9/11 Anniversary

[CosmonautLaunchPad]

CNN is replaying their news coverage as it happened on 9/11/2001. It will be interesting to see the transition.

Seems like this Mr Lunch Box happened just yesterday.

[s dot carter]

Where were you when this all went down?

I remember waking up late for my T-Th class "Seminar in Broadcast Journalism". In hindsight, it was the perfect class to have as this went on because it was the production of the Channel 9 SBU News class and we had several TV's with the coverage on. Since I walked in a few minutes after 9, most of the class was already sitting there in stunned silence. I came in like Vinny Barbarino completely unaware of what was unfolding at the WTC.

When they were like "Shut up, the World Trade Center got hit by a plane" I was like, oh wow, thats crazy. A few minutes later I saw the two towers both smoking and I was lost. That's when someone informed me it was two separate planes that hit the towers. There was no mistaking at that time it was terrorism. (I wonder how many people had to explain to 'W' that it was terrorism before he finally understood)

Carlton Ashton was in the class as well, and I'll never forget the panic when the news broke the Pentagon had been hit too. His mother worked in that building and as Carlton frantically dialed her number with no luck for well over an hour. It really hit home at that moment how many people were going to be effected by this.

And I agree cosmo, I can't believe its been 5 years already.

[CosmonautLaunchPad]

I remember I was late to my 10:00 finance class with Mahar. On my way in someone in the parking lot said something like, "You see this stuff about planes hitting buildings on the news?" And I said no, and assumed maybe a Cesna crashed into something. Then I get into class and people are all talking about it. Only the people that had 8:30 classes though, because the rest of us had no clue. Then Mahar came in crying and said, "Class in cancelled, the towers are gone." Then I went over to the RC to watch the news and that's when I realized what was going on. I went home and none of my roomates were up yet. I woke them up and told them they should turn their TVs on.

[wutang]

I was still sleeping in townhouse 123 and I heard all my roommates being really loud and i got up to yell at them for waking me up when they told me. I had Mahar's later class and it was cancelled as well. There were a lot of teachers that actually held class that morning too.

[s dot carter]

Most of the people in my class saw the second plane hit live on the news. I think that shook a lot of people up moreso than someone like me who knew it happened and just saw the replays of it. Even seeing it now, it takes an extra step in my thought process to understand how many people died just when the planes hit.

Maybe its sort of a morbid fascination, but I have always been extremely interested in the events surrounding this day and whenever I see a documentary or even a book about it in a bookstore, I feel compelled to watch or read it.

[vinnypunditsheros]

I stayed in bed until the last possible second before my 10:00 Tuesday class. Finally I got up, brushed my teeth, and cut through Wu Tang's old townhouse on my way to the parking lot. As soon as me and Billy Bad Ass walk in, "We're at war! World Trade Center's GONE. Pentagon's GONE."

I sat down and watched all the footage. Remember how that stuff was on every channel? ESPN, History, Comedy Channel... same footage on every one.

Amy O'Dougherty died that day. She lived by herself two doors down from the halfway house and graduated in 2001. I think it was above a flower shop? We'd make dinners on Sunday for either her place or the Halfway House. Everyone chips in and we'd eat GOOD. Big turkey dinners, spaghetti, chicken... way better than the Hick.

The story I heard was she was in the second tower and evacuated when the first plane hit. She called her mother and said she was OK, they were sending people back inside because of the falling wreckage. That was the last anyone heard from her.

It sucks because it just took me fifteen minutes trying to remember her name.

[mikenice]

I was a senior in high school and I just sat down in my second period Calculus class. Our teacher ran down to the office as soon as a few of us got in there. His daughter worked down in that area and he and his wife were frantically trying to get a hold of her.

I just remember kids coming into class telling me a plane crashed into the first tower, so we were all speculating if it was on purpose.

I distinctly remember one kid sitting down and saying, "holy shit dude, today's september 11th... that's 911." The teacher that came over to cover our class was a naturally happy, spirited older lady... and she was all shaky and scared.

