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

[Chef]

Still selling cars....come up from a sales meeting....happen to glance at the
television and see the plane hit the second tower.

First song I heard on the radio after it happened was with a DJ who was a cross between crying and was mad at the same time. First time "Born in the USA" ever brought tears to my eyes.

I think of that every time I hear that song.

 

[Trouser_Buddah]

I was dropping my stepdaughter off at school when Mike and Mike in the morning first announced that a plane had crashed into one of the twin towers...by the time I reached work they were still surmising that it was an accident...

Watched the rest unfold on TV and the interweb while at work...

 

[Gutter]

Waking up after a frantic message was left on my answering machine from my mom, since she knew I was going to NYC and Times Square that day and had tickets to the Yankees-White Sox game. Called her back, turned on the TV in time to see the second plane going into the tower.

Walked outside and was able to see smoke from over 60 miles away down the shoreline. Went to give blood, got a ****ing haircut and went into work on my day off (I wasn't called in, just showed up because I thought they would need any help and I needed to stay busy or I would've lost it).

I will never forget the images of seeing the emergency vehicles zoom down I-95 and the "All bridges closed to New York City" signs on the highway like we were in a war zone.

 

[Angola!]

Was supposed to be jogging during a running/jogging class in college. Instead was in a computer lab surfing the internet when someone came in and said something about the first plane. The strange thing was I couldn't find anything online and assumed the person was lying.

Driving home from class, I was listening to a CD when I noticed all of the cars pulling off the road and people just sitting there with these strange looks on their faces. I turned on the radio to an FM station to be greeted by ABC news or something and found out that way.

I rushed home, woke up all my roommates and we watched it unfold. I also called my parents in Seattle and woke them up with the news.

Edit: Strangest thing was, I wouldn't have known about it until midday if I hadn't actually gone to class that day. We didn't have cable, so we rarely turned on the TV. I guess my sister would have called me, since she lived in Kansas City and would have been awake. But with my parents in the Pacific Time Zone, they wouldn't have gotten up for another couple of hours.

 

[Chi City 81]

In my bedroom. I had just woken up. Then I went to work at the paper. Long, long day.

 

[Oz]

Waking up after a frantic message was left on my answering machine from my mom, since she knew I was going to NYC and Times Square that day and had tickets to the Yankees-White Sox game. Called her back, turned on the TV in time to see the second plane going into the tower.

My story was similar, except rather than being anywhere close to New York, I was in Kansas. Mom called enough times that I finally picked up the phone, she told me what was going on, and then I turned on the TV just minutes before the second tower strike. I was stunned, like everyone else.

 

[Beaker]

It was my freshman year at college, so only a few days after I had gotten there. I was just about to get up for a class when one of my suitemates woke me. I'll never forget that.

I went to school near Boston so there were a lot of fears that the city was another target. In a way, seeing as my suitemates and I were freshmen, it was sort of the first thing that brought us together-just dealing with the sadness.

And I still went to class that day. Needless to say, we just talked about what had happened.

 

[buckweaver]

On a bus in Athens, Ga., listening to NPR when the first plane struck. Ran up the hill to the library and a crowd was already gathered around a TV when the second plane hit. Watched it live, didn't leave the room for 2 hours. Nor did many other people.

 

[HejiraHenry]

Working at my desk on the news section for the sh*t-kicker weekly where I spent a few months in 2001.

I got most of my news that day from NPR, which I thought did a fine job and had yet to become infected with Bush Derangement Syndrome. The tobacco shop across the street had cable and I wandered over there a couple of times – the second time, I think, just in time to see the first tower start to fall.

The story only came home to me, really, when all of the airports were shut down. That took the emerging national tragedy and made it local for us, in a manner off speaking.

We tore up the front and made that the lead (no wire, just me winging it), with a local sidebar inside.

Still basically made our mid-afternoon deadline and we were selling papers at the front counter that night by 7:30 p.m. or so. Dozens of people came by that evening.

I had to drive about an hour away to go to a wine appreciation class (I still am thankful they didn't call that off.) People were going crazy at the gas pumps at 6 p.m. or so, some places ran out of gas and one station, at the Tennessee-Mississippi line, was gouging people for $3.50 a gallon at a time when I think gas was $1.60 or so. By the time the class was over the bubble had burst and those places that had gas were back to normal.

Two reactions the next day:

1, A woman called to complain we didn't have more coverage of the story.

2, A local PR professional called to marvel that we had as much as wel did, on such a short time frame.

 

[Angola!]

And I still went to class that day. Needless to say, we just talked about what had happened.

You had class that day? I went to a college in Idaho and we cancelled. I can't fathom having class in a major city where they didn't know if it was a target or not.

 

[Beef03]

litterally just stepped out of the shower – timed to the minute – as I got ready for school. My roommate had the morning news in Edmonton on, was interrupted with a report that a plane had crashed into the Twin Towers. No one knew eaxactly what had happened or the extent. By the time I got to college they were showing replays of the second plane and reports of the Pentagon being hit. We spent the day watching the events unfold on TV instead of doing any kind of class work. I remember talking to my dad and him making me promise that I finish school and not run off to join the military. A promise that truthfully I regretted for a number of years. Now, not so much.

 

[RedHotChiliPrepper]

It was my third week of college, I was just pulling into the commuter parking lot when they came across the radio and said a plane flew into a building. During class another prof came running in saying towers had fell, they had hit the pentagon and I started to worry. My dad works for the NSA and wasn't sure if he was the next target or something. Turns out he was fine, didn't come home for 3 days. Spent better part of his time at work pulling fiber to set up new computer networks and went back to work for his old job at the place just as an extra hand to deal with the stuff.

 

[Beaker]

And I still went to class that day. Needless to say, we just talked about what had happened.

You had class that day? I went to a college in Idaho and we cancelled. I can't fathom having class in a major city where they didn't know if it was a target or not.

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.

 

[hondo]

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.

 

[buckweaver]

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.

 

[Stretch15]

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.

 

[BRoth]

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.

 

[slappy4428]

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.

 

[The Big Ragu]

In my apartment at around 9 a.m., still in bed (was supposed to take a trip later in the day, so I was sleeping in) with the radio on when they said a plane had flown into the first tower. It woke me out of my half sleep and I ran up to my roof and watched the building burn with a bunch of my neighbors (one who videotaped everything) and watched the second plane come at the second building in what seemed like slow motion, while people screamed, "No no no!" I was still on my roof when the first building collapsed. Within 15 minutes, we had to be inside with the windows shut because the wind was blowing in our direction and the air was thick and unbreathable for half a day. That day changed my life for a year in a way few other events could, including the volunteer work I did at the site every week and how much I--a loner by nature--bonded with people I never would have known or associated with. Weirdest story from that day was a woman from my building who was supposed to begin a new job that morning a couple of blocks away from the site. She got off the subway and couldn't get anywhere near her new office. After that day, the area where her new office was was closed off for several weeks, and she had no one she could call to find out what was going on or what her job status was.

 

[Trouser_Buddah]

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...