Excerpts from the original electronic texts archived at September11.archive.org. The first blog is from Michael Young, who describes himself as "a mid 30s gay New Yorker." The second is from a web designer who titles his blog "Jeffrey Zeldman Presents: My Glamorous Life." The third item consists of selected postings from the Disaster Message Service's discussion boards. - smv
Mittwoch, September 12, 2001Me, New York and the Day From Hell
So, after a shitty day Monday I wake up begrudgingly and slowly start getting ready for work. I get out of bed, open the shades and realize that it is a flawless September day. I have to shake the bad mood. It's just a waste of energy. I decide that 9:30 will be my start time today (which is perfectly acceptable). I jump into the shower around 8:30, no hot water. That's okay. I'll live. I ready myself, turn on the coffee maker, pour a bowl of cereal, milk, juice, etc. Flip on the news...hmm, why are they showing the WTC disaster from '93? Odd. Turn up the volume. "...has accidentally struck the top of the north Tower of the World Trade Center" says the newscaster. OH GOD! As I watch, in disbelief, it happens. A jet flies into the south Tower. Explodes. All of the TV announcers are at a loss, "what just happened?"..."was that another plane?"..."is this deliberate?"
It gets sketchy, tears well in my eyes. They say something about more hijacked planes unaccounted for. All of New York is at risk...
I try to call my folks to say I'm okay for now...no phone service. I try again. Nothing. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Nothing. My mind starts working. Relay antennaes are on the top of the WTC. Okay, no cell phone. But I try one more time, this time my sister. I get through. I tell her I'm okay, she starts crying, I start crying. I realize that I know people who work there. I tell her that. She says, "Oh, Michael I'm so sorry..." The phone goes dead. Stays that way until 2 pm.
I decide work is a bad idea today. I run to a pay phone to call in. Fine. I run to the river to see if I can see anything, staying inside was too terrifying. I figured I'd rather see it coming. I double back to the 10th Ave and get to 33rd Street. People are coming at me in a swarm, calm but by the thousands. I stop, I talk to a guy with binoculars. Everything is in plain sight. "Do you want to look?" No, I don't. "Thanks but I'd rather not see the details." I say. He says, "How are they going to put out the fire?" "Helicopters?" I guess...how the fuck do I know?! Then it happens. The towers collapse, first the south tower...struck by a 767...a FUCKING 767. A plane. ON PURPOSE. Then, the north tower, the one with the TV antennae. It was hit by a 747. My mind swims. I can't believe my eyes. I can't fathom what is happening. I burst into tears.
They attacked my city. They attacked my home with two fucking huge Boeing jets. They killed people just like me. They flew planes into the World Trade Center. They flew fucking planes into the World Trade Center. They flew two fucking gigantic planes into the World Trade Center ("the E train stops at the World Trade Center at all times..."I mean it used to) and it collapsed. It collapsed. And so I cried.
posted by Michael Young at 15:07
I used to joke to friends and family that if you wanted a great view of New York City you should go to the top of the WTC. Not because it was the tallest building in the city but because it was the only place in the city that you didn't see the World Trade Center from. Now you don't see it from anywhere.
posted by Michael Young at 15:15
11 September
My part of New York City is not burning.
An hour has passed since the Twin Towers evaporated with 20,000 souls inside them. Up here, a few miles north of the hit, a surreal calm prevails.
My part of New York City is unhurt, but changed. The Mayor moves fast. Third Avenue has been blockaded. On Lexington, teenagers with machine guns guard the 25th Street Armory.
On 27th Street, a couple is passionately kissing. Behind them, the sky is filled with white smoke.
Everyone has left work. It’s like the Fourth of July. And then again it’s nothing like the Fourth of July.
At 33rd & Lex, a woman in an electric green dress squats down to take a snapshot of the Chrysler Building, standing tall and unaffected to the north. I catch myself thinking they haven’t bombed that one yet.
It takes twice as long as it should to reach my destination. In my hand is an envelope filled with cash for a friend. It is one small, achievable mission on a day of fear and uncertainty. I leave the envelope with the doorman. Then I hug him. Then I go.
Multiply my story by nine million. All over New York, people are fulfilling small tasks, then returning home — if they have homes to go to. Battery Park has been evacuated. The entire downtown area is being blockaded.
As I pass a bodega, a radio perched among the fruits and flowers announces that 200 firemen are dead.
By the time I get home, I feel as if I have swum a great distance.
I can’t reach my brother or my father to tell them I’m alive. All long distance circuits are busy. All cell phones are dead.
Among other things, the air attack has taken out the antennae used by area broadcasters. The local TV news is only available on cable.
The news is running loops of the impact, loops of the implosions. Like everyone else, I watch, hoping to see or hear something that makes sense. But all I learn is that thousands of New Yorkers can die in an instant.
