9-11 Responses – Fall 08

My wife, Sharon, called me while I was just finishing up the paper work from my late-night shift on the San Jose police force.

Since cell phone charges were high and money was tight, we had agreed to only use our cell phones in an emergency.

I quickly picked up the phone, expecting my wife to say that Lily's, our four-month old baby, fever was up again; she had been battling an ear infection for several days.

Instead, my wife's voice sounded confused as she kept repeating why? Why?

After she composed herself enough, she told she had been sitting in the rocking chair, feeding the baby with the television set on—the volume turned down low—when she saw the image on the screen of a plane flying right into the Twin Towers.

The news reporters were saying this had not been an accident; a group of terrorists had done this on purpose.

My hand moved instinctively to the 57 Magnum in my holster, strapped to my side.

I felt my fingers wrap around the cold, gray steel of my weapon.

Melanie

Those damn Muslims; those damn terrorists

Towel Heads is what I call �em.

Up to no good, terrorizing the American people!

Our people!

This is war.

A full-fledged invitation to war.

I hate them all.

I would kill every last one of them with my hands if I could.

I swear to God, I would.

I don't understand, how could somebody do this to us?

How could the do this to us?

Are they just jealous of our freedom?

I wish I had the answer to all of my questions—

I just don't believe something like this could happen to us!

The land of the free and the home of the brave.

Free.

We are still free.

But they are not.

Adriana

Child:

The President is here today

We had him read a book to us

And a man came in and spoke to him

The President is here today

We had him read a book to us

But it was upside down.

Jeremy

I remember being warm in my bed,

the familiar sheets so soft.

I was surrounded by safety

and comfort.

My mother crashed through

the bedroom door.

Rattled me out of peaceful slumber.

She spoke:

"The world is coming to an end."

The sheets turned cold and hard.

I threw on some clothes,

raced downstairs to understand,

saw the image on the TV

and asked no questions.

It was the first time

I had ever seen

a picture on the news

with no voices accompanying it.

The scene spoke for itself.

Mom drove me to school.

I went to first period

U.S. History.

I inched the door aside,

afraid of what awaited me inside.

Silence.

My classmates listened for answers.

I understood the power of nothingness.

Outside of school,

the world listened to silence.

All people united and waiting

to hear some hope

some understanding

some answer.

Kelly F.

I wanted to sleep. The light

burst in through the window.

"Get up! Get up!" my grandmother said.

"We're being attacked! We're going to war!"

Still half asleep, I don't know what's going on.

I was led to the living room and

my grandmother pointed to the TV.

There it was. One of the towers engulfed

in flames and spewing smoke.

I was speechless. I was confused.

"We don't know what happened as of yet,

but a commercial airliner has just

crashed into one of the World Trade Center

Towers!" the news reporter said.

"I saw it! We're being attacked!" my

grandmother said to the TV.

I sat there. I was in shock.

I sat for a while, watching the TV

when all of a sudden "Boom!"

Another airliner was hurled into the opposite tower.

I saw a huge ball of orange fire

burst from the top half of the building.

"We have word now that� Oh my God!

Folks, another plane has just crashed through

the second tower! We have word

now that this may not be an accident,"

the new reporter yells out.

The phone rings. "Ring! Ring!" I answer.

"Are you watching this?"

"What's going on, Dad?"

"I don't know," he answered.

Brian

Radio Man:

"A plane crashed into the

New York City Twin Towers."

Kayla:

"I wonder what I'm going to have for lunch.

Shit, do I have my book? Oh, thank God, I do."

Radio Man:

"Repeat! Terrorists have struck America! The whole

world is watching."

Kayla:

"I need a TV! I need a voice. Tell me this isn't

happening! Why is the whole world watching?"

Radio Man:

"Plane crashes into Pentagon."

Kayla:

"What the Hell is going on? I need a goddamn

TV. I won't believe it. I can't believe it. I

need to see it.

I race off the bus and through the

silent crowd of mourners and confused patrons.

I find a TV in the school library. I see

it� the Towers, the plane.

Oh, my God! All those people.

I stand rooted among the silence�

watching with the world."

Madison

911 Operator:

"What's your emergency?"

Samantha:

"Oh, yes, the Twin Towers are on

fine. I am my way to work and saw

the building pop and crumble just before

my eyes."

I thought how life can change in a mater of seconds.

The morning had begun like any other morning:

dropped off the kids, listened to morning news, drove

to work, but now before me there a burning building.

