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

I was inside a convenience store buying a cup of coffee after dropping off my kids at school. Didn't know about the first plane until I got back in the pickup and tuned the radio to what was then One-on-One Sports. Just like someone said earlier about Mike and Mike, the announcer said it would keep listeners updated about a plane - possibly a small one - flying into one of the towers and kept calling it an accident.

I thought, something isn't right about this and switched to a news talk station carrying CNN radio. The CNN folks were interviewing a producer who on top of another high-rise in Manhattan , giving updates via cell phone. Suddenly, the producer started talking about another plane and and how low it was flying, and then he lost it when the plane hit the second tower.

I was doing double duty at our paper producing the community news section and doing some updates on the web. When I walked in the door, the guy updating our site had not heard about the attack. I think I was the first one to tell people in the newsroom and the rest of the building about it. It brought back memories of me sitting in the newspaper library in January 1986 when the managing editor came dashing in to turn on the TV, saying the Space Shuttle just exploded on takeoff.

Somehow our internet connection was affecting by power outages caused by the plane crashing into the Pentagon. A perfect opportunity to use our web site for breaking news and it goes kaput because a high-speed link in Arlington, Va., was knocked offline. But I had to finish up the community news section.

My son had a junior high football game that night, and it went on as scheduled. There wasn't much enthusiasm in the crowd. I spoke with a friend who was in downtown Memphis when the attack began. When she began the drive home, she passed by the Memphis airport and saw a sea of FedEx jets. Normally, these planes alternate leaving on two separate runways every three minutes. She said it was a bizarre sight to see all those planes grounded.

During the break between my son's seventh-grade game and the eighth-grade game, the PA announcer - a local pastor - talked about what happened that day. He asked everyone to pause for a moment of silence. There was even less emotion in the second game. Neither team seem inspired to play. Everyone was just depressed and ready go to home.

 

I was "administering" Indiana's achievement test to my 7th grade special ed children when somebody from the office came down and told me she was taking over and I needed to go to the office. My sister was on the phone down there b/c she wanted to let us know that her husband was supposed to have gone to the Pentagon that day for a meeting with a client (he works for a defense contractor) and she hadn't heard from him yet (this was like 10 minutes after the plane hit the Pentagon).

About two hours later, after testing had ended for the day, the principal came over my intercom to tell me that my brother-in-law had finally gotten in touch with my sister and hadn't even gone to the Pentagon that day because the meeting had been canceled.

My entire class of cynical, inner-city kids started clapping.

 

I was getting ready for work and had CNN on in the bedroom. Paula Zahn (who I believe was in her first day at the network) started talking about a report of a small plane hitting the one of the WTC towers. After a few minutes they cut to a shot of the tower and I remember thinking "that hole is way too big for a small plane." Saw the second plane hit live on CNN a few minutes later.

I did not see the towers come down live. I went to the office and threw myself into work. Most of my coworkers were crowded around the one TV in the office. I stayed at my desk and listened to it unfold on the radio.

 

I was a junior in college. Slept through the whole thing because I'd been up late with fraternity brothers watching wrestling.

Woke up to a phone call from one of them, telling me to turn on the television. Within 10 minutes, I was on the phone with both parents. Mom had already e-mailed from her school, telling me she loved me and wanted me to call her before "doing anything like enlisting."

I don't think I've ever told her that enlistment was the farthest thing from my mind.

I was fine with Mom. Got on the phone with Dad and lost it.

Classes weren't cancelled that day, but I'd heard they had been made optional. I didn't go to any of them.

 

It wasn't Paula Zahn. She was on later, and yes, it was her first day at CNN.
It was Carol Lin and Vince Cellini.

I was very sick with flu, my brother called me about 9, I think my quote to him was "this better be good".
He said "CBS, quick, I gotta go." He then hung up without another word.
Turned it on in time to see the 2nd one hit.
Where I lived at the time, we were in the takeoff corridor for Pittsburgh. Not hearing planes for the next 3 days was very eerie.

 

I was working at a PM paper, and had just finished up my part of the sports. Headed over to the DIII school across the street to check in. Hanging out, heard someone talking about it, went into the basketball coach's office (he had the TV) and they were showing the one smoking tower. I went to another office, called over to the ME to make sure they knew, hung up and went back in. About 30 seconds later, the second plane hit.

We were able to tear up our front and get the most updated stuff we had, which was sold out as fast as it hit the streets. I spent the rest of the day at my friend's house, watching the whole thing. Numb. That's all I remember...I felt numb.

 

I was on air, co-hosting a sports radio show.

Don't tell the FCC, but when the second plane hit I said "Oh shit, there's another one" over the air. The main host said something about it was now obvious this wasn't an accident. He hit a few buttons and put ABC Radio on air. I sat there for a few more minutes before walking home.

 

Chemistry class during 11th grade. The announcement to turn on the televisions came across the loud speaker, so we turned it on. My chemistry teacher at the time had a few bolts loose and she yelled "Get underneath the desks, they are coming to get us next." They canceled the rest of classes that day and we went home early. I had a dinner that night with my cross country team. One of the most somber occasions I have witnessed.

 

I, being unemployed and living at home at the time, slept through most of the morning. When I woke up I was greeted from a message from my mom on the answering machine, saying we were under attack and I couldn't make out the rest of it. In my groggy state I assumed she meant one of the cats had gotten out. Then I turned on the TV, saw some part of Manhattan covered in dust, assumed it was some faraway place, remembered what my mom said ... and then it hit me.

