I was going to buy that album on my lunch break, but by then Tower Records was closed. A prescient release, that one. Saw Tool in Madison Square Garden like three weeks later. It was heavy. I felt the overall togetherness of the city, but also the weight of the tragedy. I’ve never seen NYC so subdued.
I was a Junior in HS, still drunk from the night before off of Heaven Hill vodka. Nearly barfed on the bus ride then slept through the entire day minus flashes of watching the catastrophe on the classroom TVs.
One tidbit I recall is that I was due to pick up my new Hyundai Accent this day. The paperwork had been prepared the day before and dated September 11, 2001. The credit union closed on news of the attacks, so I had to take delivery a day later. But I still have the receipt saying the sale was made on September 11, 2001. I'll probably never throw it away, even though I've owned two or three cars since then.
Such strange things we remember. I'd sent back the revised manuscript for 'Lullaby' and it was to arrive in New York on Sept. 11th. My agent was at a table reading for the Broadway comedy 'Noises Off' and when they emerged from the rehearsal hall the air was filled with falling paper and asbestos, and everyone was running toward uptown.
On 9/11 I was sleeping after a third shift. I recall hearing the phone ring like hundreds of time waking me from my scant daytime sleep. After an hour of the phone ringing me out of REM I got up and answered, “WHAT?!?”
To which my father replied with my voice back, “they just hit the pentagon!” Then promptly hung up.
I’ve always wondered if that line was because he knew how my mind worked. First thing I thought was, it’s nuclear war time. Flipping through the channels I saw the live footage of the fist tower collapsing and said that joy the pentagon. As I hadn’t seen the footage of the planes I thought they’d also launched warheads at NY and the first buildings were toppling. Then I saw the scant pentagon footage and put together what was going on.
I’ll never forget feeling awful at being relived it wasn’t nuclear war. Then realizing how vulnerable the US actually was.
I was working as a door-to-door canvasser on that day. Still hungover, three days after my eighteenth birthday. It was afternoon in England, a muggy day, threatening to rain, miserable. And no one was answering their door, even though we could see people were home, in their living rooms. What the hell's going on? Ring again. And again. Nope, no one's gonna answer their door. Strange neighbourhood, this.
Then I got a call from the boss back in the office. "You lot may as well come back to the office. No one's gonna be answering their door today. America's been attacked."
I was two days away from being alive for a whole year, and at least 2 years away from making memories that I can now only vaguely recollect. I remember learning of what happened later as a kid because -- and this was my introduction to what happened -- someone said (paraphrasing) “Some planes were flown into two big buildings in America; they made a movie about it a few years ago.”
You will learn to lie. When Kennedy was shot I was a year old, but I still dashed from the sidewalk, scooped up the largest portion of brains, and threw it in a classic Statue of Liberty pass to Jackie in the limo as they spend toward the hospital. I'd seen the mystery shooter on the grassy knoll but hadn't the verbal skills to direct attention to that peril.
Did I forget to mention the specific memory I have of how two days prior to the event my bowl of alphabet spaghetti spelled out “Probably best to not visit New York for a while”?
Kindergarten was canceled that day because of 9/11. Stayed home and watched TV all day and it was only 9/11 coverages on all of the channels. I didn’t get to watch the cartoons I wanted to watch. Grumpy. Even though I got a day off kindergarten on 9/11, I remember thinking “people can be so damn selfish sometimes…”
I was living in Havelock, NC at the time. I taught tobacco cessation classes on Tuesdays for the Naval Hospital on MCAS Cherry Point even though I was a smoker (I got alot of people to quit). Because I was teaching a class that evening, I typically didn't go into work until noon. I had made my lunch/breakfast and decided to watch TV on my no cable with only 10 channels television. Typically i didn't do that. I saw what looked to be a bad action movie playing out on every channel. By the time I flipped through everything 2 times the situation clicked in my brain and I rushed out the door to base. I got through the back gate right before they locked down to delta (delta being full inspection on every single car that comes through the gate, so like 45 mins a car). Jersey barriers had already been set up on base and driving to work was like driving through a maze. Marines were posted up everywhere with M16s and there were rumors of snipers in the tree line. This last for over a month where we had rotating 8 hour shifts and the military never switched back to a pre-9/11 posture.
Yep! Will be back home late Tuesday for the first dialog class posting. Also, working on a possible in-person workshop in Bay Area for next yr (sorry for the crosstalk on your thread, Chuck.😉)
I woke up that morning to get ready for school (I was in 7th grade). My parents already had the TV on in their bedroom down the hall. I just kind of stared in disbelief. Still had to go to school. I don't recall any dialog fails. I do recall lots of talk of the 'end times.' And I do recall lots of people being especially decent and kind to one another in their daily interactions. For a while, anyway.