Every class we either listened to a radio if there was one, or just sat and talked about everything. The last class of the day was my English class, and the teacher was an older woman. Complete 60's chick, liberal, dramatic, etc. She was waxes all dramatic as usual, but this time there was merit, and I remember her saying, "ughh, and I'm just getting sick to my stomach knowing that someone, someone will make a movie about this not too long from now." It's out, and they're making money off of it.

It seems like a while ago, until I see the replays... then it feels like yesterday.

[oleanron]

I was living in Astoria, Queens (which is a borough of Manhattan, for those of you who don't know).

I had been unemployed for three months after getting laid off from MTV. They had asked me to come back, but under bullshit conditions (I had gotten passed up for a promotion plus they refused to give me a raise--they pay their PAs a dayrate, which was $126 a day, if I recall, but they routinely work them 12-15 hours a day) and I turned them down. That's when I started the transition into magazines. I was sleeping and had a job interview later that morning. My wife (then my girlfriend, whom I was living with) called and told me that a plane had crashed into one of the Towers. At first, I thought it was a propeller plane, but when I turned on the news, I knew it was something serious. My blood ran cold--my Dad was supposed to move his office back to the Towers and was there daily for meetings. Immediately I hung up the phone and tried to track my Dad down. While I was doing that, the second plane hit.

I managed to get my Dad--who was safe in his office--but we both had a lot of friends that worked there (I had spent two summers working at WTC for my father). Jill left her job early and, although she was all the way at the other end of town, it was a very long two hours waiting for her. You've got to realize that we in New York were totally in the dark. Cell phones weren't working, and phone lines were barely working. The major TV stations all had their antenna on top of the Towers. Fortunately, I had satellite TV, so I didn't lose reception. But we didn't know if there were more terrorist attacks, so I didn't know if Jill was truly safe. There were rumors of an embassy bombing in Washington and Manhattan, but, thankfully, those were false.

Looking out my window, I could see the smoke all the way from the Towers.

It was waiting for my wife to get home that I saw the first Tower fall. I screamed. It wasn't until a few days later that I found out that we had lost friends in there--two people I had gone to high school with, and a friend of my wife's.

And then my wife came home. I don't think I had ever hugged anyone so hard.

For two weeks, all the stations had round-the-clock coverage. The night of 9/11, we needed an escape, so we turned on Nick At Nite. Their slogan, at the time, was "Unreality TV" (in response to the deluge of reality TV shows that continue to this day). I don't think we needed "unreality" more than we did that night.

Going outside, you could still see the smoke and smell the chemicals, the burning metal and other things that I really don't care to think about. With that, my wife and I packed up our car and our dog and stayed at her parents' for the weekend.

Two days after 9/11, I went in for my rescheduled job interview. I had never seen the City like that before--where it was once bustling and full-of-life, it was now at a standstill. The cars that flooded the streets and turned them into clogged arteries were now gone. People who quickly walked to their destinations with an air of indifference had slowed down, their faces betraying their disbelief, shock and unfathomable sorrow.

When I first saw the skyline without the Twin Towers, it looked like someone had knocked out the City's two front teeth. And at the time, we weren't sure if we'd recover. But we did. Maybe not "recover"--you can never recover from something like this--but, five years later, we are returning to some semblence of normalcy.

But it'll always be there.

[kcsbu03]

I actually didnt have class until 11:30 and when i woke up nobody was in my garden apt so I had no idea what was going on. I flipped on Sportscenter like i did every morning and saw ABC news was on and knew something werid must have happened. I then remember thinking, where the hell is our idiot president? I dont think it hit home for me until i was walking to my 11:30 and saw people on cell phones crying. I had Social World that day with Dr Moor (perhaps one of the coolest prof's at SBU) and as soon as he walked into class he told us to go to the RC and wathc the news which i think i did the entire day.

I feel the same way S Dot does when he described his fascination with the event. Did anybody catch the first part of that mini series that started on ABC last night? I completely forgot to record it. I know the next part is on tonight.

[The Dull House]

I only got up because I had heard that music that comes with every special report in the other room. After i heard the special report music coming from the living room TV about 300 times I decided to get up to see what happened. My roomate was up just starting at the TV. It was almost like you were waiting for WWIII to happen the next day.

