9/11 memories

Once again, too many work deadlines to write much, but I'll share the usual link to my own story from the day, originally written to share with family and friends the evening of the attack. Click here for that. So glad to have made it out and then to actually have been able to help people even a little bit the same day. The efforts on the water and along the waterfront were amazing. I'll add this short documentary with that story. Wonderful the way people in NYC pulled together that day - this angle of the story just can't be told enough, as far as I'm concerned. 

With so many awful things going on right now, September 11th seems so long ago. Dreaming of better days to come - much love from Brooklyn to any readers who are suffering from smoke, fire, COVID, or just missing friends and family. 

Sept. 11 - Dust to Deliverance and my own story

I have been doing a 7 book covers in 7 days challenge over on Facebook, invited by my wonderful Aunt Kathy. She challenged me last week and I realized that my 7th day would be September 11th, and I knew what cover I would be sharing today.

In doing so, I ended up sharing a short version of my own story, so I thought I would just share that here today.

 Jessica DuLong is an old friend from my Pier 63 days. She's an engineer on the Fireboat John J. Harvey, which, although retired, served so well at the WTC site. She is also an author, and after untold hours of collecting stories from so many of us who were there on the waterfront that day, she crafted an amazing retelling of the story of the maritime evacuation that went on that day.

I had fled the WTC during the attacks and ended up at Pier 63. I was a partner at the Manhattan Kayak Company at that time, and we were based at Pier 63. I was in the subway station when the 2nd plane hit and managed to get onto a train that pulled in moments after the boom. I didn't care where it was going, it just seemed like the safest way out. It was northbound, so I got off at 23rd street, still not really knowing what had happened. I had been going into the WTC's ground-level mall from outdoors when the first plane hit, fled into the building for shelter without looking up to see what had exploded above my head, and gone into the subway station when the police began evacuating the mall and stopped me from going out the same way I came in - so all I knew was the sound of screaming engines ending in a noise like a gigantic firework, and then, a few minutes later, another boom that set everyone in the subway station running again.

I'd ducked into a turnstile to get out of the stampede, saw the train pulling in downstairs, and made a run for it. When I got off the train at 23rd street, I first stopped at the Moonstruck Diner, where I would often stop for breakfast on my way to a day of teaching or guiding at MKC. Everyone there was looking at the television and that was when I saw what had happened.

 In those days Pier 63 was like my 2nd home so that is where I went next. John Krevey, the owner, saw what was needed and called some of the party boats that would use Pier 63 as a boarding location. The funny thing there is that I didn't actually know how we ended up running a ferry to Weehawken that day until Jessica interviewed me - I think I was still a little bit in shock and just didn't even think to wonder where the boats came from - there they were and that's what we were doing. And to this day I am so grateful that I was there. It was so good to be given a purpose on a terrible day.

Full version of my own story, as written for my family that evening: Link

9/11 Tribute in Light, and links to stories (mine, plus one about birds and the Tribute)

Photo taken from Liberty State Park in 2012. I had an unexpected deadline thrown at me at work yesterday so won't have time for much reflection - but as usual, my story from the day is available here.

There was an interesting article about the Tribute in Light in the New York Times today. I loved it at first, thought it was a beautiful way to memorialize the World Trade Center and the lives lost there that day, but then I found out that it was trapping migratory birds and my feeling towards the display cooled. I'm glad to hear that they've found a way to keep it from being quite as dangerous to the small travellers. Click here to read.  

Dust to Deliverance Book Launch/Reading Suggestion (Jessica DuLong on the 9/11 Boatlift)

For anyone who's read my 9/11 story, you know that after I fled the WTC by subway, I spent the rest of the day at Pier 63 Maritime, where owner John Krevey (now sorely missed after a heart attack some years later took him from us far too young) was able to call in some of the charter boats that would use the barge as a boarding spot to come evacuate people from Manhattan. That effort was part of a much larger one that happened all over the Manhattan waterfront, especially downtown - the maritime community was in a unique position to help those who were trapped in Manhattan when transportation shut down after the attack, and so many did. I will always be grateful that I was able to spend the day helping that way, it was the best thing I could have done after the morning was shattered.