But I guess it impacts people in different ways. I know a bunch of people through AIM and was invited into a running chat we had. As soon as I enter, the first message I saw was "omg maybe the Yankees died!" Let the healing begin.

 

I was in my car halfway to work and heard the news on WTOP radio in DC. My mom, who lives in NY, was supposed to be flying from NY to SF in the late afternoon of the 11th. My first thought, so morbid now, was that my mom's plane would be safe, because how often does more than one plane crash in one day. At the time, the news was that it was just a small plane and likely an accident.

By the time I got to my office and in front of a TV, the news that it was a larger plane and was probably a terrorist attack was just being discussed. I called my mom and woke her up to tell her she probably wasn't going to be flying that day. When she turned on the TV, all the local stations were out because the stations' transmitters were at the WTC.

Then the second tower was hit. I frantically called a good friend who worked at Penn Plaza to tell her to get out of there. At this point, who knew what the next target was? She refused to leave. My best friend from college lived in NYC at the time, but was out of town on business with attorneys for and from Cantor Fitzgerald. They were frantically trying to reach colleagues in the office and the stories she told about that were just horrible. She was ultimately stranded halfway across the country for about 5 days until planes were flying again. My best friend from high school works for a news channel in NYC, so after making sure she and her family were OK, I left her alone.

As for me, I live right near the Pentagon, so when that was hit, I really started to freak out. The rumors going around were crazy -- the bomb at the state department, the metro had had several explosions. A woman I worked with's fiance was in the Army and usually worked at the Pentagon. I'll never forget seeing her on the phone, trying to reach him. It took awhile, but eventually she found him -- he'd had a meeting offsite. As soon as she got off the phone with him, she just collapsed in tears.

A bunch of us were crowded around TVs, wondering what to do. I don't remember the oreder of what happened when. I'm not sure what happened before or after the towers fell. None of our bosses were in (we were a late arriving group). Eventually, our CFO was located and he told us to go home. The problem for me was that I couldn't go home -- all the roads were closed. Two of my coworkers offered to let me come to their houses and I chose the one that was furthest from the city.

On my way to her house, I stopped at CVS to get a toothbrush, toothpaste and some other stuff because I knew I wasn't going to be going home that night. I sat in the parking lot for awhile with a few other people, listening to the news on the radio. I don't think any of us spoke, just looked at each other grimly.

I watched the news coverage with my friend and her family for the rest of the day and night. Her 3 year old son was old enough to know something was going on, but not old enough to understand what.

The next morning, we had, of all things, the bris of a coworker's son to go to. It actually was nice to go to something life-affirming. After that, we went to work. But no work got done. For the first time ever, I didn't get any business-related calls all day.

By then, the roads were open and I decided to go home. I drive past a side of the Pentagon that wasn't hit and it was amazing to me that it looked completely normal. You could smell the smoke, though.

It was good to be back home, but that night, I was afraid to go to sleep. I sat on the couch all night, with my shoes on, watching TV. I dozed off for a little while around 4 and then woke right back up. It took a few nights before I could sleep normally again.

 

I was in a hotel room, getting ready to head home, when I turned on the news. I watched for about 20 minutes, saw the first tower come down and then thought, "You know, being in a big city probably isn't a good idea right now." Drove home, figuring every prep event that night would be postponed. Oh no, we had volleyball that night at a bunch of schools.

We did a story on why certain schools played and others didn't. One coach said her reasoning for playing was "our kids have been looking forward to this match since the season started, and I didn't want them to be disappointed." I was glad they got swept. Another said his team played because, "off the record, these kids don't give a shit about what happened in New York."

One coach had a sister who worked at the Pentagon. He said she was home that day, so he wasn't worried about her. But he said, "Thinking about it now, we shouldn't have played tonight." Talked to him a couple of weeks later, said he got chewed out by some player's mom for saying that.

Watched MSNBC replay its coverage today (it's on again tonight). Still fascinated with the reporting, and some of the things they got wrong (car bomb at the State Department) in the fog of confusion that day.

 

I was a freshman in college. I had an 8 a.m. trumpet lesson and usually on Tuesday's, I'd go grab breakfast off-campus. Got in my car and turned on the radio to my normal station, but it was the news coverage. I honestly thought the two were playing some War of the Worlds type joke. They were pretty well known for being raunchy and off-color. Then they came back on and it wasn't a joke. I mean, in the span of 30 seconds, I went from concerned to bawling. I went to a small liberal arts methodist campus. I don't remember if they canceled classes that day. I want to say they did, but I honestly just don't remember. If they didn't, I didn't go. I got out of my car, walked past the conservatory and talked to a couple of guys who told me it was just a joke. We decided to go to the campus dining room and grab coffee. We saw the second plane hit. I remember exactly where I was sitting. I remember exactly who was in the room. I remember the student body president sitting on a table tears rolling down his face (most of us were crying) and couldn't take his eyes off the tv.

Eventually, I went up to my room and watched. It was after the second towers fell. I have a picture I took that day of the tv with the red New York skyline in the background of one of the anchors...red from the smoke, of course. It really hit home when one of the girls I ran around with had a good friend who was supposed to be on the flight that hit the second tower. Eventually, my friend got ahold of her and found out she overslept and missed her flight, but not for about a week. There was a lot of praying that week...starting with our weekly service that was always held on Tuesday's at 3 p.m. I didn't go to a lot of those services, but that week, I did.