Remembering 9/11

[wraithfodder]

I had meant to post this last night, but it took me an hour of scouring the hard drive to find the photo...


This was the 'cross' of steel left after the attacks. I took this picture in September 2006. I went back to the site this past July and it's just a construction site now. I couldn't see anything to identify it as the site of the attacks...

I was at work, turned on the internet to surf the web briefly before starting work, and suddenly there was a photo on the Yahoo news page, of one of the towers with a hole in it. I remember thinking... how the hell could somebody fly a Cessna into a building THAT big? News was very sketchy and then more stuff started appearing on the web. Since I had AOL at work (it wasn't considered 'evil' back in those days) I IMed a friend who lived in the city. She told me what was happening. Then she told me the tower was gone. It just disappeared. She literally lived her entire life in the shadow of the towers and now it just crumbled into dust. I emailed a friend who worked in the city, only to get back a grim "fatal error" email notice. Fortunately she had been running late for work that day so wasn' ti nthe tower. Then someone came running down the hall saying that Washington DC had been attacked and my mind was going "world war III." Since it was chaos, I left, went home (lived very close) and oddly enough, popped tapes into both VCRS and chose CNN and CBS (which was the only station now remaining, as it was the only station with a spare antennae on the Empire State Building - the rest went down with the towers).


I never knew this existed until this summer when I took this photo. It's eerily stunning, and the remains of a sycamore tree root - The Trinity Root - details at www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp, but then I haven't gotten much into the city in recent years.

Now, when 9/11 comes around, oddly enough, I collect the NY Times and some other NY papers and stuff them in a box along with the original papers, and one day, I'll take a look at them and see how the world has changed. Alas, not for the better.

And there are more people's comment s on this topic at http://www.livejournal.com/misc/latestqotd.bml?qid=537

Comments

[darsynia.livejournal.com]

I was helping hubby drop off his car to get a new transmission, and I'd heard on the pop radio I was listening to that some prop plane had probably accidentally hit it. Hubby would SO not have cared about that but I remember sitting there for about five minutes wanting to go in to the storefront at AAMCO (transmission place) and tell him. Finally I gave in and locked the car up and walked over, right as the second plane hit and watched it live on the news television they had up. Spent the rest of the day watching it unfold.

I 'got to see' the whole thing as it happened, though (and this sounds really ungrateful, but...) because I live in Pennsylvania, I missed out on a lot of coverage of NY and DC, because they were showing footage of Shanksville.

The thing I found fascinating was, I'd been obsessed with Diablo II at the time, and was logged into the game chatting with people from around the world as we all watched the news, so I got to hear viewpoints from Australia and Germany and France and Brazil and so on. I can remember so clearly thinking that the towers would never collapse--right as one did.

I'm a 9/11... ugh, I don't want to say enthusiast, or junkie, but I have read and watched and researched a lot about it, because I'm interested in knowing.

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

I've probably seen most of the specials that came out on the attacks - the CBS special -watched that once, probably never again - and tons on Discovery, etc. I just thought when they collapsed, thank god they imploded down, and didn't topple over. The fatalities would be have been astronomical otherwise.

[clight000.livejournal.com]

I remembered that day so clearly, right down to what I was wearing. Strange really. My story is, we had just eaten dinner, my sister, my mom and I, and my dad calls us from China, where he was on a work trip. My mom answers and at first her voice gets really paniced and she just says: "What?! Terrorist? Over there??!!" Then I remember my heart jumping into my throat cuz all I could think of was DAD. But my mom quickly got what was going on and turned on CNN (aah, the wonders of satellite), and by then I had calmed down, knowing my dad was ok. Apparently all he had said, without even a hello, was "Are you watching the news??" and after that all my mom had heard was "Terrorist, plane hijacked, and hit the tower."

We watched for a few minutes, trying to figure out what was going on, and the 2nd plane hit.

