The following is a reproduced thread from The Comics Journal message board, in which cartoonists and comics fans reacted to the events of September 11, 2001.

Comics Journal Message Board   Announcements   New Yorkers- Please Reassure Us (Page 1)

This topic is 4 pages long: 1  2  3  4

Author	Topic:   New Yorkers- Please Reassure Us
CDW Junior Member	posted September 12, 2001 09:21 AM          I posted my list as a new topic instead. David Weman [This message has been edited by CDW (edited September 12, 2001).] IP: Logged
D.S. Mills Member	posted September 12, 2001 09:28 AM       (Flaming troll deleted for what should be obvious reasons.) [This message has been edited by Jackass Doik (edited September 12, 2001).] IP: Logged
Adam Berenstain 2001 Member	posted September 12, 2001 09:28 AM          He's not a cartoonist (that I know of) but I know he's a great guy: Is Jim Hanley okay? IP: Logged
Heidi MacDonald Member	posted September 12, 2001 09:56 AM          Yes, Jim Hanley is accounted for. IP: Logged
Rupert Punch Member	posted September 12, 2001 09:57 AM          Question: Has anyone checked if any cartoonists have been killed in the Pentagon? Let's not overlook this important area, folks. Stay safe and give your loved ones an extra hug from me. Rupert IP: Logged
this is bak Member	posted September 12, 2001 10:08 AM          [Proper re-post] I've stated elsewhere (prematurely, perhaps) that it's time for me to start packing and head to Canada. After much thought, I've decided that this kind of action translates, on a personal level, to: "They Win". Like many others who post here and have expressed a similar position, I usually maintain a "love/hate" relationship with America. My brother is 20 years old this year. He's draft age. I have no desire to participate in, or bear witness to, an America at war for obvious personal, selfish reasons. But the kind of action that took place in DC and NYC could have occurred anywhere in America, including (although highly unlikely) here in Athens. Through the magic of television, it was driven home for the first time in my life that total strangers elsewhere in the world pray for and celebrate the violent death of Americans. Wait a minute, I thought, I'm an American. My mother's family--"Garcia", if you must know--is from the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado and have lived there since before Colorado was a territory, long before America was settled, yet I do not have access to the power/class structure here and, while born an American citizen, am often asked "where" I am "from". The answer: "Colorado" rarely satisfies anyone's curiosity. Meanwhile, my grandfather fought in an American infantry division at Normandy. Today, however, I am furious with our government because our foreign policies reek of imperialism, but I am also angry with those responsible for the murder of many who would in all honesty begrudgingly consider me an American citizen. Nevertheless they were individuals I have shared rights and freedoms with as a result of a history beyond my control. I am not a patriot. The fact is, human lives were stolen yesterday and the human liberty that America at least represents is in a very real sense threatened. That means the lives and liberty of myself and those I care about in this country are threatened. I hate the power structure in this country and I hate that I can't afford to see the dentist or the eye doctor on a regular basis. I love the American cultural landscape and the diversity of the human beings who populate it. I hate that many of those people piss and moan about the price of oil at the Shell station and drive off bitching about consumer society en route to McDonald's. Ad infinitum. Impossible as it may be, my sincerest wish is that those responsible for yesterday's malicious terrorism simply surrender themselves, in order that violence against more innocent lives can be avoided. As human beings whose liberty is held in the highest regard--and not as mere Americans--I hope that for once we can be above the actions that have wounded us. Perhaps it is too early, but I also hope that the consequences of what have occurred, and what may yet occur, lead to new foundations for a stronger relationship with the global community and its future. That said, I believe swift and true justice is due. Those who willingly kill and die for their cause ought not achieve such ends at their own hand after today. Anyhow, there are more important things than comic books to concern ourselves with at this moment, and I applaud the decision to cancel and--hopefully reschedule--SPX. By the way: your First Amendment rights are always at stake. Never allow this fact to stop you from doing what it is you do. IP: Logged
