Where were you on 9/11/2001?

CJMST3K

That morning I had a 9:30am appointment in midtown NYC. ...was running late. Parents called to tell me "careful going into this city, looks like a small plane crashed into the WTC. Avoid downtown and take the midtown tunnel". "Ok mom". Showered... getting ready to head out things got worse very quickly.

Later that night, after an amazingly awful day, the skies were perfectly clear and you could see the stars... and without the rush of constant planes... except for the AWACS plane with it's giant disk, flying it's protection mission overhead. The next morning a battleship was right off the coast of Jones Beach.

It was our generation's park harbor. Still so recent to me.

I canceled a going away party that a friend had scheduled for me that night.

musicismylife78

catefrances wrote:

ive opened and closed this thread a few times this morning wondering what does it matter where we were that day. or more specifically.. where i was.

and yet you posted. never quite understood those people who dislike a thread, or topic, yet post in said thread. Its like those people who post about a band they like, and then people respond to the thread by saying, "im not into that band". wow, deep stuff. whatever.

It was one of the defining moments of our generation, and of the modern world. biggest terrorist attack in u.s. history. I guess i can see the idea of maybe feeling insignificant compared to those who were trapped in the buildings, or firefighters risking their lives to save others, but this obviously was a life changing event.

I think its an event we will always remember. our parents had jfk, mlk, rfk. we have kurt cobains suicide, and this.

musicismylife78

for those who lived in NYC, what was it like after both towers were hit? i got the sense NYC just stopped. Cars stopped. Work stopped, people just stood looking up at the towers and cried and were freaking out. but im not sure, all i remember was seeing the images of the towers. I picture that scene in vanilla sky, Tom Cruise in a deserted NYC, only i picture during 9/11 it was filled with people, an no cars, no traffic, no work going on, everyone out on the streets. Ive also wondered, i obviously know the people in the towers died, many did as it came crashing down, but were there bystanders, general public, looking up at the towers, near it, around it, that were killed as it came down?

musicismylife78

brianlux wrote:

catefrances wrote:

ive opened and closed this thread a few times this morning wondering what does it matter where we were that day. or more specifically.. where i was.

Unless you were there, probably little if anything. I think we does these "where were you" things as a reality check. "Yeah, when JFK was shot I was doing such and such- wow, bummer, it really happened".

sort of disagree. i think we use the "where were you when... x happened" because they were and are major life altering events. I think we all know it was real, but i agree it does even 10 years on feel surreal. but i think we use it, those things as a way to deal in a human way with things we cant comprehend or understand. To understand, or comprehend the whole of it all, the highjackings, the crashing into buildings, the collapses. what has happened since, the wars etc... I think humans need connection. And this is a way to feel connected. I live on the opposite coast, doesnt mean 9/11 didnt effect me, just effected me in a different manner, than those in NYC.

BinauralJam

musicismylife78 wrote:

for those who lived in NYC, what was it like after both towers were hit? i got the sense NYC just stopped. Cars stopped. Work stopped, people just stood looking up at the towers and cried and were freaking out. but im not sure, all i remember was seeing the images of the towers. I picture that scene in vanilla sky, Tom Cruise in a deserted NYC, only i picture during 9/11 it was filled with people, an no cars, no traffic, no work going on, everyone out on the streets. Ive also wondered, i obviously know the people in the towers died, many did as it came crashing down, but were there bystanders, general public, looking up at the towers, near it, around it, that were killed as it came down?

One of the things i remember that day was going out to 5th avenue with a few co-workers and there was a news reporter guy with the big arm camera and he was just holding it at his side, staring towards down town like the rest of us, Here was prime footage and he could care less, there was no oppertunity, no breaking news to exploit, he just stood there in shock with the rest of us.

Byrnzie

musicismylife78 wrote:

It was one of the defining moments of our generation, and of the modern world.

No it wasn't.

It may have been important to Americans, but America is not the World.