 Jessica DuLong, who I met during my Pier 63 days, is part of the team on the Fireboat John J. Harvey, who went to help with quenching the fires in the ruins beginning that day and staying for many more. In addition to being an engineer on the fireboat, she's a very good author.  I loved her first book, My River Chronicles: Rediscovering America On The Hudson, in which she tells the story of how she went from working for a dot com company to being an engineer on an antique fireboat and shares reflections on the Hudson River, industrial history, and the changing role of physical labor in America.

Her next project has been a book about the boatlift of 9/11. It should be fascinating. It's been a long and sometimes grueling process for her, interviewing so many people who were involved and sorting through memories that are still very raw for people who were there that day, but she stuck with it and tonight I'm looking forward to attending the book launch for Dust to Deliverance: Untold Stories from the Maritime Evacuation on September 11th.

Sorry about the late notice but on the infinitesimal chance that you are a NYC-area person looking for something very interesting to do tonight, click here for details on the fireboat's website. 7:30 pm. And even if you can't, well, I ordinarily wouldn't recommend a book I haven't read yet, but I know this one will be good.

And while I'm on the topic of the boatlift - here is a video that's always worth sharing again.

9/11 post - views from four boats

With 9/11 falling after this wonderful Triple Cup Weekend, racing and celebrating the water with friends from Sebago, Yonkers, Inwood, and the North Brooklyn Boat Club, my mind is reeling a little bit thinking about how if that day had gone differently, I never would have had the chance to meet so many people who are so important to me today.

 I'm so glad I did.

Love you NY and the local boating community. WTC and Tribute in Light seen from four different boats.

My own 9/11 story.

Boatlift, An Untold Story of 9/11 Resilience

Happy Sunday! I'd planned to go back to my usual kayak cheerybabble today with a trip report from an unfancy but very nice solo paddle in J-Bay I went for on the 5th, but then I saw Tweezerman's comment on my 9/11 post. He mentioned the Boatlift video; I love that video, I loved what the maritime community did that day, and I'm so glad that I was able to play even the small role in those efforts that I did, helping out with the lines when Pier 63's John Krevey called some of the party boat captains who sometimes used his barge as a loading point for parties and offered the barge as an evacuation point. Being able to actually help people was such a good balance for the fearfulness of my underground morning flight from the WTC.

Cheerybabble resumes tomorrow. 

Sept 11

Photo taken from Liberty State Park in Jersey City, 9/11/2012. Remembering of course. We all have stories from the day; here's mine. 

9/11 Post-work paddle

Ordinarily, if September 11th falls on a work day, my personal ritual is to walk downtown and around the site. This year I decided to let that go - I'd gotten post-work paddles back into my schedule as I was preparing for my Hudson River trip, and I enjoyed it, and I want to keep that up as long as weather permits. Weather definitely permitted tonight, I was even able to use my recently repaired surfski, there was a spectacular moonrise (not quite full, it's beginning to wane, but still doing a fine Great Pumpkin impersonation as it rose from the clouds), and it was moving seeing the Tribute in Light from out there. Pictures are a little fuzzy, hard to hold steady on a surfski, but give the general idea. Beautiful, beautiful night out there. Click for a slideshow view. 

Sept 11

Photo I took from the Circle Line "half-circle" cruise a long time ago - this was either when we came to my cousin David's wedding (he and Jeannie met when they were both attending med school here in the city and that's actually how I ended up here, I was living with my folks in England but turned out to be entirely too law-abiding to go out and find myself an under-the-table job as friends had suggested I could do - a good friend who'd moved to the city and was loving it suggested I go on an interview while I was here, and although the first job was a bit of a disaster, it at least got me here) or when my parents came to visit me after I'd moved here. Have to get a better scan sometime but I'm so glad I do have this picture - love the way the towers and the Brooklyn Bridge echo each other.