In the late afternoon, a third building collapses, taking out part of the power grid. My ISP stops authenticating. I lose Internet access.
At night we venture out again.
Third Avenue by Cabrini Hospital is still heavily guarded. We wait for permission to cross the street.
At the hospital, where we intended to donate blood, we are turned away. They’ve run out of blood bags.
We wander up to my partner’s apartment. She asks about my trip to San Francisco. I find I have little to say. Last week was last week. Last week we lived in an entirely different world.
The night sky is filled with smoke as fire continues to consume the financial capital of the world. There’s a hole in the cityscape. There’s a hole in the earth where the twin towers stood. There are living people trapped in the hole, beneath 110 floors worth of rubble and metal.
I lie awake all night.
12 September
The streets of lower Midtown are movie-set empty. I still can’t call London or Pittsburgh. I still have no Internet access.
They’re not letting anyone below 14th Street who isn’t supposed to be there.
I’m supposed to be a mile below 14th Street tonight to get a lease approved. I’ve been waiting for this meeting for four weeks.
I’m told to bring my lease and passport if I hope to make it past security – and to allow two hours for the short trip downtown.
I wonder if this is what life will be like now. Not only in New York, but all over America.
The TV news says the cloud that’s been floating over the city for 30 hours is filled with asbestos. The TV news says stay home and shut your windows.
I feel sick after crossing the street with a bag of laundry. The laundry man covers his mouth with his hand. The laundry man tells me go home, go home.
I cancel the lease approval meeting. I feel wrung out. I wonder if the source of my exhaustion is asbestos or grief.
Around 8 p.m., my building and dozens of others are evacuated in response to a bomb threat at the Empire State Building. The bomb threat proves false. Someone's idea of a joke.
13 September
Strong winds are expected to push the asbestos cloud north over the entire East Side this afternoon, causing ocular and respiratory problems in much of Manhattan.
For the third day straight, when I try to reach my father in Pittsburgh I get a busy signal.
No one is permitted below 14th Street without picture I.D. and proof of residency. People cannot return to their homes.
Businesses below 14th Street have been shut down, including my ISP. Dial-up access is down because no one can get in to turn on the servers. DSL is down because two Verizon facilities were destroyed in the fire.
My damage is infinitesimal compared to the horrors of this week, but I find myself calculating it anyway: I can’t work, I can’t contact my people, and I can’t move.
I can’t just sit here, either, so I head out for a long walk through my city before the big winds kick up and make breathing hazardous.
We’ve all seen children on playgrounds glance up to reassure themselves that Mommy or Daddy is still close by. If you asked, I’d tell you I’m running errands and meeting with my business partner. But inside I’m really doing what any three-year-old would do. I’m reassuring myself that New York City is still here.
Discussion topic: Stop the Praying nonsense and give blood, donate money or look for victims"
By Thinker ( - 24.21.36.170) on Wednesday, September 12, 2001 - 09:47 am:Someone with a brain who doesn't waste time talking to invisible space-pixies. And that goes for you too, Bush.
Thinker and Blood Donor
By Creation of God ( - 208.5.78.10) on Wednesday, September 12, 2001 - 10:12 am:I give blood as well and agree with you "Thinker" 100% that everyone should be donating, but don't slam the spirtual efforts that people can make as well!! I agree that every single person that considers themselves an American should do something, no metter what it is, but don't destroy their spiritual hope!!
By dreamteamdora ( - 172.147.164.48) on Wednesday, September 12, 2001 - 02:17 pm :Looking for Catherine Loguidice from Brooklyn, NY Worked on 104th Floor of 1 WTC. We have heard nothing. Please email if you have any information regarding Cathy to either Dora at adreye@aol.com or Lisette at JLSpadaro@aol.com We are longtime friends of Cathy's and are worried about her. She was soon to be married to Eric Elberth. Our prayers are with all of America today. Keep the faith
By dreamteamdora ( - 172.147.164.48) on Wednesday, September 12, 2001 - 02:23 pm :Looking for Lillian Caceres from Staten Island New York, member of Gateway Cathedral. We have not heard from her. Any one with information please contact dora and ray at email rdsled@aol.com or her daughter Dora email address: adreye@aol.com . Read Psalm 27. The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear. The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked came against me, they stumbled and fell.........Wait on the Lord, be of good cheer, and he shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord.
Keep the faith everybody.
