It�s late.
Get kids ready for school.
Wait. Kids are at school.
Must be still � sleepy.
Mom was in the kitchen making breakfast for
Seth.
Heard Mom gasp; then she yelled, �Oh, My God!�
She cradled the remote in her shaking hands.
I turned to the television and there it was.
Chaos� Building on fire�Airplane
Where? What? Is this real?
Silence in the room. Silence in my house. Silence on my street.
We were glued to the TV�Just watching
Staring in horror. One building, one plane
Fire. Smoke. Voices. Screams. Disbelief.
Did I just see that? People jumping.
Then! Like an instant
Another plane crashed into the building.
Screams. Fire. Smoke. People. Shock.
My mom grabbed her phone.
Rings on the other side. She is crying.
She is crying. Dials until she gets�
Wait.
My dad was to be on an airplane today, right?
Where could he be?
Oh my God.
Oh my God.
Mom still trying�Finally�He is okay.
ALL governments locked down� Dad�s okay.
I hear my mom�s whisper
�May God help us all.�
Elena
On September 11th, I was attending
Menlo College and I was living in the dorms on campus.
A friend of mine came into my room and was
yelling frantically about the planes being hijacked
and then crashing into the World Trade Center
Towers and the Pentagon.
I had been sleeping so I was in a bit of a daze
still and the shock didn�t set in for a while.
Everyone�s television sets in their rooms blared
news reports and showed scenes of chaos and carnage.
It was very intense and surreal.
Spent the rest of the day calling my family and
friends who didn�t live on campus.
Jamie
M.
I can�t remember what
I did for the rest of
that day, after seeing the morning news.
But I knew after that
planes didn�t fly for
a long time.
When they started again
it was so strange,
something that once
was so familiar.
I never really noticed
planes that much,
living in the flight path
of three airports.
But now this familiarity
seemed so foreign
and it was scary
and startling.
We would hear a plane
and go to the door or window
and watch them
like when we were little
and heard the really loud ones.
We made sure the plane
wasn�t going astray
and watched until it was out of sight.
Eventually we stopped noticing again.
Jamie
A.
I thought a tornado had touched down right ion
Bleeker Street.
A black funnel cloud came right down the street
at me,
And I jumped under a car.
The next instant I couldn�t see anything�
dust and dirt and pieces of things screamed by
me,
blocking out the sun and every piece of
daylight.
I felt like I was in a blender.
I thought the care was going to lift off.
Stuff was hitting the car like a gang of hoods
was banging on it with baseball bats.
It was like the Exorcist and Ghostbusters all
rolled into one, and I don�t mean that in a
funny way.
Locusts and the Book of Revelation went through
my head,
along with a million other things. I was scared.
It lasted about two minutes, then let up a bit.
I peered out from under the car.
Stuff was still swirling around like
confetti on New Year�s Eve, but I knew it
wasn�t confetti. I knew it was part of
New York City, and the rest of it, I didn�t want
to know what it was.
But I did.
It seemed like there was no sound, but
I�m sure there was. I was in shock�
John
A.
Holy Shit!!
No way this is happening
No way this just happened
Some one finally grew the balls to attack us
All those poor people
All those policemen
All those firemen
All those civilians. Wow!
I�ll tell you one thing, whatever small bug
did this just woke a giant sleeping elephant.
And it�s gonna� go on a rampage!
I don�t know
Why is he just sitting there?
Why isn�t he moving?
Is he just as shocked as we are?
I think it�s sad that just 6 days before
My son was born
Welcome to the world son!!
I don�t know
Five years later we see the death of a ruthless
dictator
But why? He didn�t attack us
so we are told
Did he?
He didn�t.
I don�t know
The attack made us paranoid
With that stupid home land security
Is it a blue day? An orange day? A purple day?
I don�t know
Miguel
(perspective of Captain Lewis Williams,
astronaut)
I didn�t feel like
getting up that
morning.
What most people
don�t realize
is that
as an astronaut
you spend most of your day
exercising.
It keeps your muscles
from atrophy.
I had a long day
planned
of first weights
then cardio
then a bit
of science
then more cardio.
We didn�t find out
until a couple days
later
about what happened.
We joke sometimes
quietly,
about how for us it�s 9/13
The ground crew,
wracked,
told us about
the planes,
the towers,
the flags till flying.
Eventually
more news came
of war
of death
of outrageous gas prices
(Courtesy of my wife)
When we landed
people were
still talking
but
we weren�t.
