I haven't been working near the Trade Center, and I was at Times Square just after the first plane struck. I've been trying to get a handle on it--just to believe it, or not believe it, all day. The city is very quiet. There is no vehicular traffic where I live, a couple of miles from the WTC and the entire city below Canal street has been evacuated. A friend and I entered the triage area carrying water for the rescue workers. We tried to join a group of volunteers there, but it was impossible to locate them. What strikes you most is what is missing. No rubble is visible from very close by. It seems the buildings must have fallen into their basements. Something like 1/3 mile--probably more, maybe a mile-- of fire trucks are parked north of the site. Parked. Ambulances leave the site from time to time, but not many. The place is too quiet. I imagine those who escaped the building escaped with their lives and everyone else was killed. Firemen sleep and joke and talk on two-way radios: one of their friends radios was sending signals for three hours, so there's some hope he's still [alive] in there. Words cannot do these people justice. All around the city tonight, the newly widowed, newly orphaned. I wish all of you well, I do. What has happened here is more than the heart can bear.