Over on Facebook, I have been doing the "five days of gratitude" thing, I'd been challenged on Friday and although I initially told Luseana that I was going to start on Monday, I realized later that if I started on Friday, that would put Day 5 on the day that will probably always be the one day of the year when I feel the most grateful, both for surviving and for being able to actually be of some small use to others for the rest of the day after John Krevey got a ferry service going with one of the tour boat companies that would sometimes use Pier 63 as a departure point for parties. I had worked at the World Trade Center, I'd been laid off that June with a generous severance package, I was a partner at Manhattan Kayak Company, the economy at that point was strong enough that I was confident of getting another desk job when I needed to, so I'd spent the summer being a kayak guide on a technology officer's salary (sweet deal, yes) - I was back at the WTC that day because both the severance package and the guiding work were going to run out in October and it was time to start looking again and part of my severance package was an outplacement workshop - I just happened to pick the one on September 11th, but I was still on the ground when the first plane hit and managed to escape on what had to have been the last train out, moments after the second plane hit. I was in exactly the wrong place that morning, but I was very fortunate in all other respects and I will always be grateful for that. 

Here was the story of the day as I'd written it for my family, that night.

In the past, I've usually gone down for a walk around the area, but I've brought my paddling gear today and I think that this time, I'm going to go do my reflecting out on Jamaica Bay. 

"Boatlift" and The Maritime Role In 9/11 Exhibit - GOOD TALK WEDNESDAY 9/14

So, one more serious 9/11 post. This video has been going around on Facebook and I thought I would share it here. I was actually involve in the boatlift (which I've seen referred to as the "American Dunkirk") myself, ended up at Pier 63 (where the Amberjack V was running along with a couple of other party boats) after fleeing the WTC by subway (I was lucky enough to get on what had to have been the last train through moments after the 2nd plane hit) and spent the afternoon helping out. I was still somewhat in shock myself, and it was SO good to have something simple yet concretely useful to do with myself during those hours immediately after the attack. The video focuses on downtown, but pretty much anywhere there was a pier that could accomodate any boat that could take passengers, there were boats taking people across.

Now, if that's of interest to you, and you live in the Tri-State area, you might want to think about going to take in the exhibit that's now on view on the historic steamship Lilac. Produced by PortSide NewYork, this is:

"a multi-media exhibit (photography, videos and oral history) and presentation about the extraordinary and little-known maritime role in 9/11, from evacuation to rubble removal". The boatlift is quite well-known; I'll be very interested in seeing the information about what went on in the following months, too.

HIGHLIGHT of the exhibit: tomorrow night, Wednesday, 9/14, Carolina Salguero, current director of PortSide NewYork and a photojournalist who documented 9/11, and Jessica DuLong, journalist and Chief Engineer or retired fireboat John J. Harvey, will be giving a talk. Click here for full details.

Should be fascinating.

And btw, if you want to know a little more about what I did with myself that day, here's my story, as written for my family that evening, from the shelter of the apartment of some friends who took me in for the night. Same thing I link to every year, just hadn't done it yet this year.

Dawn, 9/11/2011

Dawn, 9/11/2011, a photo by bkfrogma on Flickr.

This is what I did for myself today before the annual meeting - a solo paddle to meet the sunrise. Unfortunately it was marred by beginning and ended with rudeness from a couple of individuals at the club just to the north of us, but the paddle was lovely. Been a long time since I paddled solo and I have never watched the dawn on the water on my own.

The day turned dreary later, but 6 a.m. on Jamaica Bay was magnificent.

The New 1 World Trade Center ("Freedom Tower") - and a request.

So here was something else I saw for the first time on Saturday evening. Funny that my two firsts were something as old as a classic Movie Palace and something as new as this.

I don't make it down to the World Trade Center site that often, but the PATH train to Jersey City is here, so here I was. I had no idea how much progress they'd made.

As usual, there were a couple of vendors illegally selling stuff right across the street from the site, and I'm going to post a request here that I posted earlier on Facebook - this is not so much for any of the regular visitors here as for anyone who might somehow stumble across this searching for "visit World Trade Center", "visit WTC", or even "visit Ground Zero NYC" (no one I know calls it that, though, we all call it the World Trade Center) -

If you ever visit NY, and you go to see the WTC site, and you are standing across the street from where the towers used to stand, and somebody walks up to you and tries to sell you a souvenir, please don't buy from that person. There is a rule against selling in the immediate area that was put in place after an absolute flock of vultures descended for the selling feast as soon as the area was reopened. after 9/11. Most vendors respect the rules - if you need a trinket or a book, please walk a couple of blocks away and patronize one of their stands or shops.