Later on, I came to the realization that for as much kindness came in the aftermath... there was also a whole lot of awfulness. 😕
Sitting in the waiting room for a prenatal appointment six months pregnant. We all watched it unfold on the small television, and I questioned my choice to bring another child into this evil world, especially since I had watched news of the Columbine shootings two years prior while in labor with my first child.
Good and evil. Two sides of this coin of life. I’ve been thinking about this today and actually started a post that might get published Saturday if it turns out to be decent.
My mom was working in an open-layout office the day the overhead Muzak broke with news that JFK had been shot. Some guy shouted from his desk, “Good!” When it was announced later that the president had died, the guy had to announce to everyone he didn’t mean he wanted him to die. Imagine that guy, for the rest of his life, whenever people said do you remember where you were when you heard the news.
Oh wow, I live in Connecticut. I took Michael to school went and cashed a lottery ticket I hit 4 of 6 numbers which was 65 bucks I really needed. I went home and watched the rest of American History X because I was and still am obsessed with Ed Norton. I got in my car at 10 and headed into work, the radio is always on and I'm ignoring it cuz I wanted music and I go to an ATM and something weird happened and I got so angry I started punching the drive through ATM for no inexplicable reason when I realized what I'd been hearing and called my boss who confirmed it was a not a hoax and I still had to go to work and all I could think of was my children.....
The next few days frantic because my Mom could not reach my adopted brother and sister in New York City and relief came days later.......to follow the next week when I was sent to a company I used to work for but still my account has offices in the Towers and looked like a wake when I entered to find 2 of my former coworkers from Hartford had been in the Towers. One went the same day every week and the other, once a year. Had gotten there and called his wife and let her know he was on 99th floor. He was a VP and I managed the fleet of company cars for the executives. And he was one of those down to earth super bigwigs that make time for everyone no matter what role you play in the company.
And that my friend, is why I stayed out of NYC until just recently.
That dude really said planes hitting buildings should be an expected thing in New York?? He'd say the buildings were asking for it lol
Don't really remember a lot from that day. Might have been in 5th of 6th grade. My father took me to Burger King after school. Dad wasn't one to say much. But I remember him sitting across from me and talking about the twin towers were hit by planes. And me, I didn't know anything about twin towers. Couldn't even find New York on a map. So I just kinda stared at him while chewing a Whopper. Other than that, I don't remember much.
I feel kinda bad for whoever has a birthday today.
Also, notice how EVERYONE has a "where were you on 9/11" story. Crowd-seeding works like a charm, baby!
Midtown Manhattan. Can’t get a line out from my desk phone because everything’s busy but I’m trying to call my dad at his office across from the WTC. Finally got a hold of him and his voice shook and he said, “I just saw that second plane hit. Oh my god, all those innocent people.” I can still hear his voice.
Hours later I’m waiting by W38th by the Hudson River to get one of the Weehawken ferries. I could see my apartment building across the river. One by one city buses went down the Westside Highway filled with cops, people in scrubs, etc. Enormous plumes of smoke from downtown and people walking up covered with white soot. Cell service is down but the information moves through the crowd about other planes crashing in other places.
The name of one of the ferries was Yogi Berra and I remember seeing that and thinking those days are gone.
The days after were so strange because every lunatic came out of the woodwork and there were more than a few to begin with. Everyone constantly evacuated their buildings because of bomb threats. When the Red Cross hospital ship docked I saw a woman with flaming red hair walking on the westside in an old fashioned Red Cross nurse uniform with hat and a cape and everything. Still have no idea what the fuck that was.
I didn’t lose anyone that day but I know enough people who did. Firemen and office workers. Even someone who happened to be at a business breakfast at Windows on the World and he didn’t even work there.
It hit me hard last year on the 20th anniversary but I tear up still when I think of it. It is such a line of demarcation in our history because so many terrible things came of it. The only good thing was that people really linked arms and stood together in NYC. We all donated, volunteered and looked out for each other.
I was going to buy that album on my lunch break, but by then Tower Records was closed. A prescient release, that one. Saw Tool in Madison Square Garden like three weeks later. It was heavy. I felt the overall togetherness of the city, but also the weight of the tragedy. I’ve never seen NYC so subdued.
