I remember being woken up and going into my pre-primary school routine more annoyed that Cheez TV had been interrupted
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
Where were you when you heard about the 9/11 attacks?
- Thread starter Uzumaki Goku
- Start date
I remember being woken up and going into my pre-primary school routine more annoyed that Cheez TV had been interrupted
i was four years old. no memory. never asked my parents where they were, i have no basis in memory for a "reaction" to 9/11.
i feel like the "where were you on 9/11" narrative kind of sucks honestly. like yeah it was a tragedy and i dont dare downplay it but there have been so many before and since that the only really defining moment of 9/11 was the inescapability of it, which turned out to traumatize a whole nation. the media used it to justify a racist and imperialist war and since then the only modern day angle is still the reaction. the critical lens is not even really allowed to approach it, the follow-up never really explored.
its really disconcerting to still see this kind of thing 20 years later- as if we still didn't move on, even after we've generally acknowledged the war on terror was a bad and pointless thing and after we killed the guy we said was behind it. as an outsider looking in it feels so strange that after 20 years we're still reacting, still never forgetting. for what? nothing that came out of this was really positive- nothing we did was justified or made us a better nation. its as american as it gets, i guess.
i feel like the "where were you on 9/11" narrative kind of sucks honestly. like yeah it was a tragedy and i dont dare downplay it but there have been so many before and since that the only really defining moment of 9/11 was the inescapability of it, which turned out to traumatize a whole nation. the media used it to justify a racist and imperialist war and since then the only modern day angle is still the reaction. the critical lens is not even really allowed to approach it, the follow-up never really explored.
its really disconcerting to still see this kind of thing 20 years later- as if we still didn't move on, even after we've generally acknowledged the war on terror was a bad and pointless thing and after we killed the guy we said was behind it. as an outsider looking in it feels so strange that after 20 years we're still reacting, still never forgetting. for what? nothing that came out of this was really positive- nothing we did was justified or made us a better nation. its as american as it gets, i guess.
At home, sick from school. I had the tv on with NBC's Today Show on in the background where they delivered breaking news, not really aware of what happened. I remember thinking it must have been an accident and was about to call my mom to let her know there was a fire at the WTC. Then as they were live, you see the second plane collide in the building. I was frozen in shock and it took me a few minutes to eventually make that call, because I couldn't comprehend what was happening. It almost didn't feel real at the time, or like a terrible joke.
I was 13 and in 7th grade, walking in between classes. I passed by my best fiend in the hall and he said "Hey did you hear that a plane crashed into the World Trade Center"? My first thought was "The heck is the World Trade Center?". I legitimately had never heard of them before.
Within maybe 15 minutes of that conversation, the entire school knew. I was in my science class and, thankfully, my teacher didn't wheel in a TV and have us all watch it unfold. I think that would have been pretty scarring for a lot of US, though I know many teachers did. A lot of kids saw the second plane hit live, I'm glad I didn't.
For the rest of the day my teachers tried to teach class like nothing had happened in an effort to keep our minds off of it. I didn't actually see footage of the attack until I got home and turned on the TV.
Within maybe 15 minutes of that conversation, the entire school knew. I was in my science class and, thankfully, my teacher didn't wheel in a TV and have us all watch it unfold. I think that would have been pretty scarring for a lot of US, though I know many teachers did. A lot of kids saw the second plane hit live, I'm glad I didn't.
For the rest of the day my teachers tried to teach class like nothing had happened in an effort to keep our minds off of it. I didn't actually see footage of the attack until I got home and turned on the TV.
I was doing my military service (conscript, not american). I remember me and other soldiers were pretty salty because we weren't getting a day off (I don't remember why) when the commander of the artillery group came to us and told us they would make an exception and give us a day off "because there was a big attack in America".
In hindsight that made no sense but the chilean military I know is pretty paranoid so I imagine they thought WW3 was coming so better to have days off while we can (also of course my boomer/brainwashed-ass commander believed communists were involved somehow haha).
I remember spending the rest of the day watching news and translating the news in english we were seeing to other soldiers.
In hindsight that made no sense but the chilean military I know is pretty paranoid so I imagine they thought WW3 was coming so better to have days off while we can (also of course my boomer/brainwashed-ass commander believed communists were involved somehow haha).
I remember spending the rest of the day watching news and translating the news in english we were seeing to other soldiers.