Don't know if this will do any good, but maybe I'm just venting. Every time I see somebody haggling for a souvenir book right there where it all happened, it just rankles, I always want to say something and I never do.

Last Night's News

Photo by Omer Levy

Just a few thoughts, pulled from my Facebook wall on my lunch hour:
***********
What I felt when I heard the news wasn't so much joy as a deep sense of satisfaction - maybe all the richer for having been delayed so long. I hope he died feeling the same kind of fear in his heart as he made me and so many other innocent people feel when his people attacked us on that beautiful September morning*.

Hard to find the words to describe the feeling. I was too tired to stay up for our President's speech but I knew what had happened before I turned in and I felt so grateful to our President and all of the people who have been silently and doggedly working towards this resolution for so long. Gratitude to the Navy SEALS was added this morning**.

Pia hit it when she said something about this ending it. I don't for a second think that Osama's death is going to end terrorism, but Hearing about it gave me the feeling that the terrible circle of 9/11 has finally been closed, and I am thankful.
**************
*For anyone who's relatively new to this blog, or anyone who just hasn't happened to read any of the relatively small number of posts on the topic of 9/11 - I was at the World Trade Center that morning. Here was the account I wrote the following day. I'm ordinarily not an eye-for-an-eye person, but if you're at all surprised at my response, that post should explain why I am in this case. Although I rather doubt that anyone would be surprised anyhow - so far most of the responses I've seen have been in the same vein as mine.

**At the time I went to sleep, there were very few details. I didn't know the identity of the team that got the job done until this morning. I am PROUD to be a Navy brat today!

Best Wishes...

for a sweet New Year,


a happy Eid,


and peaceful remembrances on 9/11.


And may it rain torentially on the site of any holy-book burnings.
**********

And on a slightly different note -

GO TILLERMAN GO!!!


Images, er, "borrowed" from:
apples & honey: Culinate.com"
Henna'd Hands: Khalid Tanveer/AP via Life in the City
Me at the WTC: Not borrowed, that was a wonderful post-9/11 gift from my friend Omer.
Tillerman: Proper Course

Off for the next few days - it's time for Leg 4 of 5 Years Around Long Island - Orient Point to to-be-determined point west of there - we hope to make up some of what we've lost. I'm a bit handicapped this year, so we'll see how I do - that stupid cold I got three weeks ago continued to hang around, ended up in my chest & was giving me some significant breathing problems. Sunday's 16-miler was in part a test to see if that was going to give me paddling issues - I did fine, plus I finally got medical attention on Tuesday & was given a course of antibiotics & a couple of other things to ease the symptoms in the meantime, so I have my fingers crossed that all will go well.

BTW, if you've been following this "5YALI" expeditions, you may wonder what happen to the Montauk to Orient Point crossing - well, we have this wonderful group of people who have been our land support for the entire trip, and somehow the further out we got, the worse the pickup, dropoff and camp-moving logistics got. It went from them dropping us off & then having a nice day of sightseeing or biking & then coming to pick us up to them dropping us off & then somehow having to spend the entire day taking care of trip business...not so great. The Orient Point - Montauk leg was promising to be more of the same - so it was decided that the paddlers would sort things out for themselves on that one. Our land crew gets a break this year - no moving, accomodations are all properly in line & so their duties are back to drop us off, pick us up. HOORAY for our land crew!

Trip report Monday!

