story1817.xml

story1817.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-06

Almost a year later, I remember it so clearly. I guess it is like my parents' generation, how they can all remember where they were when JFK was shot. It was around 7:15 am or so Mountain Time, and I came down the stairs to carpool with my roommate to campus. She came running up to me and said "America is being attacked! Some one is bombing us or something!" She had just turned on the radio in her room, and hadn't heard much, only that something had hit the WTC and the Pentagon. I remember that I didn't believe her. I thought that she must have it wrong, somehow, because no one would ever dare attack the US. Finally, she persuaded me to turn on the TV. The first thing I saw was a live picture of the Pentagon, smoldering. As I watched in horror, it slowly began to dawn on me that I was watching this live on the BBC (why does everyone have an English accent?) so I turned it to CNN in hopes of more updated news, where I heard about the planes. The first tower fell as we were putting on our shoes and getting ready to leave.

Campus was pretty deserted, and of the classes that were being held, mostly it just involved sitting around and watching the news. By 2 pm all of the classes were canceled, and everyone was in the campus bar, drinking and keeping vigil on the news. The bar was so quiet for being so full. That really got to me. Sometimes someone would start to cry, or get angry, but mostly we all sat in stunned silence. And I kept thinking, "This is history. My grandkids are going to hear about this, and not really think too much about the fact that I was alive then, the way I don't think too much about my grandparents being alive for Pearl Harbor."