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 September 11 Digital Archive Stories Description An account of the resource This collection is the bulk of the archive, representing the reactions and experiences of thousands of individuals beginning in 2002. 911DA Story 911DA Story: Story Tell us about what you did, saw, or heard on September 11th. Feel free to write as much or as little as you like. Tell us your story: I had recently returned to my hometown, Washington DC, to attend graduate school at the George Washington University. I was on the Foggy Bottom campus, working in an administrative office, on September 11th. I started my day, much as those in the two towers must have, by responding to some e-mails and getting some coffee. I happened to open the New York Times.com to quickly check the days' headlines and watched, in utter disbelief, the now famous video of the two planes hitting the World Trade Center towers. When the first plane hit the building, I comprehended it as a terrible accident. When the second plane hit, it became clear that there were intentions involved. It was like watching a movie and I remember my horrible realization that there were people in those planes and in the towers. Quiet nervousness set into our office when we realized what was going on. One person's husband was flying on business that morning and she was upset that she couldn't locate him, though she kept trying to reason with herself that he was probably fine. Then, we received news that the Pentagon had been struck and we started to become more fearful. GW's campus is right downtown, blocks away from government and commerce buildings. What if the terrorists had wanted to attack a college campus, as well? At that point, no one knew the identity of the attackers or their motivations. What were later discovered to have been rumors started to spread about bombs exploding in the Capitol building, and a car bomb detonating in front of the State Department. The phone lines were dead and we couldn't communicate with anyone outside our office. I hoped my family was okay. Finally, most people in our office decided to try and go home. The streets were jammed with pedestrians, ambulances, and cars. Everyone had a grave, worried look upon their faces. I reached home, relieved because all members of my family were accounted for. I thought we were safe. Then we received a phone call from my mother's sister. One of our aunts (the wife of my mother's younger brother), Anna Williams Allison, was on the American Airlines flight out of Logan Airport. She had been flying to California on business. I cried. I had thought we were all safe. When I had watched the video of those two planes hitting the World Trade Center, I had unknowingly witnessed my wonderful aunt's final moment of life. I went back to work the next day, taking the Metro downtown. I will never forget the tone of the train operator's voice, as he announced each stop. It held so much sadness and despair. The other passengers in the car all had glazed, blank looks upon their faces. And there was an unusual stillness as people somberly walked about the stations on their way to work. 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 story217.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-03-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 128.164.170.4 Annotation Annotations to this item. Internet Personal connection to someone at site Rumors Struggle to get home DC:2