Today, birds take a back seat.
Two days ago I received the following request from blog follower Everett Sanborn:
“Ron – hoping for Saturday’s 9-11 post you will tell us where you were and what you were doing at the time it occurred back in NYC.”
In this photo the window directly below the “RAMS” sign is in the back of what was my sloping, college-style lecture room in the science wing of Highland High School in Salt Lake City (photo taken yesterday). It had been my habit for my entire teaching career to arrive at school about 45 minutes early to allow me extra time to prepare for the day’s classes. So just before 7 AM (Mountain Time) on Tuesday September 11, 2001 I was alone in my room preparing for my first zoology class that would begin at 7:40.
Suddenly one of my teaching colleagues burst into my room, told me something terrible was happening and to turn on my classroom TV. So I did and with a push of that little button on the TV remote the world as I knew it instantly and drastically changed.
As significant as that day was, much of it is a blur 20 years later but there are some snippets I remember all too well.
- Many of my first period students still hadn’t heard the news when they arrived to my room. We were all starved for information so most of first period in my class was spent watching developments on TV. For the rest of my classes that day I tried to carry on as close to usual as possible for most of the period but I turned the TV news back on for the last few minutes of each class so that we could all catch up on developments. And talk about them.
- Reactions of students (I had a mix of 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grade students in various classes) and adults were similar but not exactly the same, especially at first. It took most students longer to absorb the deadly seriousness of the day’s events and its implications than it did the adults. But for most of us, to one degree or another, it was a day of confusion, futility, almost infinite sadness and anger. Seething, soul-searing anger.
- By the end of the school day we were all emotionally exhausted and more ready than usual to go home and deal with the day’s tragedies in a more personal way with the support of our families and loved ones, rather than in the more impersonal school environment. I was divorced at the time and I could hardly wait to get home and hug my dog.
Anyway, that’s where I was and what I was doing on 9/11. If readers would care to share their own experiences on that morning feel free to do so in the comments. It just might be cathartic for all of us.
Ron
Hubby and I were watching the morning news as we were getting ready for our respective jobs when the first plane hit. We thought it was an accident and tried to figure out how a plane could collide with a building that large — until the 2nd plane hit. Both towers had collapsed by the time our RAM students started school that day. I had the local news radio station on all day and we got updates from the district approximately every 30-60 minutes. We spent most of that entire week comforting and reassuring students, some of whom had lost loved ones in both the planes and the buildings and others who were very scared by the news reports predicting that our large port city could also be a target.
Sounds awful for you and your kids, Marty. At least none of my students, that I know of, lost family or other loved ones in the attacks. One of my best friends has family living in NYC and she was very, very worried about them for much of the morning.
On the phone with our daughter, who called us before going to work .in one of the buildings most effected by thd collapse of the twin towers…the rhree of us watched the second plane fly into the second tower,….
Scary stuff, Patty. I’m glad your daughter was OK.
I was working at Wild Bird Rehabilitation. I never had the tv on in the morning, but I put on the Today Show just because I knew they would cut away for the local weather in a minute or two. The first plane had just hit, and I remember thinking it must have been a private plane and the pilot must have had a heart attack. And then the second plane hit….and I instantly realized that the world would never be the same.
We had several juvenile Green Herons in the clinic, and I stopped at the grain elevator to buy minnows on my way to work. There was something so comforting in that transaction- walking into a 100 year old building, with ancient, sloping wooden floors, standing shoulder to shoulder with the good folk who owned the elevator, feeling a sense of community, and a shared rage, even though we didn’t yet know where to direct our anger.
Thanks, Ron, for letting us share our stories here today.
And thanks for contributing your story, Diane.
I was working for the FS doing botanical surveys in western Utah that summer with a crew of about 8 people. We were based out of a ranch house outside Cedar City and that was the 1st day of our 8-day hitch. It was hot at night and I was sleeping outside in my cabover camper. Just before it got light that morning, a cold zephyr blew through the open windows, waking me, giving me a chill and a really weird feeling. I recall thinking to myself “there goes the chilly wind of death…” I went in to the house to get breakfast and organize for our field hitch, and the TV was on, playing reruns of the video footage. We went out to the field on schedule, camping on public land west of Scipio and it was strange not to see any jet trails overhead that week.
Sarah, the missing contrails for days after were about the only positive thing I could think of that came out of all of it. Looking back I realize there were other positives (human compassion, bringing us together etc.) but I sure noticed and appreciated the lack of contrails.