When you see
the world
from so far
away
it�s amazing how
small
everything seems.
(Even the Great Wall of China
seems pitiful against the gleam of Asia)
So could we be
blamed
for not caring?
Even if
we looked
we couldn�t have seen
the
towers
fall.
Jason
R.
I took ice readings in Sector Ten again today.
9 meters under still at �53 points.
The flusher stopped working, but I still had to
go badly.
Bill came back in a huff with his dogs and said,
�Did you hear?
They bombed New York.�
I couldn�t listen to him because I had to go so
bad,
I ended up braving it in the cold
to the Station D. Ten feet is far to walk
when it�s freezing out.
When I came back, George and Stanley were
listening
Too and that�s when it hit me.
People think that Antarctica takes the heart
from the scientist,
but I cried that day.
Nelson
W.
(Note: Alex is keeping the lower case style of
Karen Hesse)
and everyone was silent
except for our physics teacher
who bet it was afghanistan
and i remembered in first grade
the foreign exchange student
who was from afghanistan
and that afghanistan
was the largest word i could pronounce
and i remember that time when countries were
colors
on a map
that i could touch with my hands
and then move on
AlexVo
I don�t want to answer it.
The phone continues to ring its drilling
tones. It is an added distraction
to my chaotic,
stressful, bustling not-yet-a-routine.
Jon�s first day at preschool. Photos for the scrapbook. Packed lunches. Breakfast. Jess�
homework. Sunscreen. Sweatshirts. Shoelaces.
Parents arriving.
Frantically wiping up every crumb and spill Throwing the dishes into the dishwasher
and Marcus out of the house before he can make
more mess.
I don�t want to answer it.
But, I do.
Laura is alert and concerned. She knows my parents are coming to
visit and are flying.
A plane has crashed. New York. World
Center Towers.
I don�t understand why she is so worried. A crashed plane? Serious but so what? It�s
not going to be a jumbo jet.
I�ve no TV; I turn on the radio.
The serious tone of the announcer starts to sink
in.
I calculate how long Mummy and Daddy have been
in the air since take off from
Heathrow.
They should be over the East Coast of America�
�The domestic airlines, United�.�
I am overwhelmed when I hear the word, domestic.
Overwhelmed with a wonderful sensation of relief
that my parents� plane is not affected.
Overwhelmed by a cold wrenching sense of guilt
for being relieved.
Overwhelmed by a searing empathy for people with
loved ones on those planes.
Overwhelmed by horror for the people witnessing
and partaking of this piece of history.
Overwhelmed by the depressing enormity of the
political implications and ramifications.
So much anger and evil and hurt and fear.
Can love shine through any of this?
Vicky
G-J
�Go ahead and leave the
TV on, Mom, I want to watch it while I get ready for class!�
�All right, give me a
kiss.�
I gave her a one arm hug, and a half kiss
because
the other half of my body was curling my hair.
�I love you.�
�I love you too.�
I was watching the TV in the reflection in the
mirror I was using in the bathroom adjacent to the living room. The one I was using to curl my
hair. I would glance back and
forth from my work with the curling iron to the TV. I stopped when I saw the Blue Screen and �Special Report�
flash on the screen. I put down my
curling iron, picked up the clicker, and sat on the arm rest of my couch facing
the screen.
�It appears a small
aircraft has hit one of the World Trade Center buildings in Manhattan this
morning. We don�t have any facts
just yet but�
Oh my God, that�s another
plane.�
A voice on the news isn�t supposed to have that
kind of urgency. I was startled,
but I saw it,
and it wasn�t a small plane; it was a large
passenger plane�the kind I use every summer to travel to see my family in
Boston. But it looked so small
compared to the building that it flew right into.
I picked up the phone and dialed my mom�s work:
�Thank
you for calling Staples in Newark.
This is Mary, how�
I cut her off,
�Mom,
it�s me.�
�Is
everything okay?�
�Yeah,
put on the news something�s going on.�
While my mom was walking to the break room, and
I was left on hold listening to some �Mac is back 90s song,� the first building
began to billow enormous amounts of grey and black pillows of smoke; it
appeared to be falling into itself, one step, one floor at a time.
�Michele,
oh my God, What�s going on?�
�I
don�t know, Mom; they don�t know.�
�Oh,
my God, Mom; it�s gone, you can�t see it; it�s only smoke. It�s gon.e.�
I went to class that morning. I had a test. I walked, I drove, I
parked, I ate, I talked. I did my regular routine. I went home, and that�s when regular changed.
