"--the construction, the development of the neighborhood, too much work to take care of. I tried to imagine everything coming to a stand still-I think of that now and can't help but feel-Be careful of what you wish. Even with the windows closed, the dust has a way of seeping in, drifting around, settling in on everything, everywhere. There is so much talk about a health risk, but health is the furthest thing from my mind. The dust to me is much more sacred than that. More than anything, it is in the dust that the finality of what happened here becomes truly apparent. It is in the dust that I can begin to understand that the lives of thousands of people were lost. I touch my fingers to the dust and look at tiny sparkles that were once the windows of the World Trade Center. � Dublin Core 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/. Title A name given to the resource 10th Anniversary Collection Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. Dublin Core 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/. Title A name given to the resource 10th Anniversary Collection Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. How has your life changed because of what happened on September 11, 2001? form question I was at school a few blocks away from World Trade Center when I heard the sound of a jet engine flying overhead followed by a loud explosion and the ringing of a car alarm. My teach went out and soon came back saying, "the whole of the Twin Towers is completely blown away", and then I looked out the window and saw yellow smoke coming from behind a building blocking my view of the WTC and turned on our TV sets to the view of the burning North Tower. A moment later, the school's PA system said (twice), "at 8:45, a small plane crashed into the World Trade Center". Within fifteen minutes, we heard the sound of another set of jet engines, but I did not hear an explosion sound. About an hour later, in another class (when I went to it, my teacher was in the middle of another conversation involving a comparison to the 1945 collision with the Empire State Building), where I could see the burning towers, we heard something on the PA (not very clear) on something regarding the Pentagon, and not long after that, the lights flickered as a small boom sound was heard, and our school building shook. The class ran to the windows and saw a large chunk of one of the towers come down (but we didn't fully realize that that tower had imploded) with a cloud of debris and right below, another school was getting evacuated. We pulled down the shades as the cloud advanced so that debris would send broken glass flying on us in case it hit us with that force, and then we were dismissed as usual. After about and hour of being "detained until further notice" in a north-facing homeroom (and I even heard a rumor about a hijacked JetBlue plane hitting the towers) and seeing lines of people marching northwards along the Hudson, we finally received the order to evacuate. We got out and by then, we could not see either tower--just two pillars of smoke blowing eastwards. We walked north to Chelsea Piers and then we waited there--down there, as the principal said some time later, was "like Mt. Etna". I watched as some students got picked up by their parents and as some teachers took students home, and I decided to join one such group on my own, thinking that my place would be right north enough so that I could get back. Unfortunately I reached the tape and found that I couldn't. I asked about other places in Lower Manhattan where I could go and if people in the apartments had been evacuated, and both answers were positive, so I headed there, where I reunited with the rest of my family. I remember hearing the sound of something collapse (in retrospect, possibly 7 World Trade Center), seeing Midtown dimmed and eventually I went to sleep to the sound of a subway train crossing a bridge. About ten days later, I not was able to return (even though I had to cross many checkpoints) but also was able to go to class at our school, which relocated across the East River. It was three weeks before the school returned to its physical location. It wasn't until about January when that was no longer detectable, either. Referred to by Where did you hear about the website? Facebook, Twitter, other social networks Dublin Core 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/. Title A name given to the resource 10th Anniversary Collection Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. How has your life changed because of what happened on September 11, 2001? form question September 11th, 2001 was my first encounter with true loss. Death was something I knew about, and claimed to understand, but it didn't become real until that day. I was only eleven years old. Many people would say that I was "too young" to have any understanding of death. That day was different though, for all of the middle school students around me. We were an hour and a half away from Manhattan, but we were New Yorkers too. Even if we lived out in the suburbs, and couldn't navigate our way through the city grid without a map, we still identified very strongly with the iconic city skyline. It was a skyline we were just getting to know at that point. Many of us had only been to the city a few times, always on special occasions. That distant, almost-magical place was under attack. A lot of innocence was lost that day. I never cried in front of people. No matter how awful I felt, or what terrible names bullies might have called me, I insisted upon hiding my tears until I could be alone, or with my family or closest friends. I cried that day. There was no hesitation on my part. It was terrifying to see classmates--whom I had considered very mature--weeping freely. I couldn't recall having ever felt fear quite so powerful as I did that day. I had been afraid to move to a new school district, afraid to go to school after I had been bullied. But this was different. This was a fear that I could feel running through every vein in my body. It was a week before I felt like I had stopped shaking. My relatives were fine. My father had been working far from the city that day. My uncle worked in the Capitol building, not the Pentagon. My aunt had been in Connecticut. Everyone was safe. But even hearing my mother's voice over the school phone, telling me that everyone was okay, even the people I hadn't thought of initially, couldn't reassure me. I don't remember anything that happened after 11AM that day. My memories of every moment of the event as it unfolded are crystal clear. How I wasn't incredibly phased by the announcement that