CDW Junior Member	posted September 12, 2001 10:21 AM          I made the list so that people worried about a friend didn't have to wade through this whole thread for info; making the list not entirely 'goaddamn worthless'. How is that offensive? IP: Logged
Cher Hemmingway Junior Member	posted September 12, 2001 10:31 AM       Rupert-they say you're supposed to have respect for your elders. Ok, Here's a little respect. Now go fuck yourself and the cat that dragged you in here. IP: Logged
D.S. Mills Member	posted September 12, 2001 10:35 AM       (Flaming troll deleted for what should be obvious reasons.) [This message has been edited by Jackass Doik (edited September 12, 2001).] IP: Logged
CDW Junior Member	posted September 12, 2001 11:12 AM          (This response to flaming troll deleted for what should be obvious reasons.) [This message has been edited by Jackass Doik (edited September 12, 2001).] IP: Logged
Sam Henderson Member	posted September 12, 2001 11:17 AM          Chris Duffy actually lives in Park Slope and not New Jersey. Either way, he should be okay. I have tried calling him but the lines don't seem to be working, which makes sense since he works in the same building as John Terhorst. [This message has been edited by Sam Henderson (edited September 12, 2001).] IP: Logged
Heidi MacDonald Member	posted September 12, 2001 11:19 AM          D.S. Mills, I went to sleep last night not knowing if a friend of mine who works in the Wall St. area was alive or dead.Thanks to this board I know she is alive. A call to her today confirmed that she's hanging in there. So, as poltiely as I can, please stuff it. IP: Logged
CDW Junior Member	posted September 12, 2001 11:20 AM          D.S. Mills. Rereading what i wrote, i realise it was my comment 'Add to it!' that offended you. That came out horribly wrong. I sincerely apoligize. Nothing of this is funny to me, i am devastated. A friend of a friend of mine may have died. You're still being an asshole though. [This message has been edited by CDW (edited September 12, 2001).] IP: Logged
D.S. Mills Member	posted September 12, 2001 11:23 AM       (Flaming troll deleted for what should be obvious reasons.) [This message has been edited by Jackass Doik (edited September 12, 2001).] IP: Logged
D.S. Mills Member	posted September 12, 2001 11:26 AM       (Flaming troll deleted for what should be obvious reasons.) [This message has been edited by Jackass Doik (edited September 12, 2001).] IP: Logged
Sam Henderson Member	posted September 12, 2001 11:39 AM          I got through to Chris Duffy's line. His message said that he will be back at work tomorrow, and acknowledged today's date. That should mean he's okay. IP: Logged
Tom Spurgeon Member	posted September 12, 2001 12:10 PM          Will everyone please can the sniping back and forth? It's really tedious. No, there wasn't really a need for a new thread compiling a list of people from this thread; and yes, it does smack of on-line self-appointed silliness. But there also isn't a need for such obvious criticism of said list. Comics culture lacks proportion about boring things that don't matter, and I think it's probably asking too much to expect members of the comics community to comport themselves calmly during something that is actually sort of freaky. As for the value of having threads like these, it's nice to be able to check in on people with whom I'm friends who had a slight chance to be in the affected area -- like Bart Beaty, whom I suspected might be visiting New York before SPX in a touristy fashion. Believe me, I spent more time yesterday and this morning awaiting and pursuing news on people I know that worked at WTC and work at the Pentagon, but I'm happy to jump over here and hear about the cartoonists. And I never mind first-person anecdotes from witnesses to history, even if they're from 50 blocks away. IP: Logged
sean Junior Member	posted September 12, 2001 12:10 PM       the fact that you people can still find something to argue about on this forum, on this board, after all of the horror of the past day speaks volumes about the caliber of conversation here. i'm disgusted. --sean IP: Logged
Rupert Punch Member	posted September 12, 2001 12:20 PM          Stop flaming, Sean! IP: Logged
CDW Junior Member	posted September 12, 2001 12:33 PM          The list wasn't that necessary, but i wasn't feeling very well. Replying to him wasn't that necessary, but i wasn't feeling very well. The friend of a friend i mentioned turned out to be fine, if anyone cares. David Weman IP: Logged
D.S. Mills Member	posted September 12, 2001 12:37 PM       You are right Tom as always. Sorry- my nerves are shot. My dotty mother takes walks around the WTC area, and disappeaed much of the day. IP: Logged