At home we still know exactly what went wrong,
how it happened, what exactly did happen.
I just remember my dad repeating, �This is no
accident; no one gets to the Pentagon.�
Michele
Celino
Confused.
Scared.
Shocked.
Is this really happening?
This morning I woke up
worrying about a test.
What does that matter now?
Why?
Who are these people?
Why are we studying chemistry
today when we should be
watching the news?
What if I was on that plane?
What if I knew someone who just died?
Is the Bay Area the next target?
I can�t even imagine a life ending,
especially in that fashion.
How insignificant are the values
that people place on others� lives?
Why am I at school?
Why are we even having school?
I don�t know what to say to my friends.
They don�t know what to say to me.
We talk about normal things,
knowing we should be
talking about something else.
We go about it by saying it�s
sad, and then doing nothing.
What can we do?
What can I do?
What can anyone do?
James
W.
So when the news first broke, a teacher came in,
handed
my teacher a sheet of paper. He read it. But it wasn�t
too clear � or maybe we didn�t really understand
what it meant.
�Two
planes crashed into the World Trade Center; one in Washington.�
Maybe it was because it was early, but my
classmates and I didn�t think much of it;
9:00 a.m. is not pretty for high school
students.
�Was
it an accident? How do you crash
into a building?�
�Maybe
it was a plane? Is it a prank? I
bet it is.�
�I
don�t know.�
My teacher was as clueless as we were.
An announcement came, telling us to gather in
the rooms with televisions.
I walked into one, sat for an hour, watching the
Towers crumble one after another, then over and
over again
as they were replayed. Some were outraged; some cried;
Some just sat there in silence.
How to react? Could I� I should, but in what
way?
School wasn�t canceled, but all we did was sit
in that room,
Watching but not seeing. Hearing the announcers discuss
who did it, how many are dead, but not hearing
them, not believing.
Someone muttered, �Does this mean we don�t have
a test today?�
Art
T.
Got a call this morning.
�We�ve got an emergency here.
Please report to work immediately.�
I got right up.
Didn�t have time to shave or shower.
Kissed my wife.
Told her I loved her.
Put on my uniform.
The guys picked me up in the truck.
Sirens whirring,
�What�s going on?�
�A plane hit one of the Towers,� my boss said.
What could I say to that?
The Apocalypse, had it come?
Time to do my job.
We got there five minutes later.
I never thought it�d happen here.
It was ground zero. People screaming, crying,
praying�
We had to go in there and do our job.
As we went inside and discussed what to do,
we heard another loud boom.
�Oh shit!� my friend said.
Is this Armageddon?
The building was falling apart.
We had to save what we could.
A piece of rubble fell near me.
�Yea though I walk through the
valley of death, I will fear no evil.�
I thought about my daughter.
Would there still be a world for her to grow up
in?
Does she know I love her?
Andy
C.
That place � the World Trade Center � gone!
That place I knew so well�
The path trains screeching into the station
--it was always clean,
almost shiny � and the long escalator
ride up and up to the concourse
In the mornings, the commuter caf�
was closed, memories of me and
Robin there, sharing a drink with the
affable, yet difficult to understand
bartender � it�s gone now.
All the shops still closed too � as
hundreds of us from New Jersey
filtered into the city�walking
hurriedly through.
My friend Anne, who worked there
long ago, and once fell 20 floors in
the elevator before the brake caugh, at
least she wasn�t there that day, but
others were, childhood friends gone!
My dad took me to lunch at
Windows on the World � it�s gone!
The rush of air when you opened
the door in the lobby to the outside
And the way the Towers looked � I liked
them best at sunset, they looked real,
orangey and earthy and now
they�re gone!
Chris
C.
Clicking through radio stations
Riding to school
Mom say, �Go back.�
�I like this song!�
�Go back!�
Then I hear what Mom heard.
�A plane crashed into the World Trade Center.�
I get out, walk into band.
�What is going on,� I wonder.
A television shows a building, smoking.
Then another plane smashes
into another building.
The heaviest silence I�ve
ever heard weighs down
on a room full of instruments.
Even the rowdy drummers
who normally talk so loud
during rehearsal, remain still
and silent.
Until questions erupt from
the mouths of fifty students,
filling the room with
unharmonious noise.
Jamie
B.
It was like a scene from an action movie.
First one hit.
Then another.
But no. This was no movie.
It was real. It did happen.
The clouds of smoke continued to rise.
Dust everywhere.
People everywhere.
Debris everywhere.
Helicopters hover in the sky like a hawk eying
its prey.