By MICHELLE21 ( - 12.36.136.2) on Wednesday, September 12, 2001 - 03:12 pm:WHY WASTE THE PRECIOUS TIME YOU HAVE LEFT ON THIS EARTH ARGUING. PLEASE, EVERONE PRAY AND GIVE BLOOD. OVER THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE ARE INJURED AND MORE LOST THEIR LIVES. THIS IS A NATIONAL/WORLD DISASTER. DO YOU THINK WE NEED TO BE ARGUING AMONGST EACH OTHER? WE NEED TO COME TOGETHER AS THE STRONG PROSPERUS NATION THAT WE ARE, AND SHOW THESE COWARDS THAT WE ( THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA) ARE NOT GOING TO STAND FOR TERRORISM IN OUR GREAT NATION. THIS SICKENS ME TO KNOW THAT PEOPLE (LIKE THE PALESTINIANS) ARE CELEBRATING THIS TRAGEDY AS IF IT WERE A HOLIDAY. THESE TERRORIST KNEW EXACTLY WHAT THEY WERE DOING. THEY DESTROYED THE WORLD TRADE CENTER. THE WORLD TRADE CENTER SYBOLIZES THE FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SUCCESS THAT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA HAS. THEY DESTROYED SOME OF THE PENTAGON. THE PENTAGON SYMBOLIZES THE GREAT AND POWERFUL MILITARY OF THE UNITED STATES. PLEASE, EVERYONE PRAY FOR THE PEOPLE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES, THE PEOPLE WHO ARE INJURED AND FIGHTING FOR THEIR LIVES. PRAY FOR OUR GREAT NATION THAT WE ARE STRONG ENOUGH TO REACT TO THE PERSON/PEOPLE WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS TRAGIC DISPLAY OF IGNORANCE, AND THAT AFTER THIS IS OVER WE ARE ABLE TO ECONIMICALLY RECOVER. THIS IS OUR NATION, AND OUR NATION NEEDS OUR HELP RIGHT NOW. EVERYONE PLEASE HELP AND DO WHAT YOU CAN. GIVE BLOOD FOR THE THOUSANDS WHO NEED IT, GIVE DONATIONS TO HELP REBUILD OUR BEAUTIFUL CITIES, AND PRAY FOR EVERYONE WHO THIS TRAGIC EVENT HAS TOUCHED.
By someone ( - 63.15.255.8) on Wednesday, September 12, 2001 - 03:26 pm:This is directed to thinker:
It is people like you that suck!!!!!!!
By Thinker-2 ( - 207.14.148.50) on Wednesday, September 12, 2001 - 05:27 pm:Prayer never helped anyone - Get a clue.
Instead of wasting time on bended knee - get out there and do something.
You think that if those in the towers had prayed they would have been spared ?
Only an idiot would pray to a false god -
Don't get me wrong, I morn over the losses, but prayer is not the answer here, ACTION is !!!
By Creation of God ( - 208.5.78.10) on Wednesday, September 12, 2001 - 05:42 pm:Thinker - there is only so much action that one person can do, and when you have done what you can, you turn to GOD!! But I won't argue with you on-line because you will eventually be seated next to bin Laden...in HELL you non-believer!!!!
By Judith ( - 63.172.255.99) on Wednesday, September 12, 2001 - 06:22 pm:To thinker:
I pity you and God have mercy on you. It is mentality like yours...your lack of regard for others, your lack of civility, your lack of respect, your lack of compassion, your lack of pride that caused this nation to have terrible tragedy yesterday. Your attitude bears the liking of hate and disrespect. That rubble and chaos that you see on the TV, those people you see in desperate need to locate missing loved ones, or those who have not survived, the Emergency Personnel who are working nonstop....this whole entire disaster is an example of your attitude, it's that type of attitude that caused this tragedy. Shame on you for blasting prayer! Prayer is the only thing I have right now to sustain me because I can't be there to help. I live thousands of miles away, and believe me, Sir, if I could help with the debris and the rubble, I would. If I could pass out food or water to the the doctors, nurses, fire dept, police, I WOULD!!!! If I could hold the hands of those on stretchers, I would. HOW DARE YOU!!!!
By Judi Winter ( - 24.247.13.61) on Wednesday, September 12, 2001 - 06:57 pm:Thinker, you're a loser but in this great nation of ours even losers are allowed to have their opinion. Yours is stupid but it's yours and therefore it's valid to you. I will continue to pray for all the victims and for our country.
By rationalist ( - 131.193.34.61) on Wednesday, September 12, 2001 - 07:08 pm:you all blindly believe some supernatural thing without even questioning. the same thinking was in the filthy brains of those terrorists. there is no supernatural thing. it has never come to our rescue. i personally has not seen it in my life. if it is there...it does a lot of harm...kills innocents...wrecks havoc...in the disguise of religion. its all our deeds that shape the future. without a befitting reply, the US cant sleep. terrorism, religious fanaticism and all such evil things haunt today's world. and everyone forgets that the concept of a 'god' is the center of all these evils. i think i will get some rational reply...not curses or unexplainable reiterations!
By Concerned ( - 32.100.174.15) on Wednesday, September 12, 2001 - 07:16 pm:
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