Creative Writing Essay

9/11: Survivors and Their Stories Strozier, Charles B. Until the Fires Stopped Burning. New York: Columbia University Press,2011. Print. This book is writing by Charles Strozier. Mr. Strozier is a professor and psychoanalyst from New York. He witnessed first-hand the attacks of September 11, 2001. He was in his office at Greenwich Village at the time of the attacks, there the debris was so bad that his wife, a severe asthma victim, was suffering really bad that she nearly died. He stood there and saw the towers burn and fall and that is when he begins to feel that he had a mission to study this disaster.
In Until the Fires Stopped Burning, Strozier tells the New York story of the World Trade Center disaster. He interviews survivors and witnesses from the day of the attacks to the day the fires stopped burning at Ground Zero, using a method drawn from familiar traditions in qualitative research. Strozier feels as though these accounts of what happened on that day are the best history possible. His story, told through the survivors, however, is an attempt to explain where the world we live in came from.
The respondent’s stories tell why there have been two wars in the wake of the attacks, serious consequences in terms of domestic surveillance, and culture fears after 9/11. Strozier breaks the first four chapters of this book into the zones of sadness. Zone one is accounts from survivors that were in the towers to about Chambers Street. The people in this zone witnessed death directly; they left nothing to the imagination. Henry, one of Strozier’s respondents says “There were pieces of bodies on West Street. ” Zones two through four range from people that saw the disaster unfold but could not see people to those watching on television.

This source will provide me with the key information I need to create my characters accounts of what he/she saw, heard, and went through on that tragic day on September 11th. Using the interviews of the survivors that Strozier did in this book I can build my characters survivor story. This book is my inspiration piece since I do not have an inspiration essay from the Reader. Jordan, Hannah. “Heart Disease among Adults Exposed to the September 11, 2001 World TradeCenter Disaster: Results from the World Trade Center Health Registry. ” PreventiveMedicine 53. 6 (1 Dec. 2011): 370-376. Elsevier.
Web. 15 Oct. 2012 In this article Jordan writes about a study done on 39,324 9//11 survivors. Thesesurvivors volunteered for the Health Registry that prospectively monitors the health ofpersons exposed to the 9/11 disaster for two to six years after the disaster. Theobjective of this study was to determine whether or not 9/11 related exposures isassociated with heart disease and post-traumatic stress disorder. Results of the study werethat 1162 HD cases (381 women, 781 men) were identified. In the women, that wereexposed to intense dust clouds shows to be significantly associated with HD.
Injury on9/11 was significantly associated with HD inwomen and in men. Participants with PTSDat enrollment had an elevated HD risk. A study of cardiac function was also done amongpolice officers7–8 years after 9/11, which found increased left ventricular dysfunction aswell as isolated right ventricular diastolic dysfunction. This article is helpful because it will help me link the trauma that my characterhas been through on 9/11 with an outcome such as heart disease. Ganzel, Barbara, Casey, B. J, Glover, Gary. “The Aftermath of 9/11” Emotion 7. 2 (2007): 227238.
PsycARTICLES. Web. 16 Oct. 2012 In this article the authors used functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess the impact of proximity to the disaster of September 11, 2001, on amygdala function in 22 healthy adults. More than three years after the terrorist attacks, bilateral amygdala activity in response to viewing fearful faces compared to calm ones was higher in people who were within 1. 5 miles of the World Trade Center on 9/11. There have been a number of neuroimaging studies examining brain function and structure in individuals with PTSD.
The research they conducted provided substantial evidence for long-term central nervous system effects of trauma exposure that is accompanied by PTSD. Some of the studies found enhanced amygdala activation in response to a variety of negative stimuli. They also looked at if trauma exposure is a potent environmental risk factor that predicts immediate and lifetime increases in a diverse array of mental health disorders including anxiety and depression. In cases that the authors found that trauma exposure was severe, rates of mortality and chronic illness far exceed the norm later in life, and mean life expectancy substantially decreased.
