GOBBI

A tribute to my cousin Michelle Lee Titolo

Ten years later that sunny September 11th morning seemed like it was just yesterday, but it still feels like it’s been an eternity, which is seared into my psyche. I was supposed to be downtown, getting out of the World Trade Center subway station at 9:00 am that morning, but due to my reoccurring insomnia I was up on the computer all night and because of that I didn’t make my way downtown that fateful morning, and for that I am grateful. My 34-year-old cousin, Michelle Lee Titolo of Copiague, NY was not as fortunate. She was working for Canter Fitzgerald on the 101st floor, which I was not aware that she recently had taken a job there.

From my Chelsea apartment, I heard a low flying plane coming from the Hudson River, but I didn’t think anything of it. Shortly after, the phone rang and my best friend/roommate called to tell me smoke was coming from one of the Twin Towers downtown, as she was witnessing it from her office window. I instantly put on the morning news and immediately watched the images of smoke coming from one of the Towers. At first all the the hosts from the New York network news shows were all confused and not really sure how to report it over the airways to the American public, assuming a small plane like a Cessna crashed on to Tower One, but from what I saw in their facial expressions, I knew that instant that what just occurred was no accident.

At that point, I knew we were under attack and anticipated it was only going to get worse. I ran down to the street level to confirm it with my own eyes and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, it didn’t seem real. It was then that I realized that those gargantuan buildings were filled with people who work there, and I was horrified to think about what they were going through. Then panic and chaos ensued throughout the city and I was in fight or flight mode. I told Daniela my best friend to come back to the apartment ASAP, so she ran in the opposite direction from the masses so we could regroup and make a decision on what to do.

Once I found out that my cousin Michelle worked there, I was in utter disbelief and my heart sank. Had I known that she was taking a job there, after working down there myself, with it’s history of bomb threats, I would have seriously advised her not to, no matter how high profile the job was. That was one of my regrets. However, she had worked hard through adversity to get where she was, and I am sure she was thrilled to get that job. I am very proud of her for that.

Needless to say after the horrific collapse of both towers, I immediately headed downtown on my Rollerblades to see if I could find Michelle. In the process, I ended up volunteering to help hand out water and food to the first responders and others who were fleeing the scene, before it was cordoned off by the police and U.S. Military. I saw the New York Mayor and Governor’s motorcade pass me by. It was then that I took notice of the low flying roaring U.S. Military F16 jet fighters circling the island of Manhattan, which I have to say was nerve wracking to hear and in my opinion a little too late. I knew then that our freedom and liberty took a hit and things would never be the same.

After volunteering, I skated from hospital to hospital in lower Manhattan along with the triage units set up at Chelsea Piers looking for my cousin. It was shocking to see tons of other people looking for their loved ones, but what was even more shocking, was that no survivors were being brought in for medical attention and I knew what that meant. It’s as if time had stood still on the Island of Manhattan on that day. The usual hustle and bustle had come to a halt and it felt as if I was in a ghost town. By the afternoon the streets were empty, except for those of us who lived and stayed in Manhattan who were looking for loved ones. The most eerie thing besides the greyish-white dust that covered lower Manhattan and the toxic acrid smell that permeated the air was that there was not a sound to be heard, it felt as if it were a nuclear winter.

I was unable to find my cousin and was worried if they found her how would they know how to identify her if she was incapacitated. As night fell, it was an emotionally draining day, and I have to thank the network news agencies for their fantastic coverage and broadcast on that day of September 11, 2001 for keeping us informed. Once the Twin Towers went down, we lost communications because of the broadcast antenna that was on top of the tower. I also want to thank David Letterman who didn’t leave his post and still went live on the air that night because at that point we felt abandoned and alone, and it was the one and only channel we could get, which was a sign that life still went on despite the adversity we faced earlier that day.

Cousins Michelle Titolo and Casey Gobbi at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus

That night I dozed off thinking about my cousin and the other New Yorkers who were missing. As the sun was rising, I suddenly awoke to what sounded like my cousin saying “Hi” and I instantly popped up out of bed, and that’s when I knew she was letting me know that she had moved on to a better place. It was almost a relief to know that she wasn’t somewhere suffering.