Dean Haspiel Member	posted September 12, 2001 01:14 PM          Hey folks-- Thanks for your concern. I am physically fine, but my emotional acumen has reached its capacity. This is really tough, folks. I'm glad to know that you are all well. What I witnessed from my Brooklyn window and roof, and the flaming documents that came floating through my window from the collapsing offices of the World Trade Center across the water, and the ash of concrete, debris, and smoke that rained on my neighborhood -- covering it with human detritus and soot, is the most devastating communial disaster experience of my life. I don't think I can ever console the images of hijacked commercial airplanes crashing into the Twin Towers and watching in horror as they crumbled to the NYC streets below with so many lives at stake. Harrowing. IP: Logged
Kalt I. Welly Member	posted September 12, 2001 02:59 PM          I was in town on business in midtown (thank god). Unfortunately two friends of mine and one sister-in-law who work in the area of the blast have not been accounted for as of today. One friend who is alive and well now who worked a block from the blast witnessed eight bodies either jump or blow out from around the eightieth floor of tower one, some of the bodies landing mere feet from him. I am stuck in New York at least until the weekend I guess. I am staying in Tribeca and did some walking around. It smells of war. It looks like Bosnia. Send Joe Sacco at once. And god help us all. IP: Logged
JLRoberson Member	posted September 12, 2001 03:46 PM          Question: Has anyone checked if any cartoonists have been killed in the Pentagon? Let's not overlook this important area, folks. Stay safe and give your loved ones an extra hug from me. Rupert No, but the best friend of a friend of mine in DC did, in that area. They still don't know if he's dead or not. You disgusting piece of shit. What makes you think we only know cartoonists, asswipe? This thread was started to find out which NY friends of ours are OK. Go AWAY. Doik, I really do not like to say this. But: I request Rupert be banned. Please. He is not helping. He is sticking pins in worried people for his own fun. IP: Logged
Jackass Doik Administrator	posted September 12, 2001 03:57 PM          Punch and Roberson are both advised to play nice or else. I'd actually gone so far as to briefly rob D.S. Mills of his posting privileges on this board, but then read his apology and explanation for his behavior (above), and decided on leniency. Instead, i merely deleted his more obnoxious posts. Everyone else is advised to stay on topic and not cloud up this thread with drivel. Failure to do so will be dealt with in the appropriate manner. IP: Logged
JLRoberson Member	posted September 12, 2001 04:14 PM          I'm perfectly willing to play nice, Doik; I felt provoked and disgusted. But duly noted. Sorry about anything I might've said that was inappropriate. I've been getting lots of e-mails from the DC(by which I mean Washington, of course) friend I mentioned above and he's pretty shattered about the friend of his who was there and I've been trying in my insufficient way to reassure him on & off the past 24 hours. It tends to make one, well, a bit tense. [This message has been edited by JLRoberson (edited September 12, 2001).] IP: Logged
Jenny N Junior Member	posted September 12, 2001 04:17 PM          Has anyone heard from Gary Leib or Mike Wartella? IP: Logged
sausage Junior Member	posted September 12, 2001 06:58 PM          Hi, How about Coop? He just posted an invite to a gallery opening last Sat. in NY. Deitch Projects on 76 Grand St. Anyone know his locale? Thanks! IP: Logged
Dirk Deppey Member	posted September 12, 2001 07:32 PM          Evan Forsch was mentioned earlier; has anyone heard anything? Likewise, I'll join the chorus of people asking for news of Ted Rall. IP: Logged
JLRoberson Member	posted September 12, 2001 07:46 PM          Evan's OK. IP: Logged
Tom Galambos Member	posted September 12, 2001 07:50 PM       I realize that they live out in Brooklyn, but what about Alex Robinson and Tony Consiglio? I assume they're ok, but a confirmation would be nice. IP: Logged
JLRoberson Member	posted September 12, 2001 07:55 PM          I happened to notice Alex Robinson posted on Comicon(and he wasn't one of the jingo bastards calling for immediate Islamic genocide, I feel impelled to point out)--he's OK. IP: Logged