911 Operator:

"Ma'am, please try to remain calm.

Are you sure it is the World Trade Center and not another

building?" the operator's voice shook with suspicion

and disbelief.

Samantha:

"Yes! It is. The building is on fire. Please send help."

911 Operator:

"Ma'am? Ma'am? Please speak louder. I can't hear

you." In the background you could hear the operators

shriek in despair and a helpless tone, "Help them. Someone help

them; my husband works in those buildings.

The phone went silent. No one answered on the

other side. "Hello! Hello! Send Help!"

The city seemed to have come to a complete halt.

Women and men walked away from the buildings

A look of fear and shock cemented their rusted

and muted eyes.

I sat in my car, my eyes glued towards

the towers.

I thought: Who is responsible for such a horrible act?

Ana

Early morning

I hate zero period.

Bowl, spoon, milk, cereal, book, chair, counter.

Oops! Forgot –Radio on for background noise.

Munch, munch. Wait, what did they say?

A plane, a building, New York?

"Mom, wake up! They say a plane hit the

towers in New York!"

Turn on the TV.

Watch the smoke billowing out the top.

Stare in disbelief at the screen, breakfast forgotten.

Scooted into the car. "Let's go, you

need to get to school."

Everyone asking, "Did you hear? Can you

believe it?"

I can't. I just sit by myself, trying not to cry.

Later, fourth period.

Kids in the back listening to the radio in secret.

Pentagon, towers falling.

The teacher yells, "Turn that thing off."

And "Turn to the next page."

All day, all week teachers tell me, "I'm sure you

spoke about this in your other classes,

so I won't take up any time in here.

You will be excused to the library if

you need to talk to a counselor."

But nobody ever actually gets up to

go to the Library, so I don't go either, even

though when I wipe my eyes

on my sleeve, I think, "I should have."

Even today,

teachers tell me they're

sure we talked about it in other classes

and at other times.

But nobody ever did.

Sabrina

I woke up early for school

and my mother was in her bedroom

telling my sister and me to be quiet

so she could hear the news.

She said a plane hit the towers� the Twin Towers.

I didn't realize its severity until I got to school

and every teacher was saying what my mother

had that morning.

Be quiet so we can hear the news.

Chatter back and forth, a nation in crisis.

It was hard to connect to

because I was on the other side of the country.

But as I saw replay after replay

of the buildings thought to be so very American

falling to the ground,

the situation took on real significance.

They say you always remember where you were,

what you were doing,

who you were with,

when some drastic situation like this happens.

I was in my mother's bedroom

she was telling me to be quiet so she could

hear the news

and the country was changed after that.

Whitney

I am standing right here on this corner behind my newsstand

like I have for the last twenty-some years,

when I hear the most loud thunderous sound that

I or anyone ever heard in this city.

What follows blows my newspapers up flurrying like leaves.

I am four blocks down from those twin towers

and looking up, I can't believe what I see.

This is like some movie.

What planet is this?

What the hell; I can't move.

People are running, screaming.

Am I holding on to this newsstand or is it holding me?

Alicemarie

The morning was cold, on the way to school.

Dad was driving again, in his slow puttering way.

The radio was on.

Not some music station,

we would have all preferred.

His news channel.

Who listens to news so early in the morning? What's the point?

Nothing good is ever on.

We were crossing the street, entering the

grounds when the blurb came:

The twin towers had been hit.

The what? The where? What happened? Dad got real quiet.

Never mind, it didn't matter;

Whatever it was, it didn't happen here,

so what did we care?

Got out of car, my bag heavy with

books and homework and projects.

Ylani

The first thing I heard when I woke up on September 11, 2001 was

from my mother

"There's something happening in New York!"

On the news, they showed one of the towers

with a huge black hole in it with black smoke coming out.

After that, I had to catch the bus for school.

And in school, in first period of my eighth grade health class,

we watched intently on the roll-out television,

Tower Two collapsed to ruin.

At the time, I didn't feel any of us realized what had just happened.

Few of us had been to New York;

few even knew what the World Trade Center was.

Probably the biggest controversy we had was how much

bigger their high school was than our town's high school.

It wasn't until 3^rd period World History that we were

informed that it was a possible attack from terrorists

highjacking the commercial airlines.

I think mainly fear went throughout the classroom.

And in some, that fear turned to anger.

