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: TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN. "YOU NEVER APPRECIATE SOMETHING UNTIL IT'S GONE". I HAVE LIVED IN READING, PA. AND VICINITY FOR SOME TIME. HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR NEW YORK CITY, I PROBABLY WOULD NOT BE HERE. ORIGINALLY FROM MICHIGAN, I FIRST SET FOOT IN MANHATTAN ON JUNE 5, 1986. AND WHERE DO YOU SUPPOSE, AS IT HAPPENS, THAT I CHOOSE TO SET FOOT IN THE CITY FOR THE FIRST TIME?? YOU GUESSED IT. MY FIRST CONTACT WITH THE STREETS OF MANHATTAN WAS MADE VIA THE HUDSON TUBES, (PATH), AND THE TERMINAL AND CONCOURSES OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTER!!! AS I RECALL, I FIRST SET FOOT ONTO THE STREETS OF MANHATTAN FROM THE NORTH SIDE OF THE CONCOURSE, ONTO VESEY STREET, POSSIBLY BENEATH #5 WORLD TRADE. OF COURSE I COULD HARDLY APPRECIATE THE TRADE CENTER, AS I WAS THERE PRIMARILY FOR THOSE CRAZY STATUE OF LIBERTY EVENTS, "LIBERTY WEEKEND", WHICH WAS A MONTH LATER. I DECIDED VERY QUICKLY THAT I WANTED TO LIVE IN OR AT LEAST NEAR, NEW YORK CITY. AND SO IT WAS THAT FROM 1986 TO 1993, I CONTINUED, ON AND OFF, TO KEEP COMING BACK AND TRYING TO ESTABLISH MYSELF IN THE AREA. IT JUST WOULDN'T WORK!!! SO I FINALLY REALIZED IN LATE '93 THAT IT WAS FOOLISH AND DANGEROUS TO KEEP TRYING TO LIVE SO CLOSE IN, AND WAS FORCED TO SETTLE FOR SOMETHING A FEW SHORT HOURS AWAY. I WOUND UP HERE IN PENNSYLVANIA, AND THIS DIDN'T WORK TOO WELL AT FIRST EITHER, SO I WAS AWAY FROM HERE FOR A TIME AS WELL, BUT SINCE LATE '93 WHEN I FIRST ARRIVED HERE I HAVE CONTINUED TO MAKE OCCASIONAL TRIPS BACK TO NYC. THE LAST TIME I CAN REMEMBER BEING AT THE TWIN TOWERS WAS IN LATE 1997!!! SO AS FAR AS MEMORY TELLS ME, AND I MAY HAVE BEEN THERE FOR SOME REASON MORE RECENTLY, BUT JUST CANNOT RECALL, ALL MY EXPERIENCE AT THE WTC SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN BETWEEN JUNE 1986 AND LATE 1997. IN '86 AND '93, I WENT TO THE TOP, THE OBSERVATION DECK. IN '86 FOR SURE, AND POSSIBLY IN '93, I EVEN WENT TO THE ROOFTOP!!! BACK IN '87, I WAS ON ONE OF THE TENANT FLOORS IN ONE OF THE TOWERS, MAYBE A FLOOR IN THE 40S. I HAVE USED THE PATH AND SUBWAY STATIONS THERE NUMEROUS TIMES, AND HAVE PASSED THROUGH THE MALL AND CONCOURSES MANY TIMES. I'VE BEEN IN THE LOBBY OF THE MARRIOT HOTEL (3 WTC), AT LEAST ONCE, THANK GOD, AS I WAS THERE TO GET PAPERWORK ON THAT HOTEL!!! THANK GOD I STILL HAVE THAT AND A FEW OTHER OLD THINGS FROM THE TRADE CENTER!!! I AM NOW FRANTICALLY TRYING TO PROCUR AS MANY WTC THINGS AS I CAN FIND, ESPECIALLY PRE-DISASTER ITEMS!!! NOW I FIRST SET FOOT HERE IN READING, PA. PROPER, IN APRIL OF 1994. I COULD NEVER HAVE DREAMED THAT I WOULD WIND UP LIVING HERE LIKE THIS, AND I CERTAINLY WOULDN'T HAVE IMAGINED THE HORRORS THAT HAVE BEFALLEN SINCE LATE IN THE YEAR 2000!!! I HAVE BEEN BACK IN READING ALMOST CONTINUOUS SINCE APRIL '97, BUT IN NOV. 2000, MY OWN "9-11" BEGAN, AND IT LASTED EIGHT MONTHS, UNTIL MID- JULY OF 2001. I'M STILL REELING FROM THAT NIGHTMARE!!! THEN JUST TWO MONTHS LATER IN EARLY SEPTEMBER, THIS OTHER BULL "HIT THE FAN" AND I'VE CONTINUED TO REEL EVEN LONGER AND MORE!!! ON THAT MORNING OF SEPT. 11TH, I HAD JUST RETURNED FROM SCAVENGING SOME STUFF FROM A BUILDING DOWNTOWN THAT WAS BEING REDONE, AND HAD SWITCHED ON THE NEWS AS A MATTER OF ROUTINE. IT WAS 9 A.M. ABC NEWS, PROBABLY DOUG LIMERICK, ON WEEU RADIO. I WAS SITTING THERE WORKING ON THAT STUFF WITH THE NEWS ON WHEN IT WAS ANNOUNCED THAT AN AIRCRAFT HAD JUST HIT ONE OF THE TWIN TOWERS AT THE WTC!!! I STARTED GETTING READY TO GO OUT AS FAST AS I COULD GET THINGS DONE, BUT A CALLER TO THE A.M. TALK SHOW JUST SHORTLY AFTER THE NEWS WAS OVER SAID THAT HE THOUGHT ANOTHER PLANE HAD HIT!!! I WENT OUT AND ABOUT TRYING TO SPREAD THE NEWS TO THOSE I KNOW, AND WAS WITH A CASEWORKER FROM A LOCAL AGENCY AT 10 A.M. WHEN WITH MY RADIO ON I HEARD THE HORRIBLE NEWS OF THE FIRST TOWER COLLAPSE!!!! OF COURSE IT WAS A SHORT TIME LATER THAT NEWS OF THE SECOND TOWER COLLAPSE WAS HEARD!!! SO LIFE CHANGED FOREVER FOR ME ON NOV. 13TH 2000, AND AGAIN ON SEPT. 11TH 2001!!! I FIRST WAS ABLE TO REACH GROUND ZERO ON SEPT. 23RD, AND HAVE MADE SOME OTHER TRIPS THERE, AND HOPEFULLY I WILL CONTINUE TO GO. SINCE AT LEAST MID-DECEMBER, I HAVE GONE BY THE NEW PHRASE, "TWIN TOWERS TURKEY"!!! SINCE EARLY APRIL OF 2002, I HAVE ADDED "GROUND ZERO GOBBLER"!!! HOPEFULLY, I WILL SOON HAVE SOME MORE WORLD TRADE CENTER THINGS COLLECTED, AND THEN WILL GET THESE THINGS GATHERED AND CONSOLIDATED, AND THEN I WILL, GOD PERMITTING, CREATE MY OWN MEMORIAL TO THE WORLD TRADE CENTER. KERMIT SIMON, THE "TWIN TOWERS TURKEY" AND "GROUND ZERO GOBBLER". 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 story694.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. 2002-05-31 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 141.158.19.30