I read your report, and thought that the dust that later spiraled through the air was partly cremains. Thinking of so many people I care for, my 'kin', under that flurry of souls was crushing.

I'll check in throughout the day tomorrow. If it looks like you guys *will* be up and running at 2nd and 2nd, I will try to flirt my way past the barricades with bottles of Gatorade or something.

I don't mean to be crude, but, uh, there's no dress code tomorrow, is there? I think I'm gonna have to blue jean it, due to the mass-transit issue, and I really would like to see people. Experiencing this by remote has been very isolating.

Lily,
There is no Dress Code Thursday but I will be there.

Dresscode
hope to see you.

I feel hurt, insignificant and helpless. I've suffered several losses in the WTC disaster. I'm angry but know in my heart that anger is not the answer. Strength is. I pray for the souls of the people who have perished and I pray for their families and loved ones. With personal strength and God's help, we'll get through this.

I just had to report that me and the wife went for a walk to the west side and saw something amazing. At Christopher and West Side Hway there's a group of people standing there cheering and clapping as rescue vehicles head up and down the highway. Some people have signs that say "Thank You", some are holding up flags. It really was moving to see these people just giving what they could to the tireless workers downtown. And you culd tell their cheers were being appreciated. That's all for now. Love.

Been watching CNN from Omaha and saw everyone cheering the rescue workers on the west side highway and the vigil in Washington Square. I am so proud of all of you. I just arrived last May, but I hope to be able to say someday that I am a New Yorker.

God bless all of you, and God Bless America!!!

There is a list server for Tom Waites fans called Raindogs. Here is a posting from ground zero.

Sorry for mass mailing this but I've been telling my story so much I figured
this will save me telling it a few dozen more times. Firstly, if anyone was
there or had loved ones there I hope that you and yours are okay and
(physically at least) unscathed. The phrase I heard a lot while I was
downtown all day and night was what soldiers say about a war zone. I was in
'the shit'.

Our headquarters is 6 blocks from ground zero, so I was in it from the
get-go. It basically happened in front of me. The photos and TV coverage may
give one an even better picture than I saw, but watching live and up close is
something I hope never to go through again in my life. Working for NYC Dept.
of Transportation, I was called into service immediately by the emergency
response division. They sent everyone home except our skeleton crew of about
six or seven. I should add here that after the first explosion it was less
than a minute before the police and fire department mobilized and their cars
and trucks were out to the scene. I had gone downstairs to see what was going
on. About ten minutes of jaw-dropping stares later those with me on the
street watched the second explosion. Some had seen the plane hit, but most of
it was obscured because we were looking from behind it and just saw the ball
of flame and smoke projectile vomit out of the other end. I had my digital
camera and took some pictures. You know what it looks like if you've watched
any TV reports. I knew right then that I was needed and headed back to the
DOT Situation Room. I was to assess the traffic conditions on the bridges and
tunnels in the vicinity. Knowing it would be easier to get around, I headed
out on foot armed with my radio, safety vest, dust mask and credentials
(badge).

I was in a daze awed and humbled and not a little freaked out Bits of debris
-- pipe (plumbing or aircraft), attache cases and knapsacks, concrete and
steel littered the street and flattened all the cars on the northern side
(Vesey Street). A mix of eeirie disbelief, hysterical crying and emergency
personnel were what I encountered. I was about to rendezvous with another DOT
worker at the Office of Emergency Magagement when I was called to the Holland
Tunnel area, so I turned north. I got three blocks when the rumbling began
and everyone, I mean EVERYONE started running. The SouthTower (the second one
that had been hit) was collapsing. I called in to my command what I was
seeing and that I could no longer see the top of the tower. The rumbling
cloud of thick smoke rolled like a tsunami towards us. The crying and panic
had risen to the visual equivalent of a throbbing, out-of-breath sobbing. If
I'd been 2 minutes more lingering in front of OEM I'd have been buried.