The rest of the evening I just remember sitting in front of the TV watching the same clips over and over again on CNN, and my cousins came over, and I remember calling my best friend to tell her, she hadn't heard anything and thought I was making some kind of sick joke.

I remember that day very clearly, probably because it is forever branded into my head, that feeling that I had when I heard my mom all paniced, thinking something had happened to my dad. And knowing so many people had that same feeling that day, but unlike for me, for them there was no moment of relief.

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

I think days like this are always forever remembered. I remember when JFK got shot, we landed on the moon... although I honestly can't remember what I was wearing, but can remember where I was when I heard the news, and which way I was facing.

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

Yeah, a friend was in from out of town and wanted to see Ground Zero, which was just, well, a construction site, nothing to really mark it, but as we were walking down a street, I went whoa! and ducked into a courtyard with the root, then after taking pictures, found the sign. It's incredible.

A submarine? Wow... but um, no thanks. a bit too tight ;)

[(Anonymous)]

Heheh.. they don't let women serve on submarines.. they only bring us in when the boat needs an overhaul. I got to do lots of cool stuff though as I'm short and fit into the smaller spaces.

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

Ah! :)

[abracah.livejournal.com]

It was a late work day for me so I had scheduled a "yearly" checkup at the Dr's office. I went in and found out the receptionist had given me the wrong day. I was supposed to be there on Thursday.

I headed out the door and called my Mom to say I was coming for a visit. Listening to the radio, the first plane had already been announced and the second one hit. By the time I got to my parents' house, the Pentagon had been hit. I was astounded. My parents hadn't heard anything because they didn't have the news or radio on.

I stayed for a bit then headed to the daycare. We were closing but still needed people to watch the kids until they were all picked up. It was surreal.

My hubby was adamant about me leaving to go home. I needed to be with the kids. I wouldn't want my child abandoned by a scared teacher. I got home about 2 and just stayed glued to the tv. Hubby got home about 3.

I still relive this schedule in my head every year.

[crystalheaven.livejournal.com]

It sounds so odd, but I was sitting on my teacher's desk in shop class, watching TV, when someone came in and changed the channel. I remember thinking 'What the hell movie is this?' before it sank in what exactly I was watching, and then I ran screaming into the back of the class into the shop for our teacher. (He was working one of the saws with some of the other girls in my class. I had already finished my part with the saw, hence the sitting on the desk watching TV).

All watched for a a few minutes, and then class resumed, with the teacher and the girls going back into the shop and me plopping back on the desk.

I remember watching the new fotage, and that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach as the second plane hit.
Just staring at it, before bellowing at the top of my lungs for my teacher as we all realized that the first plane wasn't an accident.

In all honesty, the rest of the day is a bit of a blur. I remember watching the Pentagon, and Pennsylvania, but not where I was or anything like that.

I do remember that the next day in class, there were several people that didn't show up for school.

[luveskane.livejournal.com]

I remember I was just about to stick a movie in the DVD player when my husband called from work to tell me to turn on the news. He said a plane had crashed into one of the towers. I turned on the news just in time to hear about the second plane hitting and then they were showing video off it happening. I think at that point I dropped the phone and ran to the computer to try and contact my friend who had recently moved to the city and was working near the towers. Luckily I was able to contact her pretty quickly and her and her significant other were both fine. the rest of the day was spent alternating between shock, disbelieve, despair and worry over what would happen next.

[n7cdrsheppard.livejournal.com]

I was at home in california. I had just awoken for the morning, and turned the news on to check the weather. I sat, watched it happen, and cried. I know so many people on both coasts who were affected directly.I had flown just a week before that day,and I was on a plane today, 9/11. I took stock of how things have changed (and haven't) I thought about it all day :(

[garneteve.livejournal.com]

I was sleeping, seven months pregnant. I live in Australia, so it was the morning afterwards that I found out what had happened. Ex came in and yelled that John Howard (Our Prime Minister at the time) had been killed in New York. Not that I cared. He then came rushing in saying George W Bush had been killed aswell.
So I went downstairs in time to see the first tower collapse.
I still light a candle every year in rememberence on 9-11, even though I'm not in the same country, it seems like the right thing to do.