There were so many different news reports at the time. One report said that 9 planes were missing after the two towers got struck. I was thinking Sears Tower, Golden Gate, etc. were next on the list.

I am surprised that we haven't seen any other major terrorist strike here in the US since then to be honest. America just has to deal with the fact that stuff like this WILL happen again and we are just going to have to learn to live with it.

[thebonabus]

I had CompSci 141 in the basment of the RC at 10...got in early and saw everything in the cafe..then went to class and the teacher, forgot her name, held class and wouldn't let anyone go online to follow everything. I remeber a few people really pissed/upset as they had family and friends in NYC. I later found out that week my cousin who lives in Boston was originally scheduled to be on one of the planes that took off from Logan, but he got an earlier flight the night before. I know my aunt was paniced to death, but thankfully he was ok and able to call her later that day.

My condolences to all those who lost loved ones and my heartful respect for those who helped.

[oleanron]

I would've simply walked out, BonaBus.

Actually, I do remember a--believe it or not--funny thing during 9/11. I turned on K-Rock here in NY, thinking that they might have more info, and was surprised to see that Howard Stern was on the air. I remember him getting all serious, talking about the implications, getting on-the-scene reports from his fans. And then he says, "On the phone with an eyewitness account is High Pitch Erik. High Pitch, what's going on there?" And, in his inimitable voice, Erik says "It's absolute bedlam, Howard! I can see the Towers burning..."

It was a really bizarre and funny moment in the midst of all that chaos and carnage.

[CosmonautLaunchPad]

oleanron said:

I would've simply walked out, BonaBus.

Actually, I do remember a--believe it or not--funny thing during 9/11. I turned on K-Rock here in NY, thinking that they might have more info, and was surprised to see that Howard Stern was on the air. I remember him getting all serious, talking about the implications, getting on-the-scene reports from his fans. And then he says, "On the phone with an eyewitness account is High Pitch Erik. High Pitch, what's going on there?" And, in his inimitable voice, Erik says "It's absolute bedlam, Howard! I can see the Towers burning..."

It was a really bizarre and funny moment in the midst of all that chaos and carnage.

On Sirius they had the replay of the 9/11 show on today. It was extremely interesting to listen to. They started off talking about Pamela Anderson, and then it just got really serious. They briefly went back to talking about Pamela for a few minutes after the first announcement but then the 2nd plane hit and that's when they realized it was no accident and that it was a terrorist attack.

I remember the Wednesday after the attack, Mad Dogs was still open and had the all you can drink special going on. We went to get bombed as usual but that time it was to drown some sorrows. After I got a lot of that crack beer in me, I jumped on a stool and rang that bell that they had to warn of undercover cops. I don't remember what I said, I was just rambling on some patriotic stuff, but the crowd seemed to like it and a USA chant followed. I was happy that my BENTen antics could bring a little cheer to the night.

Every year since the attacks I get more and more furious that Bin Laden hasn't been caught. The saddest thing about remembering 9/11 is that the people truly responsible still haven't been brought to justice.

[whyamisobig]

I was in the Mahar class in Plassman when he ran in crying. Before he got in, people were talking about a plane flying into the first tower, someone said the pilot was drunk and I believed it until I got back to Caddyshack and saw the news. My father would occasionally work in the Pentagon and I got a few calls from people asking about him, thankfully he was not there when it happened.

Living in Manhattan now, I've heard several horror stories. Things ranging from people getting trampled while running from the buildings as they collapsed, body parts and debris everywhere, to one story that stands out as particularly horrific - A doctor I know was working as an analyst with Merrill Lynch at the time of the attacks, before the buildings collapsed he was sent down to the towers to aid the emergency workers because of reports of people jumping from the windows and roof. He thought if someone did survive the fall the most he could do is try to set thier necks until ambulances could take them to the hospital. His description of what he saw is too grafic to post, as it may upset those that lost someone that day but it was truly devistating

[alison]

Hi Bevelators......

Since Bucky voluntarily turned himself in I've held onto the reward that I offered to anyone who captured him. So I'm going to offer the very same reward to anyone who captures that Osama bin Laden creepo.......

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Alison