Mary Carouba and Susan Hagen were clearly distraught, as was the rest of the nation as they reeled from the horror of that day.
After the initial jolt, as the media began to glorify the heroics and bravery of the "firemen, policemen, brothers, and our brave guys," Carouba and Hagen say they noticed with dismay an obvious omission.
Surely, they thought, there had to be rescue workers who were women. Why were they not acknowledged?
So during the aftermath of the attack, the women ventured out to New York City on a mission to find the women who could tell their own stories of courage and compassion.
The result is "Women at Ground Zero," an audio/visual presentation that presents the heartfelt stories of 30 women firefighters, emergency medical technicians and police officers who risked their lives trying to save others.
Presented by the Committee for Lectures, Art and Music at St. Mary's College, "Women at Ground Zero," will be presented at 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 9, at the college's LeFevre Theatre.
The event is inspired by the book of the same title, a collaboration between Sebastopol residents Carouba and Hagen. Paying tribute to the women heroes of 9/11, the book is the outcome of interviews that shared heart-wrenching stories of fear, death and loss.
"There are 6,000 women in the N.Y.P.D., the EMT and paramedics in New York City," says Hagen, who herself is a former journalist and firefighter/EMT. "More than one-third are women. In the fire department, out of 11,500 firefighters, 25 are women.
"So literally, thousands of women responded to the attack on the World Trade Center, but we didn't see them represented at all by the media. That's why we came up with the book."
The authors thought about the children who lost mothers Sept. 11. They thought about the impact that public praising of only the men as heroes would have on the young women contemplating a career in public safety. They thought, didn't women deserve to be role models in life-risking careers?
"Not only were women written out of history, but women were not being acknowledged at all," Carouba says.
Since the book was published in September 2002, in time for the first anniversary of 9/11, the authors have been speaking to groups all over the country, sharing the poignant stories of the women and their heroism on that unbelievable day.
Carouba and Hagen also share their own experiences of finding the women in the Big Apple.
"It's important to note that this presentation is filled with humor, as well as tragic stories," Hagen says. "We poke a lot of fun at ourselves -- we had a lot of adventure without contacts in New York City."
Once the authors made contact with a women firefighter and a police officer, word about the project spread and soon more women rescue workers came out of the woodwork.
"They're all completely devoted to the work they do," Hagen describes the women. "Even though they were afraid, they went in and did their jobs and really have my respect.
"They also taught us something about lessons we can all learn from a tragedy like this. Tragedy stripped from them all the trivial aspects in life that we tend to fret and worry about and show what's really important.
"What they saw was that life can be taken away from you at any moment," she continues. "You can lose the one you love without a moment's notice."
The authors, who plan to sign copies of "Women at Ground Zero" at the event, will be taking questions from the audience after the presentation. Copies of the book will be available for purchase, with all proceeds benefiting Women in the Fire Service and the National Center for Women and Policing, both nonprofit organizations. The public may also make a separate donation to the Women of Ground Zero Scholarship Fund.