I was living in Hawaii. Had never been to New York. My tween son said, “is that the new Die Hard movie?” Truth stranger than fiction...
I was a Junior in HS, still drunk from the night before off of Heaven Hill vodka. Nearly barfed on the bus ride then slept through the entire day minus flashes of watching the catastrophe on the classroom TVs.
One tidbit I recall is that I was due to pick up my new Hyundai Accent this day. The paperwork had been prepared the day before and dated September 11, 2001. The credit union closed on news of the attacks, so I had to take delivery a day later. But I still have the receipt saying the sale was made on September 11, 2001. I'll probably never throw it away, even though I've owned two or three cars since then.
Such strange things we remember. I'd sent back the revised manuscript for 'Lullaby' and it was to arrive in New York on Sept. 11th. My agent was at a table reading for the Broadway comedy 'Noises Off' and when they emerged from the rehearsal hall the air was filled with falling paper and asbestos, and everyone was running toward uptown.
On 9/11 I was sleeping after a third shift. I recall hearing the phone ring like hundreds of time waking me from my scant daytime sleep. After an hour of the phone ringing me out of REM I got up and answered, “WHAT?!?”
To which my father replied with my voice back, “they just hit the pentagon!” Then promptly hung up.
I’ve always wondered if that line was because he knew how my mind worked. First thing I thought was, it’s nuclear war time. Flipping through the channels I saw the live footage of the fist tower collapsing and said that joy the pentagon. As I hadn’t seen the footage of the planes I thought they’d also launched warheads at NY and the first buildings were toppling. Then I saw the scant pentagon footage and put together what was going on.
I’ll never forget feeling awful at being relived it wasn’t nuclear war. Then realizing how vulnerable the US actually was.
I was working as a door-to-door canvasser on that day. Still hungover, three days after my eighteenth birthday. It was afternoon in England, a muggy day, threatening to rain, miserable. And no one was answering their door, even though we could see people were home, in their living rooms. What the hell's going on? Ring again. And again. Nope, no one's gonna answer their door. Strange neighbourhood, this.
Then I got a call from the boss back in the office. "You lot may as well come back to the office. No one's gonna be answering their door today. America's been attacked."
I was two days away from being alive for a whole year, and at least 2 years away from making memories that I can now only vaguely recollect. I remember learning of what happened later as a kid because -- and this was my introduction to what happened -- someone said (paraphrasing) “Some planes were flown into two big buildings in America; they made a movie about it a few years ago.”
You will learn to lie. When Kennedy was shot I was a year old, but I still dashed from the sidewalk, scooped up the largest portion of brains, and threw it in a classic Statue of Liberty pass to Jackie in the limo as they spend toward the hospital. I'd seen the mystery shooter on the grassy knoll but hadn't the verbal skills to direct attention to that peril.
Did I forget to mention the specific memory I have of how two days prior to the event my bowl of alphabet spaghetti spelled out “Probably best to not visit New York for a while”?
Location: Some city, China
Age: 4
Kindergarten was canceled that day because of 9/11. Stayed home and watched TV all day and it was only 9/11 coverages on all of the channels. I didn’t get to watch the cartoons I wanted to watch. Grumpy. Even though I got a day off kindergarten on 9/11, I remember thinking “people can be so damn selfish sometimes…”
I was living in Havelock, NC at the time. I taught tobacco cessation classes on Tuesdays for the Naval Hospital on MCAS Cherry Point even though I was a smoker (I got alot of people to quit). Because I was teaching a class that evening, I typically didn't go into work until noon. I had made my lunch/breakfast and decided to watch TV on my no cable with only 10 channels television. Typically i didn't do that. I saw what looked to be a bad action movie playing out on every channel. By the time I flipped through everything 2 times the situation clicked in my brain and I rushed out the door to base. I got through the back gate right before they locked down to delta (delta being full inspection on every single car that comes through the gate, so like 45 mins a car). Jersey barriers had already been set up on base and driving to work was like driving through a maze. Marines were posted up everywhere with M16s and there were rumors of snipers in the tree line. This last for over a month where we had rotating 8 hour shifts and the military never switched back to a pre-9/11 posture.
Our generation’s JFK, right?
Greetings from Hamilton, by the way. I’m currently surrounded by goats.
Montana. Still here. (On a friend’s ranch)
Yep! Will be back home late Tuesday for the first dialog class posting. Also, working on a possible in-person workshop in Bay Area for next yr (sorry for the crosstalk on your thread, Chuck.😉)
Did any of the goats scream?
No screaming but they worked together with their heads to bring down a sapling.
