Teaching about 9/11

[kimcatch22]

They're talking about teaching 9/11 on Chicago Public Radio's Eight Forty-Eight right now. The podcast will be up this afternoon if you can't catch the live stream, I think.

[Central Scrutinizer]

Our company *had* an office in 5 WTC and still has one in the National Press Building in Washington, DC. The publisher had department from Balitmore by plane. We spent the better part of the day trying to locate these people. An ad salesman was just coming up from the subway station when the first one hit, and immediately ran up the street as far and fast as he could -- we hear from him about lunchtime. Our N.Y. reporter was fortunately not in 5 WTC, but about 5 buildings away talking with a maritime attorney. He came out of their building as the first one fell. He dove into a parked bus where he stayed until a rescue worker was able to get him out. He was treated for inhilation from breathing all the crap falling down. We heard from him about 3:30. To this day, he is strongly impacted by it. Our two writers in Washington had to walk six miles to get out of DC because all the public transportation had been shut down. We were unable to get ahold of them until I talked with one at about 4:30. The publisher's plane was diverted and he didn't land until after 1 p.m.

[embiggen]

I was in Nashville for an insurance company very close to the airport. I remember hearing about the first plane on NPR and also assumed it was a small plane. once I got to the third floor where my cubicle was, everyone was talking about it. you couldn't access CNN online or anything to get coverage, we had no televisions for some reason, so we listened to the radio. I called my husband and told him what happened; he was still asleep. he continuously called me with updates every 5 minutes. I worked with a lot of people in NYC, so I was very concerned about everyone. I remember the skies were quiet for a couple of days after that and when we saw the first plane we spotted in the air, it was just an erie feeling.

 

a month later, my husband and I came to visit NYC for a wedding. it was my first trip to the city and I had never known what it was like to see the towers. I remember how nice everyone in the city was; kinder and yet still on edge. you could still smell engine fuel if you got close to downtown. we moved up here 6 months later. on the ferry to work this morning, the boat paused at 8:45 for a minute as we approached the site. I could see sadness in the eyes of those that were here and experienced first hand. I always have a lump in my throat every September 11th and listen to the readings of the names with tears in my eyes. it's a tragedy that I will never forget and should never be forgotten.

[poppydawn]

I had a class that morning, and before I left the house I turned on the TV to check the weather report. That was right before the second plane hit. I tried to call my instructor but didn't get her. Not knowing what else to do, and not wanting to be stuck home alone, I went to class.

 

I lived about a mile south of Lambert Int'l Airport in St. Louis at the time, and my class was on a campus to the north. To get there, I had to take the highway where the jets pass close by on their approach to land. Packs of jets coming in for landings. Our house was close enough that we had a constant hum from the airport noise, especially at night. Not having that buzz while the planes were grounded was a constant reminder of what had happened.

 

When I got to class, I was a few minutes late. No one had heard the news, and the class was busy with a pop quiz. I went to work, but I sat by the door because I knew I going to have to make a run for it to throw up. Luckily, I didn't.

 

I didn't watch the news footage. I couldn't handle seeing the same thing over and over. Brian and I watched nothing but Spongebob for three days. It took me about four or five days to even be able to cry about it because I was so stunned.

[quarter23cd]

a month later, my husband and I came to visit NYC for a wedding.

Heh. I had completely forgotten that a month after 9/11, my wife and I flew from NYC to Ohio for a friend's wedding--a feat that, evidently, awed a great many people in attendance. The pastor actually pasued, mid ceremony, and acknowledged us specifically for being so "brave" as to actually board a plane from NY to be there. We just awkwardly smiled and waved and people looked at us like we were Evel Knievel or something.

 

I dunno. New Yorkers--I don't know if this is still true or not, as I live elsewhere now--but for a while there at least, you couldn't board a subway or an elevator or be in a large crowd of people without thinking about it. It was a grim sense of acceptance, maybe, that anything might happen at any time and you just had to go on with your life anyway because there wasn't an alternative.