Last edited:
I was home on leave from the Navy getting ready to be discharged on September 14th. I drove back to Norfolk to make sure I was no longer needed.
Ironically, I used to read the chatter on intelligence reports almost every day up until that day since this was after the USS Cole attack and we were always on heighten alert.
Ironically, I used to read the chatter on intelligence reports almost every day up until that day since this was after the USS Cole attack and we were always on heighten alert.
Senior year in college. Had slept through my morning class, heard my suitemate talking to someone on the phone and turned on the tv just in time to see the second tower fall. At the time I assumed some accident had happened and the building had been long evacuated.
I was getting ready for work. Stopped to watch the coverage for a while until I realized how late I was. First tower collapsed as I was driving in. Spent most of the day at work reloading Slashdot since that was one of the few sites that could handle the load.
I was living at my parents' house at the time, and I woke up at about 6:30AM Pacific to get ready to go to work, about half an hour after the second plane hit, but before the towers fell. By the time I got to work, both towers had fallen, and everyone in my office just spent all day watching the news coverage.
I was in a high school math class don't really remember the grade. It's weird I remember being pretty apathetic about it. Felt the same way when the Oklahoma city bombing happened when i was in elementary school.
In high school, 11th grade. Sitting in the cafeteria with friends with first period off, one guy is listening to the radio on his discman, tells us about the first tower getting hit. Walk to a friends' house nearby and watch everything unfold on tv, including the 2nd tower getting hit, and both towers falling. It was surreal and horrifying, the darkest day I can think of. Still tear up no matter what when I think about it.
I was living in Brooklyn at the time. Me and my ex were supposed to take the train to Chinatown that day to talk with an herbalist. I had gotten up 8:15am or so, to get ready to head out by 11:00a.m.
I don't remember if I was watching TV and my sister called, or if I put on the the TV after she called, but she worked in Manhattan.
I was watching it all unfold on TV. Though you could see smoke in the distance from outside our apartment.
I don't remember if I was watching TV and my sister called, or if I put on the the TV after she called, but she worked in Manhattan.
I was watching it all unfold on TV. Though you could see smoke in the distance from outside our apartment.
I was in school, 4th grade, in Bushwick. Saw the first plane hit, teacher had no idea what to do. Saw the second one. School panicked, called parents all day to get their kids.
My cats were at our kitchen window for hours growling. It's kind of become like my marker to remember things from so far back.
Had a half day, came home at lunch and switched on the TV. It had been left on the news since the morning, so when I turned it on I saw it straight away. Thought it was a horrific accident, and went off to do something else with the tv on in the background, and it just sort of permeated over time that it wasn't an accident.
At band practice after school in my hometown in rural Sweden. We're 6 hours ahead of New York so it was early evening. I was 14. I don't remember what they told us but I knew it was serious, world changing news even with the US being so far away. Me and my parents watched CNN and Sky News on the newly installed satellite TV all night. The day after, I was pissed at some kids at school who joked around and didn't get how big of a deal it was.
5th grade, I had just turned 11 the day before. Obviously we all knew something was seriously wrong because teachers and staff were rushing around, whispering, crying. Kids were randomly being pulled out of class.
They didn't let any teachers explain until after lunch, so probably around 12 was when we learned. I got pulled out shortly after, once my mom was able to get home from her office in Boston.
They didn't let any teachers explain until after lunch, so probably around 12 was when we learned. I got pulled out shortly after, once my mom was able to get home from her office in Boston.
Very vivid memory for me. Had just finished school for the day and was about to be picked up by my mum along with my brother. In the car on the way home, she said something has hit the twin towers in America. Didn't really hit me until we got home and my dad was watching it on the TV.
Still seems surreal to this day, can't watch the people jumping out of the towers :(
Still seems surreal to this day, can't watch the people jumping out of the towers :(
My phone was ringing off the hook despite living in CA. When I finally answered it was my girlfriend. She was in a panic and tried to explain. She described it as a bomb because it was early on before she saw footage. I basically said "yea that shit has happened before" and hung up to get a few more hours of sleep before school. I didn't have cable and didn't even get local channels so I had no idea what was happening.
I didn't realize the gravity until I was on the school bus. Kids were crying. The bus driver kept telling us it would be ok. It was unusually quiet. One of my closest friends was Pakistani and she was frightened of what comments her dark skin would invite. She wasn't wrong. Seconds off the bus one of her friends said "your people did this" and she ran to the office and stayed there.
