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9-11 (long)
Sep. 11th, 2002 07:00 amA survey from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
portia who got it from evilegg
Where were you when you heard about the attacks on the pentagon and WTC?
I was in Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack, NJ. I was on jury duty that day and the courthouse was 10 minutes from the house. I was dressed slovenly with odd makeup to avoid being on a jury. It was a beautiful sunny day with clear blue skies. I had to be at the courthouse at 8:15. I had a stack of technical magazines to read. We weren't allowed to get the paper because of some case coming up for selection (never did find out what it was) and they wouldn't let us get coffee because they were going to start calling names soon. I was thinking I'd go home for lunch, look the paper up on the web and see what the case was...
What country/group did you suspect immediately?
Noone. I just thought some idiot crashed into the WTC on a sunny day, not until the second plane crashed did I start to wonder.
Who were you with? How did you react?
A lot of people in the jury room - I think we got the news from someone who had a pager that beeped news. There was also someone else who was listening to Howard Sten who started hearing about this. They never put the TV on in the jury room. I was upset, glad I wasn't working (I worked across the street at 130 Liberty Street) and wanted to call my dad (who was in Florida and knew NYC very well).
Who did you call first?
I tried my dad, but couldn't get out on the cell phone. I ended up calling my mother in law in the next town over and asking her to call my dad. He hadn't heard about the WTC yet - but was glad to find out I was on jury duty. DH was working from home that day, he had errands to run, so he knew I was safe.
What did you do the rest of the day?
We had to wait a while to be let go, the judges couldn't reach Trenton (state captial) and finally made the decision to let us go (not knowing if we would be counted for service that day - we ended up being counted - NJ's a one day one trial state). I did yell at someone at one point, calling the judge stupid for not letting us go - and got rebuked for calling the judge stupid. When we were let go, they kept letting cars out of the parking lot one at a time, so I was listening to WPLJ in the parking lot when Tower 2 fell. I got home, I e-mailed EVERYONE and EVERY LIST I could think of to let them know I was ok. I also called my grandmother who had cateract surgery scheduled, she was fine, they sent her home a little groggy from her medicine but not operated on (hospital is down the block from her in NYC). I did go to the supermarket later that day to get stuff, it was weird seeing the smoke from the WTC there. I also ended up calling my consulting firm's NJ office to let them know I was ok - they didn't handle post 9-11 communication very well, but that is another story.
Did you have any friends or family killed in the attacks?
No. I heard a long ago co-worker was killed (cantor fitzgerald/espeed) - also my cousin was good friends with Neil Levin, the port authority director.
Do you think 9-11 should be a holiday?
No. I didn't even like seeing "Patriots Day" cards in the supermarket.
Do you think even a % of the money donated really made it to the families? (loaded question)
I hope so. I know I donated some money to a fund setup just for my long ago co-worker, that money went to his family.
Did you feel an increased sense of patriotism? Did it last?
Yes. I wore ribbons/pins for a while and printed flags to attach to my car. I bought a new flag for my car this spring (took it off because it got damaged) and got one to stick in the flowers on my patio this summer. I even went to a July 4th parade which felt good.
Have you flown since the attacks? How soon did you fly again?
Yes. I flew in February 2002 and again in April 2002. The first trip was to my dad in Florida who was ill, the second was after his death. So the trips were more of a necessity than fun, and I didn't fly any american named airlines (American, United, US Air) - we chose Delta on purpose. It was ok, but I have no immediate desire to fly for fun at this time.
Have you been to Ground Zero?
No. I've been near it - Broad Street, Wall Street (for meetings), but can't bring myself to go there. Maybe someday. I haven't been able to recover my stuff from 130 Liberty Street (mostly personal/sentimental) due to the damage the building took from 9/11 (pieces of 2 WTC hit it - and there was a lot of mold damage - I think at some point the building will come down :( ).
portia who got it from evileggWhere were you when you heard about the attacks on the pentagon and WTC?
I was in Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack, NJ. I was on jury duty that day and the courthouse was 10 minutes from the house. I was dressed slovenly with odd makeup to avoid being on a jury. It was a beautiful sunny day with clear blue skies. I had to be at the courthouse at 8:15. I had a stack of technical magazines to read. We weren't allowed to get the paper because of some case coming up for selection (never did find out what it was) and they wouldn't let us get coffee because they were going to start calling names soon. I was thinking I'd go home for lunch, look the paper up on the web and see what the case was...
What country/group did you suspect immediately?
Noone. I just thought some idiot crashed into the WTC on a sunny day, not until the second plane crashed did I start to wonder.
Who were you with? How did you react?
A lot of people in the jury room - I think we got the news from someone who had a pager that beeped news. There was also someone else who was listening to Howard Sten who started hearing about this. They never put the TV on in the jury room. I was upset, glad I wasn't working (I worked across the street at 130 Liberty Street) and wanted to call my dad (who was in Florida and knew NYC very well).
Who did you call first?
I tried my dad, but couldn't get out on the cell phone. I ended up calling my mother in law in the next town over and asking her to call my dad. He hadn't heard about the WTC yet - but was glad to find out I was on jury duty. DH was working from home that day, he had errands to run, so he knew I was safe.
What did you do the rest of the day?
We had to wait a while to be let go, the judges couldn't reach Trenton (state captial) and finally made the decision to let us go (not knowing if we would be counted for service that day - we ended up being counted - NJ's a one day one trial state). I did yell at someone at one point, calling the judge stupid for not letting us go - and got rebuked for calling the judge stupid. When we were let go, they kept letting cars out of the parking lot one at a time, so I was listening to WPLJ in the parking lot when Tower 2 fell. I got home, I e-mailed EVERYONE and EVERY LIST I could think of to let them know I was ok. I also called my grandmother who had cateract surgery scheduled, she was fine, they sent her home a little groggy from her medicine but not operated on (hospital is down the block from her in NYC). I did go to the supermarket later that day to get stuff, it was weird seeing the smoke from the WTC there. I also ended up calling my consulting firm's NJ office to let them know I was ok - they didn't handle post 9-11 communication very well, but that is another story.
Did you have any friends or family killed in the attacks?
No. I heard a long ago co-worker was killed (cantor fitzgerald/espeed) - also my cousin was good friends with Neil Levin, the port authority director.
Do you think 9-11 should be a holiday?
No. I didn't even like seeing "Patriots Day" cards in the supermarket.
Do you think even a % of the money donated really made it to the families? (loaded question)
I hope so. I know I donated some money to a fund setup just for my long ago co-worker, that money went to his family.
Did you feel an increased sense of patriotism? Did it last?
Yes. I wore ribbons/pins for a while and printed flags to attach to my car. I bought a new flag for my car this spring (took it off because it got damaged) and got one to stick in the flowers on my patio this summer. I even went to a July 4th parade which felt good.
Have you flown since the attacks? How soon did you fly again?
Yes. I flew in February 2002 and again in April 2002. The first trip was to my dad in Florida who was ill, the second was after his death. So the trips were more of a necessity than fun, and I didn't fly any american named airlines (American, United, US Air) - we chose Delta on purpose. It was ok, but I have no immediate desire to fly for fun at this time.
Have you been to Ground Zero?
No. I've been near it - Broad Street, Wall Street (for meetings), but can't bring myself to go there. Maybe someday. I haven't been able to recover my stuff from 130 Liberty Street (mostly personal/sentimental) due to the damage the building took from 9/11 (pieces of 2 WTC hit it - and there was a lot of mold damage - I think at some point the building will come down :( ).
