9/11 Remembered

Today is the tenth anniversary of 9/11. The New York Times has a section asking readers where they were on that day and another section showing the things that people kept. Instead of posting my responses to the Times' website, I am sharing them here.

On 9/11 I was at 14 Wall Street.

I was working at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. By the time I entered the building from Pine Street and rode the elevator up to the 23rd floor, the two airplanes had already hit the twin towers. At that time I didn't really know what happened. I watched the towers burn from a window on the 25th floor of our office. When the towers collapsed, our building shook as if there was an earthquake. Together with others we walked down the fire stairs and waited inside the Equinox gym on the ground floor. It was only then with the televisions above the treadmills that I learned what happened before I stepped into the office.

That day I stayed at the gym until around 4:30pm. I decided to leave when someone said there were buses to take people uptown on Broadway. When I stepped out of the building onto Wall Street, the sidewalk was completely covered in a thick layer of dust, like a sandbox in a playground. As I looked towards Broadway the sky was dark. I didn't think it was possible there would be any buses so instead I turned east and walked towards the East River. As I got closer to the river it was eerie to find a perfectly clear sky as if it was a normal day.

I ended up walking home like everyone else and what I kept are the pair of shoes that I wore on 9/11.