 

My guess is most people don't consciously think about it on a daily basis so much anymore--which is probably healthier--but that day definitely changed forever any illusions of invulnerability I ever had. Anything can happen at any time in life. You can fear it or accept it or try to ignore it, but its always there.

[embiggen]

My guess is most people don't consciously think about it on a daily basis so much anymore--which is probably healthier--but that day definitely changed forever that any illusions of invulnerability I ever had. Anything can happen at any time in life. You can fear it or accept it or try to ignore it, but its always there.

 

 

this is so true. when we first moved here and I had to go into the city by myself to look for work, I was very very nervous. now, riding the subway and coming to work in a high rise every day is just something I do and I try not to think about what could possibly happen. if we all obsessed over it, we'd be paralyzed.

[Sunken mountain]

I learned a huge lesson from 9-11. I realized that not everyone loves America and there are even some out there who would love to see us destroyed. I never knew of their absolute hate for us and our lifestyles. I guess I was just naive or either lost in my own little world before but that was definitely a wake up call for me. Since that day I have paid much more attention to politics and have probably grown up a little, too.

 

The old Europe knows about this "absolute hate for us and our lifestyles" more than America.We have this hostile behaviour closer than you.

But don

[jenbobblehead]

I was at work, in Providence, chatting online with my sister. We were both listening to BBC World News on NPR and heard that there was a fire at the World Trade Center. We tried to get to CNN or MSNBC or any of them and couldn't. We both knew something was really wrong. I went across the street to the Univ of RI because there's a TV in the lobby where the security guard sits, and i was transfixed for almost an hour, as I watched live tv, the second plane hit, and the towers come down. And i felt this roaring in my head, like a gigantic "whooosh." and I couldn't hear anything else.

 

I went back to my office, packed up my things and went home and didn't leave the house for a week. It would be three years before I had the courage to get on a plane again. Any time I see a plane, even now, in a brilliant blue clear sky, I get a chill, and I stop, and watch the plane, to see where it is going.

[austrya]

I didn't even hear about it until after the second plane hit. I was at work and one of our idiot IT guys comes running out of his office yelling something about the PLO trying to bomb the White House. I seriously thought he was joking and was waiting for the punchline. He told us all to go to cnn.com and by that time it was hard to get to the site because of all of the traffic. I called my dad and he was in tears and said he saw the 2nd plane hit live on tv. He was really freaked out, which really freaked me out. I've never seen my dad like that my whole life.

 

I listened to a local morning show (Drew & Mike out of Detroit) on the radio on my way home from work. I still remember that broadcast like it was yesterday. They let us leave early because it was obvious that we were all freaked out and we weren't going to be getting much done.

[remphish1]

I know it is straying off the original message of the topic but hearing others stories I believe is theraputic.

 

I was in State College, PA at Penn State when it happened. I was actually at a radio station in town watching the tv's live as the 2nd plane hit. I was supposed to meet with a programmer there to discuss an advertising campaign that I was involved in. I of course as soon as I saw and heared about the attacks had a lot on my mind being as I grew up outside NYC and new tons of people who worked downtown (Fortunatley everyone I knew was safe...My brothers friend was the most affected as his downtown apartment was deemed uninhabitable as it was 2 blocks or so from the WTC). I was able to call my mother and other friend from NY before all the cell lines jammed up to get the word out. It was a strange day for many resons. That semester I didn't have classes on Tuesday morning so in a normal Tuesday I wouldn't have been up. I also find it Ironic that I would accept meeting someone at 9am when I didn't have to get up til 12 or so and 2) that I was in a media outlet as the events happened.