It was a school for people who were booted from regular HS, and I went to a special part of the school, with 18 kids total spread across two classrooms, for kids with mental, physical, and learning disabilities. When we got there, we were all put in one class with the desks removed and all chairs in a circle. We talked for 5 hours with no instructions. They let us vent until two kids started getting racist, and they took them outside.
All I can say is it was wild and emotional. I mostly sat and listened. There was a black girl in our class we all called Queen Teema, and she went from class clown to the voice of reason like a light switch. She was not playing on the racism shit, she was 15-16 and every time somebody brought up race she's shot back, often repeating "this shit has nothing to do with race. Stop bringing up race. They do not hate us because of our races, do not hate them for theirs."
When one of the kids who was saying racist stuff came back in the room he said he was joining the army and started talking shit again. Not to defend him in any way, but he had severe mental disabilities, but I had many good talks with him, and he was a good listener. He was afraid of Teema and she went off on him. He eventually started crying and said "I'm just scared" and started talking about his mom and how lost he would be if something happened to her. We all gathered and hugged him.
They delivered lunch to everyone that day and kept us in class, afraid that fights might break out. It was somber. I was emotional all day but I didn't cry until I got home and my girlfriend came over (she went to a different school). I sobbed and told her I was scared, and apologized for my initial reaction. I don't remember much else from the later part of that day. My pops was a single father living off a construction job in the Bay Area and happened to be working at the airport. He was concerned but couldn't give much thought to it so it was hard to talk to him about what I was feeling.
I didn't realize the gravity until I was on the school bus. Kids were crying. The bus driver kept telling us it would be ok. It was unusually quiet. One of my closest friends was Pakistani and she was frightened of what comments her dark skin would invite. She wasn't wrong. Seconds off the bus one of her friends said "your people did this" and she ran to the office and stayed there.
It was a school for people who were booted from regular HS, and I went to a special part of the school, with 18 kids total spread across two classrooms, for kids with mental, physical, and learning disabilities. When we got there, we were all put in one class with the desks removed and all chairs in a circle. We talked for 5 hours with no instructions. They let us vent until two kids started getting racist, and they took them outside.
All I can say is it was wild and emotional. I mostly sat and listened. There was a black girl in our class we all called Queen Teema, and she went from class clown to the voice of reason like a light switch. She was not playing on the racism shit, she was 15-16 and every time somebody brought up race she's shot back, often repeating "this shit has nothing to do with race. Stop bringing up race. They do not hate us because of our races, do not hate them for theirs."
When one of the kids who was saying racist stuff came back in the room he said he was joining the army and started talking shit again. Not to defend him in any way, but he had severe mental disabilities, but I had many good talks with him, and he was a good listener. He was afraid of Teema and she went off on him. He eventually started crying and said "I'm just scared" and started talking about his mom and how lost he would be if something happened to her. We all gathered and hugged him.
They delivered lunch to everyone that day and kept us in class, afraid that fights might break out. It was somber. I was emotional all day but I didn't cry until I got home and my girlfriend came over (she went to a different school). I sobbed and told her I was scared, and apologized for my initial reaction. I don't remember much else from the later part of that day. My pops was a single father living off a construction job in the Bay Area and happened to be working at the airport. He was concerned but couldn't give much thought to it so it was hard to talk to him about what I was feeling.
First plane hit as I was walking from my car to the office. Radio was talking about whatever when I left my car and by the time I sat down, the news broke.
9th grade geometry class. Another kid in my class, his dad worked in one of the towers so they pulled him out of class and then the TV was turned on…
7th grade Language Arts class. Principal got on the intercom and told us what happened. Got on mulitple times after the first tower was hit with updates (Tower falling, second tower hit, etc).
Very surreal day. Kept us in school, no outdoor recess but parents were permitted to pick up their kids if they wanted to. Kids that had parents or relatives working in either tower were called to the office.
Very surreal day. Kept us in school, no outdoor recess but parents were permitted to pick up their kids if they wanted to. Kids that had parents or relatives working in either tower were called to the office.
Last edited:
I was a kid in school and my dad picked me up early. Had no idea why plus I wasn't living in the US at the time. Kinda crazy to find about it when we moved to the states a few years later. Always wanted to visit the towers since I saw them in old movies, I was in for a rude awakening.
