What were you doing 6 years ago today?
I walked into the post office a couple of minutes before 9 a.m., to mail a birthday card to my grandmother, and the Charlottesville post office had T.V.'s in it. There were two other customers there. The first plane had already crashed into the first tower, and as we were standing there gape-mouthedly staring at CNN, the second plane crashed.
I rushed to the radio station to help the dj before me with news updates and to get ready for my show. We were the only station in town who continued to play music that day, everyone else switched to news-only but a. we didn't have that capability and b. music is soothing in times of distress, so we continued to play music and we gave news updates every 20 minutes.
I think the first song I played on my show that day was Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Cities in Dust", in retrospect perhaps not the most sensitive choice but it's a great song.
I rushed to the radio station to help the dj before me with news updates and to get ready for my show. We were the only station in town who continued to play music that day, everyone else switched to news-only but a. we didn't have that capability and b. music is soothing in times of distress, so we continued to play music and we gave news updates every 20 minutes.
I think the first song I played on my show that day was Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Cities in Dust", in retrospect perhaps not the most sensitive choice but it's a great song.
Labels: enjoy the blog, my favourite, random
posted by Courtenay at 9/11/2007
11 Comments:
I was in an English class at UNC-CH. We heard murmurs and rumors from the hallway of something big happening somewhere but we proceeded with the class as normal. As soon as it was over I rushed to the computer lab and saw the pictures of the smoking Trade Towers...I had a busy day of classes and cross-country practice, and then an evening physics lab, so I didn't get to really find out what was going on until late that evening. I remember being very anxious to get to a TV and watch the whole day, and it was very frustrating not to until very late. I was also very concerned about my sister, b/c she lived in a close-by NJ suburb, but she was fine.
Courtenay - I was driving to work with my two kids (then 4 and 2) asleep in the back seat, listening to the news channel very quietly. I was headed for the San Mateo Bridge and nearly turned around, wondering if SF was the next target.
Interesting...I was having my morning coffee, getting ready for
the commute to work when I turned on the TV to see how the Giants had fared against the Diamondbacks
the night before and shortly after,
the 2nd plane hit.
On the drive to work, the first tower collapsed and a bit after I arrived to the job, the 2nd one went.
Seeing as I was working in a media
environment at the time, I basically watched the TV the whole day.
After seeing people in the Middle
East dancing in the streets,I pretty much wanted to eliminate all
who had approved of what had happened...Still do.
BTW...I was working at a radio station when OJ Simpson was found
not guilty...talk about a packed news room!
Scott
I was in the shower, when Anne came in and said, "Barb just called, the World Trade Center collapsed." I thought it was the beginning of a joke. We turned on the TV and when we realized what was happening we woke up the friend from NYC who was staying with us. Her brother was an EMT in lower Manhattan, so she was freaking out (we learned later that he was fine, but very busy). We kept Joey home from school, watching TV in a daze, and then, for some reason, went to Chinatown (SF), where people seemed not to have gotten the news, or at least were unaffected by it--kind of surreal, but a good escape for a while.
I woke up late that day, after the attacks had already happened, but I didn't have a TV and wasn't aware of anything until a friend told me over IM. We both had a tendency towards sarcasm, so it took some time checking news sites to confirm that it *really* had happened.
That night I went to a screening sponsored by Life Sucks Die magazine. You could see the emcee wince every time he had to say the magazine's name.
Do you remember Clear Channel's list? Pretty much any song or artist's name that hinted at planes, bombs, death, destruction, Arabs, the color black, etc. were on it, as was Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World"...
We were in Harare, Zimbabwe visiting with my aunt & uncle, at the start of our honeymoon. We heard about the first crash immediately. We were glued to BBC and CNN International.
They announced the flights that were hijacked: one was an 8am United flight from Newark to San Fran. My sister & fiance were booked on an 8am flight that morning from Newark to SF, they were moving.
We didn't know which airline they were flying. All communications lines to the US were jammed. I remember the moment that the news reported the plane had gone down in PA. A few hours later my Dad got thru on the phones. They were on an AA flight that took off 3 minutes before the United flight. Their plane had emergency landed and they were safe. Many others from my hometown and high school who worked in the WTC were not so lucky.
We continued with our honeymoon, though we wanted to be home. We spent the next month traveling southern africa, meeting people from all across the world. When folks heard we were from America, they we so kind and gave us their condolences. The world mourned for us. Today, they have disdain for us.