 

I felt a strange feeling that day hearing the news because as Penn State is really near nothing it was in the center almost of all three places that were attacked. I also drove by Shanksville two days earlier also as I went to Pittsburgh to see a concert. It was also a strange day on campus because it was the day of the career fair. Probably the most improtant day for Juniors and Seniors. I was amazed I was able to leave a tv set for an hour to go but I did. I got there and the place which would under any normal circumstance be teeming with thousands had maybe 100 people there. I talked to a few recruiters and one said to me. I have a feeling no one will be hiring for awhile. I then left and stayed home the rest of the day watching tv. I remember one insenstive comment from my roomate from Erie, PA that really soured my relationship with him. I told him about the attacks and he said "Who cares I am never going to NYC". Needless to say that was a heartless thing to say.

 

On another ironic note my father works in Jersey City about 2 miles from the World Tarde Center. He never has a camera at the office but that they he did because he had to take some pictures for an insurance adjuster. He managed to get some of the most haunting sites I ever saw on photo. His pictures showed the towers and the skyline and the empty streets in such a way that it still hurts me to look at. Those photos are in my parents basement and I sometimes look at them to remember that day in history.

 

Two other memories I have also were visitng ground zero in the first week of October. The smell and soot was still in the air. I saw the remaining piece of the WTC that was standing along with all the firemen and other service people. Seeing all of the missing peoples pictures near the site was gut wrenching.

 

I also remember riding the path train for the first time it reopened at the WTC station. It was erie as people were still afraid to travel there. There may have been 10 people on the whole train which is just incredible if you think about the fact that I was traveling at rush hour that day.

 

Hope you all don't mind me sharing. I am also truly sorry for anyone who knows anyone who perished on that terrible day.

[Sir Stewart]

I was living with my parents and preparing for a drive across country with my girlfriend later in the week (we were moving to San Diego and planned a 30-day road trip to get us there).

I was working three jobs, and woke up around 11am on 9/11. My father was loading a laundry basket with whites and said very matter-of-factly 'Pete the country's under attack. The World Trade towers are gone and the Pentagon's been hit.' I thought 'What a weird joke, I can't even manage a fake laugh.'

I went downstairs and my mother handed the phone to me and it was my girlfriend saying 'I don't know where my dad is, he works right there at the Chase building, I don't know what to do, he hasn't answered his phone.' The TV was all smoke and sky as she said this and that was when I woke up.

The night before, after work, I drove into the city to buy the new Bob Dylan album 'Love & Theft' at midnight at Tower Records. I drove around blaring the disc with my windows down through my old Savin Hill neighborhood in Dorchester, where just weeks earlier I was living with my best friend, before he killed himself. I wanted Savin Hill to hear the new Bob Dylan because it was close as I was going to get to feeling like Robert was hearing it. I don't know where the hijackers of the next day were staying that night, but many were somewhere in Boston, and I only wish that my radio had woken up one of those bastards, and he would've missed his morning bell because of it, and the plan would have fallen apart, and the world would still be the same as it was on 9/10.

My eventual father-in-law was okay.

Peace to everyone today.

[remphish1]

I was living with my parents and preparing for a drive across country with my girlfriend later in the week (we were moving to San Diego and planned a 30-day road trip to get us there).

I was working three jobs, and woke up around 11am on 9/11. My father was loading a laundry basket with whites and said very matter-of-factly 'Pete the country's under attack. The World Trade towers are gone and the Pentagon's been hit.' I thought 'What a weird joke, I can't even manage a fake laugh.'

I went downstairs and my mother handed the phone to me and it was my girlfriend saying 'I don't know where my dad is, he works right there at the Chase building, I don't know what to do, he hasn't answered his phone.' The TV was all smoke and sky as she said this and that was when I woke up.

The night before, after work, I drove into the city to buy the new Bob Dylan album 'Love & Theft' at midnight at Tower Records. I drove around blaring the disc with my windows down through my old Savin Hill neighborhood in Dorchester, where just weeks earlier I was living with my best friend, before he killed himself. I wanted Savin Hill to hear the new Bob Dylan because it was close as I was going to get to feeling like Robert was hearing it. I don't know where the hijackers of the next day were staying that night, but many were somewhere in Boston, and I only wish that my radio had woken up one of those bastards, and he would've missed his morning bell because of it, and the plan would have fallen apart, and the world would still be the same as it was on 9/10.

