Fifteen years ago,
the morning of September 11 started as a bright and beautiful late summer day
across Indiana. As I did every morning, I took my dogs for a walk, planning my
day, thinking about phone calls to make and letters to write. I returned home
to get ready for work, help my daughter on to her school bus, and take a quick
look at the news while I dressed.
Then at 7:46
everything changed. We changed. America changed.
Solosez is the
ABA-sponsored e-mail list of solo and small firm lawyers. At the time, it was
an electronic community of more than 900 lawyers, helping each other with legal
questions, sharing jokes, bickering over politics. Fifteen years later, Solosez
is still much the same, although its growth has meant that there isn’t quite
the closeness among its members that there was fifteen years ago.
Like all America,
Solosez started September 11 as other work days: postings about bankruptcies,
products liability, divorce. But after 7:48, the messages changed. Those
messages intimately record the shock, fears, concerns and grief of a nation.
Below are the events and emotions of September 11, 2001 as they happened.
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Bankruptcy
question - You have about about two weeks after the discharge until the case is
closed. Sheryl Cramer, Lawton, OK
Subject: Ford
recall - Does anyone have any case law about Ford recalling faulty starters? - Jean Moyer
World Trade Center
Attack - I am hearing reports that there has been another terrorist attack on
the World Trade Center. Patrick W Begos, New York
Go to cnn.com or
msnbc.com or any news site you can get to. Two jets have crashed into the World
Trade Center - one on each tower. There are gaping holes in both buildings and
flames are shooting out. Its a horrible scene. I was watching it on the Today
Show. A 737 veered into the second tower. Absolutely horrible. I cant believe I
just saw this happen. Ross Kodner, Milwaukee
It has also just
been reported that another hijacked airliner has also just crashed into the
Pentagon in Washington DC! ! Alan
Pearlman, Chicago
I just passed by
the site on the way to my office. There was mass confusion, running and
screaming in the streets while flames were shooting out of one of the towers.
My office shook as the second explosion hit. Joseph Handlin, New
York City
The entire
southern tip of Manhattan is now covered with smoke or dust from debris as one
of the towers may have collapsed. This is bad, very bad. I have friends near
the towers and in the Pentagon. Ed Lawson
I could see the
smoke from the Pentagon from the US Dept of Transportation building several
miles away in SW DC. Joel R Bennett, Washington, DC
I am two blocks
from the White House .... they are evacuating it...sirens all over town. Reid
Trautz, Washington D.C.
Reid, there were
earlier reports on NBC of a fire at the OLD EOB across the street from the
White House. Is that happening? Get the hell out of there! Sterling
L. DeRamus
NBC showed footage
that clearly showed the top 1/3 or 1/ 2 of the second tower has completely
collapsed. It’s completely gone. Ross
Kodner, Milwaukee
In NYC the UN has
been evacuated. I am no longer receiving TV signals except for CBS and through
Cable. Christina Kallas, New York City
Lets all say a
prayer for both the victims and those who must go in harms way to rescue survivors
and contain the hazards. Jeffrey Allen
McCann, Pensacola
My Associate has
come into my room in floods of tears saying the Twin Towers have been
demolished by a plane flying into them and Pentagon is on fire. As an
expatriate I am just feeling very far away today. This is so upsetting. What is
going on? Valerie Macadam, Edinburgh, Scotland
ln Houston: Chase
Tower evacuated, Enron Building evacuated, and Reliant Tower is to be evacuated
next. Arlen M. Driscoll, Houston
Upstate New York
District Courts are all closing or closed. I havent felt like this since JFK
was assassinated, but this is so much larger. Marion Chase Pacheco,
Syracuse
As for Chicago,
The Daley Civic Center closed, all suburban courthouses closed, Sears Tower
closed. Mass Exodus from the downtown loop back to everyone’s homes ! Alan
Pearlman, Chicago
Baltimore Metro
Area: Roads leading into and out of the city being closed. Federal Building
being evacuated. This is surreal. Eleanor Naiman, Baltimore
Lots of AW/Cs seen
in the sky over Oklahoma City. State offices have been shut down. My Mom called
and told me to go home. Melissa A. Shomben Oklahoma City, OK
My daughter lives
in Brooklyn and drives to work through lower Manhattan. She called that she
made it to work and was safe. She had seen both crashes into the WTC and the
collapses which have traumatized her. Dick Howland, New York
My former firm,
