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: What a time to start working at a newspaper. I'd only been at the Clovis News Journal a few days. Although hired as an editorial assistant I found myself wearing many hats. I recall vividly listening to the radio in our car as my wife and I pulled up to the newspaper office - she was dropping me off. The report we heard was that a small private plane had crashed into one of the World Trade towers. Seemed like significant news but nothing horrific. In just the few minutes that it took for me to get from my car to the newsroom though - the world changed. Forever. The newsroom contained no activity - very unusual for a Tuesday morning. All of my colleagues were huddled motionless around the small color television in the corner of the newsroom watching and listening as the events unfolded. I joined their shock and dismay - my stomach got nauseated. Soon the telephones starting ringing - the citizens of Clovis were making sure that the newspaper knew what was going on. One of the telephone calls reported that traffic going into nearby Cannon Air Force Base was backed up for miles - they had closed the gate to the base as a result of the attack on America. The editor considered that newsworthy and thought a picture of the traffic would make good copy. Time for me to put on a new hat. I got the order "go out to the base and take the pictures - make it quick!". My first photo shoot for a newspaper - I should have been thrilled but my mind and stomach were still churning. I had stood on the top of one of those towers back in the late 80's. I actually lived in the shadows of those towers for about six months while living on Governor's Island right off the tip of Manhattan - I had been in the Coast Guard. I felt violated even though I was 2000 miles from New York City. As I arrived at the base the traffic had dropped down to just a few hundred yards from the main gate - not very photographic. I was determined to do my job though. After parking my car about a half a mile from the gate to the base I walked quickly toward it carrying a very large and very expensive digital camera. It wasn't mine. As I started to take pictures of the traffic making it's way slowly toward the gate and of the Air Force Security Police personnel decked in full battle gear - the reality of what had happened began to sink in. Then reality really hit me when all of a sudden I was descended upon by a half-dozen armed uniformed military policemen. It seems that I looked awful suspicious standing there taking pictures - I might be a terrorist. My heart raced and my nerves jumped as the questioning began and the thought of them confiscating a $3000 camera that did not belong to me made me even more nervous. Finally, after some dialogue I was allowed to leave the premises intact and with the camera. I shook all the back to town. My picture made it to the front page and the Associated Press picked it up and carried it nationally. Quite a feat for my first news photograph. The thrill though just wasn't there. What was there was a bag of very mixed emotions. Sadness, anger, frustration, to name a few. Looking back I remember thinking to myself while being accosted by those military policemen - freedom, ours - will now be challenged more than ever. And not just by the enemy. 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 story2001.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. 2002-09-09 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 65.33.41.207