lorenius

This was written the evening of September 11, 2001. It’s been 10 years and I remember it like yesterday.

I can remember thinking about my day ahead as I walked down 23rd street this morning. I’d go the gym, and then get home in time for open mic night at Ristra. I walked into work at 8:45, the same as always, and sat at my desk to read email. A normal day. Around nine o’clock I heard someone on the phone say something about a plane hitting the world trade center. So I went to the MSNBC website, and looked at the headline. ‘What a crazy accident’ I thought.

Minutes later my cell phone rings, my sister Natalie calls to say what happened. She can see the smoke billowing from Jersey City. She’s on her way out. Seconds later my dad calls, he’s thinks I’m still working at 5 WTC. Six months ago I was. So we talk a bit, and he says something about a second plane hitting the towers. I’m a little skeptical, because my dad has a little language barrier problem.

I see Colleen on Instant Messenger; she works across the street from the WTC. She’s using her home account so I assume she hasn’t left yet. I make a comment about her being glad she hasn’t left yet. She says she’s watching the news, and another plane has hit the other tower. Dad was right. I’m thinking ‘shit.. this is no accident.’

Vanessa, my other sister, calls me. I forget what we talked about. Meanwhile people in the office are beginning to bustle off to various areas, watching web tv, televisions or listening to radios. They show the plane hitting the other tower. Looks of shock and disbelief mar the faces of everyone around me. We packed around a bunch of cubicles watching a television at strange angles. Realization strikes people. This is terrorism. We have an office in 5 WTC, as I previously mentioned. I worked there for a few months. We worry for our colleagues.

I return to my desk to find a bevy of instant messages. My friends wonder if I’m ok. I feel loved. We ponder who else we know who works downtown. Colleen has signed off. So several people are looking for her. I reassure them that she’s at home, and safe.

Michelene ims me. She was worried. She wants Joe and I to come to her place, if we get stuck. I ask, ‘Where is your place’. She replies, ’236th and Broadway’. That’s 213 blocks away and the subways are closed. All of NY is now shut down. All planes are told to land. We begin to hear that the plane that struck the tower was a passenger jet. Once again disbelief abounds.

Our phones are not working, and our cell phones won’t connect. My link to the world is AIM. I’m very glad I got it working a few weeks ago.

More people are IMing me. We happily find out that most of our friends are accounted for. CSFB announces that all of our staff in 5 WTC have been evacuated. My best friend Jen, who is in Arizona for a few months IMs me. She frantically worried about me, not being able to get through to me at work or on my cell. She too thinks I still work in the WTC. I reassure her that I am alive. She tells me that she was having a dream that she was showing someone the NYC skyline, and she points out the WTC. And she tells them they should go up to Castle Point because the view is better, and that I live there. Her father wakes her up at 7am with news of what has happened. I think this is majorly freaky.

We hear reports that one of the towers has collapsed. Incredulous, I hustle over to the TV. It’s an unbelievable site. If possible, the shock and horror of the watching crowd increases tenfold. I see a woman walk by crying. They say people saw a 3rd plane strike the tower. I can’t believe that one of the towers is gone. It’s hard to tell from the TV footage, most of the buildings are obscured by smoke.

It’s getting difficult to watch TV. I return to my desk and talk more to my friends about it.

We got an announcement saying that we could leave work, but our building was a safe as anywhere. I believed it. So I went back to watch more tv, and got back to see the 2nd tower fall. It looked like a movie implosion. At this point I really had to stop watching the TV. Everyone who I talked to was totally freaked out by then. I don’t even remember when the announcement about the Pentagon came.

I had to convince my friend that he shouldn’t walk to 236th Street. So we figured we’d try to take the ferry. But of course I couldn’t call. So I went to lunch. And everything in the cafeteria was free. That was nice. So I went back upstairs, and decided to try the ferry with Joe & co.

Walking through NYC was absolutely surreal. There were amazing numbers of people walking in the streets, and no cars. None. People walked around in a daze. I saw people with gas masks around their necks, crying on people’s shoulders. The shelves of stores were empty.

In tragedy there is some good. When we finally got down to 12th Avenue and 23rd Street, I was amazed. From 23rd street down to the Trade Center, there were ambulances lined up. They were from places all over the tri-state area. I saw some from around my hometown. We finally hiked down to the ferry, and the number of people were staggering. People were lined up in 4 snaking lines stretching 12 blocks. Somehow we got on the ferry in 40 minutes.

As soon as we pulled out of the dock and you could see where the World Trade Center stood, you could hear the gasp of the entire boat as they said ‘Oh my God’. It was just a giant black cloud. I couldn’t believe it wasn’t there. It seems like some David Copperfield magic trick.

Getting off the ferry into Hoboken was eerie, something like ET. As we walked off we saw people dressed in special suits with mask. They shuffled off anyone from the WTC into detox. In the bus station there were hundreds of EMTs where they setup a triage. I looked around for Christina, figuring as a Hoboken emt she’d be there but I couldn’t find her. At the entrance of the street, stood an army soldier.

But we had made it home. We stopped by Colleen’s to give her a hug. Home is good.

That night I read the following on some new site, and it really struck home since the Pearl Harbor memorial is one of the most moving things I’ve ever seen:
“It is the largest terrorist attack ever on the United States. And the casualty count will dwarf even that of Pearl Harbor.”

The day after 9/11 I brought my camera with me into work. I have no idea why I went to work that day. Anyway I took some photos in the city and Hoboken, and you can see both the mass of dust and smoke from where the towers stood as well as the shock and sadness on everyone’s faces. I uploaded those photos to my flickr account so you can see them if you like.