My eventual father-in-law was okay.

Peace to everyone today.

 

Some of the attackers involved were planning some of the events while staying in my hometown of Wayne and these attackers stayed at the Wayne Inn a month or so before. They also all bought their sunglasses used during the attack at our local mall. It frightens me to this day knowing that that was going on less than a few miles from where my family lives.

[bobbob1313]

A few of the hijackera lived in my town fir a few months...

[Hoodoo Man]

I guess we weren't very responsible parents because we allowed our kids to watch and ask as many questions as they wanted. Granted at the time one was 5 and the other almost 3, but they wanted to know and we felt like shielding them was not the answer. My 12 year-old still remembers that day and I hope it is the most significant day of his life. My 9-year-old doesn't really remember much about it. But I hope they can one day explain to our 6-year-old and 5-week-old what that time was like for them. I don't want them to ever forget.

 

That day changed my life in many ways. Some were very negative. On the positive side, after I got over the depression, fear and most of the anger I decided that I was going to learn to savor every single day of my life. I try hard not to just go through the motions of life. People I work with think I'm weird because to me Tuesday is just as cool a day as Friday. But I refuse to wish days away. 9/11 taught me that life is way too short to not enjoy it.

 

Peace.

[austrya]

My son was almost 4 at the time. He watched it right along with us, but he didn't really get what was happening.

[Edie]

My husband and I heard about the first plane from a neighbor as we were taking our son to maybe his second or third day of pre-school. We were still in the car (I was just getting out of it with Jake) as we were listening to the radio (WXRT here in Chicago) when they announced that the second plane had hit the South Tower. Like everyone, my blood went cold as I realized that the initial collision was not a fluke, and that we were under attack. I somehow managed to drop Jake off and leave him there as the school said that they would go on with the morning program (3-6 year olds -- Montessori) to keep some normalcy for them. We then got back in the car and drove to my job to drop me off.

 

Driving downtown on Lake Shore Drive was surreal as we began seeing more and more traffic going north, away from the city. When I got there, I milled about for a while with the rest of my co-workers, then as the south tower fell and as the announcements came about the Pentagon and PA crashes, the decision was made to close the office. I was on the 11th floor of the IBM building right on the river, and it felt vulnerable for days/weeks/months afterwards.

 

I called my husband back and he came to pick me up. We listened to the radio as the North Tower fell. Then got home and sat on our meditation cushions for a long time in silence. We made the decision not to mention it to Jake, nor to watch any coverage in front of him. I went to donate blood, and couldn't watch when the TVs would show the planes hitting or the buildings crashing down. I would then sneak into our bedroom to watch the coverage occasionally, and we watched and cried along with the rest of America when Letterman came back on a week or so later.

 

Anyway, a couple of weeks earlier Jake and I had been to CT to visit my dad. The weather in PVD was bad, so we managed to get on a flight to ORD from BOS. I recall as we were sitting in a restaurant near security, seeing 3 or 4 swarthy men first going through security, then watching them as they stood and watched others go through. They didn't seem very interested in going to their gate. I thought that was odd. As we got up to leave, I purposefully smiled at them as I always do with people, to try to engage them with eye contact -- which I generally got especially when I had my son with me. I recall one of them looking at me with absolutely no expression, except maybe for contempt, which again struck me as odd. I promptly forgot about it until months after the attacks. I still wonder if I had seen the highjackers casing security.

[NightOfJoy]

My wife called to tell me 2 planes hit the WTC. I said-how many planes? She said-two. Ok, bye, love ya, be safe, etc. I go and turn on the tube in the office and there it is. I alert my team, we watch a bit of it then go into a meeting, turning off the tv. Meeting's over, turn it back on and both buildings are collapsed by then. F*ck.

