From a newsgroup post from David, Brooklyn, New York, USA:

lolling in my bed this sunny morning i looked thru the thin sliver of yellow daisies i am able to see from my garden apt. window and i thought "how wonderful it is to be a new, new yorker." then i felt the bed rumble and heard a far off boom. a moment later i heard a voice on the street say in pure brooklynese -"did you hear an explosion?" some images of my day.... walking outside i saw the plume of smoke that would be everpresent, a dour companionfor the whole day. fluttering all around it, a mile in the perfect blue sky, were papers. people on the corner began to mention "terrorist attack", "an airplane hitting the twin towers"... ..I immediatley thought the cloud of papers were propaganda leaflets...then a little italian lady showed me one she found. it was an inter-office memo...bank papers, trading notes, e-mails and thai futures were wafting down thru the trees. old women sobbed by a pizzeria. the sun shone warmly. it was a gorgeous day. the tenor of the day decreased a note. the light changed. turning on cnn and the barage of images. what was happening?!! then the 1st tower fell. impossible. i jumped on my bike and rode to my friend roberts house. i rode thru the growing crowds on the streets...streaming up from halted subways....stories and rumors were exchanged. ...ash began to fall...people watched at t.v shop windows... my friends and i gathered on the roof to stare in disbelief- the second tower fell....we hit there streets after a cnn overload

semi-trucks clogged small side streets and horns blared... some tempers flaired between two s.u.v's until the driver of one screamed that she had two family members "in there".. .and the other replied hysterically, ranting over and over and over "so do i..so do i...so do i...so do i!!!"... i passed blissfully ignorant children with huge grins on their faces...schools out!!! one boy was wearing a fireman tee-shirt with the words "stay back 200 feet" holding his mothers' hand.

the sirens blared all day...empty neighborhood fire houses stood quiet...hand written signs for blood donors needed popped up on bus stands and coffee house windows "citywide emergency" "people are dying!" ...i approached a local donor center and was turned away...4 to 5 hour wait and i had too recently got a tattoo.

the ash stung our eyes and the plume intensified..the floating papers kept wafting down ....brooklyn was down wind all day and blanketed with ash like a distant volcanic eruption. robert and kevin and i rode the streets. passing trauma centers with lines of ambulances and waiting staff... we went down to the river front and joined the silent crowds...the skyline was gone. helicopters and tug boats races to and fro. hundreds of people silently milling. a passerby got up on the flag pole marking the spot where general washington kept headquarters during the disastrous battle of brooklyn....he silently lowered the flag to half- staff.. .people cried...sat still...took pictures. we rode on and gathered the falling papers. rescuing documents from dirty gutters and car tires. they were singed and smelt of acrid. the sense of an enormous common understanding was powerful. strangers nodded at strangers. a rabbi winked warmly at me. people exchanged strained grins. well it's late. robert and kevin and i ate left-overs. news. news. news. the president gave his canned speech. my house has smoke in it and my friends and i have stinging eyes. we opened a bottle of wine i'd been saving for my arrival. and gave a toast "how wonderful it is. really. to be a new yorker."