I was working that day at the local hospital on the switchboard, and started getting lots incoming calls for people who wanted to donate blood. I did not know what was going on till two hours later when a co-worker came to work and advised me about what had happened.
Trudy, now that’s an interesting ripple effect from the attacks that I wouldn’t have thought of but it makes sense.
Hi Ron,
An observation from Down Under. We had two US University Student groups with us and after dinner when we retired to our shoptalk room in Cairns, North Queensland, and turned on the TV and saw the images we initially thought it was a Hollywood Movie sequence. Then the reality became apparent and the accompanying shock and horror.
Needless to say we had some distraught students to manage and comfort the next morning. If I recall correctly, Bill Clinton was here at the time, and immediately returned to the US. As inside, 5-Star Hotels and cruise ships in the city, each seen as likely to the targets, went into heightened security.
Of course many Australians died in the attacks, but on this occasions our grief and sorrow is for all.
Gary
“we initially thought it was a Hollywood Movie sequence”
Gary, I can easily see how that mistake could be made. And I can imagine how distraught those students were, especially that far from home and not knowing when they’d be able to get back.
I lived in Denver. A friend and I carpooled to our offices (they were fairly close.) We generally listened to a radio station known for its prank newscasts (many of them were over-the-top and meant to cause outrage.) My friend and I thought the one about a plane flying into a building was absolutely in poor taste. When we switched stations, the shock was one I can’t forget.
At work, we did nothing but watch the news on TV’s brought in from conference rooms. I worked for a major insurance company in their IT division. We wept. We raged. We reached out to family members. My eldest cousin worked at the Pentagon. His mother heard nothing from him due to the phone traffic. Around 1pm MST, we learned that he had been late for work. LATE FOR WORK. This is a man who was generally on-time or early. No one in my family was hurt in the attack. But the number of people I know with a 9/11 story are myriad. One is a fellow Tarot reader who was having a cigarette break…he worked in the towers (I forget which one.) Listening to him tell the story is…hard.
My niece was born in October of that year. She and all those 9/11 year babies graduated in a world locked down by COVID-19.
I wonder how that will color their world.
What a day to be late for work!!!
My wife and one of our daughters were driving through Austria. We had just arrived in Kitzbühel. Every America we spoke with wanted to get home; however all flights to the States were cancelled. We did not find out we could actually fly back to the States for a week. We were returning via Munich and Paris. Initially, we were cleared to fly to Paris, so we packed some clothes for a couple of days in Paris. When we got to Paris, the flight to the States was cleared. We were searched several times in Paris. On approaching Philadelphia, one could see the fighter escorts just off to the side and slightly behind our aircraft.
Richard, you must have been very very glad to finally get home!
A serious relief
On the other side of the world I watched in shock, horror and pain.
I’m not surprised, EC.
I was living in uptown Manhattan, gorgeous fall day. My brother-in-law called to say that he could see a fire at the World Trade Center. We had lousy TV reception, so my morning was mostly spent glued to the radio, listening in horror at one unbelievable thing after another – the 2nd plane, then news that the other two planes were missing, then the towers falling, the Pentagon, the crash in Pennsylvania. The days after were surreal, too – the Sikh taxicab drivers all removing their turbans, the street hotdog and fruit vendors all very nervous, worrying about backlash against immigrants.
Cindy mentioned the flags – they were everywhere. The Metropolitan Transit Authority put flag decals on every subway car – I still choke up thinking about the subway trains roaring into the stations, and that little flag decal saying so much (in a good unifying way, then).
20 years later, it still is immediate.
Carolyn, thanks for the very interesting observations from NYC. And your closing sentence was perfect, at least for me.
Ron, your experience is a lot like mine only I was driving to school and but a block from Meridian High School (Meridian, ID) when the news on my pickup radio indicated that something was happening. I rushed to my classroom, turned on the television, and was watching a replay of the first crash when suddenly the second plane came into view. At that point it became evident that what I assumed was an accident, was intentional. My microbiology students had not arrived yet but most of them had heard of the situation so we simply spent the morning watching the news. If they had not remodeled the wing where my class was located I could take you to the exact place I was standing to watch the second plane. I retired from teaching at the end of that year, which I had planned to do anyway.
Quite a story, Keith. And I must say it’s pretty impressive to be able to offer a microbiology class in a high school.
It certainly was not a college level course, very basic. But we did work with bacteria cultures, gram staining, and worked with other micro-organisms. A great experience for the students with a heavy emphasis on lab work and skills in addition to a look at cellular biology. All of the microscope work led to my second vocation, servicing and repairing microscopes throughout the state.
