Terror Hits Home - September 11, 2001

There really are no words to describe the mood in Washington on the morning of Tuesday, September 11th. I was on my way to work in the District when the World Trade Center tower in New York was hit by a plane. Soon I could actually see the smoke rising from the Pentagon, the result of a second attack by terrorists on American soil this day.

Later, the full extent of the terror became clear, as news reports revealed that another plane had hit the landmark towers in Manhattan, then that the first damaged tower had fallen... then that the second tower had also collapsed. In one horrific hour, the skyline of our nation's greatest city, along with a portion of the very heart of our nation's defense and security, had been reduced to mere dust.

At Children's Hospital, all managers and directors were briefed on details, as the institution went into a "mass casualty phase" and prepared for the worse, although all Pentagon burn victims had been adults so far and were taken to nearby Washington Hospital Center. Then the reality of the attack hit home when we were told, amidst the chaos and escalating terrorism, that institutions like hospitals, like even ours, could actually be considered targets to the kinds of people behind this sort of thing.

Eventually they let all non-essential personnel go home. However, getting home to Baltimore was another story. In fear of a land transportation attack, Union Station was closed to trains, eliminating my regular MARC commuter train. Luckily, MARC provided buses to Camden Yards... But the mood of confusion and despair was evident there downtown. Harborplace and other places had closed early. The Orioles game had been cancelled, as with all other major league games. As I got on a nearly empty bus at 5 p.m., it was clear that many people had been allowed to leave for home early too, even in Baltimore.

Now, after watching the headlines and the video of the unprecedented disasters, it's still hard to comprehend -- especially thinking about the World Trade Center. How such a symbol of United States commerce and power, not to mention the thousands of innocent lives lost, could be crumbled so easily and so quickly like this is devastating to all of us, in every way.

But life goes on, as we become stronger, both in our defense against such horror, and in our resolve to overcome this fear and attack on the freedom we now cherish so much more.

A New Year... A New Job!

Things happen quickly in fast-paced big cities like Baltimore and Washington.



Unlike the tedious turmoil regarding the selection of our nation's president, my new job in the nation's capital seemed to come about too quickly. One day I'm quietly sitting in my office at the Baltimore Museum of Industry, when I get a call - quite out of the blue - from Children's Hospital (Children's National Medical Center) in D.C. Even the person who called me was almost embarrassed by the fact that she was cold-calling someone forty miles away about a job opening. However, the more I listened, the more I agreed with her that it was at least worth the trip to explore the possibility. Now, a few weeks later, I'm writing part of this page of my journal as I travel on the MARC train on my way back home to the Monumental City from my first day at my new job in THE city of monuments.



So, the Baltimore Museum of Industry is now without a Director of Development & Marketing, while Children's National Medical Center has a new Grants Manager. I've left behind my harbor view and the several hats I was wearing, but I now work as "the writer" and part of an entire department of about twenty people who probably do not know that in a different dimension, at some smaller non-profit organization, they could all be melded into one person, much like I was just a few weeks ago. Plus, now there's the excitement of working in Washington, a true metropolis, with a wonderful urban core of stores, restaurants, nightlife.... The type of city I sometimes proclaim, pretend, portend my hometown of Baltimore to be. But there is more and more cohesion between these two cities these days, as evidenced by the recent joint bid for the Olympics, as well as the number of people I see commuting back and forth.



My thanks to everyone back in Baltimore at the Museum who helped to add two very eventful and meaningful years to my career. And thanks again for the gift of the Handspring Visor, which I am using to write this entry. How appropriate that I use the latest technology for this too... Since the good people at Children's Hospital found me electronically, through my web page.



(Yes, those weekends of teaching myself HTML and web graphics were indeed worth it after all! )