From: SandyTesha@aol.com
Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 21:35:53 EDT
Subject: Thursday: Business as usual... sort of

Thursday, September 13, 2001

Greetings again,

First of all, apologies if that last email was too emotional. I just started
typing and hit send. I want you all to know that I'm fine. I've mentioned
this to some of you and I'll repeat it here; nothing of what I'm writing
about and experiencing 2nd-hand compares to what went on and is going on in
lower Manhattan. I do not live in lower Manhattan, I did not know anyone
personally involved in the act, and don't know any rescue workers down there.
I hope you don't either. Compared to that mess, I'm doing pretty f***ing
great and am happy to be alive and safe.

I went down to 23rd street on the West Side today, hoping to find out more
about the volunteer and donation centers they had set up at the Chelsea
Piers. The streets/subway were pretty normal, tons of people out, lots of
"normal" traffic up here in midtown... the city still has a strange
feeling/vibe to it though. Most all shops/stores were open, save for the GAP
(of all things). I wandered in a few stores, no one seemed to be in a buying
mood, the places were empty. Many had the standard pop-techno music blaring,
quite a strange contrast from the hushed voices and news reports everyone's
listening to on the streets.

For those of you who don't know the Chelsea Piers, they are a huge
sporting/recreational complex built on actual piers on the Hudson River from
23rd street to about 18th street. It's a lovely place to visit, whether to
go bowling, play soccer or ice/roller hockey, take gymnastic lessons,
practice your golf shot, or just relax and watch the water traffic cruise by.
I crossed the West Side Highway (usually packed with north/south bound
traffic, but it was open only to emergency/rescue vehicles again)with two
guys, dressed in long flannel shirts and old jeans. They were carrying face
masks and goggles and had several pair of gloves in their back pockets (I'm
pretty sure they weren't hand models). A very nice (but tired-looking)
policeman told us the donation/vounteer tables had moved to the Javits
Convention Center at 34th street, also on the West Side Highway on the river.
So many people had asked him the same questions, people from Michigan and
Kentucky, all over. He said we could go check the Piers anyway just to be
sure, because word was so slow in getting through to the masses of people
involved in this operation, he really wasn't 100% sure about anything. I
walked with the guys for a while, and they really gung ho, like they really
wanted to help, to get their hands dirty, to do anything.

As we walked further south towards 14th street it became apparent that no
volunteer/donation tables or personnel were here anymore. It was all EMT
types, firemen, policemen, medical personnel. No one seemed to question our
being there or care who we were or what our business was. I left the guys to
continue walking down the path where I (used to)rollerblade, and just looked.
So many uniformed people standing about, taking directions, communicating
and organizing, or just watching the smoke in the air down the highway. It
was actually a very peaceful scene, if you didn't count the 30 or so
ambulances lined up one after the other parallel to the highway next to the
colorful banners on the Piers complex, or the random sirens from the cars
whizzing by the emptied highway. The ambulances were from towns I've never
heard of, tiny-main-street sounding towns like "Elmsville" and the like. I
heard emergency vehicles were coming from as far as Los Angeles (!) to help.
The drivers and EMT people were just waiting to go downtown, hanging out,
eating, talking, etc. Every few minutes one of them would be dispatched, and
it would disappear down the West Side towards the huge gray cloud that still
hung in the air, and the line of ambulances would inch forward.
I turned to cross the street and realized that there were at least about
30-40 more ambulances lined up on 18th street, all facing the highway and
ready for action. So many different colors and logos on the trucks. So
bizarre to see them all HERE. Just sitting there. There were more in the
parking lot behind 18th street too.

I asked another official-looking person about the volunteer station, and he
just looked at the Piers blankly and said, "you got me. I can't even keep
straight what I'm doing with my own men."

Heading north on the West Side Highway were emergency vehicles and what have
you... and then I noticed that every few minutes a huge construction truck or
dumpster would go by, loaded with wreckage. This was devastating to see. I
wonder where it will finally end up? Who would want it? There must be SO
much.

Coming to the end of the long line of ambulances on the corner of 18th Street
and 10th Avenue I noticed two Hispanic women behind a small table, cheerfully
making sandwiches and pouring sodas for the EMTs who were waiting to be
dispatched. They told me they lived just around the corner, and were out all
day yesterday making sandwiches. They said people on their block were
helping to cook dinner for that night, which would be brought out later.
They were so happy and proud to be helping and contributing what they could.
The EMTs seemed to really appreciate it.

I walked across town and back up 5th Avenue - still closed to traffic below
34th street. There were so many American flags flying or mounted everywhere
- fire escapes, trucks and cars, department stores - it had the feeling of a
Fourth-of-July parade, with the police ahead barricading and clearing the
streets for the floats and bands. When you looked up though, you saw flags
perched high atop the tall buildings flying at half-mast. It's still very
surreal.

Along 5th Avenue the merchants and souvenir shops have tables outside with
tons of black and white framed photos of the "old" NY skyline. It's so eerie
to look at them, and how beautiful it all was. Postcards were abundant too,
and knickknacks (snowglobes, shot glasses) with the skyline on them.
On the front page of the business section of the NY Times today was a photo
of a National Guard soldier, standing in front of the World Financial Center.
This is a gorgeous building too, made from glass and steel, overlooking the
plaza and the bike/blade path and the Hudson River. My friend Kim had her
bachelorette party last weekend and we visited this place - this exact place
- that evening. Everyone was saying how gorgeous the city was at night,
especially down there with all the financial buildings all lit up and
reflecting on the Hudson River and back at themselves. There was just such a
good vibe down there - looking at the photo of the building now covered with
dust and debris gives me the creeps.

They said earlier that this building's structure is unsafe, and are keeping
an eye on it. I don't know how many times I've walked through the atrium in
it. Stunning piece of architecture. I don't know if it's still standing, as
I have turned off the news for a while.

Things are probably going to be the same here in the city for a few days as
they clean up the wreckage... or, more likely, weeks... quite possibly months.
I have a roll of film I need to develop, if there's anything interesting I'll
send it along. I may try to head down to the Javits Center Friday to see if
I can help at all, because the modeling and advertising business sure as hell
ain't doing anything right now...might not be for a while.

Keep writing me and let me know how you're all doing, it helps to get my mind
off this stuff here. Thanks again for reading.

Love,
Sandy

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