I enjoyed reading through the various responses today. Thanks for using your blog to allow folks to share. It creates community.
My brothers and nephew were in El Cajon, CA packing up our mom, getting ready to move her into assisted living. One of her neighbors told us to turn on the TV. We watched in horror as things unfolded. My oldest brother, who worked in Naval intelligence, watched as the plane hit the Pentagon, killing four of his co-workers.
Marian, that’s a heart wrenching story about your brother and his co-workers.
Ron, my experience was almost identical to yours, except that I was the one who rushed into the classroom of a colleague who taught a 7 a.m. U.S. Government class. I worked very hard as a teacher, and this person didn’t. I walked in to the teacher sitting at his desk and senior students sitting around casually chatting. The TV was on, but no one was particularly paying attention. I said, “Do you realize what happened?!” I’ll never forget his answer. “Yeah, it sure ruined my lesson plan.” I knew instantly how our whole world had changed drastically. How could he miss that?! My lesson plan changed immediately, and believe me, my students “got it”!
Nanci, teachers like the one you describe are an embarrassment to our profession. Worse than that, they perform a massive disservice to their students.
Ron, you are so correct. Very sad when you dedicate your life to something that others disrespect by their actions.
I was working in Huntsville, Texas helping to process deportation paperwork for the US Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Every year Texan prison guards handed over thousands of felons from Mexico and a few hundred from other countries to our agents who sent the paroled felons back to their home countries on busses and planes. We had a lunch room with a TV, and someone yelled to watch TV. I saw tower number 1 crumbling, thinking “Wow, how could anyone accidentally hit that tower?”, and was just in time to see a plane hit tower number 2, when it dawn on me, my heart sank, my anxiety skyrocketed, “Holy Cow, it’s on purpose!” From that moment on, my employer’s priorities and organization changed completely.
“From that moment on, my employer’s priorities and organization changed completely.”
I’ll just bet!
It was United Way Day of Caring out here in Eugene OR – my sister called me from Seattle to tell me to watch the news. I was so surprised and moved to find the whole crew from Weyerhaeuser who had been scheduled to come help us build an aviary showed up – they brought a radio which we put out by the work site that we could all listen to, and we had a television on in our visitor center where we had refreshments set out. It was actually kind of healing to have a project like that for everyone to be involved with as we watched and listened to everything unfold. And, as has been said, the silence of t he skies for days afterwards was really noticeable and poignant.
At least your project kept you busy, Louise. I’d think that would help.
I remember thinking it might be one of the last times in my life when I looked up through a blue sky and didn’t see contrails.
I was getting Haley ready for school, 4th grade, and keeping Eric entertained before preschool, age 4. We did not watch TV in the morning. I did not know til the other 2 kids who walked to school with Haley came to get her and they told us. We turned on the TV and watched in confused horror. I walked with the group of kids to school that day and mostly listened to them talk about the crisis. I returned home, turned the TV on and watched as the towers collapsed.
“Confused horror” describes it, doesn’t it April. I could have used those words in my post.
I was working in at an HIV/AIDS nonprofit on Wall Street. I remember looking up at the gorgeous blue sky as I walked from the subway, and my colleagues were already watching TV in the conference room when I arrived. Before long, it was dark outside with all the debris, and they didn’t let us leave the building until around noon. Eventually a big group of us walked uptown together, and the office was closed for the rest of the week. I could smell the ashes from my apartment up on Roosevelt Island. One of the most moving moments I experienced in the following days was at the Odeon in Tribeca: when a group of firefighters from Ground Zero walked in, the whole place erupted with applause.
Cathy, I can’t even imagine what it would have been like to live in NYC when it happened. Going from a gorgeous blue sky to darkness from all the debris must have been… well, I can’t even describe it.
And thanks for telling that moving story in your last sentence.
Thanks for the very interesting post Ron. I was working in sales for a Los Angeles paper distribution company. I was going to work from home that day and after showering and breakfast etc I was on my way to my office in the front or our home in Irvine when my wife called me to come watch something on TV. I blew her off saying I was too busy and had lots of customers waiting for answers etc. She emphatically called out, “NO, you have to come see this NOW” I turned around and went to where she was watching TV and of course that was the end of the work day for me and my customers and our company. Everything just ground to a halt as we all were so caught up in the horror and shock and unbelief of what was happening in America’s largest city. And of course that changed life for all of us from that day on and maybe forever.