Cousins Casey Gobbi and Michelle Titolo at Rocketship Park in Port Jefferson, NY

Well Michelle, I think about you and I think about that day everyday, and I like to think of the memories we shared while I was growing up. I will always remember the great Thanksgivings we had as a family at Grandma’s house. I remember that time when Grandma was not well, and you tried to replicate her awesome apple pie that we both loved. You did a great job and unfortunately Grandma Jean’s recipe is lost to time, because no one ever wrote it down. I also remember the time when I was 7 when we went to the log cabin Up State for vacation, and we took a hike in the woods where we all got lost and started to panic except for me and I reminded everyone we had a can of tuna fish and that we would be ok. You were always amazed at my lack of fear and retold that story to me all the time. I remember that time we went to the Ringling Brothers and Barnamum Baily circus together, I think it was my first time. I still have my blue toy spark gun from that day. There was also the time when I was home from the city when we were visiting Grandma at the hospice and there was a snow storm, where after we hugged and said our good-byes and you left, you came back 20 minutes later only to say you never left because you were stuck in the parking lot. I asked her why she didn’t come in and ask me for my help and she said she didn’t want to inconvenience me assuming she didn’t want to take time away from my visit with my Grandma. That’s how nice of a person she was. Eventually I got her car unstuck and got her on her way after we said our goodbye. We always would rib each other on how could I live in the city and I would always reply how do you commute. Other little things I remember about you Michelle was that you liked peppermint ice cream, and I got a kick out of when you always held your drink with your pinky finger sticking out. And every time I drive past a Tudor home, I think of you because I know you liked English architecture.

Michelle Titolo at Casey Gobbi’s and our Grandmother’s Birthday Party in 1978

I’ve been down to Battery Park at the North Cove Marina three times since that fateful day, and I plan on coming down soon when I am ready to see your name etched in bronze on the the 9/11 Memorial.

Cousins Kim Titolo, Casey Gobbi AKA: BATMAN and Michelle Titolo on Easter Sunday

Michelle I miss you very much.

Love your cousin Casey Gobbi

Felt the shock of the 5.8-magnitude earthquake that hit Virgina today at 1:55 pm here on Long Island’s north shore. It reminded me of the time when, as a kid, I was on the observation deck of the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers and felt the tower swaying in the wind. It wasn’t till a little later on that I found out they were designed to do so in the strong winds that came off the Hudson River.

Just a little strange, and go figure, I was sitting in a rocking chair and I was not rocking front to back but the earthquake made me sway side to side like I was on a boat, and I was like what-the??? as I was sitting at the computer. Then I ran outside and witnessed the heavy bird feeder swaying back and forth and there was no breeze. I’m just glad I was not in the city today, yikes!

Be careful out there.

On behalf of my dear cousin Michelle Lee Titolo, who along with other fellow New Yorkers who were killed in the second unprovoked terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001, would like to personally thank President Obama for completing the mission. I would also like to thank the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) “Night Stalkers” and the hardcore U.S. Navy Seal Team 6 for your efforts, discipline and sacrifice to our nation.

Long live freedom!
زنده باد آزادی!

Sincerely,
Casey Gobbi

Happy Earth Day to all, but wait isn’t everyday earth day? Well it should be right? Please do your part and reuse or recycle something today, I did, did you? Get off your computer, go outside and get some fresh air.

“We simply must balance our demand for energy with our rapidly shrinking resources. By acting now we can control our future instead of letting the future control us.” -Jimmy Carter

I am gutted about the earthquake and tsunami natural disaster in Japan. This is not just a natural disaster, which I think people can recover from in time, but it now has become a man-made nuclear toxic catastrophe. It is very similar to the British Petroleum (BP) oil spill disaster that struck the gulf region of the United States this past summer and fall. The zero accountability by British Petroleum (BP) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DEO) was and is appalling. The health of our world’s oceans suffered greatly all in the name of oil, and if you consume seafood as I do, well that is not good. Hopefully this is a wake-up call for the island nation of Japan and the rest of the world to reconsider changing their ways to power their future. Maybe in light of this disaster Japan’s government and commercial fishing industry will curtail their over harvesting of our worlds ocean’s sea life and slaughtering of whales in the future. The way the environment goes, so do we.

The nuclear industry puts its spin and lobbying into play with its deep pockets. I hope this is the nail in the coffin for the nuclear industry, with its lack of stability and its potential for meltdown and far-reaching nuclear fallout. Of course we can’t forget all the toxic waste generated that will never ever decay that has to go somewhere, not it in my backyard. It is time for change to meet our ever-growing global energy needs, which affects us all. Clean Renewable Energy: Wind, Solar, Tidal, Hydro, and Bio-Fuels will never have the irreversible ill effects on the global human population and our environment, which we all share and need to look after, so that it is here for generations to come. I feel the internal combustion engine is on its way out, and it is time the U.S. Government and energy companies to start making the efforts at a more rapid pace to start converting over to better solutions and infrastructures that can handle the conversion in order to have more efficient and less polluting carbon emitting energy sources. We need to start demanding change from governments, politicians, companies, brands, and they need to start making the transition soon, because the last time I checked, their wasn’t an endless supply of petroleum and dirty coal. The need to diversify is now! C02 emissions are choking our pristine air supply here on our earth. We have only this world to call home and it is ours to protect, so what the hell are we waiting for?

In the words of Kermit The Frog “It is not easy being green.” but I feel now we really don’t have a choice, and it is a good safe choice.

If you live in the New York Tri-State area and need to contact an alternative energy company, I can highly recommend Eastern Energy Systems they are located on the North Fork of Long Island, and tell them Casey Gobbi sent you.