September 11, 2001

9/11/2001

A polaroid my sister took on 9/11/2001 from my balcony in Brooklyn Heights.

I love you, New York.  It is weird how possessive one can feel about a historical event.   It was the fourth day of public school in New York City.   I was only in fifth grade, but I still remember that day vividly.

A passage from “With Their Eyes,” a series of interviews from people in my high school about their experience with 9/11 and edited by Annie Thoms:

Eddie Kalletta. Sophomore

So I get off the train and all of a sudden I realize I have No idea where I’m going The ferry leaves this time, this time, and this time and I had Just missed THAT ferry. All of a sudden The heavens like… Break loose, and it just starts pouring I had to run Down like three blocks. So I called my mom And like there was no way I was gonna get home so My dad came and picked me up I remember being in my room And I was like “you know, today was a bad day” And my mom was like: “Don’t worry tomorrow will be a better day.” And that was September tenth.

Hudson Williams-Eynon, freshman

We all went to Art. My art class is on the tenth floor Turned Facing north so We couldn’t see anything but Everyone was looking out The windows So The teacher was like “You know, this might sound stupid and everything but I still want you guys to draw. You can tell your kids that when The World Trade Center was Y’know Attacked You guys were drawing contour drawings.”

Katherine Fletcher, English Teacher 

I think in times like that your… You know, your instinct is to try to sort of Cling to what’s normal. I felt a great responsibility to show them an example of someone who was not going to fall apart because I felt that if, you know there’s nothing scarier— they’re only thirteen and fourteen— and there’s nothing scarier, I think, than being in a scary situation and then seeing that an adult who’s supposed to be in charge is really scared um…but on the other hand I was terrified I mean, you know, deep down I was… I was terrified And also, at the time, I was five months pregnant And I remember also just being very—you know, being very Conscious of that And I remember saying to my class, actually You know, I want you to know that we’re all perfectly safe Believe me. I have very— I’m carrying very precious cargo And if I thought we were in danger I would leave We would .. We would be leaving And I said that even though I did feel.. I think I did feel in danger Because we had no idea what was going on.

Matt Polazzo, Social Studies teacher

Everyone was pretty frantic. And I was just kinda going north on my bike and People were Leading groups of kids. But I don’t think that anybody from Stuyvesant wanted to catch a ride for whatever reason. I couldn’t find any kids that really wanted to go with me (laughs) And eventually I was kinda biking up By myself, but I did go back and forth between groups of kids ’cause I had my bike. The stupid thing I did, was on my way down While we were evacuating the kids, once I got all my kids out— I went back up to the third floor. I felt like, “This is it. We’re gonna die.” I had to get my bike outta here, But I had it locked in the Social Studies office. So I went into the Social Studies office and The whole building’s empty And I Unlock my bike and I Brought it down. But it turned out to be a good thing because I was like the first person to get back home that day, So I biked up. It was weird too, because The further north I biked The more normal the city got And by the time I got to Washington Heights I live on a hundred and fifty Seventh Street— You wouldn’t even know that Anything had happened… At all.

Ilya Feldsherov, senior

Oh, my dad— My dad he just sorta nodded when I first came in.. And we sat down at dinner And he poured himself vodka and he poured me some cognac.. And then, you know, I had Two shots and I just went straight to bed. My dad didn’t really say anything. He just sort of Had a look like I know I could see you went through a lot And I’m not gonna bother you with all these questions.

Juan Carlos Lopez, School Safety Agent

You know, A peculiar little odd thing Just a little quirk, just An odd thing but, ah, the day before On Monday evening I had taken the time to shine my shoes. ‘cause it’s kind of weird I took the time to shine my shoes and I did a good job, right, and then Tuesday morning it was a beautiful sunny day you know and I was dusting myself off from the debris of the north tower I—I, I shook my clothes off and then I looked down At my shoes and my shoes were a whole ‘nother color They were completely covered And then I just thought to myself I just shined them yesterday and it was then this odd thought popped into my head, This very peculiar thing. It’s totally absurd.. I thought for just a moment If I had never shined my shoes Maybe this whole thing may never have happened.

Max Willens, senior

There were people there all the time, And they weren’t even New Yorkers, They weren’t even people visiting some, you know, Taking a look at something that used to be there, Something that they used to know. There were people from Kansas and Oklahoma, and, Missouri, who had seen those places on postcards. And they wanted to buy hats and pins, And wanted to sing “God Bless America” and things Like that. Which made me sick. The pictures, The pictures were probably what really did it for me. There were these disposable cameras, The kind that people, you know, Whip out for trips to Disneyland or the Grand Canyon, You know, Those yellow plastic things, Where everyone crowds around and the flashes make those Little annoying Yellow sounds. One time, someone actually asked me to take a photograph of them, Of them looking, Kind of standing in a solemn pose with the wreckage as A backdrop, And I couldn’t do it. I nearly threw the camera at them, I just… I couldn’t… It made me sick. I remember for a while I had this retort worked out in my head where— I’d even rehearsed it a few times. Back when it really made me mad. I would throw the camera… Back at them, Maybe even into their face and say, “the next time someone blows—someone blows up something very important to you in your backyard, I’ll be sure to take the photos that I want to pose in. And I’ll be sure to ask you to take them.” I dunno. I remember cursing a lot in them, Those little monologues that were supposed to be delivered To those little People.

Mohammad Haque, senior 

That was probably one of the toughest parts About September 11th—the backlash That trauma Of actually seeing it And experiencing it. It’s something everyone Can relate to . But something everyone can’t relate to Is fearing. Fearing for your safety. Not by terrorists either But by the general American Community. Fearing for the safety of My mother Who covers her hair. Categorizing an entire group By a small minority Of the group. You could say that for Any group. For instance, How many white Americans Are skinheads? A very, very small minority. Therefore You don’t characterize All White Americans as People who are racist. It’s the same thing with Muslim Americans. You can’t tag all Muslims as terrorists— If you do then that’s just Pure ignorance And— I don’t know what to tell you You should go out and learn about the religion because it’s just not true, Like when you’re walking down the street— People are looking at you In a wrong way And I’d ask why they look at me And they’d tell you You understand That they’re like “Yeah, you guys are terrorists” or something and you just try not to get angry and explain the religion.

Katherine Fletcher

I had lots of conversations with my friends about Whether we would consider just completely changing our lives and leaving New York. You know, if I did, I would always know that When I was thirty-one years old, I had a baby and I moved to the county and quit my job, And left my whole life behind because of this terrorist attack And I think it’s a really problematic thing to allow your life To be defined by one event. I’ve always found New York to be a very friendly place, I feel like there’s this weird myth about New York being really unfriendly. New York is not. And I’ve always felt that way Like everywhere in the world, in cities, people really bond Together when Something disastrous happens. Like there’s a blizzard Or a tornado. Then all of a sudden everyone is really nice to each other on the streets… And I’ve always felt that New York was sort of in a constant state of disaster So there i was always this feeling that we were sort of in something together. And, in a way New Yorkers are very well equipped to handle something like what happened on September 11th Because we’re used to feeling like we’re in this state of crisis, It was just a much worse state of crisis Than normal. I guess I do feel that Some people show more kindness And I felt like this year more people wished me a Happy New year’s, for instance, than normal. Like cabdrivers and People in stores, I really believe in healing. And I believe that, the city will be healed. I think you have to believe that.

Source:  Thoms, Annie, and Taresh Batra, eds. With Their Eyes: September 11th, the View from a High School at Ground Zero. New York: HarperTempest, 2002. Print.