IdentityPortfolio9/11 Identity Portfolio. By: Carl Z

Brian Zahn

I am Carl Zahn and my dad is Brian Zahn, he is the one I wrote my story about.

"Terror Attacks Hit U.S." CNN. Cable News Network, 11 Sept. 2001. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <http://edition.cnn.com/2001/US/09/11/ worldtrade.crash/story.html>.

Bodden, Valerie. Days of Change: The 9/11 Terror Attacks. Mankato, Minn: Creative Education, 2008. Print.

Bibliography

Working on 9/11

My name is Brian Zahn. I work for a company called Lear Corporation. We make car seats and sell them to automobile companies. My story starts at 8:46am on September 11th, 2001, when I was sitting in a meeting talking about a new seat being made and sold to an automobile company the fol-lowing week.

! I see a person outside of the meeting room window, and I just can’t put a name to his face. He must have decided that whatever he had to say was more important then what was going on in the meeting. He walked into the meeting trying not to disturb our conversation. “We have a problem,” Jake Scholten whispers to me, with sweat beading on his forehead. ! I must have a confused look on my face as people start to ask, “What is going on?”! “I don’t know, but I’m going to step outside and find out. You guys keep talking, I’ll be right back.” I stand up, out of my seat, and start to walking to the door. I am normally calm when I hear there is a problem, well some-what, but now there is just this feeling of panic in the air. I tug the door and the cold metal handle makes me shivers. I am still trying to find out what in the world is going on. I walk toward a group of people, and by the expres-sions on their faces I new there was something terribly wrong. I look up to a small T.V hanging on the wall.! “Here we have a live video of the World Trade Center in New York. As you can see on the right, there is the North Tower, and on the left is the South Tower. You can obviously see the North Tower is burning but the South Tower seems to be, Oh my God. It seems to be a plane that just crashed into the South Tower. Oh my, I can’t believe my eyes! I have just in that firefighters and policemen are already at the scene and people are flooding the streets trying to get out of the World Trade Center and the other buildings surrounding it,” The news caster announced. The distinct smell of fear from my co-workers makes my heart beat even faster.

! I can not believe my eyes, I do not know what to think. Just then the taste of fear found it’s way into my mouth. What should I do, what can I do?

I ask myself. I do not think I can do anything, I do not think anyone can do anything to stop this. People are crying and calling family and friends to make sure they are okay. I walk back into the meeting room and tell every-one what was going on, I tell them to calm down even though I can’t even calm down. After I get everyone out of the room I start to call my family. I start to type in my wife’s number, but she calls me before I could finish.! “Are you okay?” I ask her! “Everything is fine, you?” She replies. I proceed to tell her what hap-pened - when I found out about the attack. How I was in a meeting. How everyone started watching the T.V. She started to explain how her best friend called her and told her about what happened. “Should I pick up Roger from school?” she asked.! “No. It’s not like there’s going to be a plane coming to Plymouth, Michi-gan just to attack a school,” I told her.! “Alright, I’ll stay here. Stay safe!” she demanded! “I love you! Bye.”I hung up, and thought to myself, what will happen next?

Interview

Q: What happened on 9/11 2001in new york city?A: Airplanes piloted by terrorist crashed into the world trade center buildings in new york.Q: How did you find out?A: I was in a meeting in one of the plants in elsie michigan, and someone came into the meeting and told me that there was a problem, someone had turned on the T.V and I watched the T.V. saw the trade center on fire and saw the video of the second plane hitting the south tower. Q: Where you contacted or did you contact anyone after this event?A: Called my mom or kelly, Called my parents, also contacted some of the people I worked with.Q: Do you remember any of the conversations you had? A: There were concerns about other skyscrapers being hit and one of my co-works had a wife that worked in the renaissance building and he wanted her to get out of the building and go home.Q: Do you remember talking to your parents?A: I talked to my parents to make sure they were okQ: Did you have any worriesA: We all were far away from home and thought there might be a gas shortage so people had to get gas right away.Q: When you were watching the T.V what did you feelA: I was horrified, speechless with emotion.

Q: Did you know anyone in the trade center at that time?A: No didn’t know anyone personally.Q: Would you every have a reason to be in new york/ trade center.A: No there was no reason for me to be in new york.Q: Do you have any thoughts on why the terrorists did this ever since A: It was a important icon for America and also the tallest building. It was a land mark for the united states.Q: Was there any other attacks by the same terrorists?A: There were four planes two for the world trade center and one for the pentagon and the fourth one crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.Q: Does the person that comes into the meeting only tell you there is a problem?A: Only told me because I was running the meeting.Q: Did you tell everyone else, after you found out?A: I wen’t back stopped the meeting and I told them what was going on.Q: When the person told you what were your thoughts?A: I had no idea what was going on.Q: Do you remember who the person was that came into the room?A: Don’t remember their name.Q: Do you remember what the meeting was about?A: There was a new product that had just been launched and it was about that.Q: Do you have any thoughts on this topic or anything that I could add that I did not ask already?A: I think it was a very big tragedy and people didn’t know what to do after 9/11. Also the world was changing.

Reflection

1. How has working on this project helped you learn about your family’s history and given you a better sense of your identity?

This project helped me learn about my family and my family’s history, for example when I asked my family if they had anything historical and that would be a good topic, I got many different answers somethings that I learned I was not able to use for my historical narrative. This changed me in a good way, for example before I asked/interviewed my dad I did not know a lot about 9/11 and how there was other planes that crashed in different places.

2. Why do you think doing a project like this is important?

I think that it is important to learn about your family’s history and what you family members have lived through.

3. What part of this project did you enjoy the most? Why?

I enjoyed the interviewing part of this project the most because I got to learn about were I come from and what my family members have lived through.

4. What specific challenges did you face during this project and how did you over come them?

I faced some challenges during the writing of this at first I did not fully understand “show and not tell” and I did have challenges on keeping it showing and not telling.

5. What advice would you give future students as they begin this project?

When they begin make sure to get a solid interview and get even more information needed just in case you might need it.

Research Notes

9/11-• September 11th, 2001• Two planes one per tower• Many people running from the towers• All over the news• Many people were hurt and killed• There were more planes that hit in different places• There was a plane that hit the pentagon and one plane was going to the white house