9/11/01--Where were you when you heard the news?

It was about 20 miles south of Boston, but yeah, we were all surprised we had class too. It was difficult to go of course, but I guess it was good to talk about it even in the immediate aftermath.

 

Getting new tires put on my wife's car and watching it on the small TV in the customer lounge of Tires Plus. When the second plane hit, an old man who was waiting for his car said as calm as could be: "My son works there. I should call him."

Guy went outside. Tried his phone a few times. Came back in when his name was called to pick up his car, paid for it and told me his son's phone was busy. He was still calm as could be. Said, "well, I should get home. His mother might be worried."

And left. The reporter in me wanted to go after him in the parking lot, get a name and number, and ask if I could call back.

The human being in me left the guy alone. Never found out what happened to his son.

Hope the son made it out.

 

If we had a 9 am class that day, I'll never know because I didn't leave the library. They were definitely called off by 11, though, and I remember there being many fears in the area that the CDC might be a target, too.

 

I was in Atlanta at a trade show when word spread that a small airplane hit one of the Twin Towers. Didn't think too much of it.

As we were setting up our booth, some guy came running down the aisle saying one of the Towers was down. We ran upstairs and found a TV.

We were right across from CNN headquarters and some of the Expo folks were worried that CNN could be an additional target. Not a good feeling.

The trade show was shut down and we scrambled to find a way back to Orlando. All rental cars were long gone, but luckily, one of our sales reps was heading back home after a sales call and picked us up that evening. If our rep had not been in the neighborhood, I have no idea how we could have gone home.

We spent the afternoon in the restaurant area of the hotel watching the coverage.

6 people and our luggage smashed into a smallish mid-size car, driving all night to get home. That was the longest drive of my life.

 

Obviously, never forget this one.

In high school (insert newbie/youngin' joke here) in history class. My teacher was a great guy, got along really well with students and one of the kids who was friendlier with him and would joke around a lot came in and told him what happened. Teacher didn't believe him, cracked some jokes and went on with the lesson. They didn't announce anything at the school until about 30 min. after the first plane hit. Everyone in the class just seemed to laugh it off and thought it was a big joke.

Nonetheless, the teacher felt pretty bad that afternoon.

 

Was still in bed when the first plane struck; woke up, got on line and saw it on the AOL startup screen/
Was on the phone with my brother when the second plane hit; like everyone else, I thought it was a replay at first.

 

After already putting in 12 hours of work and listening to the coverage all day, I found myself alone in our building that night developing three rolls of film... the dark room was way in the back of the building, which at this time of night was dark and eerily quiet.

I'll never forget the spooky feeling I had in that building alone developing film...obviously, the little town I lived in wasn't a target, but I was saturated with a feeling of vulnerability that I fail to describe accurately to this day...

 

Junior in high school in the burbs of Chicago. I was in a journalism class. A few people in the main office heard about the first plane and told my teacher. He put on the TV and we watched the coverage. I had history the next period and the teacher didn't really care about what happened. We got out of school early that day because there was a bomb threat at another HS in town.

 

I was surfing the net when my wife called from work and told me. I was about to get in the shower to get ready for the weekly presser for the college I was covering. I drove in, had to drop a coupla bills in the mail at the post office, and heard about the first tower coming down. What I'll never forget is seeing the traffic info signs: National Emergency. All U.S. Airports Closed. And the arab students on campus when I got there, partying like it was 1999.

They did the presser, but nobody's heart was really in it. Writers or coaches/players. Went to lunch with some of the writers and that's where I first saw video.

My grandmother was in the hospital and I went to see her after I got done, and she was quietly crying. She said this was exactly how Pearl Harbor made people feel.

 

I was asleep when my 80-something grandma called and woke me up.

I figured she was just watching a movie and got confused. Until I turned on the TV.

 

The arab students at my college all bailed because they were afraid of getting beat up.

Jeremy - What is the deal with your history teacher not caring about what was happening? That is ridiculous.