the first plane had hit. The strangeness of my gym class being ushered back inside a mere few minutes after we had reached the soccer field, and the subtle hints that made me feel it was unsafe to be outdoors. I remember sitting dumbfounded in my next class, Spanish. There was no lesson that day. They turned on the television, so our young Spanish teacher, and twenty-or-so eleven and twelve-year-olds could watch the news as the horrible footage was played over and over again. I remember not hesitating for an instant when a guidance counselor came to the door asking for anyone who needed to call home to follow him. I remember nothing after I spoke to my mother. So many other events in my life have been chaotic and terrifying, but I can remember at least vaguely what happened through the remainder of the day. Not September 11th. I shut down. September 11th, 2001 is the reason I attended my first wake and funeral, at eleven years old. A friend of the family, a firefighter, had gone into the buildings to save lives. He never came back out again. Nor did they ever find his remains. He simply disappeared completely. How will you remember the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks? form question My college will be lowering the flag in the morning, at the time of the first attack. I don't think I will be attending, as I don't know that I have the strength to be there. I will certainly keep a minute of silence at 1PM, in memory of the lives lost. Perhaps I will write a blog entry, chronicling my feelings on that day, as I did on the fifth anniversary. But most importantly, I will continue my studies in Peace and Conflict, in the hopes that someday terror and violence and war will be but a bad memory. Referred to by Where did you hear about the website? Smithsonian website Dublin Core 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/. Title A name given to the resource 10th Anniversary Collection Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. How has your life changed because of what happened on September 11, 2001? form question I've fairly well recovered but it has taken time. I have to take the subways at times but don't like to especially around 42nd Street. How will you remember the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks? form question On September 11th, 2001, I had an early morning appointment in the NYU dental clinic on 24th Street and 1st Avenue. Being as it is a clinic, several people were working on me or, rather, were observing the work on me. Some time after they began, there was an announcement that a plane had flown into a WTC tower but despite this, they continued to work on me without interruption. After a while and after they finished I went to the desk where a man was listening to a radio and he instructed me to go up to a student lounge on a higher floor without explanation. When I got to the lounge, I saw a window with a pretty unlimited view of the second tower but presently, a woman screamed and I turned around. When I looked back, the tower was no longer there. At which point a tall young man said something about suicide bombers to the effect that once they started using them, there was little defense against them. After which I thought that it was the end of an era. But I became worried for my own safety since I knew nothing about what was happening and ran out, taking the stairs down 7 flights I think. After that I walked home as there was no public transportation and I must have gone up 1st Avenue thinking it was prudent to avoid the west side of Manhattan as long as possible. There were all sorts of military convoys going south that I recall. I must have gradually gone west after that and when I got to Central Park and 5th Avenue I walked through it to the West Side and home. The gray cloud over the area persisted for some time. When I got there I found that it was not possible to make phone calls and this lasted for several hours. I was able to call out after a while and determine eventually that everyone I knew was safe. I was pretty numb emotionally the rest of the day but the following day I was rather in a bad way and say the nurse-practitioner who gave me a prescription for a few sleeping pills. (the most familiar brand.) It has since taken me quite a while to get over the trauma. My musical composition Memorial 5 9/11 was placed on this site some time ago: http://911digitalarchive.org/repository.php?collection_id=315 Referred to by Where did you hear about the website? News media https://www.911digitalarchive.org/files/original/10538642ac6ef30a6aa6600c1a07423b.mp3 dd6adb4f80d2ad1f10cb94e866b01e41 Dublin Core 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/. Title A name given to the resource 10th Anniversary Collection Sound A resource whose content is primarily intended to be rendered as audio. How will you remember the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks? form question I am going to a gathering in Torrance CA Referred to by Where did you hear about the website? Facebook, Twitter, other social networks Dublin Core 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 An account of the resource This is a Peter Gabriel song with scanner traffic from that morning added in. Dublin Core 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/. Title A name given to the resource 10th Anniversary Collection Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. How has your life changed because of what happened on September 11, 2001? form question I watched the events of the morning of September 11, 2001 unfold on live television from my home in Boston. That morning, a roommate told me he had just heard on the radio that a plan had crashed into one of the World Trade Center Towers, and we turned on the national news. The live coverage on NBC showed the building, while the reporters discussed and speculated on the event. While I watched, the NBC correspondent at the Pentagon, Jim Miklaszewski, who was reporting, sounded visibly shaken and the audio picked up a loud noise at the Pentagon. As the events there and at the second tower transpired, I cried. And cried. And cried. All of my housemates, including my fiance, slowly returned home from work and campus to watch the news. We were glued to the 24/7 news cycle and the talking heads, dismayed, confused, and scared by the images on the screen. Since that day, I cannot watch the video of the crash without an emotional response, and now I find myself quick to tears when I watch news coverage of human tragedy. I did not know anyone who lost their life that day personally, but I feel that a small part of each American died that day