September 11th

Omer, a friend from Israel took this the day after I first met him. He was a client on a sunset paddle at MKC. He had such a good time, he wanted to see more of the harbor the next day. Having been laid off from my job at Fiduciary Trust (based in WTC 2), with a very generous severance package, and being a part owner of a kayak company, I was being a kayak bum for the summer, so of course I said I'd be happy to guide him. He suggested 3 hours, launching at a certain time. I consulted Eldridge & discovered that the timing was perfect for a trip to the Statue of Liberty. So the next morning, off we went. This ended up being one of my favorite guiding memories, with a fun twist from the usual Statue of Liberty trip. He's a great guy and a strong paddler (an early client of the now very well known Terra Santa Kayak), so it felt more like paddling with a friend than Oh Gosh I'm Guiding - really relaxed. I'd timed it just right & we moved along so well that as we were coming back, we were way ahead of schedule. Terra Santa wasn't doing retail yet, it was hard to get good kayaking gear in Israel, so as we were paddling back up towards Pier 63, Omer asked where New York Kayak Company was. I pointed across the river to Pier 40 & said "Right on that pier. Want to go?" I was half joking but we ended up at Randy's shop where Omer was able to get everything he was after. As you can see, it was a beautiful day anyways, and that spontaneous shopping stop completely cracked me up.

Anyways, I think this was sometime in August. A couple weeks later, of course, I went for that outplacement workshop at WTC 2. Omer was of course back home in Israel by then, emailed me to see if I was OK. When he heard my whole story, he pitched in to help me recover by sending me every bad joke & funny video around. Oh my, there were some bad ones! :D

I'm smiling as I type that. A lot of people helped me get through in a lot of ways. Eventually there was counseling but all the people around me probably shortened those sessions a lot. Getting emails that made me laugh when I just wanted to cry all the time? Sounds silly, but you'd be surprised how much that helped.

He also sent me this picture. That did make me cry. What a summer that was. At least if I had gone that day, it would have been after a whole summer on the river.

That is all I have time for this morning. We are loading boats on the trailer at 6:00, I'm getting an early start at work today so I can do that. For the first few years, I developed something of a ritual of going downtown for a walk & reflection. Won't have time for that today. Life goes on, and that's how it should be. Being in a rush because I'm getting ready for a wonderful 3-day paddle with friends? That's just good.

If you are interested in reading about what happened to me on September 11th itself, there was an email I sent to friends and family that evening the next day*, just so that everyone would know. That's posted here.

Time to work now. Peaceful day to all.

*Looking at the email I realize that I wrote that the day after. The evening of Sept. 11th, I was up at my friends' Richard & John's place with another friend of theirs who couldn't get home, the guys rescued both of us, gave us a place to sleep, cuddly kitties to play with and good food. And it was good to be with friends. John made pizza; Richard and I worked on the logo for the original, Mayor's Cup kayak event, which we'd been planning at the time. OK, actually mostly he worked. But it was good to be doing something that night.

ps: Back to Smith Point Marina to Lake Montauk paddle: This is too funny. Not only will it be extremely well blogged with 4 bloggers involved (me, Stevie, Minh, and John) - apparently, WiFi, conditions & speed permitting, the trip is going to be Twittered.

TImes article with Fiduciary Trust people

There was an article in the Times this morning with some people I used to work with. I liked it because it showed the sort of quiet heroism that went on then. I did a couple of little good things that day. I had heard from other Fiduciary Trust employees that Ed and Alayne had not made it out because they were making sure others left. My picture looking back on that day is this odd one of buildings swarming like anthills, but alongside all the fear & despair (as the terrorists wanted) only God knows how many little and big acts of bravery & caring.

One thing that always bothered me was that "Heroes of 9/11" became such a catchphrase for the fire department and the NYPD. Yes, they were heroes too - but there were so many more, people you'll never hear of. I was glad to see the Times remembering that.

I actually checked on the rights thing - it would cost $1,000 for me to share it with you here. So, here's a link, sorry, it's Times Select so you won't be able to read it unless you have that service.

Think this will be the last 9/11 post this year. We now return to our regular salt-water programming.

The full story

The version I posted this afternoon was of course an in-a-nutshell synopsis for the paddling.net forum. But I did write up the story of the day on the evening of September 11th, 2001. I wrote it so that I could let everyone who wanted to know what had happened to me read the full day's events - I knew I wouldn't be able to write it again and again and again.

If you are interested in reading that I have posted it here, backdated into the archives. Six years later I don't feel like I need to force it on anyone.