I'm sure if you asked a Panamanian what the defining moment of our generation was they'd say it was the U.S backed invasion that left 9000 civilians dead.
I'm sure if you asked a Chliean what the defining moment of our generation was they'd say it was the U.S backed military coup that left thousands dead and brought in three decades of terror and oppression.

catefrances

musicismylife78 wrote:

catefrances wrote:

ive opened and closed this thread a few times this morning wondering what does it matter where we were that day. or more specifically.. where i was.

and yet you posted. never quite understood those people who dislike a thread, or topic, yet post in said thread. Its like those people who post about a band they like, and then people respond to the thread by saying, "im not into that band". wow, deep stuff. whatever.

It was one of the defining moments of our generation, and of the modern world. biggest terrorist attack in u.s. history. I guess i can see the idea of maybe feeling insignificant compared to those who were trapped in the buildings, or firefighters risking their lives to save others, but this obviously was a life changing event.

I think its an event we will always remember. our parents had jfk, mlk, rfk. we have kurt cobains suicide, and this.

calm down there 78. i was just expressing my thoughts. there is no dislike of the thread. i couldve shared where i was that day but to me it feels irrelevant.

musicismylife78

Byrnzie wrote:

musicismylife78 wrote:

It was one of the defining moments of our generation, and of the modern world.

No it wasn't.

It may have been important to Americans, but America is not the World.

I'm sure if you asked a Panamanian what the defining moment of our generation was they'd say it was the U.S backed invasion that left 9000 civilians dead.
I'm sure if you asked a Chliean what the defining moment of our generation was they'd say it was the U.S backed military coup that left thousands dead and brought in three decades of terror and oppression.

indeed. american foreign policy certainly changed as a result, thus impacting the rest of the world. the wars in afghanistan and iraq probably wouldnt be going on had 9/11 never happened. And i didnt say "the single most defining" i said "ONE of the".

While i agree, most of the world deals with death like that often, and it was a rare instance, of the US dealing with it, i do think to debate the impact of 9/11 on culture, politics, the world, foreign policy, art etc... is silly. the question isnt did it impact it, but rather how much did it impact all that stuff.

the fact that 9/11 was and still is a big issue, is all you need to know. it's big news now for obvious reasons, but it figured prominently is the 2 elections since then, and is still a huge topic of conversation.

Tenzing N.

I was in the right seat of a cargo Lear jet headed to Dallas. The radios were crazy at first then as crews got to work figuring out where to land it settled down. We were near Dallas so we kept coming. They wouldn't tell us much except that we HAD to get down. The lines to land were fairly long and then the ramp was wierd because all the planes would land, shut down and the pilots were all rushing in to see the TV. I just remember it being really spooky not really knowing what was going on.

Later on we were one of the first planes allowed to fly because we were carrying blood to NY. Empty sky- went straight there.

SVRDhand13

Byrnzie wrote:

musicismylife78 wrote:

It was one of the defining moments of our generation, and of the modern world.

No it wasn't.

It may have been important to Americans, but America is not the World.

I'm sure if you asked a Panamanian what the defining moment of our generation was they'd say it was the U.S backed invasion that left 9000 civilians dead.
I'm sure if you asked a Chliean what the defining moment of our generation was they'd say it was the U.S backed military coup that left thousands dead and brought in three decades of terror and oppression.

"One of the defining moments". I am sure the 9/11 attacks are known worldwide more than any other event that occurred within the past 25 years. Not every Panamanian and Chilean, or any for that matter, have to feel it was the one defining moment. This day changed America, Afghanistan, and Iraq forever, and left many other nations wondering if attacks would come to their soil as well (which they did). It was one of the defining moments in the entire world and for you to say otherwise is ludicrous.

SVRDhand13

musicismylife78 wrote:

Byrnzie wrote:

musicismylife78 wrote:

It was one of the defining moments of our generation, and of the modern world.

No it wasn't.

It may have been important to Americans, but America is not the World.

