Words, Words, Words


Sunday, September 16, 2001

A bird's-eye view of the damage area:

before | after | a key to the damaged/destroyed buildings
posted by Alison A. 9/16/2001 11:58:15 AM| splink!


Friday, September 14, 2001

These are probably the last photos taken of the inside of the World Trade Center before it collapsed. The photographer snapped these with what looks like a Nikon 880 camera while fleeing the building. [found via kottke.org]
posted by Alison A. 9/14/2001 01:48:42 PM| splink!


Thursday, September 13, 2001

One of the computer science instructors I work with, Alice, lives just a few blocks from the Pentagon. She was at the university when the crash in DC happened. After coming home to see her apartment still intact she took some awesome pictures from her roof.
posted by Alison A. 9/13/2001 10:16:18 PM| splink!

From shellen.com:
posted by Alison A. 9/13/2001 10:09:07 PM| splink!


Wednesday, September 12, 2001

It was a disaster so big that it could be seen from space. (#1, #2)
posted by Alison A. 9/12/2001 07:50:39 PM| splink!

On the World Trade Center Buildings (1977-2001):

I remember going to the top of the World Trade Center Buildings during my first trip to New York. For those of you who never had a chance to catch that famous view or for those who just want to remember, there are virtual tours of the buildings at newyork.com. Here is another 360 degree tour at travelape.com.

There is also an exhibit at the Great Buildings Online web page which includes a floor plan and an architectural overview.
posted by Alison A. 9/12/2001 10:50:47 AM| splink!

Feel helpless just watching the news? Want to aid the recovery effort? Send money via paypal or amazon for disaster relief. Or go to your nearest hospital and donate blood. Call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE to schedule an appointment or find a clinic that is taking walk-ins.
posted by Alison A. 9/12/2001 09:37:02 AM| splink!


Tuesday, September 11, 2001

There is a great list of first-hand weblog accounts over at kottke.org.
posted by Alison A. 9/11/2001 09:34:51 PM| splink!

Reuters has some astonishing photos over at yahoo. Here are the most interesting:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
posted by Alison A. 9/11/2001 07:36:01 PM| splink!

From the News:

Apparently there are more than 100 dead at the Pentagon. I'm not sure whether that includes the people on American Airlines flight 77 or not. It is very doubtful that anyone trapped within the building is still alive due to the fact that the flames were so hot and burned for so long. 9 hours after the plane crashed into the building, firefighters are still trying to extinguish flames on the roof.

What I can see:

From the roof of JBKO hall you can still see smoke pouring out of the Pentagon, although it isn't as thick as it was earlier. Also, there have been no bombs set off at the Capitol, White House, or the State Department. I walked down to the State Department building earlier and I saw no smoke or evidence of an explosion. So, it's my guess that the rumor of a car bomb in the vicinity is false.

It kind of feels like we're in a war zone right now. Too many people around here had family or friends in the WTC, Pentagon, or on one of the planes. For a while we thought that there was another plane headed to the White House this morning. But now that we've had a chance to watch the news and see that there's nothing else headed this way we've stopped watching the skies for another hijacked plane.
posted by Alison A. 9/11/2001 06:27:14 PM| splink!

From the Washington Post: U.S. Coddled No More
posted by Alison A. 9/11/2001 05:58:26 PM| splink!

A frightening time lapse movie of the collapse of the World Trade Centers.
posted by Alison A. 9/11/2001 05:55:25 PM| splink!

As I write this, I am sitting in the green grass across from the United Unions building on New York Avenue in Washington DC. I am only a block from the White House. There are currently two layers of security around the white house from what I can see. There is an outer layer has secret service and other police officers to turn back people and cars, and an inner on complete with road blocks.

Since air traffic has been stopped, it has been quieter than usual. The endless string of planes flying into national airport has disappeared. Occasionally, you can hear a rumbling overhead, probably fighter jets circling the city.

Traffic in DC is at a stand still. Quite a few federal workers have given up on driving home. You can see them mingling with the homeless people and listening to transistor radios in the parks that sprinkle the area from the Watergate Complex to the White House. Some people look scared, but most look pretty calm, like this happens every lunch hour.

There are lots of people standing around, people talking, people smoking cigarettes. This is something you never see in DC, a place where people never seem to get where they're going fast enough. But with the bridges to Virginia blocked and the Metro skipping some stops, we all suddenly have time to stand around and listen.