[libra-traveller.livejournal.com]

I was in my high school, I was in 10th grade at the time. And we heard from classmates and an announcement over the PA. The schools were all in lock down until they deemed it safe to send us home. After that I sat in front of the tv just watching the news.

[reiko-afterglow.livejournal.com]

I remember I was in 5th grade, I live on the West Coast so it happened before school began...

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I was passing through the student center of my college and passed the TV there that was on the news. My first reaction was that some pilot had gotten drunk or something (I have the "worst" gut reactions.) Then the first tower fell and I was like "Holy freakin' crap!" We were released from class early and for the rest of the day I was numb, utterly numb. At one point I went in my room and turned on the radio. I can't remember the song being played but it was just so appropriate for the moment, and that's when I cried.

[cannellfan.livejournal.com]

Becky and I were on vacation, having spent the previous week in Estes Park, Colorado and were on our way to Minneapolis, Minnesota. We had spent the 10th visiting Nebraska's odd tourist attraction Carhenge, in Alliance, and then some of Becky's relatives in Valentine, where we spent the night in a motel.

Becky was in the bathroom finishing up a shower (I think) when I turned on the motel room's TV on the morning of the 11th to see what kind of weather the Weather Channel was predicting for our drive across southern South Dakota and Minnesota. I somehow ended up on one of the network morning talk shows, where they were regularly interrupting for news updates about "a plane that had hit one of the towers". I called Becky out of the bathroom and we both watched the live coverage as the 2nd plane hit. We debated whether to continue our vacation or just drive back to Lincoln, and decided to continue. We then drove most of the 11th, watching the eerily clear blue skies (no jet contrails) all day. The next day, at The Mall of America, most of the stores were closed all morning to allow employees to attend a memorial/counseling service. I was then interviewed in our Minneapolis hotel, by a local reporter looking to get the stories of travelers trapped in the Twin Cities by the airport shutdowns. Several of the folks stuck in our hotel were from the New York area and were trying to get rental cars so they could drive home from Minneapolis.

Because it was "premiere week" on TV, I had set two VCRs to record 6 hours of episodes of shows I was interested in, so I had (and still have) a few hours of "live" network coverage of the events on tape, but from the evenings of the 11th and 12th.

[xenaclone.livejournal.com]

Me = UK. My daughter's 16th birthday.


XC

[squonk79.livejournal.com]

I was just finishing work, a workmate came to relieve me and said "A small plane has hit the WTC, how did he not see it, it's big enough! What an idiot!"

My mother picked me up and said it looked like it was more serious than that and we got home and switched on the tv just in time for them to announce a second plane had hit.

We sat there for the rest of the afternoon just watching in disbelief, epsecially when the towers collapsed. I didn't even get changed - i was sat there in full snowboard gear in the middle of September. I know a lot of people have said this, but it really did feel like we were watching a movie - i couldn't get my head around the fact i was watching this, live and it was really happening.

Of course, there's been the usual spate of documentaries again this year. But i still feel the same sense of horror and sorrow when i watch the footage and think of all those people who died. I always wonder how those poor people on the planes must have felt, knowing these were their last moments - and that always makes me teary.

[tristen84.livejournal.com]

It was my day off from uni. I was sitting in the livingroom, having lunch when my then boyfriend texted me from his uni that something was up and I should turn on the TV. So I did and was totally freaked out. I just sat there watching the live footage for the rest of the day, feeling stunned, shocked, horrified and eventually just numb.

I can't believe it's been 7 years. I remember it so well that it feels like it happened only a few months ago.