John_Terhorst Member	posted September 12, 2001 08:19 PM          Yea the phone thing is weird here more calling in from outside the city than out from it. I was at my office today and the phones there call out fine but noone can call in easly. I am in brooklyn right now and my father cannot call in from Florida. I can call out to him. My apartment in Lower Manhatten has no phone service. Noone in my building has it and I doubt that it will be fixed any time soon. Large sections of lower manhatten have not electricity. More of the skyline down there was lit tonight but many buildings are without electricity. My office is trying to get back to work tomorrow but I have a lot of doubt if it will be easy as the trains are a mess. All the tunnels below the World Trade center are out making many of the west side lines like the A run on the F tracks Path too. N trains which are normaly locals are going express at 34 th and no trains let you out below houston streeet. You must have identification to get to your apartment in lower manhatten. Much of manhatten below canal has been evacuated and all tenants have been relocated. It is very surreal here no hotdog vendors people walking through empty streets. Air force jets flying overhead. There are lots of poliece everywhere at subway stations ect. Lots of poliece barracades They are very nice but it still seems strange. I cancelled my hotel for SPX and the woman asked me how I had planed to come. I said drive she said that I could not get there that way now in DC. I know I can't leave manhatten as all the bridges and tunnels are closed and the Port authorty is locked so I could not even get a bus either. [This message has been edited by John_Terhorst (edited September 12, 2001).] IP: Logged
Evan4 Junior Member	posted September 12, 2001 08:23 PM          Hi Everyone, JLR, I am OK, sort of, but how did you know?? thanks Trevor & Dirk for expressing concern about me. Cheese, even with your mighty imagination, you can't understand how lucky you are not to have been there. I worked on the 89th floor of WTC# 1. Sitting in my windowless cubicle, responding to emails in my usual morning routine when that first plane struck my building - I was almost knocked out of my chair. We didn't know what happened. The front doors of my companies office where blown open. Smoke and fire in the hallway were pouring in. Only five of the twenty people that work at my company were there that early; Lynn, Tom, Sabrina, Francis & me. Lynn charged into the hallway to find us a way out. We tried to follow but, overcome by smoke, went back to the office. A side exit in another room was blocked by debris. Once we'd cleared it, Lynn was outside that side door urging us to get out. Out in the hall we had to crawl on the floor to avoid smoke, we made it to a neighboring office that somehow was unscathed. Once there and for the moment, safe, Lynn told us she'd made it to the nearest emergency stairwell but the door was locked! We were trapped where we were. The lights were on and the phones were working. It wasn't easy to get a phone call out but the phones did work. Someone put on a radio which quickly told us that a plane had crashed into the building. Most of us were calm. I attribute my not panicing to some degree of shock but we all kept reassureing each other and just waited, sure someone would get us out. Then another tremor. The building shook again. Much less then the first. I could only assume that something inside our building had collapsed. But almost instantly the radio reported a second plane crashing into WTC #2. I don't think anyone mentioned what was now obvious; terrorist attack. We must have waited in that office for 20 minutes before someone with a hard hat & a flashlight showed up and yelled for us to come with him. He led us through the black hallway, to a stairwell. We started our descent. The stairs were smokey and filled with water. It flowed down the stairs like a water fall. The going was slow. At least twice we had to leave the stairs we where on, cross a dark, smokey, water and debris filled corridor to find another stairwell. The stairs were full of people, all nervous but everyone courteous and cooperative. Many stated what floor they'd come from. It didn't occur to me until late last night that no one had said any floor higher than ours. Other people from the eighties and seventies, but no one from above 89. Maybe in the 20 minutes we were trapped some higher floor people made it down. I hope so. We passed several people, mostly elderly who had to rest on their way down. About half way down we had to keep stopping to let firemen up. Firemen, in full gear, climbing up thirty or forty flights with at least that many more to go. No one knew it at the time but I can't imagine any of them made it out. Almost an hour later, we were out of the building's stairwell, walking across the concourse then up an escalator to ground level. The emergency people all urged us not to look up at the building and keep moving "quickly." At this point, Sabrina and Francis had made it outside a few minutes ahead of Tom, Lynn and me. We didn't know where they were but were fairly sure they were safe. As we finally got to the street, we didn't pay much attention to the those who urged us to move fast. We just walked down 89 flights of stairs, full of smoke and water. We were safe and going