I was driving with my girls (2 and 5) to the La leche League meeting. The Volvo had been acting weird so I was going to stop at my car guy's house first. The car died at the end of his road. The girls and I walked the last 1/2 mile, trying not to be tense that I'd be late for the meeting. When I walked in the TV was on. All I remember is flames. I kept saying "It must be the Fires in Oregon." My friend Shannon was there--she said "It's not the fires Allison." I saw the second plane hit. Interesting psychological note--I had no awareness of there having been people on the planes for a good 2 days--too much to take in I guess. Being 6 months pregnant at the time The thought of babies dying was very hard. Still trying to keep it together I drove to John's work in time for his tea break. When I saw him, MR CALM, visably scared and upset I knew this was something Big. I continued on to the LLL meeting where we did not talk much about breastfeeding.
The skies over Maine were very clear during the airtraffic shut-down since we are under the US to Europe path.
Corellary 1: The volvo had NO OIL--but survuved just fine. I love Volvo's.
Corellary 2: A friend who was due to have her 3rd gave birth to her stillborn daughter 8 days later. It was a very dark time for me. I would wake up in a panic that my baby had died.
I awoke early to go on a bike ride and turned on the news to see the first tower smoking. I thought it was a hoax or accident. As they were talking about it and showing live pics, I saw the second plane flying into the tower. I knew it was no accident at that point. I ended up just going straight to work where they had TVs set up around the office and people kept watching all day. It was surreal.
i shrugged, said the world had changed as we knew it, and went for a cross ride.
it was a sad, beautifully quiet ride in Reno with 2 friends.
the people who died or had family who died on that day did not deserve what happened to them.
neither did the people who have been killed or tortured or violently supressed by the monarchies or dictatorships that our country has financially and militarily backed in the years before 9/11 (and since).
sigh.
and so the world turns.
I used to wake up to a news channel on the radio in the morning. After 9/11 I changed stations to wake up to. I woke up the first time that morning at 5:45, between newscasts. I snoozed for 10 minutes. On the next snooze alarm I heard "plane, flames, World Trade Center". WTF? I got up and went to turn on the TV. Watching for awhile, in total disbelief, I watched the 2nd plane fly into the South Tower. All I could do was cry. It was still to early to go to work, so I went to my apartment's fitness center to run. While running, with the TV on, I watched the first building collapse. I almost threw up. Back to my place, to get ready for work, and in time to see the other building collapse. In a daze, I drove to work. At the time, I lived in San Bruno and worked in Burlingame, so I took 280 to 380 to 101 and when I got to 101, it was totally hosed. Unbelievable traffic. Since I was so dazed, I took my normal "shortcut", which was through SFO. OMFG. What a huge mistake that was... there were only like a thousand cops in the vicinity and all of them punchy. I guess a volvo wagon doens't LOOK very threatening.
I was lucky, as I didn't know anyone that was killed. My ex-boyfriend's little sister got out (she was in an WTC 7, which was across from the North Tower). She called him as she was arriving at work, and watched the plane fly into the South Tower. He wisely told her to get the hell out of there. Her building collapsed that night. Our customers got out in time. But I know others than weren't so fortunate.
I remember that day so clearly, and I hope I never lose that memory, as it seems unfair to those who perished.
Patrick and I were in NYC--he saw the second plane hit while on the Manhattan bridge, he felt the heat from the blast. I was just getting off the subway and got my cup of coffee on the way to class and i noticed everybody standing on the sidewalk, looking south. i saw that the first tower was on fire and I went into a Duane Reade to buy a camera. I came out and the second tower was on fire. I thought it had caught fire from the first one. Kind of in a daze.
i went to class. during class I believed that I could hear faint screaming from the other side of the walls; when we came out the buildings were gone. (We were about a mile away) People were gathered in huge rings around sidewalk vendors who had radios. Reports were coming through, like "I'm standing here in four inches of dust..." and we were a mile away!!! I even went to work at the NYU library at that time. We couldn't believe people were checking out books, but I guess we were at work, and that was weird as well. I got through to my family via email. I remember writing about how shocking that we were quarantined on this island, no cars, trains, buses in or out.
When I got out of work, I walked to my dorm on 14th st ( I remember some guy on a bike: "Go give blood!) My roommate was freaked out because she was supposed to be at work downtown that morning, but called in sick. All I wanted was to watch TV. Didn't know where Patrick was because cell phones didn't work--he was a bike messenger at the time. Just as I was getting worried, he called from downstairs and we walked downtown to the Brooklyn bridge together. We walked to his apartment with hundreds of commuters. People offered us water and food along the way. People were walking the other direction covered in dust.
As we made it through Brooklyn a piece of a financial journal, charred on the edges, fell from the sky. Building #6 had just collapsed.
We stayed in the apt. for a few days. I don't remember what we did during those days. I must have cleaned or something. Subways were closed for a week. We rode our bikes into Manhattan over the 59th st bridge after 6 days and everyone had masks on and the smell was intense. I'll never forget that smell...
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