Six years. Feels so long ago. As I mentioned this afternoon, my company had some level of observance of the day for a couple of years afterwards, but that eventually went by the wayside. The odd thing now about September 11th is how basically normal everything feels - naturally there's the annual media blitz, the memorial service at the site (an NPR announcer slipped up this morning and referred to the annual "celebration" - he began to correct himself but then he paused and said that that's almost what the atmosphere felt like), but beyond the official observations, the day just felt normal. Of course it may just be that everyone's mostly said everything they felt needed to be said -- I was riding on the subway this morning looking around at the other commuters, wondering who else was thinking about what they were doing that morning six years ago.

Mostly people were just poking away at their electronic distractors, as usual.

Lady in a dress scratching her head - looking more tired than anything -

Blonde woman in a light blue sweater top standing near me - she looked pensive. She may have been thinking about it.

Guy whistling "The Mexican Hat Dance"...probably not.

But you just can't always tell what people are thinking by looking at them. There was probably more awareness of the day out there than you would know from conversations. I myself have come to a point where it feels odd talking about it - I have so many thoughts on the matter but for whatever reason - it was mostly in the semi-anonymity of the online world that I chose to share those.

I bet I'm not alone in that.

Photos from downtown

Sunset, 9/11/06


Walking towards the Winter Garden.


Tribute in Light from a distance.


Tribute in Light - standing just below. It's fascinating - creatures from gnats to seagulls pass through the lights, and they glow. I went one year when it was drizzling & from a certain angle, there was a rainbow in it.


Here's the Deutschebank building.


I had to work quite late on Monday (the sunset is from the roof of my office). I did still took my usual walk downtown - that's become something of a ritual. I didn't even go up to the perimeter this year - too many people, didn't feel like being in with the crowd. Took a few pictures but mostly walked & thought.

sorry if it seems like I'm dwelling. Seems like I just have to give it a certain piece of time each year, then it's past. This year that time has been hard to shake loose.

I said I was going to write some more - I did intend to, had a lot of thoughts, but haven't had time - pier politics and work left very little free time this week.

boy, do I want to go paddling...

September 11, 2001 - that evening

I'd written this to send to all my friends and family the evening of September 11th. I'd sent my father the briefest of emails, just basically "Please tell everyone I am fine", in the morning; in the evening, I went to a friend's home on the Upper West Side & took the time to write this account. I thought I would post it here today.

Hi all. Glad to still be here & writing. As all of you probably know, I was laid off from my job at Fiduciary, where my office was on the 97th floor of WTC 2 (the second to get hit and the first to collapse) in July. However, I was signed up for a 2-day, Fiduciary-sponsored employment outplacement workshop on the 11th and 12th, from 9 am to 5 pm, on the 93rd floor of WTC. So I was actually there yesterday.

First - a bit of layout. The World Trade Center complex actually covered a space of several blocks under the Towers themselves. The north tower was called WTC 1; the south (where I used to work) WTC 2. There was a public plaza between them with benches, a big fountain, restaurants, and stages for performances in the summertime. Under the plaza there was a large shopping mall. The Chambers Street subway station extends several blocks north from there. There was an entrance to the mall at the south end of the station which you got to by walking through a passageway that ran the length of the station (which was twice as long as a subway train as the A&C platform was north of the platform for the E, which terminated there). Along this passageway were staircase exits that led up to the street, one exit every couple of blocks. There were street level entrances to the mall.

I overslept my alarm a bit, having been up late the night before updating my resume. I'd left myself some extra time - the security checkin was going require standing in line to get a temporary ID. The subway connections went well, though, and I got there about 8:40 am. I decided to go upstairs and walk outside since it was a beautiful, warm day, I was several blocks away from the Center, and the subway station was hot.