[alaxes.livejournal.com]

I was in school that day... coming home and saw a picture in the net and thought that it was a new action film or something. Than my mom phoned me and said, that I should turn on the tv and I saw the second machine crash into the WTC and... I was shocked... and then the news showed it again and again and I was hiping that they will stop showing it. I had tears in my eyes and suddently the first tower collapse and I was just thinking "OMG, that is not really happening! You're dreaming! It can't be true."

It was true and the world changed forever!

[chensuu.livejournal.com]

I was working for a public television station on the East Coast and we were right in the middle of our September Pledge drive. We do children's programming all day until 6 p.m. and we were going to start a marathon of Jay Jay the Jet Plane children's show that afternoon. I was sipping my coffee and watching the Today Show when Bryant Gumble came on to report that a plane had crashed into the Tower. I'll never forget him saying, "We think this may be an air traffic control problem..." but of course it wasn't. When the second plane hit we knew something was horrifyingly wrong.

Strangely enough me and my sister had a trip to Vancouver planned for a Stargate Con that was leaving JFK on September 19. I tried to cancel it, change my flight, anything, I was freaking big time, especially after another plane went down in Shanksville PA, but airlines were only giving cancellations and refunds up until the 18th so we made the choice to go. What a heartbreaking time to be in New York. My favorite part about traveling to the city was seeing the Towers in the skyline and this time there was only smoke. And oh what a terrifying flight. People staring at other people, guard dogs in the airport, soldiers walking with guns, people being pulled out of line and shoved against the wall. I knew immediately that the world had changed.

[johnsheppardluv.livejournal.com]

I was a senior in high school when it happened. And it was just the first full of week of school and everything. i was in my government class when we were told by two teachers, one of them was my 11th grade U.S. history teacher. another history teacher (who i knew, but had never had) had commandeered a tv from the supply room, and she already had it on when we entered. we saw the second plane hit. LIVE. we were only able to watch a few minutes (as the principals had tecnically forbade everyone from showing footage of it, not that very many oeople listened) though. the rest of the day i was in a state of complete and utter shock and numbness. uncharacteristically, my mom had been the one to pick me up that afternoon. together, we watched the news replays well into the evening hours with my dad and grandmother. it was surreal. even looking back, it still is.

i concur with a lot of others here though. it was just like a diaster movie playing out before us. in the corner tho was CNN, so it was TRUE. it was really happening.

and even all these years (nearly a decade) later, i STILL can not look at pictures or footage of the event, without crying all over again. :( it STILL hurts and chokes me up inside.

[b-sweens.livejournal.com]

I was actually supposed to be shopping in NY on that day, but due to someone's work schedule changing, we had gone the day before.

I woke up that morning to my friend calling me, crying, telling me to turn on the news. The first plane had just hit. I immediately turned on the tv, hung up on her, and called my father (he's the City of Plainfield Fire Captain.) He was already on his way there. Shortly after that no one was able to get in touch with him. I was so scared, I just wanted to sit by the phone with the news on all day. But I got called in to work because they we so shorthanded with all the people leaving.

When we eventually got in touch with my father he told us that he had been stationed at one of the bridges, thank God. He stayed there that night, then spent the next week or so searching through the rubble and helping in any way he could. Very scary times.

[faekitty71.livejournal.com]

I was downtown watching it all live!

[flingslass.livejournal.com]

I was heading to bed when I saw the second tower fall. I started watching it on BBC at about 11.30 pm. A lot of people came to work the next morning on vvery little sleep.
About 5 or 6 Australians died and so did a number of other nationalities.

RIP.

[jademacgrath.livejournal.com]

I was working in a travel agency when I heard the news. A colleague told me she heard on the radio that a plane crashed against one of the twin towers. I couldn't believe it. We both thought it was a tragic accident... then I got home and my mother told me what had really happened. I spent the rest of the day and all evening glued to the TV.
I still shiver every time I see that images...

[gatedialer.livejournal.com]

I was on my way to campus when my stepdad told me a plane crash into one of the WTC buildings. I was in the middle of a German exam when someone ran into the room saying that the campus needed to be evacuated and the students sent home.