 

My buddy, who's a heavy drinker and knows it, scheduled all his sales meetings in the WTC on 9/11 for 10am and later......he claims his drinking saved his life that day. Who knows, maybe it did.

 

I worked a block away from the Sears Tower-my window had a very clear view of it. For a year or so, every time a plane or helicopter would enter my field of vision outside that window, I'd get startled. I still avoid walking anywhere near it.

 

After getting cut loose from work, I spent the entire day glued to the tube and holding my 6 month old boy. I didnt really have a strong reaction to it all until I turned on BBC news at 10pm. Then I started crying.

[EL the Famous]

honestly, i barely remember the entire day. i was driving into work, listening to a CD versus the radio and i got a page from a co-worker:

 

'are you near a TV and seeing this?! there are planes flying into the WTC.'

 

i disregarded it, as i couldn't even fathom it being anything other than a weird, tasteless joke. as i entered work and walked past our workout facility...i saw it was packed w/ people surrounding the TV's that line the ceiling. stone cold silence. i watched the initial footage of the 1st plane and then headed to my desk, passing throug hthe cafeteria where 10X the amount of people were glues to eac hand very TV in there as well. i stopped again as the 2nd plane hit.

 

after that, outside of going to my desk...the magnitude never truly processed/sunk in for me until i got home and saw the entire day's footage. i cried and held my wife for 2 straight hours. i was a wreck for weeks after...full of both highs and lows.

 

it's kind of strange actually. i'll chalk it up to the election or something...but this is the first time in years it really seems to be so front of mind. again, god bless martin and other vc folks who suffered a loss.

[MattZ]

Although I miss the New York of 9/10, I think I miss the New York of 9/12 more.

 

9/11/01 still feels like it was yesterday. Even though it also feels like it was 20 years ago.

 

I will never forget the smoke that I could smell/see from my apt uptown.

 

I will never forgive the tourists that go down there with cameras to take pictures of a hole in the ground. Never.

 

I will never forget the rumor that somehow started circulating that morning in my neighborhood that the planes had biological weapons on them. And that we should fill our bathtubs with water in case the water supply was contaminated.

 

I will never forget the postings of Missing Persons at the armory.

 

I will never forget watching army vehicles driving down the streets of Manhattan.

 

I have already forgotten the first time it didn't feel weird to see someone holding a semi-automatic weapon at Grand Central Station.

 

I have already forgotten what floor I used to work on.

 

Today was the first time that I woke up on the anniversary of 9/11 and "today is 9/11" was not the first thing that popped into my mind. I didn't remember until I walked out the door to go to work. I am trying not to beat myself up over it.

 

I was going to say "sorry to hijack this thread" and then thought better of it. And then said fuck it and said it anyway.

 

I am wondering whether it will ever feel normal to see 9/11 on my watch, on my emails, on my phone, on my newspaper.

[kimcatch22]

Growing up in the western burbs of Chicago, air traffic is a fact of life -- it's background noise and objects in your peripheral view of the sky every 60 seconds. The eerie stillness of the skies in the post-9/11 days was deafeningly silent. It felt like calm before the storm every time you were outside. My high school marching band practiced in the school parking lot, and at practice on the night the air traffic grounding was lifted, everyone stopped mid-march and stared at that first lone plane in the sky. After a few days of silence, the faint sound of its engines felt like it was landing on the ground next to us. The eerie silence and the perceived loudness of the return to "normalcy" are the two memories I can't shake.

[EL the Famous]

I think I posted this a few years ago. I sent this email out 4 days after to a long list of family friends (this was before blogging was so commonplace). Every year I clean up my massive 'sent' box, I can never bring myself to get rid of it:

 

Subject: When you Have Time, From Me to You.

Importance: High

 

All,

 

In moments of emotional duress (or enlightenment for that matter), I often find consolation (or inspiration for that matter) in the form of music. Watching the stories of human interest on TV last night, my reaction(s) ranged from sadness, anger, hope, confusion, inspiration...most accompanied with some form of tears as well.