I had just put my hand on one of the northern street doors to the mall when I heard a terribly loud zooming noise, punctuated by a tremendous bang, just over my head - like standing right next to one of the Macy's 4th-of-July fireworks. I was wearing a cap as it was sunny, so I had no upper peripheral vision - but what I could see was that everyone in the street looked up, screamed, and started to run towards the doors I was by. I jumped to the conclusion that a small plane had just crashed into one of the buildings and that debris was falling towards the street, and I didn't take the time to look up to verify that, just bolted into the mall as fast as I could go, past a newsstand, down a set of stairs, and then around the corner to be out of the path of any wreckage that might make it through the doors. At that point I became more concerned about being caught up in a panicked stampede (well, i already was) so I ducked into a restaurant where I joined all the patrons as far from the entrance as we could get. I told everyone that I thought a small plane had crashed. They gave me some water, and when the panic outside died down I went out again.

By this time, the police were evacuating the mall. The doors I'd come into weren't
an option, and the exit leading to the subway station was just a little ways away, so I went that way, stopping to tell arriving commuters not to go into the mall because there had been a plane crash & the mall was being evacuating & that they should go the other way.

I decided to walk north in the underground passageway until I was well clear of the crash zone, then go upstairs to reconnoiter. This being New York, a small plane crashing low on WTC 1 would not necessarily preclude attending a workshop on the 93rd floor of WTC 2 - there would probably be a delay while emergency personnel did their jobs, but life would go on.

Then came the second blast. It wasn't loud, but it sounded big. People began to stampede again. I ran with them until I could get into an exit turnstile (one-way revolving gates the height of a person) out of traffic to take a minute to figure out where exactly I wanted to run. I had heard someone say "the plane that crashed just blew up" and that was one possible explanation but the blast just sounded too big for that and there was also the possibility that we were being bombed & that there might be more - so I was trying to decide whether upstairs or downstairs was the better option, when I saw an even BETTER option in the form of a train pulling in downstairs. I didn't care which way it was going, just that it was going somewhere else - which was EXACTLY where I wanted to be as soon as possible, wherever it was - a lot faster than I could possibly go on foot. I ran for the nearby entry turnstile as fast as I could, pulled out (HONEST!) my Metrocard, paid my fare, dashed down the stairs & got into the train. I think I said something to a couple of people who were getting off and I know that I turned around to see a woman standing on the platform looking confused and said "Just get on the train!", which she did. Everybody was staring at me.

I rode to 23rd street and went to the diner where I sometimes eat breakfast before tours - they always have a TV on and I figured I'd ask them to change to the New York One all-local-news station if something wasn't already on.

Obviously it was and that was when I first understood what had actually happened.

I had a big glass of orange juice then decided to head on over to the pier.

Once I got there there was plenty to do - at first I just opened the MKC office to people who were passing by looking for working phones or water or whatever, then in the early afternoon we (all the barge regulars) started helping to run a free ferry service to New Jersey which got a lot of people to New Jersey using three party boats that volunteered, the Horizon (capacity 600), the Royal Princess(225) and the Amberjack (200). The Royal Princess is berthed at North Cove downtown and was covered with debris so she looked rather ghostly but everyone was happy to see her. I helped out with crowd control until about 6 - by then the edge people had had earlier had turned into tiredness, so with the possibility of stampedes looking pretty low (it takes energy to stampede & that was just plain gone) so I headed uptown to a friend's apartment.

That was pretty much it.

The good part of the story is that out of my 600 former coworkers at Fiduciary, only 130* are unnaccounted for. I'd spent yesterday assuming they were just all dead (the work was good in part because it kept my mind off things) but they started to leave after the first crash so most of them got out. Also I had a wonderful message from one of my early "refugees" at MKC who'd spent an hour trying unsuccesfully to reach her husband, who worked in WTC1, that she was OK & her kids were OK and best of all, her husband was fine.

Anyways - glad to be here & writing this. Love all of you!


Bonnie


*Very strange, in hindsight, that this was good - but the plane had hit far below the offices and I actually spent the morning thinking that most of the 600+ people I'd worked with there had to be gone. As it turned out, there had been announcements made in the building that people should remain in place, and if they'd listened, many more would have died - however, as many of my former co-workers had been there for the first WTC bombing, they chose to evacuate. In the end, less than one hundred did not make it out. That sounds terrible - and it is - but you have to remember that there were over five hundred sighs of relief.