Results from an epidemiological study of 5,877 people within the United States found that more than 50% of women and 60% of men experienced at least one trauma in their lifetime, and more than a quarter of the sample experienced two or more traumas. The authors tested this work by re-experiencing which include reinstatement of memories of the traumatic event. These data suggest the hypothesis made at the beginning of the study that the amygdala and closely related structures are persistently more reactive after trauma exposure in healthy adults and that these effects will be observable using mild, standardized stressors.
This article along with the article written by Hannah Jordan will help me make an outcome for my character Mark. Due to the trauma the he has been through the studies show that he will almost likely be diagnosed with PTSD. Dryden- Edwards, Roxanne. “Posttraumatic Stress Disorder” Psychiatric Services. 63. 5 (2012):512. Highwire Press Free. Web. 16 Oct. 2012 This article by medical doctor, Roxanne Dryden- Edward, is about the signs and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder.
The three groups of symptom criteria that are required to assign the diagnosis of PTSD are recurrent re-experiencing of the trauma, avoidance to the point of having a phobia of places, people, and experiences that remind the sufferer of the trauma or a general numbing of emotional responsiveness, and chronic physical signs of hyper arousal, including sleep problems, trouble concentrating, irritability, anger, poor concentration, blackouts or difficulty remembering things, increased tendency and reaction to being startled, and hyper vigilance to threat.
According to Edwards the emotional numbing of PTSD may present as a lack of interest in activities that used to be enjoyed, emotional deadness, distancing oneself from people, and/or a sense of a foreshortened future. Adults need at least one re-experiencing symptom, three avoidance/numbing symptoms, and two hyper arousal symptoms for at least one month and must cause significant distress or functional impairment in order for the diagnosis of PTSD. When symptoms have been present for less than one month, a diagnosis of acute stress disorder (ASD) can be made.
But in children, re-experiencing the trauma may occur through repeated play that has trauma-related themes instead of or in addition to memories, and distressing dreams may have more general content rather than of the traumatic event itself. This article will help me describe Mark’s symptoms. It explains in detail the symptoms to look for after you have gone through a great trauma. “Company History”. Morgan Stanley. 2010. Web. 16 Oct. 2012. http://www. morganstanley. com/about/company/timeline/index. tml#/year/2001 This web site is contains all the information about the Morgan Stanley company The timeline shows the major events that have happened from the time thecompany opened in 1934 to 2010. The company history part of the website sites that since its founding in 1935, Morgan Stanley and its people have helped redefine the meaning of financial services. The firm has continually broken new ground in advising our clients on strategic transactions, in pioneering the global expansion of finance and capital markets, and in providing new opportunities for individual and institutional investors.
This website will provide me with the information to show Marks working conditions and the background of this job, as well as the natural of his work. Word count: 1,321 9/11: Survivors Story It is early on Tuesday morning; Mark rolls over to turn off his alarm and kisses his lovely wife, Rachael. “Good Morning Honey. ” He says in a soft voice. She rolls over and says good morning. Mark gets up to get in the shower. Meanwhile, Rachael goes to make him breakfast. Mark comes downstairs and joins his wife in the kitchen. They sat down at the table. Mark reads the stocks for the day, while Rachael reads the news.
She reads that a robbery had taken place the night before right in the next neighborhood. Mark finishes his breakfast and kisses Rachael on the forehead, then heads out the door, for what he thinks is just a regular day in the office. Mark heads out the door to the subway where he starts his journey to work. Mark is a stock broker at the Morgan Stanley office in World Trade Center 1. He has been there for about five years. Once on the subway he meets his colleague Brian. They discuss the objectives for the day so they can get ready for the staff meeting at 9 am.
They are approaching their stop so they pack up their briefcases. They walk up to the WTC1 tower where their office is on the 73rd floor. It is approximately 8:00 am when the guys arrive in the office. They get their messages from the receptionist and head to Mark’s office. There they go over, in more detail what is going to be discussed in the morning’s staff meeting. Thirty minutes past and the receptionist comes in to set up the board table for the meeting. She places a water bottle and a cup at each seat and sets up the projector for Mark and Brian.
