Grief

I want to commend you on your coverage of the September 11 attacks (Ithaca College Quarterly, 2001/4). I had been holding my breath, hoping no IC alumni had lost their lives. Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed.

As an anchor at the Wall Street Journal Radio Network, I was in the World Financial Center across the street from the World Trade Center on September 11. The stairwell I evacuated down led me right onto Liberty Street, where I had to hurdle over body parts to get to safety. I ran for my life when the first tower started to collapse, praying it wouldn’t topple toward me. By the time I was able to find a phone that worked and call my wife, she had already assumed I was dead.

My first child was born a week later. When I read that my classmate Steven Russin ’91 was killed four days before his twins were born, it was like another punch to my gut. I don’t think I ever met Steve, but I have added him, his family, and the other lost IC alumni to my prayers.

Michael Wallace ’91
West Milford, New Jersey