Ah, Hamilton. Hat tip to Chapter One bookstore.
Spent most of Sunday in that store! (While the smoke from the Moose fire hugged the valley.) It's a terrific bookstore.
I woke up that morning to get ready for school (I was in 7th grade). My parents already had the TV on in their bedroom down the hall. I just kind of stared in disbelief. Still had to go to school. I don't recall any dialog fails. I do recall lots of talk of the 'end times.' And I do recall lots of people being especially decent and kind to one another in their daily interactions. For a while, anyway.
Later on, I came to the realization that for as much kindness came in the aftermath... there was also a whole lot of awfulness. 😕
Sitting in the waiting room for a prenatal appointment six months pregnant. We all watched it unfold on the small television, and I questioned my choice to bring another child into this evil world, especially since I had watched news of the Columbine shootings two years prior while in labor with my first child.
Good and evil. Two sides of this coin of life. I’ve been thinking about this today and actually started a post that might get published Saturday if it turns out to be decent.
My mom was working in an open-layout office the day the overhead Muzak broke with news that JFK had been shot. Some guy shouted from his desk, “Good!” When it was announced later that the president had died, the guy had to announce to everyone he didn’t mean he wanted him to die. Imagine that guy, for the rest of his life, whenever people said do you remember where you were when you heard the news.
Oh wow, I live in Connecticut. I took Michael to school went and cashed a lottery ticket I hit 4 of 6 numbers which was 65 bucks I really needed. I went home and watched the rest of American History X because I was and still am obsessed with Ed Norton. I got in my car at 10 and headed into work, the radio is always on and I'm ignoring it cuz I wanted music and I go to an ATM and something weird happened and I got so angry I started punching the drive through ATM for no inexplicable reason when I realized what I'd been hearing and called my boss who confirmed it was a not a hoax and I still had to go to work and all I could think of was my children.....
The next few days frantic because my Mom could not reach my adopted brother and sister in New York City and relief came days later.......to follow the next week when I was sent to a company I used to work for but still my account has offices in the Towers and looked like a wake when I entered to find 2 of my former coworkers from Hartford had been in the Towers. One went the same day every week and the other, once a year. Had gotten there and called his wife and let her know he was on 99th floor. He was a VP and I managed the fleet of company cars for the executives. And he was one of those down to earth super bigwigs that make time for everyone no matter what role you play in the company.
And that my friend, is why I stayed out of NYC until just recently.
That dude really said planes hitting buildings should be an expected thing in New York?? He'd say the buildings were asking for it lol
Don't really remember a lot from that day. Might have been in 5th of 6th grade. My father took me to Burger King after school. Dad wasn't one to say much. But I remember him sitting across from me and talking about the twin towers were hit by planes. And me, I didn't know anything about twin towers. Couldn't even find New York on a map. So I just kinda stared at him while chewing a Whopper. Other than that, I don't remember much.
I feel kinda bad for whoever has a birthday today.
Also, notice how EVERYONE has a "where were you on 9/11" story. Crowd-seeding works like a charm, baby!
Midtown Manhattan. Can’t get a line out from my desk phone because everything’s busy but I’m trying to call my dad at his office across from the WTC. Finally got a hold of him and his voice shook and he said, “I just saw that second plane hit. Oh my god, all those innocent people.” I can still hear his voice.
Hours later I’m waiting by W38th by the Hudson River to get one of the Weehawken ferries. I could see my apartment building across the river. One by one city buses went down the Westside Highway filled with cops, people in scrubs, etc. Enormous plumes of smoke from downtown and people walking up covered with white soot. Cell service is down but the information moves through the crowd about other planes crashing in other places.
The name of one of the ferries was Yogi Berra and I remember seeing that and thinking those days are gone.
The days after were so strange because every lunatic came out of the woodwork and there were more than a few to begin with. Everyone constantly evacuated their buildings because of bomb threats. When the Red Cross hospital ship docked I saw a woman with flaming red hair walking on the westside in an old fashioned Red Cross nurse uniform with hat and a cape and everything. Still have no idea what the fuck that was.
I didn’t lose anyone that day but I know enough people who did. Firemen and office workers. Even someone who happened to be at a business breakfast at Windows on the World and he didn’t even work there.
It hit me hard last year on the 20th anniversary but I tear up still when I think of it. It is such a line of demarcation in our history because so many terrible things came of it. The only good thing was that people really linked arms and stood together in NYC. We all donated, volunteered and looked out for each other.
I could not imagine living close to the area it happened it. Scary!