The guys start to joke around and pass a football in the office to past time before the office staff comes in. The guys play their a little game of catch for about sixteen minutes but the fun gets forcefully interrupted. It is now approximately 8:46 am, the guys feel a great tremble in the building. They rush out of the office to see what it was. The staff in the office begins to chat of a possible earthquake. Mark turns to Brian and says “I don’t know that felt like more than an earthquake. ” Then a horrible scream comes from the far corner of the office. Everyone looks!
The receptionist, Mary is at the window. Mary screams, “There are large pieces of burning metal and fire balls falling from the upper floors of the building. ” Now everyone starts to panic. What has happened? Mark is very worried but tries to get himself together for his staff. “Okay everyone we need to get out of here following our execution plan, something terrible has happened. ” “Now everyone calmly get your things together and head for the exit,” Mark is trying his hardest not to seem panicked but when he goes to the elevator and sees a man come out, he almost losses it.
The man is burnt to a crisp; he is walking like a zombie because of the great deal of pain he is in. The man had been in the elevator at the time of the tremble; a huge fireball rushed through the elevator shift and burnt the man. At this point everyone knows it is more than an earthquake, now Brian takes over and tries to calm the group down. “Everyone come on down the stairs, we need to get out of here in an orderly fashion. ” Brian leads the group, including the badly burnt man to the stair way, they push open the door and see other business men and women from the upper floors also trying to make an escape.
The talk of what is going open and the cries of fear rang out in the stair well. No one’s cell phone is working and the group feels as though they have been walking for days. It is hot and clammy in the stair well but they continue going. They are now on the 42nd floor when an outburst rings out, “we were hit by a plane! ” Now a great deal of commotion breaks out as everyone is trying to take in the news. Brian and many others try to calm the group. “Let’s just keep moving were almost out. ” The horrifying journey continues 36st floor, 24th floor, 13th floor, 5th floor.
They could start to see light from the bottom floor, a glimmer of hope ring on their faces. When the group of stock brokers reached the bottom floor and went outside what they saw was horrific. Office furniture, papers, and even body parts covered the ground. Mark walks over to West Street, where he sees an old friend from high school. His name is Henry. Henry seems to be in a daze. All he keeps saying is “There were pieces of bodies on West Street. ” (Strozier) Mark just keeps walking almost in a daze himself he cannot believe that as happened.
Then all of a sudden WTC1 starts to crumble. Mark and the other millions of people on the street begin to run. Mark can only amazing the thousands of people that where killed and even injured on this tragic day. Days following the attack Mark receives a call that thirteen of his colleagues are dead, including a very nice security man that was loved dearly by the office staff. He also learns that they are getting up a Victims’ Relief fund for the families of the lost. Mark is going through a very deep depression since this attack. Rachael gets Mark to volunteer for the Health Registry.
The registry was set up to monitors the health of persons exposed to the 9/11 disaster for two to six years after the disaster. Mark agrees to sign up. In addition to volunteering to the registry Mark made an appointment for the following day to see Dr. Strozier. He is a psychoanalyst that has an office in New York. The next day Mark goes to see the psychoanalyst. He sits the on couch. Dr. Strozier asks him to describe how he has been feeling since the terrorist attack. Mark replies, “Well doctor I have been have nightmares about that day, I keep seeing all of the bodies and that man. The doctor asks Mark if he is also having avoidance issues to the point of having phobia of places, people, and experiences that remind the sufferer of the trauma or a general numbing of emotional responsiveness, sleep problems, trouble concentrating, irritability, anger, poor concentration, blackouts or difficulty remembering things, or an increased tendency and reaction to being startled. As those are also signs of PTSD. (Edwards). Then he asks him if he could to explain exactly what he witnessed that horrible day. Mark replays the events and starts to break down. The doctor tells him that he is doing great and that