Firefighters, ambulances, police come from all
directions,
Aiding the victims
Reaching for the ones inside
Trapped
Lost
Their fate ends here.
Sandra
T.
When I walked out into the kitchen that morning,
my mom had on the news.
She said, �We�re witnessing history.�
I thought nothing of it,
Blew it off.
Like the Unibomber, OJ �
It sucked, but it wasn�t the end of the world.
When I got to school,
people were crying.
There was a prayer circle.
It was starting to hit me.
My English teacher had an open conversation
about it.
My econ teacher went on with class as
though nothing had happened.
My drama teacher when down the halls
yelling.
He told me who Osama Bin Laden was.
He told me I was gonna� get drafted.
My parents told me he was exaggerating.
I went to bed terrified.
When I woke up, the house was still there.
No one blew up Newark, CA.
Gerry
D.
I think that I remember
but I don�t
not really
It was a dull
grey morning but then
my mother and the television
talking
with pictures instead of words
William
A.
All the television stations were the same.
All of the radio stations were the same.
Everyone talked about the same thing.
School was cancelled that day,
but not until after I arrived.
A woman came into our classroom
and told us all to evacuate the campus.
The parking lot was one
big traffic jam as all the students
tried to leave at once.
Only later did I learn that
it was a bomb threat that caused
school to be cancelled. Had I
known that, I would not have
sat in traffic in the parking lot
for 45 minutes�I would have
run like hell. Later, at home on
my front balcony, my neighbor,
who had just moved to the US
from Canada a week before, comes
running out of his apartment
in his pajamas and says, �Your
country is f***ed-up, eh. I�m
going home.� All day, TV stations
were the same. All the airplanes
in the country were grounded.
That is what they said. Then why
did I wake up in the middle
of the night to the sound of
an airplane? I went outside
in the dark, in my pajamas
to look up to see the
plane that was not supposed to
be flying in our sky, and I
found that several others were
standing outside their apartments,
in their pajamas, staring up
at the sky. I never went back
to sleep that night.
Kari
C.
It was 9:30 a.m., and
I heard a bang.
The loudest ban I had ever heard.
It was on the door to my room.
�Wake up,� my roommate called.
He told me what had happened.
I was in disbelief.
�Is this some hoax?� I said. Comedy
Central wouldn�t go this far, I thought.
�It�s no joke,� he replied.
I ran down to the first floor of my
apartment where the TV sat.
I watched as the towers fell, and then
fell again. Only to fall once more in front
of my not so innocent eyes.
It�s almost as if I had been waiting,
and fearing this event since the start.
Was this it?
No more time to shine.
All plans aborted.
Why didn�t I do something to stop it?
I care about both sides.
After all,
We are only human.
Andy
B.
Mama always got home at 6:48 PM
I�m so mad at her. She said my grades aren�t
good enough, and so I can�t go out
to Angie�s party. When I tried to tell
her about my new dress and how
I had to be there because Becky
was going, and she obviously had a
thing for Frankie, she wasn�t even
swayed one bit.
She said I�d better be here when she
got
back from work.
Work, work, work. That�s all she cares
about.
I don�t see what the big del
is.
It�s just a stupid tower. She
doesn�t care about me, so why
should I care about her? I told
her that I hated her �cause I knew
it�d make her cry.
I stayed home from school to get ready for the
party. I was in such
a rush I didn�t even have time to
watch TV.
I was running late. Didn�t
get
done till 7:05 PM. But luckily, Mama was
late from work. Thank God. And
I went
to Angie�s party in my new dress.
Sylvia
G.
I really am not callous or
non-compassionate
but on September 11,2001 I was in
my office at Western Carolina University
sitting at my computer � back to the office
door�
cramming for an 11:00 class.
Sandra came in, �A plane has just crashed into
the World Trade Center.�
I had to think � the World Trade Center? I was stressing
over papers I hadn�t gotten graded � I needed to
stay on task.
A second colleague, Gayle, came a few minutes
later� her
voice in shock said again, �Planes are flying
into the World
Trade Center.
I wandered over to my writing class � in an
electronic
classroom where CNN was playing.
I watched, my class watched as the Towers
crumbled,
people jumped to their deaths, smoke and ask
blurred
reality.
One of my students left in tears � her father
was at
the Pentagon.
Dr.
Warner
The phone rang, it was still early
my daughters were eating cheerios
watching Dora
hola said Dora
Hello I said, answering on the third
ring
when he said my name I didn�t recognize it
but my stomach knew what my head didn�t
uh oh.