with the victims of 9/11. There is a new empathy for human pain and suffering, one that I am sure others too have experienced. Like many Americans, I have become accustomed to the heightened security measures. I have an emergency kit, initially purchased in the weeks after the attacks, that I still maintain... just in case. I keep water and batteries on hand, even in good weather. I keep my gas tank at least half full, and keep all my family's personal papers together to grab in case we have to leave the house quickly. I secured a passport for myself, and when my children were born, I made sure they had them as well. My kids will never know what it was like before 9/11, and for now - they are very young - I am trying to let them be children, to protect them from the fear and pain of the tragedy. Mostly, I try to control the things I can control. I remember the unity and national pride that we as a country shared in the weeks and months immediately following the attacks and I am saddened that we seem to have forgotten that camaraderie and national purpose. I don't think that we as a country have come to terms with this tragedy, and I think it will be many years before we find the answers we are looking for. How will you remember the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks? form question On the tenth anniversary of 9/11, I plan to spend a quiet day with friends and family, and reflect on the events themselves. I am a history professor for a the local state university campus, and I have entreated my students to share their memories of the events that unfolded that day ten years ago in this digital archive as well. Referred to by Where did you hear about the website? Smithsonian website Dublin Core 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/. Title A name given to the resource 10th Anniversary Collection Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. How has your life changed because of what happened on September 11, 2001? form question I could not believe what I was seeing and spent several days in complete shock and denial before I could accept what had happened. It was too enormous. When I came to where I thought I had gained some acceptance, some new horror would be revealed and it again became too much. There is no way to fully explain the ways our lives have changed, we have become a different people. I believe we have become a better people, more open to each other, better able to accept the suffering of our neighbor and more ready to help each other. In that October, I tried to put it all in some kind of prospective with this: They sent destruction and we found strength, They sent hate and we found love, They sent death and we found life, They aimed at our heart and soul and hit only steel and mortar, They wanted us to believe we were weak, and we found we walk with heroes. How will you remember the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks? form question I will watch and join in the ceremonies on television. Referred to by Where did you hear about the website? Facebook, Twitter, other social networks https://www.911digitalarchive.org/files/original/2087ef08e18718350c8fe83f36c4fdc8.jpg 245522d9d2fc37cc34c920e5d714e2e3 Omeka Image File The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files. Bit Depth 8 Channels 3 Height 670 Width 847 Dublin Core 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/. Title A name given to the resource 10th Anniversary Collection Still Image A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials. How has your life changed because of what happened on September 11, 2001? form question yes, i worked about 10 blocks north of there on Canal and Varick sts. above the Holland Tunnel. My story is posted here, but I still cannot get it all through my head what I went through that morning. arriving at work, being evacuated, standing on the corner of Canal and Varick sts. for hours before knowing what to do. How will you remember the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks? form question I will re visit the spot outisde my old workplace (Metropolitan College of NY).. and meet colleagues who worked there too. Referred to by Where did you hear about the website? Smithsonian website Dublin Core 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 An account of the resource Walking along Canal Street, after 9 am, September 11. https://www.911digitalarchive.org/files/original/6189fdd7606d31fc0f7342155d3136e5.jpg 086de8304d5548f7b7b4720fb3af2667 Omeka Image File The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files. Bit Depth 8 Channels 3 Height 1355 Width 1952 Dublin Core 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/. Title A name given to the resource 10th Anniversary Collection Still Image A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials. How has your life changed because of what happened on September 11, 2001? form question I lived in New York for many years. The twin towers were one of my favorite places to visit. I would go up to the top quite frequently, to gain perspective on my crazy, bustling city life. I had moved to Washington, D.C. in 2001 and was on my way to work that morning when suddenly it seemed as if no one's phones worked. The Metro was down; there were whispers of an attack on the Pentagon. I stepped into a hotel and managed to call my supervisor (at the Smithsonian). As we talked she got word that all Federal employees were being sent home. We still weren't sure exactly what had happened or the extent. I'll never forget the long walk home back up 16th Street, with hundreds of others, as there was no public transportation. I entered my apartment and switched on the television in time to see the first (I think) tower fall. I don't think I will ever feel completely safe, that America is invulnerable, again. I don't think anyone who lived through that day can. I am also still heartbroken about the loss of the Beautiful World Trade Center and all the lives that were lost in NY, D.C. and PA that day. the towers to me seem such a symbol of those lives lost. I hope that the memorial can be as beautiful as the towers once were. How will you remember the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks? form question Thinking back upon my years spent in both New York and Washington D.C. Also watching and eading other public tributes, connecting with friends and family. Dublin Core 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 An account of the resource World Trade Center, photograph by Elizabeth Periale, c. 1991 One of the most beautiful buildings in New York, my favorite place to have lunch when I worked downtown.