Thanks for sharing your memories, Everett. And for providing the inspiration for this post.
I received a frantic phone call up here in Ottawa from my brother in Buffalo asking where my husband was, and was he in NYC? We had heard nothing yet, and will always be profoundly grateful that my husband was safely ensconced in his downstairs office here at home. I think all Canadians watched the horrific events unfold with the same feelings of fear, anger, futility and profound sadness – our countries are closely linked in so many ways despite the posturings of our politicians.
Burrdoo, I have many Canadian relatives in Alberta who felt as you did. I’ve always loved the closeness our two countries have with each other and I mean far more than just geographic closeness.
I was in my high school classroom, too. I watched alone as the second plane hit. I was thankful my husband was not flying back to work on base in Virginia like he often was but I was so worried about my own children and what I could possibly say to my students to alleviate their shock and fear. Many of them were seniors who were worried about military response and whether they would be drafted. I spent a almost all of my first class period answering questions for students and letting them process..
It was also my daughter’s 20th birthday. She was devastated and no one felt much like celebrating.
Suzanne, my senior boys had a similar reaction, wondering what the military implications might mean for them down the road. The response of freshmen in comparison to the older seniors was quite different. The younger kids just didn’t understand the potential implications of it all, not that any of us did completely.
Thank you for sharing. At that time i was on vacation in California. I have 2 sisters and the youngest one and her husband had relocated to Folsom in order for him to begin an engineering project for his Chicago-based company. My other sister and I flew out to help them unpack. We flew back on September 10. Had we waited one more day we would not have been able to leave. I lived in Berwyn, IL at that time and we flew into O’Hare Airport. The next morning I was sitting in the Riverside Garage in riverside, IL waiting for an oil change on my vehicle. The first plane struck and at first everyone just thought it was a small private plane. But when the second plane struck we realized that was not the case. I went home and was glued to the TV like most people. I called my sister in California. She was not aware because her cable and internet was not yet connected. She went to a local hotel and watched what was happening on their lobby TV. I remember that the days following were filled with patriotism for this great country of ours. Everywhere you went the American flag was flying. I even drove my neighborhoods photographing every flag I saw … on houses, businesses, vehicles, etc. I think i even found one on a dog house. Somewhere I still have that little scrapbook. I often wonder where is that patriotism today? On this momentous day I wonder how many flags I will see? I also remember that when O’Hare Airport shut down, the silence in the skies above Chicago and the suburbs was deafening. All of that jet noise was so second nature to us that without it, it was very strange.
Thanks for your memories, Cindy. At least the timing was good so that you weren’t stuck in CA for who knows how long.
Yup, as a teacher in a private school I too was getting ready for class until I turned on the TV looking for a quick weather check. WOW! Since I had an hour before my next class I watched a good amount of the catastrophe and the second plane coming in and hitting the tower. I and one son in the military and I had already served in the military. I felt the attack personally! The events and loss of life were tragic.
However, although some students hadn’t heard what had happened, some had. I have to admit not much AP Biology or Environmental Science was taught that day. Yes, we also felt drained by the end of the day. It certainly is a day that will always stay in my memory bank.
Dick, then you fully understand how difficult it was to get students to focus on academics in that situation. In my classes their teacher had the same problem…
Ron, I was at work at the Health Dept. waiting for my 1st patient. The building had TVs in some of the waiting rooms & one of the staff stopped to tell me a plane had hit one of the towers in NY City. At that time it was thought to be a freak accident. (even though it was a beautiful sunny day with no clouds). When the second plane hit we started to realize that it was deliberate. And then the news came that a plane had flown into the Pentagon & for me it brought back memories of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. All day at work & then once I got home we were constantly glued to the TV. Again watching the capture of the planes crashing into the towers over & over reminded me of the Challenger & how we keep watching it blow up over & over again. All of these events shocked us that these things actually happened.
Thanks for sharing your memories, Jo Ann.
I was at work at the Civic Center in Great Falls – started at 7. One guy came in closer to 8 and said a plane had hit the Trade Center – initially figured it was a little plane like the Empire State Bldg. many years before – became clear it wasn’t. No TV available and net was iffy – IT banned everyone from it later in the morning. A big WOW! and WTF! initially then being totally horrified at the loss of life. VERY non-productive day at work and glad to get home which was (more or less) with Joe at the time….. 😉
“VERY non-productive day at work and glad to get home”
That pretty much sums it up for me too, Judy – especially the glad to get home part.