He said, �I love you� and �kiss the girls for
me�
Be brave
I won�t get down,
but what do you say
when your child needs more orange juice and
the dog is whimpering to be let out
and your husband is just call
to say
goodbye.
Later
My mother came directly
bearing unwelcome details
�they crumpled, came down, the walls
they just folded in on themselves.�
And from the second floor balcony I can see the
Smoke, billowing up, across the river
and me thinking about that ringing phone
and wishing I could have
reached through that phone and �
Sima
K.
The newscaster says a second plane
has just hit the World Trade Center
We are under attack
People are screaming and crying on TV
I sit on the bed, my hair still wet,
sharing the same shock and horror
as the strangers� faces being broadcast
I wonder how close my cousins are,
if they are ok
I pick up the phone to call my mother
but there is no service
I am alone
Hundreds of miles away from family
Thousands of miles away from the
Chaos and terror that is live on
my small glass screen.
The first building falls
I begin to cry
I have never felt this close to my
nation before
I see people jumping from
windows, like small birds
unable to fly, It is surreal
I am at a loss, hurt and upset, my
Heart aching for the passengers on
those planes, the indescribable fear
they must have experienced
for the people in the World Trade Center,
innocent lives sacrificed, trapped and
waiting for someone, anyone to rescue
them
for the brave policemen, firemen and
civilians who are risking their own
lives
I try to call my mom again but can
not reach her
I am angry
Angry at the people who could do
such a thing to men, women and
children, husbands, wives, mothers
and fathers
I am angry at the people in charge
of this country, those we have
entrusted our safety to
I am angry that our President sits
still, inactive
I watch the second tower fall
I am falling
I am crying
I do not understand
I do not feel safe
I want someone to blame
I want to talk to my mother
Papers and debris fall from the sky
on television
People and parts and dust block out the
sun
And it seems so far away, yet so
heavy inside me
Amber
K.
I slept through my first three classes.
Everybody had been watching the news about some
sort
of crash and we didn�t do anything.
Not me.
I was too tired from last night�s party.
I was happy to sleep through my silent classes,
only
with the sound of the anchor�s voice.
During break, my best friend told me that a
plane had
Crashed into the shopping mall in Vegas by
accident.
Ooh.
That was a pretty nice outlet.
What a pity, I thought.
During 4th period our teachers starts
the class
with a moment of silence.
For
what? I whisper to my classmate.
Turns out a plane didn�t crash in to the
shopping mall
at all.
Turns out it wasn�t an accident either.
Oh my god.
Jean
K.
As soon as I heard that a plane had
crashed into the Towers, a flood of
names rushed through my head.
Who did I know who was living in New York?
Rebecka? Julia? Rick? Nicole? Chris?
Julia!
She went to NYU but had job that took
her all over the city.
I frantically pulled out my phone
and tried to dial her number.
My hand was shaking with worry so it
took me a few times.
She and I had gone through grade
school and middle school together.
I remember her performing the lead
in our fifth grade production. She sang
beautifully.
Then her voicemail was playing on my phone.
Voicemail?
I tried the number again and
again, but still no answer.
I left a somewhat frantic message and hung up.
I hoped she didn�t answer because
she was talking on the other line,
not because she was in danger.
It wasn�t until hours later when I heard
from her.
A huge sigh of relief, but then I realized
I was one of the lucky ones. How many
out there were not so lucky.
Kari
S.
I was brushing my teeth
when I turned on the television in my room
it was set to the same station it always was.
The news was on; the volume blaring in the
background.
I rinsed my mouth and went back in my room.
I had never seen the World Trade Center up
close.
The cameras focused on one tower.
Fire crackling, smoking, engulfing the air.
Black clouds of smoke mixed with pieces of
debris.
The television screen was dark�
there was nothing to see.
Through the black clouds of smoke
another plane appeared in the distance.
I had always been told that planes
qre supposed to fly at a certain height.
But this plane was flying so low.
Just then, the plane collided with the second
tower.
Explosions and screaming.
People running through the streets of New York.
Still I couldn�t see anything.
Only clouds of black smoke
I have never seen the World Trade Center up close
�
Looks like I never will.
Adrienne
H.
My alarm went off that morning
but music wasn�t playing
the DJs weren�t laughing
they weren�t playing a joke
a plane hit the towers
what towers?
World Trade Center�
If it�s for the world
shouldn�t everyone get along there?
What about the people
in the building
on the planes
what did they do?