The secret service seems to be eyeing me nervously, they've moved the security perimeter beyond where I'm sitting, so I think I'll go home and post this.
posted by Alison A. 9/11/2001 02:15:12 PM| splink!

A rumor confirmed:

According to the current issue of the GW Hatchet, Student Association President Roger Kapoor was not consulted by the GW administration prior to deciding to close the university for the WB/IMF protests. This is contrary to earlier remarks made by GWU President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg during an online interview with the Washington Post.

From the horse's mouth:

Student Association President Roger Kapoor said GW failed to consult the SA in the decision to close.

"We are very upset," Kapoor said Sunday. "After conversations with Trachtenberg’s office Friday, we were told that we would be informed about decisions like this in the future.

posted by Alison A. 9/11/2001 12:10:50 AM| splink!

If you are directly affected by the GW closing and would like to lend a hand to filing an injunction to stop dorm closings, please send your account to ksills@law.gwu.edu.

I'm not involved with the protests or GWAC, so if you'd like to know what the GW Action Coalition is up to, email gwgwac@yahoo.com
posted by Alison A. 9/11/2001 12:00:39 AM| splink!


Friday, September 07, 2001

The GWU shutdown has made the front page of the Washington Post. There was also a live chat with GW University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg in which he defended his position to shut down the university.

four facts and one rumor:

• Interest free emergency loans have been made available to students. However, they most be paid back by December 22nd. Scraping up $600 dollars to pay back sudden travel expenses will be quite difficult for students already paying for books and food.
  
• Many students have jobs off campus that they are still expected to show up for despite a campus closing. Just because life stops at GW doesn't mean that it stops everywhere in DC.
  
• President Trachtenberg has claimed that "the President of the student association was consulted during the planning period..." According to my sources, Student Association President Roger Kapoor maintains that he was never contacted over this issue.
  
• In the April 2000 demonstrations protesters were not housed at GW. In fact, students were forbidden all non-GW guests and forced to show a student ID in order to enter any campus building.
  
• While the university claims to be neutral on the issue on globalization, the police will be using GW buildings for logisitcal purposes. To quote my roommate "They're letting the cops and not the students use university facilities." To the university's credit, they declined the IMF/WB a chance to hold events at GW.
  

posted by Alison A. 9/7/2001 07:22:29 PM| splink!


Thursday, September 06, 2001

There is some sh** going down on campus. Everyone affiliated with GW, student, faculty and staff, received two emails (#1, #2) sometime today stating the precautions that will be taken for the upcoming World Bank/IMF protests. Basically, the emails say that from September 27 until October 2, 2001 the university will be closed. This also means that students living in residence halls will be kicked out of housing for that period of time. Thus, students, no matter what the financial obligation, must find alternative housing or transportation home. The university will also be providing limited accommodations for some students, but priority will be given to "students with mobility disabilities, international students, students with extraordinary financial need (verified by the office of Student Financial Assistance) and students who live more than 600 miles away from campus." For the lucky few, the university has asked professors to take in students for the weekend. Unfortunately, it will be unlikely that they will be able to find a place for everyone.

From the university's perspective, I can see that they are trying to cover all of their legal bases. There is even a rumor that DC Police asked the university to shut down completely. With the recent incidents in Genoa, I can understand why they are nervous. However, many campus buildings are far removed from the protest centers. Having lived in a residence hall directly across from a World Bank building during the 2000 demonstrations, I think it might be a good idea to close the three residence that are in the direct vicinity of the WB and IMF buildings. However, It seems absurd to shut down the all dorms, even the ones that are six or more blocks removed.

For students, the response has been swift. There were heated discussions in Kogan plaza just hours after the notice was sent out. Lawyers have been called, lawsuits discussed, and press conferences scheduled (there will be one tomorrow at 12:30 in Kogan Plaza). A lot of this was the doing of the GW activist community. When they are particularly pissed off, they get a lot done in a short time. They, as well as quite a few other GW students have a right to be mad. A lot of us decided to go to school here for the chance to see what is going on in the world from close up.

Personally, I don't particularly agree with what most of the protesters are saying, but I was looking forward for a chance to witness the whole thing. During the April 2000 demonstrations, I had the chance to take some awesome photographs just by walking a few blocks down the street. At that time we expected tear gas, tanks, and national guardsmen. Instead, there was a largely peaceful protest and only one tear gas canister "accidentally" released. I guess it’s natural for bureaucrats to be overly cautious, they'll talk about our best interests and our safety. And despite advertising GWU as in "the center of it all," I'm sure they want the students to forget about that as soon as possible.
posted by Alison A. 9/6/2001 10:48:24 PM| splink!