It was sad, in a way, because I don't think

we fully understood what happened.

Dave G.

I was asleep, blissfully unaware

and sinking into dreams far from the waking world.

The door opened, creaking as it did. A creaking

so familiar, it made

my eyes draw open to a sunny September morning.

"There's been a plane crash," my mother said simply,

my sleepy stupor rendering me completely uncaring.

"It looks bad." No real details yet.

I got up and to the TV I went

Horrified, bewildered, shocked, speechless

Images assaulted me through the TV

One tower down, two�

I could almost smell the dusty landscape

New York had become; it almost didn't register

My mother was a flight attendant with United, grounded because of

an ear infection

People called all day, "She wasn't on, was she?"

No, thank God, she wasn't

Nina

As usual, I woke up early to go to school.

Got ready, got to school

and headed to my hangout place

as always.

The drama classroom.

But as I walked in, there was a

silence which was not at all usual for the

drama room.

It was dead. Dead silent.

I had no idea what was going on.

Next thing I knew someone told me

"a plane crashed into the twin towers in New York."

I was shocked, sure I was.

All day long, in every class, I kept seeing the news.

Teachers turned on the TV just to see

the replay of the twin towers crashing down.

I know that it might have been wrong of me

but all that day and for days after, I kept

thinking, I'm a Chicana, so� this means

what to me? Why should I care? I mean, shit happens.

I know, I know, I lacked American pride.

Jean

I remember

Stacie Boyle walking into tutorial that morning,

crying like I've never seen a person cry.

The student body president

shouldn't have to shed tears like that.

I asked her

What's wrong?

Why are you crying?

She said planes had crashed into

two buildings

buildings in New York with

hundreds of people inside.

After that,

Mrs. Spencer, the tutorial teacher, turned on the news.

We sat

in silence,

listening,

watching that fateful footage,

that ran all day long.

That day,

no one seemed to hear the bells ring,

telling us that

first period had to start.

No one cared

because those hundreds of

other people's lives

seemed more important

than chemistry

or physics.

Amanda

The phone is ringing, and I hear my

roommate's groggy voice answer the phone.

"No, I won't turn on the TV," she says to her

brother on the other end. "You woke me up!"

and she slams down the phone.

She turns on the TV anyway and

our eyes are watching, are filled with

terror. Every channel the same miserable

images. I'd only been in college for

two weeks. I guess this is my window

into the dark side of reality.

I open our dorm room door and

the hallway is eerily filled with the sound

of 100 TVs tuned to the same channel.

The sounds of terror, of planes exploding,

people running scared through the streets of

New York or worse, leaping to their death.

We go down to the cafeteria but again

a big screen TV has been wheeled in

and turned to CNN. The scene is

unavoidable. We can't turn our eyes away.

This is real.

Kelley L.

My mom hates TV; even more than that

she hates the news.

When I finally rolled out of bed and down the stairs

I found my mother sitting in front of the TV,

like a little kid.

There were two towers with big holes and tiny people,

fire and confusion.

My mother inhaled sharply.

The carpool drove up and I went out.

First period was history

The teacher wouldn't turn on the TV

so we could see the news.

None of the teachers did.

During PE, we played flag Frisbee.

Erin

The men got up from their seats

and took over our plane. How can

this be real? The pilot should've

protected us! Someone should have.

We all should have. Now some of us

are talking in the rear of the plane.

I think we're all going to die. I'm alone

and I'm going to die.

Other people back here are on their

phones. No one is fighting back. We

just want to say goodbye while

we have the chance. I'm so scared.

Why is this happening?

Where's my mom? I need to call her

and hear her voice. I love you, Mom.

Kim

In retrospect, I wish I could say that something felt

different, wrong, before I went downstairs that

morning shortly after my (then) husband and I had

separated. What I felt was that I needed to turn on the

news—that's all.

The images just didn't make sense. It looked like planes were where

buildings belonged. Twice? It's hard now to get the

concept of suicide attacks. Even now. I remember someone

setting himself on fire to stop the Vietnam War.

I try to relate that, to this.

Chaos, scenario played over and over again, not

helping to make sense of what's happening/happened.

People running from no one knew what. It all

seemed so far away. I grew up mostly on the

East Coast but couldn't locate these events

in time or place.

Shelley

Laura –14 year-old

There is a knock at the door—"Hey, Mom, America

is under attack. I thought you should know."

The stupid announcer on the radio

cut in on my favorite song.