to enjoy it. Less than a block from the towers we heard and felt a tremendous rumbling. Looking up, we actually saw the building implode. The building walls falling in on themselves being swallowed by a tremendous ever expanding cloud of smoke and debris. I didn't look for more than two seconds but that sight is stamped on my brain like a cattle brand. People screamed, "Its falling" "RUN, RUN" and we did. After everything that we'd just been through, this was the first moment of real blind panic. Not looking around where anyone else was going, we all just bolted. I stopped for a second to figure out where to run to. The smoke and debris rushed at me from what seemed like every direction , impossible to outrun that storm of dust, office building pieces and millions and millions of fragmented office stuff. Just before the storm swept over me, I saw a doorway. I got inside, some kind of fast food place. A fireman closed the door behind me. From there I was guided into the lobby of whatever office building I was in. There I was only one of a few dust covered people who'd come in from outside. I didn't see anyone from my office? Did they find shelter? Where the trapped outside? My mind was numb. The rest of the lobby was packed with workers from that building. We all watched and waited as the dust and debris settled outside. I can't tell you how long that took. Ten minutes? Twenty? When visibility returned we had to evacuate that building. Not sure if I was guided by emergency people as to where the buses where but a few blocks away I got on an uptown bound bus. I sat down in a small seat in the middle of the right side of the bus. I looked out the window and I thought I saw Tom. Banging on the window to get that mans attention, he turned and came closer to the bus. Seeing it wasn't Tom, I slumped in my seat disappointed, sure that any hope of finding my friends so quickly was wishfull thinking. "I can't believe it," said someone standing in the aisle. It was Tom. He'd been sitting a few seats behind me and had looked up to see who that crazy guy banging on the window was. We hugged each other, then just spent a minute or two looking at each other in amazement. We sat together and waited, waited for the bus to work its way uptown. I'm not sure now but shortly after the bus started moving I think is when the other building fell. Tom had been outside in the storm of the collapsing building longer then I was. He'd been hit by a few things and was pretty sure he had a concusion. All he wanted to do was get to his wifes office in midtown, then a hospital and then home to New Jersey. We had another 4 or 5 hours before we'd make it out of the city. With greater effort then anticipated we'd found his wife and tried to find a way out of Manhattan. That part of yesterday is a whole other story. This morning people from my office called tell me everyone was accounted for. All five of us that were in the office survived. No one else from our company was caught in an elevator or anywhere else. Incredible. I got out with out a physical scratch but the only way to describe how I feel is Shell Shock. It's like I'm my normal self on the surface but inside I'm trembling non-stop. I keep trying to watch the news. Photos and video footage are everywhere, unavoidable but I can't watch it. I look away or turn the channel. I've been told by several people that talking and writing about this is therapeutic. Thanks for giving me space to do that. IP: Logged
Matthewwave Member	posted September 12, 2001 09:26 PM       Thank *you,* Evan, for telling us all about it. In a weird way, I think it's therapeutic for US, too. I know it is for me. The whole things still is marked with a certain amount of unreality for me. I can't help but feel it's important to know what people really went thru. I'm so sorry, tho, that you had to go thru it all. I'm glad you and all your co-workers made it. Last night and today I've been pretty gripped by an anger, a feeling that I'm *trapped* here in Seattle. I DON'T want to be here. I wanted to be there last night, in NY. I want to be picking up shit and looking for people. I wish I could help with that. If I could afford a plane ticket -- I wouldn't be able to fly into NY yet anyway, right? I was telling a friend tonight after work, I could feel it in my hands, my hands didn't want to be typing or writing today. I wanted to feel the weight of concrete in my hands. I just wanted to try to help. And if you're a boy who's boinked boys in the last two decades, you can't give blood, either. Thanx for posting here, Evan. It helped. Matthew IP: Logged

This topic is 4 pages long: 1  2  3  4  All times are PT (US)

Contact Us | The Comics Journal

Powered by: Ultimate Bulletin Board, Version 5.42
© Infopop Corporation (formerly Madrona Park, Inc.), 1998 - 1999.