Tuesday, September 04, 2001

I've been reading Instapundit for a few weeks now. Glenn Reynolds, a law professor from the University of Tennessee, maintains this weblog. While I don't always agree with Mr. Reynolds (I've actually been quoted in his weblog as not agreeing with him), he always has some great commentary on issues that might not be getting the attention they deserve. There are also at least a dozen or so entries added each day, so it this site never lets you down for lack of content. Furthermore, he is a law professor who reads slashdot, enough said.
posted by Alison A. 9/4/2001 12:14:36 AM| splink!

It seems like I'm not the only one who has been absent from the Internet for a while.

It's also quite likely that my neglect of this weblog won't be ending anytime soon; between teaching and my nice mix of graduate and undergraduate courses, this semester looks like a real doozy. On the bright side, I will be adding a lot of Java applets, including ones that will learn if you feel like teaching them. I've made a spare Java page that will gain content as the semester moves on. I'm also working on a new design; this chopstick thing is getting kind of old.
posted by Alison A. 9/4/2001 12:00:02 AM| splink!


Tuesday, August 21, 2001

Alison had the last day of one of her jobs on Monday. She is glad because it was a job that was eating her soul and making her very cynical.

Today she started training for her new job as a teaching assistant for computer science. At first she told herself that she should be very scared because she is probably too young to teach other college aged people. But it was nothing that she really perceived; just something she thought she should feel. But when she had her first day of training and she heard herself addressed as a graduate student, which she is not, she felt real fear churning the complimentary continental breakfast in her stomach. She felt the actual responsibility for the first time and being the only undergraduate in a sea of advanced degree holders made her feel like a twelve-year-old who has been appointed to the city council. Tomorrow she will give a short presentation on case studies and hope that she does not reveal too much inexperience for her position.
posted by Alison A. 8/21/2001 09:25:16 PM| splink!

Today Alison finished a book from the second wave feminist era. It had taken her a long time to read because she would have to pause every few minutes to digest the pages like a meal. Half of it she dismissed as whining or narrow-mindedness, but she had to think carefully about the rest and compare it within the context of her life experience.

When she finished with her book it was 7:00 and for the first time in months she craved something heavy and greasy. There were few fast food restaurants in the area except for a McDonalds built by the White House for tourists and their kids. Its the one she thinks of as the 'Bill Clinton McDonalds' because it was the one the former president used to jog to when he wanted something unhealthy; that thought somewhat seemed to legitimize the trip even though she had a kitchen full of food. She bought her meal and stuffed it in her messenger bag as soon as it was handed to her so she could be left alone by the man looking for handouts by the door. She has developed more of a city dweller's thick skin, but there are still times when she feels guilty for walking around with food in front of hungry people, but after being yelled at a few times for offering people food instead of change, she keeps more to herself. The man at the door doesn't even look at her.

But other people stare at her, probably because she looks young and is walking around alone after business hours in DC. Or maybe there are just a lot of people with eye problems in her city. This is something that she has just noticed.

When she gets back home she stuffs herself with fries, watches the sun set over the Watergate Complex and downloads the SNL sketch of Clinton at McDonalds.
posted by Alison A. 8/21/2001 09:06:49 PM| splink!


Sunday, August 19, 2001

Miss Alison A. has now moved out of a crowded 3-person efficiency and into her housing for the academic year. The sassy college junior now resides in a full sized apartment with one roommate and has been heard several times referring to her new abode as her 'palace of awsomeness.' Now housed in her very own room with her very own door she will never again have to sit through reruns of Beverly Hills 90210 while she is programming. She also expresses relief at escaping a leering, life sized cardboard cut-out of Austin Powers who would inexplicably appear at the foot of her bed every morning and occasionally utter nonsense phrases such as 'Bring on the sexy stews!'

Brimming with enthusiasm over her improved circumstances, Miss A. is hopeful that her living conditions will continue to be so fortunate.
posted by Alison A. 8/19/2001 03:34:22 PM| splink!

For the rest of the month entires in this weblog will be written in the third person.
posted by Alison A. 8/19/2001 03:20:46 PM| splink!

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