I'm sure if you asked a Panamanian what the defining moment of our generation was they'd say it was the U.S backed invasion that left 9000 civilians dead.
I'm sure if you asked a Chliean what the defining moment of our generation was they'd say it was the U.S backed military coup that left thousands dead and brought in three decades of terror and oppression.

indeed. american foreign policy certainly changed as a result, thus impacting the rest of the world. the wars in afghanistan and iraq probably wouldnt be going on had 9/11 never happened. And i didnt say "the single most defining" i said "ONE of the".

While i agree, most of the world deals with death like that often, and it was a rare instance, of the US dealing with it, i do think to debate the impact of 9/11 on culture, politics, the world, foreign policy, art etc... is silly. the question isnt did it impact it, but rather how much did it impact all that stuff.

the fact that 9/11 was and still is a big issue, is all you need to know. it's big news now for obvious reasons, but it figured prominently is the 2 elections since then, and is still a huge topic of conversation.

Better said that how I responded, but we basically have the same point.

Byrnzie

musicismylife78 wrote:

indeed. american foreign policy certainly changed as a result,

How did America's foreign policy change?

Before 9/11 it was interventionist and aggressive.
After 9/11 it was interventionist and aggressive.

catefrances

Byrnzie wrote:

musicismylife78 wrote:

indeed. american foreign policy certainly changed as a result,

How did America's foreign policy change?

Before 9/11 it was interventionist and aggressive.
After 9/11 it was interventionist and aggressive.

i was wondering this myself.


id say what changed the most was 'homeland' security and the infringements placed upon the american people themselves.... and those travelling within and to the US.

brianlux

Byrnzie wrote:

musicismylife78 wrote:

indeed. american foreign policy certainly changed as a result,

How did America's foreign policy change?

Before 9/11 it was interventionist and aggressive.
After 9/11 it was interventionist and aggressive.

Things certainly got more amped up. In fact, if intervention and agression were a guitar amplifier maybe you could say we switched from a Fender Champ to a Marshall stack.

SatansFuton

I slept in because I had worked late the night before. When I woke up I didn't turn on the TV or anything, so I had no idea what was going on. I did some school work then went to the record store to pick up Stone Gossard's Bayleaf (which had the unfortunate release date of September 11th 2001) and I just had a CD playing in the car on the way up there, so I didn't hear anything about the attacks on the radio. It wasn't until I was checking out at the counter and I saw the coverage, which the proprietor was watching on a little black and white TV, that I realized anything had happened. So it wasn't until about noon Central time that I even found out. Then I think I watched the coverage for a few hours on TV before having to go back to work that night.

Byrnzie

9/11 was the best thing that could have happened for the neo-cons and the arms industry. It was like 100 Christmas's rolled into one.

eeriepadave

i was working at K-mart at the time. So unreal watching everything unfold on tv like that. Unfortunately the tv's that were hooked up at Kmart sucked and we barely got any reception. I remember we also carried rifles and guns at the time and had to lock them away. Also after work headed to a buddy's house and hung with him. We all just talked about it. His sister was at NYU at the time and i was wondering how she was (she was fine).

So much has changed since then. NO facebook or twitter at the time.

rollings

Holding my 12-day old son

blueandwhite

I was just starting law school. Before heading off to class I turned on the morning news to get my fill and watched everything unfold live. Seeing the second plane hit on live television was one of the most surreal moments I've ever experienced. Watching journalists who routinely manipulate and spin information find themselves at a momentary loss for words as this tragedy unfolded was unreal. Watching those same journalists regain their composure and spin those same events desecrating the memories of those who lost their lives for the next decade was tragic.

voidofman

Crashed out at a buddies place in Canada when I was doing a lot of writing. I remember hearing the phone ring around 7AM PST, everyone was still asleep, it was my mom who left this message, "wake up, America is under attack." Went and turned on the tv and was pretty shocked at what was happening. I'm trying to remember if it was that moment or later that day or the next day, reporters blah blahing from the street and hearing bodies hit the ground while the buildings were still up and reporters saying something like, "what was that?"

What really made me wonder was how fast they had information as to who was behind it. OBL was already the main suspect, was from Afghanistan, etc. which gave them an "excuse" to invade.

What pissed me off was GWB at ground zero a few days later smiling and joking:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7OCgMPX2mE