The Lexicographer's Rules

"Last night I did the only thing I could think of to help. I made sandwiches. From where I was, there wasn't much to be seen, dirt, rubble and a lot of second hand news. Rescue workers weren't very forthcoming about what they were or were not finding. But having worked since early the day before, they had to eat to keep up their strength. More mobile volunteers broke into local stores taking bread, meat, cheese, flashlights and batteries to keep the coffers stocked. They brought them up to where about ten of us were told to stay with large folding tables and cases of bottled water, Gatorade, juice, coffee, and whatever else anyone dropped off to provide food and drink for the police, firefighters, and other rescue personnel."

—Hoopla. Leslie Harpold lives and works in New York City. "Margaret lied to get herself a slot at the volunteer table. Somehow, she thought she'd be closer to the action. Her husband Ray works at Morgan Stanley and Morgan Stanley is gone now. She wanted to do something proactive until 5am when she could report to the Farkas conference room at NYU hospital and begin waiting to hear concrete news. Every time someone would try to say something comforting to her she would brandish her mustard spreading knife and say 'Shut the fuck up and make your sandwiches.'"'

"JP reports his office, across the street from mine, is still open because the partners there say they 'never close.'"

—Environy. From a weblog about living in New York City. "CSD reports that a niece of hers was in the air over Chicago when all flights were grounded and that the flight crew reported to passengers that a national security incident had taken place, forcing all aircraft to land, but the crew would not say what the incident was�—maybe they didn't know�—causing the wildest and worst speculation amongst passengers."'

"In the evening, on the way home, I stopped at the Gap at the World Trade Center because I really needed a new t-shirt. I rifled through a pile of them. I went into the fitting room and tried on several. And I finally wound up buying one. That receipt at the top of this entry is my souvenir. This is kind of weird, but I sort of feel like I saved the t-shirt from a horrible experience. I know, that sounds really bizarre."

—Tinmanic. An excerpt from a long, personal account of yesterday's events. The writer lives in New Jersey, across from the southern tip of Manhattan.'

"I work at a news agency about a block and a half from the White House. I got out of my car a few minutes ago just as the radio news was beginning to report what they say are possibly fires and evacuations at the White House and at the Pentagon. There were crowds of people coming out of Lafayette Park, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, and I've been hearing fire truck sirens outside for about ten minutes now. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't feeling scared right now. And I'm trying not to think about the people on that plane, if indeed there was a hijacking... sigh. A black mood inside my head. Probably inside of a lot of heads."

—Sapphire Blue. Michelle Kinsey-Clinton lives and works for a news agency in Washington DC. "The entire area here around the White House has been locked down. I can't leave; I can't even go outside. I tried it, and there's yellow tape across the intersections I can see, and uniformed men with guns walking around telling people to stay indoors. No one seems to have any idea how long this will last."'

"The events of yesterday are not over. We are a country who is seeking strong leadership and direction, and we have yet to see it. A four-minute poorly-written speech delivered nearly twelve hours after events began is clearly not enough to sway my opinion of President Bush. I hope to see Bush inform the country today of his administration's plans on how we, as a country, are going to deal with this tragedy. I hope to hear that our intelligence community has learned of who is responsible. And I hope that we take swift and serious action in response to the thousands of innocent people who needlessly died. Anything less will be seen as a failure of Presidential duties."

—Camworld. Cameron Barrett lives and works in New York City.