I did and saw so many things in the next 28 hours. I shuttled carloads of
bottled water to the triage area by the Ferry terminals. The eerie and (by
now) deserted streets of the Wall Street area were a desolate war zone.
Inches of greyish pale brown powdered dust were over everything and my car,
once blue was now the same color as the sidewalks. I closed streets, I
coordinated the influx of 75 DOT vehicles into our staging area (one block
below Stuyvesant and right in front of the collapsed buildings. I slogged
through the mud of a hundred fire engine hoseleaking soaked streets. There
were hundreds and hundreds of emergency vehicles of all types -- cranes and
dump trucks and ambulances and city busses that shuttled firepersonnel fuel
trucks and flood lights and salvation army meal vans.

There was a lot of waiting and attending briefings while Emergency Management
mobilized personnel and equipment as needed. I am proud that I found use for
some of our trucks. I was placed in charge for the night shift of all DOT
personnel and equipment in the ground zero zone, to be dispatched as needed.
The DOT Emergency Response Assistant Commissioner went home to get some rest.
The rubble was unimaginable. I basically had no real time to process
everything or even sit in front of a TV to get my own information. I made as
many phone calls as I could to all the many concerned friends and family I
have. I am blessed to be so loved. I got home at 10:30am. I had been with
this mayhem for 25 hours. I am exhausted. I got four hours sleep and now 7pm
I'm going back for another 12 hours...

One finally note before I run back there: It's incredible the bravery I've
seen, the generosity of spirit of everyone willing to help -- beyond any
notion of courtesy. Too bad it has to happen mostly in these extreme
circumstances. If we could all be this dedicated to each other -- WORLDWIDE
-- then maybe these things wouldn't happen. Fuck. We've got a long way to
go, still.

Peace and LOVE to you all,
Josh
Citizen of Earth

I worry about the jump in american flag sales.
I worry about the young men and women rushing to enlist in the army.
I worry about a shaky american president, and a psychotic secretary of state.
I worry about the cries for revenge.
I worry about attacks on innocent immigrants.
These are my thoughts upon waking today...

I'm just glad everyone of you is ALIVE and well. Every hour or so I get teary-eyed .... I'm speechless, I feel helpless and very, very sad.

I'm not even afraid for my own safety anymore. I just feel such enormous sadness for all those people in their offices, the rescue workers, the passengers on the those planes and everyone who was killed in this nightmare scenario. And that those two gorgeous buildings, practically like the Great Pyramids to most New Yorkers and such an integral part of our skyline, are gone forever.

I'm also grateful that all the talented, creative, beautiful, eccentric and vibrant personalities from these boards and from the nightlife world that I love can carry on to create a more beautiful tomorrow.

Lex

betty domination phoned me tuesday and told me to buy water and canned goods.
well i didn't, went out last night to get some supplies.
toilet paper, water, bread, peanut butter sold out. i got the last few cans of tuna.
i worry about the air. my neighborhood is covered with smoke today.

but i feel strong and know we will rebuild the greatest city in the world.
i am proud to be a new yorker and glad to have such good friends.

I tried reaching her all day Tuesday and yesterday but the lines were busy and I couldn't get through .... I know her apartment is on Broadway at White Street.

Has anyone heard from her? Is she okay? does she have a place to stay? Food? Gowns, etc?????

If anyone knows, please post!

thinking more about how it feels like some "thing"- something "inhuman" has attacked us. It reminds me of the first half of Forbidden Planet - where Dr. Morbius (President Bush) remains ignorant as to why all the firepower at his command cant stop the mysterious, terrifying ID monster. Finally he realizes (too late, after many have died) that the ID is a mirror, a supernatural amplification of his unconscious mind.

While terrorists are hardly Bush's personal 'ID' -I believe their actions mirror our country's treatment of others; our lack of real diplomacy and concern for others; our thoughtlessness at the consequences of our actions; and our inability to connect with others and build lasting bridges. I wish Bush would ask the harder questions - Why are so many people willing to give their lives and the lives of innocents to destroy us? What has brought us to this place? How can we fix it?

Jade,
How gorgeous but President Bush is the wrong person to ask. He has to ask his father what to do and we all know his track record.

pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!
Thou art the ruins of the noblest man
That ever lived in the tide of times.
Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!
Over thy wounds now do I prophesy,--
Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips,
To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue--
A curse shall light upon the limbs of men;
Domestic fury and fierce civil strife
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy;
Blood and destruction shall be so in use
And dreadful objects so familiar
That mothers shall but smile when they behold
Their infants quarter'd with the hands of war;
All pity choked with custom of fell deeds:
And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice
Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war;
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.

