Oxford Responds
On the pavement outside the apartment I was staying in during my visit to New York last month, some children were selling lemonade for a dollar a cup. Beside them, a large banner read eProceeds to go Towards the Victims of the World Trade Center Crisis'.
The difference was that this crisis had just taken place before my very eyes the previous morning. I clearly saw the first plane descend from my vantage point on the George Washington Bridge. It was at about 900 feet when it passed over my head as it steered its course precisely down the eastern bank of the Hudson River. The wings wobbled slightly just before the plane reached its target, then it vanished instantly into a huge orange ball of fire which billowed outwards before settling into a grey spiral of smoke which would linger for days.
When the second plane arrived twenty minutes later, curving around the southern tip of the island before crashing similarly into the second tower, the perceived level of emergency escalated. As news of the other crashes at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania was broadcast, the scale of the atrocities was becoming apparent. Scare stories of eight or nine other aircraft heading for New York were spread, sending people rushing to their windows every time a police helicopter passed overhead.
The next day, the panic had receded and the sombre patterns of grief were unfolding around the city. There was no escaping the aftermath of the tragedy. Flowers were piled up outside the city's fire departments, cars with no-one to drive them home were left overnight at commuting stations, and desperate flyers looking for information about missing people in the World Trade Centre were already appearing on lampposts and billboards.
Over the next few days the tension on the streets was not eased, there were over ninety bomb scares in the two days after the attacks. A bad storm raged on Thursday night and it was easy to imagine the crushed remains of those lying in the rubble a few miles downtown being drenched by the rain.
Disasters of the magnitude of the attacks on the USA on the 11th September are mercifully rare, but when they do happen they disturb almost every aspect of the human psyche.
JENNA MCRAE IS now attempting to concentrate on her degree after being stranded in New York for ten days after the September 11th tragedy.
The third year art student from St Edmund Hall was in New York as part of an art visit to research for her Fine Art dissertation. She was caught in the subway on 34th Street when the planes hit.
"The lights had gone out, and the train stood there for ages with the doors still closed. I thought the train had broken down, I was only scared about being mugged while the lights were out" she says.
Jenna still has trouble talking about the day without getting upset, and recounted how she felt when the news of what had happened reached her.
"From my 6th floor room I could see the Towers in front of my own eyes, and simultaneously I could see the people hurling themselves out of the windows on the TV. It was so surreal. I saw the Manhattan skyline collapse before my eyes. I just cried."
The atmosphere at the time was one of muted fear, she explained.
"Aircraft began flying over us - it was so loud that you couldn't tell which direction it was coming from. I was frightened, and I wanted to go home. People were either silent or crying, I don't think anyone spoke. We had all witnessed this event together, live before our eyes."
She told how she sorted out a rotation system to use the phone in her hotel, forming a queue with other weary tourists, frantically trying to contact home. "I eventually got through to home about twelve hours later. Mum was in hysterics," she said.
The aftermath of Ground Zero in the city still wears on her senses. "The air outside was very mucky, it made your eyes and throat sting, and the smell was disgusting. "It was difficult to ignore the noise, the sirens, the smell, and the thousands of emissing persons' posters covering walls, shopfronts and subways."
Now she is home, though, she feels a part of her has been left behind among the bond of sympathy that ran through the city. "It's strange. Sometimes I felt like I was completely alone because I was so homesick. But everyone was in this together, and that was very comforting."
Jenna is still traumatised by the episode and feels it has changed her life: "I had many things I wanted to achieve this summer; I wanted to earn lots of money, go away, do lots of work in preparation for my third year. Unfortunately, I wasn't expecting to be stuck there for ten extra days, or present at the outbreak of World War Three. And I'll be returning to University completely unprepared for my third year."
Now she is in Oxford, she plans to concentrate on her degree, but she is finding it difficult. "I feel a bit unprepared to go back to university. It has been a little difficult to concentrate on reading and doing work, but my tutors have been great, they have been emailing, telling me not to worry, so I'm looking forward to starting the third year."
The normality of life in Oxford worries her as well as comforts her though. "It's hard being back when people can't really imagine what it was like to be there," she said.
REPRESENTATIVES OF OXFORD colleges gathered on Monday to reflect on the events of September 11th. The group, consisting largely of JCR and MCR presidents, crowded into the entrance hall of the newly opened Rothermere American Institute. They heard a short speech from St Edmund Hall JCR President, Alex Grouet, which was followed by a solemn silence and the laying of wreaths. The ceremony was also attended by the Warden of Rhodes House, Dr John Rowett, and the Director of the Institute, Alan Ryan, who noted the open mindedness of the participants.
In his speech Alex Grouet discussed the situation beyond the attacks - "We regret the international situation, which may have caused such an event, as well as the situation the event itself has created." He also urged those gathered not to confuse suspected Muslim terrorists with the Muslim community as a whole, adding that "we must make a special effort to ensure that our Muslim students feel at home, and safe, at Oxford University."
4th Oct 2001