 

It's so easy to let yourself feel beaten down in this time of sadness, that the U.S. (and lest we not forget the World) will not rebound to a place where one can live the life intended for them. Seeing the outpouring of support, not just in the U.S., but globally as well...one has to believe that some good MUST come out of this. If we allow ourselves to be mired w/in the fear, contempt, anger and sorrow that most people (including myself) are wrestling with...than whomever set these inhuman deeds in motion has won in some capacity.

 

I sent an email out months ago to some close friends w/ a transcript of Bono's speech at Harvard commencement. The comments made on "rebelling against your own indifference" seem even more relevant now than they did then. Can that be the ray of light to come out of this moment of darkness? Can we rise above and allow this incident to serve as a catalyst to continue to move ourselves and the world around us forward? From what I have seen so far, my heart is screaming a resounding YES. Utilize all of these tough emotions being felt in a positive vein to better yourself or those around you, then none of the feelings are for naught.

 

Please find attached the 12/5/00 Irving Plaza (NYC) performance of "Beautiful Day" by U2. I wrestle w/ the use of poignant song for any sort of personal/financial gain outside of sheer enjoyment or extreme growth, be it corporate or otherwise...but sometimes it just fits a mood.

 

I'm not considering anything said to be prolific or unique to anything being said already. Listening to it after the moments of silence, gave me a slight lift and, as always, I feel compelled to share when something has done me some good. I'm a guy that wears his heart on his sleeve and cannot find any worth in holding back the need to speak when the moment seems relevant.

 

Corny? Maybe. Don't care. Here again, hope this helps...even a little. As always, thanks for anything and everything you've done in the way of good for me or, especially, anyone else. Bigger thanks for just...being. Forward to anybody who may get something out of this as well.

 

Peace,

ME

[Sir Stewart]

Corny? Maybe. Don't care.

Fuckin a.

[bobbob1313]

jon Stewarts monologue the first night he was back always moves me to tears.

 

Also, the two big benefit shows in the weeks following got very heavy play from me for a long time.

[uncool2pillow]

I will never forgive the tourists that go down there with cameras to take pictures of a hole in the ground. Never.

Thanks for sharing. I appreciated the whole post. Knowing people who've done this, I can really feel for you and all NYC'ers. It's very crass in a way the people who do it just don't get. One person I know went to NYC in either late '01 or early '02 and came back with probably $500 worth of "9/11 souvenirs". Most of it looks like stuff bought from street vendors. She still has it in her classroom.

 

If I ever get to NYC, I will visit ground zero and pay my respects; but that is all.

 

Edit:

 

By the way, my lessons have gone well today. We'll continue tomorrow. Way too complicated for 45 minutes. Funniest comment of the day came from a kid who said his aunt was accused of being a terrorist because she had to throw away BBQ sauce she had in a carry on bag recently.

[remphish1]

Thanks for sharing. I appreciated the whole post. Knowing people who've done this, I can really feel for you and all NYC'ers. It's very crass in a way the people who do it just don't get. One person I know went to NYC in either late '01 or early '02 and came back with probably $500 worth of "9/11 souvenirs". Most of it looks like stuff bought from street vendors. She still has it in her classroom.

 

If I ever get to NYC, I will visit ground zero and pay my respects; but that is all.

 

Is taking pictures then any different then taking pictures now? People still take pictures of sites of great destruction...Pearl Harbor, Gettysburg etc...I took a few pictures about a month or so after I am not going to lie. My reasons were so I can share them with my kids whenever I have them. Then again I was not a tourist as I have lived in the area for 20 years at that point. In addition I have also saved some major newspaper headlines etc...I am a history junkie and save things from major events. I do think it is crass though to take pictures to profit. I still think it is tacky and crass that there are several vendors right outside selling 9/11 goods for profit.