Thacher Proffitt & Wood, had its offices at 2 WTC. I shudder to think how
many people I know and worked with died today. Christina Kallas, New York City
Everyone is in a
state of disbelief and worrying about friends and family who are stateside. I
personally have dealings with several attorneys at Hill Betts and Nash in the World
Trade Center, and l fear that I will not see them again. Go home and hug your
loved ones. Andy Simpson, Christiansted, U. S. Virgin Islands
The office
upstairs represent pilots and flight crews. They knew several people on the
planes that went down from Boston, I had friends working next door to the Trade
Center and a partner had two relatives working in the Trade Center. Maybe just
too close. Ed Lawson
I shudder to think
how many people I know and worked with died today. My church has scheduled a
prayer service at noon today. I suggest everyone with a religious bent take a
moment or two today to pray for the victims of this atrocity and for peace. Charles
Kelley
Colleen - Are you
okay? I dont know where your office is. . Let us know that you are okay. Saundra M. Gamerove
Has anyone heard
from J ay Fleishman? He has an office in the WTC area. Colleen
Samuels, New York City
Colleen (and
everyone else):- I as well as my entire office staff are alive and well. We
are, of course, not in business right now and l don’t know when we will be. Jay Fleischman, New York City
I went to the
hardware store - where they had run out of flags this morning but had since
restocked. Now my new flag is flying. God bless America. Jimmy L. Vernet; Jr, Dallas, Texas
I am blocking out
Friday afternoon to donate blood. I have also made a donation to the American
Red Cross. I urge everyone to do the same. I am going to take my daughters to
the park now. I need to watch them play for a while. Neal A. Kennedy, Marble
Falls, Texas
I am a social
worker as well as an attorney. Due to the downed telephone lines I am unable to
reach anyone in NY If any organization needs someone for crisis counseling or
any other help, please let me know. Colleen
Samuels, New York City
Well, I waited for
SIX HOURS, but one pint of my finest blood is now sitting at the local Red
Cross center. Sasha Golden, Needham, MA
In the weeks to
come, the people of NYC will be inundated with forms they will need to fill
out. There will be insurance forms, FEMA fomis, SBA small business loan. Lets
send a busload or two of volunteers to NYC to help with these forms. Frank
J. Kautz, II, Boston
There will be an
awful lot of New York lawyers who need fast advice and help on how to get their
practices going again from a technology perspective. 1 will happily offer my
consulting services at no charge. Ross Kodner, Milwaukee
Washington Rock -
General George Washington stood there 225 years ago while the county was under
attack and looked across to Manhattan. He saw the British coming. Standing
there today, looking across the river, seeing the void in the skyline, showed
the work of another enemy. lt was chilling. John R. Parker;
Flemington, NJ
I can’t help but
keep remembering, over and over, how wonderfully quiet and peaceful Washington,
D.C., was when I was there last November. Are those times all behind us now? Gena
Holmes
I ask you to join
me - Let there be abundant peace from heaven, And lifes goodness for us and for
all humanity. He who ordains the order of the universe Will mercifully bring
peace To us and to all humanity. Let us say: Amen Jay Goldenberg
Jay, thanks for
reminding me that even at the most awful of times, our prayer is for peace. Susan Freiman
On the street, I
could see that WTC One was burning from its upper stories; curlicues of paper
were floating down, glittering in the light, I saw people running past, some of
them crying, as I stood immobilized, watching the flames. Then there was an
explosion, and fragments of glass rained down on my head. I saw a huge hole in
the roof of a building two blocks from World Trade Center. I began running away
from the burning buildings, wondering what would blow up next. I started to
walk, looking back over my shoulder repeatedly at the burning towers. Someone
behind me shouted, “there are people jumpingl” and I turned to see a black dot,
almost certainly a human dot, fall from the top of a tower. A few minutes after
I got home I was watching live coverage on CNN as World Trade Center 2
collapsed, then building 1 a few minutes later. I thought of words of a Bob
Dylan song:
I 've stepped in the middle of
seven sad forests,
I ve been out in front of a dozen
dead oceans,
I 've been ten thousand miles in
the mouth of a graveyard,
And its a hard rain a-gonna fall.
The glass I picked
out of my hair an hour later was a hard rain. Jonathan Wallace