I gotta go up stairs and finish

Brushing my hair.

"Oh yeah," he says, "you

can probably watch it on TV."

I hope this makes me late for school.

Marta

"What!?!" says Marta, turning

on the TV in her bedroom.

"Butch, someone flew an

airplane into the twin towers

in New York," she

hollers above the

volume of a shower.

Oh my God, the second tower

Has been hit!

My world has crumbled like the

towers—my sense of security

gone

I was having trouble dealing with

my mom's lung cancer diagnosis

yesterday

Now this

I am numb.

Marta

(Voice of Jonathan Safran Foer, author of 9/11 bestsesller, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close)

Something has happened

in this great country of ours.

The legacy of terror has been passed

down.

From the Great War.

To WWII.

To the flaming horros of Vietnam and its wake

of protests.

To the Doomsday Clock.

Now, it's on our home turf.

What about the daughters

and sons

of those killed?

Can they ever trust again?

Do they have anything left to believe in?

I look at the moving images on the screen.

the man that jumped.

The smoke filling the air.

I think of the messages left

on cell phones and voice mails

of loved ones.

There must be a way to undo the damage.

There must be an answer other than was

and more death.

It is up to the youth to reverse the images.

I sit down

in the icy cold of morning

and begin to type.

Amy

I was busy pulling the weeds of late summer

that grow between my house and the

neighbor's. My dog was busy running

around asking to play "Fetch." I thought

it was strange to hear the radio and TV

blaring out of my neighbor's typically

quiet house.

I went inside to have a housewife's coffee

break and read the Internet headlines. The title

covered a huge chunk of the screen.

"World Trade Center" "Planes" "Attack"

I reread it, but something did not

compute.

Then I did an unusual thing. I went

window shopping on line. For an hour.

I had nothing to spend, didn't want

for anything. But for that hour I was

blind and comforted.

When I returned to the news page, I reread

"World Trade Center," but now added

"Tower Collapse." I saw the smoke and bodies falling.

Shaking, I went to awaken my husband.

"I know you just fell asleep a few hours

ago, but it's our Pearl Harbor. Today.

Right now."

Gabriele

The morning of September 11^th was a blur. I remember waking

up and being fixated on the horror unfolding on TV.

The bottom of the world was dropping out and all of

us were going with it. I felt so little in that moment and

kept trying to imagine the pain of the people in

New York. Who would do such a thing?

I don't remember how I managed to get dressed and

go to class that day. I was numb, but still trying to

feel the pain along with everyone else.

Can I do something?

Should I do something?

What are we going to do?

Is this really happening?

Allegra

San Diego is so far from New York,

but really not that far.

Why does no one understand?

How can everyone be so caught up in their

own lives, when I am so worried,

so afraid.

They don't understand how it feels

to know your mother is in New York,

and you haven't heard from her since

you saw those towers fall on the news this morning.

They have no perspective of what is happening in

their own country.

They wonder why I look so sad.

Trish

I was distracted

I was stressing over getting ready for

class, my freshman comp class.

Gayle, one of my favorite colleagues, came to

my office door:

"Mary, did you hear a plane crashed into the

World Trade Center?"

I had to think – where was the World Trade Center?

Back to work—then Sandra came with word

of a plane at the Pentagon.

Nearly 11:00 AM—I wandered across campus to the

electronic classroom where my class would meet

The last teacher in the room had left the LCD projector

on

CNN was reporting

My class filed in

Silent, we gazed at the screen

Before our eyes—live—a second plane flew into

the second tower

Flames, smoke, people jumping to their deaths

One of my students left in tears

Her father was at the Pentagon.

Dr. Warner

I hate mornings.

So damn bright and cheery.

Turn on the TV

watch an informcial,

or two,

or three

Turn to the news

A plane smashing into a building?

What movie is this?

Then I watch and see it's

not quite a movie,

but still unreal.

I shower and get dressed,

already apathetic

towards what

I thought I saw.

Then I remember I had

a flight

to catch.

God.

Not so damn cheery

anymore.

Rommel

I get to school after taking the bus.

It's a few weeks into my freshman year

of high school and as I cross the street to

get to campus, I see Luke Sharkey;

he takes the bus too.

Hey, he says, all the guys who take

the train are going to be late.

Why, I ask.

Some wacko is crashing planes into the World

Trade Center.

What's the World Trade Center, I wonder, but

I don't let him know. Get out, I say.