[ladyniko.livejournal.com]

September 11, 2001 - I was working for People Support - a contract customer service company for Expedia.com... I was scheduled to go on that afternoon for some training on hotels, so I was laying in bed, being lazy and listening to the radio. The station just like had a ton of music and occasional commercials cued up and thus, nothing was said about what was happening.

I get a phone call from work and they're like, "Well, training's canceled for today. In fact, we're sending everybody home and shutting down for the day..."

Me: "Bwah?"

Work: "Yeah, didn't you hear about the attacks on WTC and such and such?"

Me: "Uhm, no.... radio has said nothing."

Work: "Turn on the TV - it's all over CNN and everywhere..."

I get off the phone with them, turn on the idiot box and there it is - all over the TV. Immediately, I pick up my phone and call The Evil One who is out in HI on vacation and relay the news to him. He ended up relaying it to the friends he was staying w/ - one of whom was a deputy at the federal building, setting off another series of calls on if/when to report to work, how to get there and such...

It was a very surreal day. I ended up doing a lot of driving around - going up to St. Charles/O'Fallon, MO region (to pick up a check for the Evil One) and then, driving all the way to downtown STL to go work, because there were literally tons of stranded people we now had to try and rework their flight schedules....

The first couple of days, it was quiet at work.... then, the insane calls started coming in. The 6 minute or less call handling time was blown to hell in that time.

[iolandasblog.livejournal.com]

I was working at the university at that time. It was just a job between my first exam and the teachers job training, so I was a kind of assistant secretary girl for everything. Normally I had full internet access but on that day I had really a lot of work to do and only the radio was on. I heard about a plane crashing into the towers, just before I was finished with my job and I thought that that had happened before with a Cessna. I drove home and while I was at the Oppenhoffallee in Aachen I heard that the first tower was crumbling and it hit me that this was something really, really serious.

When I was home I could see the other tower fall down on TV and it was for me like "now we have WW3". I had JuJutsu training that evening and it was very weird.

World has changed a great deal since that day. For me personal for the better (at least after 2004) and for the world not so much for the better. I had always hope, that there will be a really peaceful world some day, but I doubt that I will live to see it.

[negolith2.livejournal.com]

I was at work and listening to the radio in my tiny office. When the DJ's made the first report I remember thinking, "Did I hear that right?" Within twenty minutes everyone had their radio tuned in to the same station. When the first tower collapsed all I could think of was of all the emergency personnel who charged in, and that was when the tears started flowing. And they didn't stop for the rest of the day. The next day I had major surgery and my mother had come down to Missoula on the 11th. She said she cussed from Cut Bank to the rest stop on I15 just south of Brady (half the distance to Missoula).

Three days after that I found out one of my classmates from high school worked in Tower 2. The last anyone heard from him was a cell call to his wife telling her he was okay and heading down the stairs.

I still can't watch any footage of that day.

September 11th

[(Anonymous)]

September 11th was the single most defining moment in my life. I've always felt that a part of me stayed there, as that 10-year-old girl watching the TV as that second plane struck. I remember one of the older students in my class getting the news over the classroom phone (my school was in portables - therefore, no quick media access), and then reading out that the Twin Towers had both collapsed, and that somewhere in Washington D.C. had been hit - and that people were fearing it was the White House. The ability for people to turn a blind eye and apathy towards this horrendous event astonishes me. The ability for people to even THINK that the government did this set my blood boiling.

On another note, have you heard about the "Tear Drop"? It's officially known as the "Monument to the Struggle Against World Terrorism", and was a gift to the US from the people of Russia on the fifth anniversary of 9-11. I found the world-wide outpouring of sympathy and sorrow very touching.

Re: September 11th

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

Haven't heard of Tear Drop, but shall google it now. I did see part of the Connecticut United Ride today (details at http://www.ctunitedride.com/). Thx.