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 arrived for work a little late - a couple of minutes past nine. I had a feeling immediately that something was strange around the office as two of my coworkers were staring intently at a TV scree. They looked up and told me that two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center buildings. For some reason it didn't completely sink in immediately - I turned on my computer. As we were sitting there, trying to figure out what was going on, the reality began to dawn on all of us. My chief of staff and legislative director disappeared into the Congressman's office. Looking out our window, we have a perfect view of the Capitol Building - about 400 yards away. I remember asking, "Are we safe here right now." A friend from another office called me, to see what we were doing. Our chief of staff came out,looking visibly shaken. He said that we were closing down and that we should all get go home. Avoid the metro, he said - no one is sure what's going on. I tried to call my girlfriend who also works in the city, but she wasn't answering because she was in a staff meeting - she didn't find out for another half hour. I called my friend back and she offered her apartment as a place to go. I refused, seeing how she lived on Capitol Hill and I wanted to get out of the city. We decided to go to my apartment in Silver Spring, MD. It was at that point that a news report came on that there had been a car bomb explosion at the State Department. We all left the office quickly, and I headed over to the Cannon Building to meet my friend. I remember taking the stairs, rather than the elevator out of a fear of being trapped if something happened. Everyone was moving quickly, but not in a paniced way. Capitol Police were moving tourists along - the evacuation order hadn't come down yet, but it would in a matter of minutes. I met my friend and we immediately got in her car. I turned on National Public Radio to see what was happenign. It was almost surreal - they were broadcasting a report on the budget and the Social Security lock box! Flipping throught the dials, we found Elliot in the Morning, a local shock jock who dumped his usual schtic for real reporting. He was great and helped to keep us a little calm. We drove north, past the Senate Office Buildings. Traffic was heavy, but moving. We were stopped at a light near the Hart Office Building when we heard a "boom." Pedestrians immediately started looking up toward the Capitol. Our first words were, "Shit, they hit the Capitol."We couldn't see the dome because of buildings in the way and I started to get out of the car to try and see what happened. My friend yelled at me to get back in and we drove off. I was so wrapped up in what was going on, I almost didn't notice that she was crying. For a period, I was afraid that she wouldn't be able to drive, but she held it together. The drive thinned out after we got off the hill. At this point, we still didn't know what the noise was, so when we got to North Capitol Street, I looked back to see if the dome of the Capitol was still there. It was, and we found out later that the noise was a jet flying overhead. The rest of the drive was relatively uneventful. Traffic was about the same as a usual evening commute and we made it home in 40 minutes. Coworkers who were going to Virginia were not so lucky and were stuck for hours because 395 goes by the Pentagon. Two thoughts kept occuring to me. 1. Since we didn't yet know that the state department car bomb rumor was false, I was nervous about the parked cars we were passing on the road. 2. It was strange how so many of the people we passed at stores, gas stations and other businesses seemed to be going on with their lives as if nothing happened. I wanted to yell, "Don't you see what's happeining?" When we got to my apartment building at around 10:45, we went upstairs to my girlfriend's apartmen - I don't have a land line, and my cell phone was not working. We called our parents to let them know we were safe. My girlfriend was still in the city. I was not happy about that and told her that if she didn't get out soon, I was coming in to get her. There were many calls trying to reach her father who was understandibly upset. It was difficult to get though as he worked on Long Island and all NY phones were jammed. I remember speaking to my mother several times, at one point suggesting that she and my father might want to pack up and head to my uncle's house in Maine, my father's plan during the Cold War if missiles were launched. My girlfriend got home about an hour and a half later and we spent the rest of the day fixated on the TV. At one point, we tried to give blood, only to be turned away, because the center wasn't set up for a drive. That night, I needed to get out and went to the gym. At one point, the President addressed the nation and I remember a good number of people going over to watch. Some people kept working out. 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 story324.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. 2002-03-27 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 143.231.115.221 Annotation Annotations to this item. Gov't workers (non-military and non-rescue) Politics and politicians Radio Coverage Rumors Struggle to get home DC:2 Feature