We watch the news in English class. Oh, that is

the World Trade Center, I think to myself. I

don't know what to think, but seeing the fiery

crash is scary. All planes are grounded, Ms.

Chapman says, but the airport nearby is

awaiting one final landing in case we see it.

It's break time and a plane flies over the quad. All

the students panic. I guess they didn't know, but I did.

Manuel

It was father who woke me up that

morning. "Wake up. Come watch the news," he

said with panic. I got up, half awake, half asleep.

"What's happening? Is everything all right?"

stumbling my way to the living room.

"Just come and watch," he said. It was

all over the news, every channel we

flipped through, the Twin Towers and

those airplanes crashing through. I stood

there shocked and speechless. It was as

if I was watching a horror Hollywood

movie, except this was real, a nightmare.

I couldn't believe what I saw. I wish father had never woken me up.

Saida

Didn't want to wake up, told Mom I was sick.

Heard a gasp from the kitchen, Mom's gasp.

Not a "Oh my God, it's a mouse shriek,

Or a "Damnit I burned my finger growl,

but a wordless gasp; she too shocked to speak.

She opened my door and told me that the

towers in NY broke.

"Broke" – my mom speaks English when she wants

to get the point across. She doesn't speak English

that well.

Didn't want to question her usage of words,

could see she was scared by the way she

held the tray of soup and ginger tea.

Frightened as her hands shook, letting the contents

spill over the hard plastic sides onto the pretty

red flowers on the tray.

Put on my pants, left my room,

sat down in front of the TV

and absorbed the information.

What a day to skip class.

Sipping cold ginger tea and wondering who died.

Andrew

I had stayed up all night

crying about breaking

up with my high school sweet heart.

I had finally fallen into

a deep sleep in my

best friend's bed.

Who knows what time it is?

I can never figure out what

time it is, with her clock

set forward, backward

ten minutes, twenty

All I know is it's 3 hours ahead over

there, in NY

and that sucks because a lot of people are probably

dead.

I hope this takes my mind

off of him.

I hope it takes attention away

from us.

How big of a deal is this?

Probably huge since everyone

in my family

has called me

in the

last hour.

Lindsey

Mom ran into my room and

tripped over the skateboard, thus

knocking over my bong

"Mijo, we're under attack!" she screamed.

What is she rambling about? I thought.

"Leave me alone, it's early.

I'll get out of bed in ten, close the door!"

"Cabron!" she said back to me.

Angry because she woke me up, I packed

a bowl and turned on the tube.

Damn! We really are under attack. Hmm�.

I wonder if Jenna's going to wear that

fine ass skirt today?

Are those the Twin Towers? Is that�.

Then all of a sudden another

plane flew right into the other

tower.

Hey Mom! Do I still have to go to school?

I yelled.

Dave E.

I came out of step class to the most

haunting scene I have ever witnessed.

People had quit exercising—that

had become way too inconsequential

to what we were seeing on the news.

A plane had run into the Twin Towers

In New York and the entire city

was in chaos and there was a huge fire.

There were horrific scenes of smoke,

ash, and people – so many people

running, covered in soot, crying,

dazed, confused—it was the

apocalypse. No one really knew

at that point exactly what was

going on, but we knew it was

ominous and dark and evil. We

were shocked. This was America! Land

of the free and the brave!

What was happening to our world?

Safety was an allusion. Our world

had changed overnight – things

were no longer the same.

I went to my marketing job at the

airport, fully expecting a rough

and unpredictable day. As the

staff gathered in the "war" room, used

for communication crisis, we were

all deployed throughout the airport

to help passengers. I went home that

night late and other nights and

cried myself to sleep.

Julie

(On the Plane – two passengers whispering)

Me: (whispering) "Ok, I am going to rush the

Terrorist with the goatee if you cover me

by rushing the other one with the oozie."

Passenger: "I will but what if it doesn't work? What

Is the alternate plan again?"

Me: "The alternate plan is I pretend

to have a heart attack while you start

calling out for help. Once the two

terrorists come over to see what

the problem is�I suddenly burst

out of my seat and wrap my seat

belt around the terrorist with the oozie's

neck and hold him captive lying

with my back to the floor while

his back is to me."

Passenger: "Ok, then I'll, at the same time,

knock the other guy out by

hitting the back of his head just above

the collar bone because you said

this pressure point will knock him

unconscious."

Robert