Went into work to start my shift. Just before that I went into the shop next door to pick up some lunch, and heard the radio mention something about a plane hitting the towers. I wasn't paying a ton of attention, and thought it was a radio play at first. It became apparent it wasn't that, and told my co-workers in the video store. We didn't have a radio ourselves, and the TV's instore had no external ariel, so we got a hold of an indoor ariel that got us just enough of a TV signal to see the news for a while and get more of the story.
Didn't feel real. When I got home after my shift I caught up with the days events properly, just awful to see the footage and hear the stories emerging of people calling their families to say goodbye. Heartbreaking.
Didn't feel real. When I got home after my shift I caught up with the days events properly, just awful to see the footage and hear the stories emerging of people calling their families to say goodbye. Heartbreaking.
Was in high school I forgot which class. Watched it on a tv they had rolled into the room. All I could think about was were they gonna hit more places (I live near the space center) and people were starting to freak out. Lots of kids went home early but I just sat in the library for a few hours watching the tv in there until my mom got off early to pick me up.
Was on my way to elementary school. Parents were going to drop my brother and I off at the cafeteria entrance when we saw the lunch lady at the door turning everyone away. We went back home, turned on the tv, and found out what happened.
I worked with my Aunt, who lived in CT, but owned and operated her business out of Detroit (where the rest of her family still lives) so she would fly back and forth all the time. Loved the city of New York, spent a lot of time down there shopping and what-not. We started work at 9 AM and my Aunt had a small, 13" TV with rabbit ears (remember this is '01) that she would listen to the Today Show or what have you while she was working.
When I got there, the TV was on and she was standing at the front of her desk which was odd. I asked her what was wrong and that's when she pointed to the TV and they were covering what was at the time only one plane hitting the WTC. They still thought it was a small aircraft, they didn't even know it was a 747 yet.
Anyway, nobody had to do any work that day we all just sat in her office with her watching the TV (there was about 15 of us, total). We all seen the second plane hit the south tower on live television. I'll never forget the collective gasp as we all realized what we were watching as the second plane flew into the tower. I remember trying to call people with my super cool cell phone and I couldn't get a hold of anybody.
Such a surreal day.
When I got there, the TV was on and she was standing at the front of her desk which was odd. I asked her what was wrong and that's when she pointed to the TV and they were covering what was at the time only one plane hitting the WTC. They still thought it was a small aircraft, they didn't even know it was a 747 yet.
Anyway, nobody had to do any work that day we all just sat in her office with her watching the TV (there was about 15 of us, total). We all seen the second plane hit the south tower on live television. I'll never forget the collective gasp as we all realized what we were watching as the second plane flew into the tower. I remember trying to call people with my super cool cell phone and I couldn't get a hold of anybody.
Such a surreal day.
![malick[ai]](/data/avatar/31510536872/32462-m.jpg){kind=avatar}
I was in 5th grade getting ready for school I will never forget watching the second plane go into the second tower live watching the today show. I went to school and my teacher was crying because a family member worked in the world trade center.
I was in middle school, I'm not sure the class. Someone told us a plane crashed into the World Trade Center. I'd been to the Statue of Liberty the previous summer and my dad had pointed it out but… I hadn't been paying attention and thought it was some domed building and didn't quite get what was happening or why it was a big deal. I feel like I watched a lot of it on the news and it was talked about in class but not as much as in other classes in the school, who all seemed to have actually been spoken to by the teachers about what had happened. I feel like shortly thereafter there were a lot of uneasy jokes about planes flying overhead and anthrax.
Canada starts its school year on the first week of September so I was in my second week on my last year of elementary school that day. My teacher pulled our class aside after recess to calmly tell us what happened. One student was crying. I'm pretty sure they sent us home because why wouldn't they? Our home had the TV on the 24 coverage just like everyone else did. Just a blur of nonstop coverage for the next couple of days. I don't remember if we went back to school the next day.
I was too young to process what happened but the aftermath of the attacks were pretty clear as I got older.
I was too young to process what happened but the aftermath of the attacks were pretty clear as I got older.
Knowing where you were when you found out about something this huge has nothing to do with whether or not you agree with the politics of using said event for war.
This was a seminal event in history. Like JFK assassination, the moon landing, pearl harbor, just to name a few.