I'd worry more if flag sales were down and people weren't rushing to the aid of our country.

Dearest Chi Chi,

Just wanted to let you know that our thoughts are with you and your extended family from here in London. Watching this tragedy unfold on TV... it's a Ballardian hyper-real nightmare screenburning itself onto the global retina, an appalling moment that changes everything. We have all lost our innocence, not just America... Soon, we will really be tested on what we believe in.

And I just pray to the god/ess/s/one mind/thing that we come out of this somehow with our belief in co-operation, not domination culture intact. The future lies ultimately with the chalice, not the blade...

The bravery and dignity of New Yorkers right now is truly humbling.Simon, Neil, Robert and David and all the Salon Kitty crew send their love and thoughts, as do the Skin Two family.

I shall raise a glass to you noble freedom fighters tonight. Are you taking donations at all? Credit cards?

Michelle x x x

Of course the President is going to consult with a former president and CIA head. Former president Bush did an excellent job during the last time of international crisis and had an approval rating over 90%. I feel comforted that we can still draw on that kind of knowledge and experience.

I guess I will see you at the flag counter at K-Mart...or the Recruitment Station...
I must be part of that gosh-darned 10%!

Jade, I so agree with your post. I keep thinking of something that was said last night at the memorial service at St. Mark's Church. This beautiful woman (poet, perhaps?) spoke with great dignity. She said "When I looked at the picture of the tower coming down and the cloud of smoke, I saw the mushroom cloud again, the one from the pictures, the cloud WE set off over Hiroshima, come back to us here.."

The affirmation of peace at the end of the service has never seemed so important or real. Though I am totally numb, it allowed me to cry - these incredible people, my neighbors,
had so much dignity - it broke my heart.

Everyone has their own reaction, and is entitled to one, but I feel alot more reassured by the people handing out the Prayer for Peace fliers than by the National Guard jeep parked downstairs.

Before you rush to wave a flag, remember how much the military despises our kind, remember that many of the people crying for New York today usually envision her as the home of "Jew-tranny-nigger-faggot" hell on any day that she is not standing in ruins. Remember that New York under the present regime has been cowed by a petty despot, that our freedoms have been constantly challenged here and sold out to corporate interests.

I mourn all of the victims and am haunted by the pictures, hanging everywhere, of the missing. But evil is everywhere, and all of the bloodshed to come will only strengthen the resolve of all our enemies, including the ones so close to home.

Whether you are pagan, Christian, Buddhist ,
Muslim, Rastafarian, Jewish, Bahai, Hindu, wiccan, WHATEVER.

Pray for peace.

See you tonight..

via email -

quote:

---

hi everyone -- My body is in Chicago, and has been for the last 2 weeks, scheduled to fly back Sunday, if all goes well. My heart and soul have been completely in
NYC since our phone range early Tuesday morning and I turned on the TV. I lost neither friends nor family, but the WTC was a place I loved. It was the first place I worked in New York City and the view out my window at my current job. I could not and cannot
believe what's happened this week.

I can't be with you Thur. evening, altho I wish I
could; but I look forward to seeing you, and the new club, in the coming weeks.

God bless New York City.

emily xyz

---

I have been feeling a bit like a prisoner out here in Brooklyn - a little removed from everything and not being able to get into Manhattan with ease. I have had off work the past two days and have been glued to the television watching the same horrifying, saddening footage over and over. Outside my window we has ash falling from the sky on Tuesday and a thick cloud of smoke up the street. Luckily, everyone I know who works in the area is safe and alive. But the loss of life is just staggering.
And in the middle of all this horror, my sister in PA just gave birth at 2AM this morning - a big 9 pound girl who promises to be a sassy nightowl like her mother and uncle. And I know it's a little cliche about the "circle of life" but it certainly gives me hope and lifts my spirits today.
I plan to make a pilgrimage to Daddy tonight (if I can get into the East Village) to be with my other family and friends and see you all in good health.