Month: September 2001
The streets of Hell’s Kitchen and Chelsea are silent. They are empty
“I left the office just before noon and walked the twenty or so blocks to Aaron’s. The streets uptown were just… eerie. There were as many people walking around as usual, but all of them were quiet. A line was forming at the ATM. People were shaking their cellphones or standing in clumps in courtyards,…
Like movie footage so absurd, no director would ever buy into it
“I know it’s a ridiculous and overdramatic sentiment, but shit
We have learned today that increased surveillance is not the answer
“We have learned today that airport security is not the answer. At least four separate terror teams were able to sail right past all the elaborate obstacles
Not just one plane, but two. Not just one tower, but two. Sweet Jesus.
“I think about being below one of the towers as it fell. I saw it from my rooftop, the second one, anyway. I saw the glass shoot through the air, and I saw the huge gash of smoke, and it all moved together like a limb shooting out. (I’ve only seen things like that in…
Watching television after walking 75 blocks home, it feels so distant
“I’m scolding myself for being desensitized by an hour of television footage, replaying collapse timelessely. It is not like a movie and I scold myself more than that by saying I saw a plane hit the World Trade Center today and remembering that I was surprised a second plane came out of the bay and…
Block-long lines formed at payphones as WTC workers tried to contact loved ones
“Arms, legs. Parts of people. They were falling on my head.”
Fighter planes have been flying overhead for hours, now
“When the first one hit, we all thought, ‘Oh so the building’ll be on fire.’ It was sad, but you know what they say about New Yorkers working through anything. When the second one hit, I thought, ‘Shit, this is serious.’ I realized I had some paperwork in my hand, so I went back to…
He is trying to interview every passerby all at once
“We are looking at a giant factory of death. Smoke billows from from two glassy chimneys
No bloodthirsty cries for revenge. There isn’t shit you can do about it anyway
“The streets are rather calm, there are cadets from the police academy controlling traffic. The wind has changed direction and the massive black and yellow column of smoke is starting to drift over Manhattan. I saw a woman covered in soot and dust, with her World Trade Center ID still hanging around her neck. She…