Like imagine having cable and flipping through your channels and it's the same on every channel. The only difference is if that channel was carrying CNN, msnbc, ABC or fox. I can't think of another event in my lifetime that that has happened.
I was in 4th grade. I was getting ready to go to school when I saw it on TV and everyone was talking about it. They had us write letters or something to the affected families of victims or something like that. I remember mine being a bit insensitive to the matter and not getting picked. I also remember not thinking it was that big a deal at the time. But later on I knew it was important after all.
The morning of at college. It was like two days before classes started and it was my first year. We had a party the night before celebrating the start of college. Woke up and walked into my roommate's suite to them watching TV, but seeing the same thing on every channel. Didn't even know it was the news and then the second plane hit. That was a wild say because our college was right next to an active military base and everything shut down after that.
Quite a way to start my freshman year of college.
Quite a way to start my freshman year of college.
Elementary school, 3rd grade, 8 years old.
We got the news in the middle of class and the teacher turned the TV on to the local news station.
The only emotion I can remember is heavy anxiety.
We got the news in the middle of class and the teacher turned the TV on to the local news station.
The only emotion I can remember is heavy anxiety.
On the news as I was eating my cereal before school. Then during first period world geography we watched the news the entire class. Saw second plane hit live. It's a surreal memory. Even at that age, everyone in the class understood that the country would never be the same.
I had just started my freshman year of college and walked into my history class. I thought everyone was discussing some scene from an action movie, and not until they turned on a TV did it really sink in.
Was my second week of high school. Was in gym class when our principal announced the first plane hit and then the second plane hit. He kept us updated throughout the day. Didn't realize the ramifications of it until I got home though as my my mother had the TV on CNN.
At age 13, I can't remember if school was off that day or I left immediately after. I was at home either way and was trying to watch the usual cartoons, but then the news was on almost every channel. "Something" was happening with the towers and I had no idea what happened.
It soon sank in that something really bad was going on in my birth state.
I had to call my dad a little after. He was working at the UN, so he wasn't anywhere near the WTC, but I had to make sure he was all right.
It was still upsetting and was wondering how the hell this happened until my family saw more of the coverage. I didn't even see the towers fall until they replayed it.
It was definitely upsetting.
It soon sank in that something really bad was going on in my birth state.
I had to call my dad a little after. He was working at the UN, so he wasn't anywhere near the WTC, but I had to make sure he was all right.
It was still upsetting and was wondering how the hell this happened until my family saw more of the coverage. I didn't even see the towers fall until they replayed it.
It was definitely upsetting.
Last edited:
Doing IT work in an automobile plant. They sent everybody home early and they never did that. It was just too messed up, nobody could concentrate
Where I live, the news was literally on every channel. Because the major local stations broadcast from the WTC, the other random channels like PAX (mostly christian fare) were rebroadcasting the news
English class. I want to say it was 10th grade?
We were in the middle of the lesson for the day when one of our principals walked in and said something to the teacher. You could tell something absolutely major was happening given the expressions on his face and the one that fell on her face as she was being told.
It was the oddest thing. We weren't immediately told but you could just feel this sense of dread.
The teacher did not turn on the TV but she told us that something was happening in New York. I don't think I saw any actual footage or found out the full scope of what was going on until maybe a class period later when I got to Physics. The teacher there had the news up on the TV. They were showing replays, live coverage, talking about the Pentagon, and the plane crash outside of Pittsburgh (which was pretty damn local to us at the time).
It was also in his class (or another that I had with him since he taught a few different courses) where I saw a lot of the live coverage of this fucking "War on Terror" that's has gone on for two decades.
We were in the middle of the lesson for the day when one of our principals walked in and said something to the teacher. You could tell something absolutely major was happening given the expressions on his face and the one that fell on her face as she was being told.
It was the oddest thing. We weren't immediately told but you could just feel this sense of dread.
The teacher did not turn on the TV but she told us that something was happening in New York. I don't think I saw any actual footage or found out the full scope of what was going on until maybe a class period later when I got to Physics. The teacher there had the news up on the TV. They were showing replays, live coverage, talking about the Pentagon, and the plane crash outside of Pittsburgh (which was pretty damn local to us at the time).
It was also in his class (or another that I had with him since he taught a few different courses) where I saw a lot of the live coverage of this fucking "War on Terror" that's has gone on for two decades.