I saw a fireman on TV
Where was his family?
Was he one of the ones reported dead
later that evening?
Heroes were made
Innocent lives were lost
We watched it at school
Would they come hit our school too?
What about the bridge?
the beautiful Golden Gate
Please don�t come over here
go away
We didn�t do anything wrong
Why would you separate
mommies and daddies from their kids
why would you take away loved one
what did they do to you?
Why?
Stephanie
E.
I usually wake up at 7:00 a.m. to get ready for
work.
I work on the 13th floor in the Twin
Towers as
a secretary for Mr. Johnson. But this
morning my alarm didn�t ring.
I woke up at 8:00 a.m.; I immediately jumped
out of bed and started rushing to prepare
my morning coffee, which is
also set on a timer to start brewing
at 7:00 a.m. I went into the kitchen
and the coffee was just beginning to
brew.
Thinking to myself as I entered
the shower stall. This is going to be
a terrible day � and what excuse
I could give Mr. Johnson for being late.
I couldn�t tell him I had overslept.
He wouldn�t believe me because I�m
never late. I finally got out of
the house, walked to the train
station and saw hundreds of people
crying.
I asked the man at the
newspaper stand what was going
on, he replied, Where the hell have
you been lady, don�t you listen to
the news, we have been attacked.
The Twin Towers fell down thousands
are dead.� I was shocked with disbelief.
All I could do was cry and think
my safe world has been violated. I
thought, �the Third World War will soon
begin.�
Monecia
L.
I remember coming downstairs
that morning, running late as always
and finding my father
silently standing
in front of the television.
I asked him what it was
that was so interesting
and looked to see for myself
later at school we watched the news
they had a special feed to
all the classrooms
just for the occasion
everyone around me was
just happy to get out of work
For days after that
there was nothing
but the same footage
on TV
Not that anyone
ever, ever wanted
to go through watching
such horrors again
But we all did
anyway.
Jen
J
I woke up.
I heard about it.
saw the pictures on the news
just like I see pictures on the news
every other day.
We had been attacked.
attacked.
What did it mean to be attacked?
Was I attacked?
I went to class,
about half the room knew
half the room was just confused
and the day moved on.
There were new stories
every hour or two,
new opinions, new death counts,
but what it all meant,
I sill don�t know.
I wasn�t crying.
I wasn�t scared.
I went to the store
and bought groceries
and the checker asked me
how my day was going,
but it was different,
it meant something more on that day
and still I didn�t say much.
She didn�t really want to know
what I thought, did she?
Andrea
F.
I first heard about the attacks
those awful attacks on this normal day
September 11, 2001
I am a New Yorker and felt the pain
Seconds after the pain
I felt the fear
I did not know if my family was well
and I rushed to the phone.
Yet on this morning none of my calls
would go through.
A full day I had to wait
to hear my brother�s voice say
he had not gone to work that day.
Vivian
D.
I thought it was just going to be
another regular day.
I thought I would go to school,
read about poetry or something I
wasn�t interested in, snore through
math, and I thought wrong.
I got to school without watching
the morning news or listening to
the car radio � a rarity in its time.
I still thought it was going to
be another regular day.
We never watched TV in my first
period class, but that day the TV
was on. That�s when I realized
that day wasn�t going to be another
regular day.
Then I saw a plane crash into
a building for the first time in my
life, and it wasn�t a movie, and it
wasn�t the last time I saw it either.
Two towers fell that day and may
lives were touched, and I can never
forget what was supposed to be
another regular day.
Jackson
H.
KGO Radio
blaring through my clock radio,
woke me up.
The newscasters were nervously talking
about a plane crashing into the World Trade
Center.
They sounded like after the �87 quake �
Disorienting.
I was confused, thinking maybe I
needed coffee so I could figure out what
my ears were telling me.
I turned on the TV as I was getting
ready for work,
and I started to feel sick when I
realized what had happened�
that my mind wasn�t playing games
with me�that my ears heard
correctly�and it wasn�t a joke.
For some reason, I drove the 50 miles
from my home in San Francisco to Santa Clara,
where I worked.
I went to my office and sat there,
staring at Yahoo News. My co-workers
were all in their offices, doing the
same thing. It was strangely quiet. Dreamlike.
After thirty minutes of starting, I went
home� in a daze and sat in front of the news
all day.
Later that day, the CEO sent out
word that Phil Rosensweig was on
one of the planes.
My boss was good friends with him.
This is real. I�m really not dreaming.
Life has changed.
Tirah
M.