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Ten years ago today, I was a senior in high school. It was a B day, meaning I attended my fifth- through eighth-period classes. School started at 7:30 a.m., so I usually got up around 6:15 or 6:30. At some point that morning I turned on my radio as I was getting ready — probably around 7:05 or 7:10. I was listening to the Radio From Hell morning show on X96, and the hosts were saying something about a plane crash in New York City. At the time, reports were coming in that the first tower had been hit by a small, private plane — possibly on accident. This was 2001, when news was not readily available the second it happened. No one had smart phones to instantly post photos or status updates. Now that I work in the news industry, I'm sure either the radio hosts or their producer were seeing the radio-only Associated Press news reports come across the wire. At the time, they were probably one sentence long and contained very little information. TV stations only began reporting that the planes were hijacked after 7:15 a.m. my time. Before that, there was just massive confusion. As I drove to school, the same hosts said something about areas of New York being evacuated. I remember listening half-heartedly, not thinking anything too crazy would come of this.
My fifth-period class from 7:30 to 9 a.m. was AP calculus. So, by the time I sat down in class, it was 9:30 a.m. in New York. Five minutes before, the Associated Press had first used the phrase "act of terrorism," and at that very minute President Bush was telling the students and teachers at the elementary school he was visiting that there had been a "national tragedy." The two planes that crashed into the Pentagon and the field in Pennsylvania were still in the air, which is chilling to think about now.
About 30 minutes into my calculus class, the school principal got on the intercom system and, in vague terms, told us something had happened. It's odd now that I don't remember a single thing he said. But I think he told us to go back to our classwork. I remember my teacher having a discussion with members of the class of whether to pull the TV out of her office and turn it on for us to watch. I don't remember if she did.
Sixth period was seminary, which is also a blur. I think my teacher had been watching the news, and he was able to relay a bit more information to us. By 9 a.m. in Utah, when that class started, both towers had collapsed, all four planes had crashed, New York and Washington, D.C., had begun to be evacuated and there was overall fear that more hijacked planes were still in the air.
Seventh period was foods. Meant to satisfy a stupid vocational credit, the class was mostly worthless. Our teacher was old and grouchy. We asked her if we could watch the news instead of doing normal class work, and she said no, summing up that the events on the East Coast "were probably just another bombing." I can only assume — and hope — that she hadn't heard much about it and possibly thought it was an event in the Middle East.
We left after that. Amanda, Chelane and I drove to my house, where my mom was home. We turned on the TV, hoping to catch 20 minutes of coverage before we had to head back to school for our AP calculus lab. We never went back. I don't think any of us got notes to excuse us or anything, and on that day, I don't think the school cared. We sat in my family room watching ABC, NBC and CBS for the next few hours.
That's all I remember. Is that weird? I don't remember any specific feeling of fear, anger, panic or, actually, any emotional whatsoever other than curiosity. I wasn't surprised that someone had attacked America because I'd never taken the time to think that someone actually would. Maybe it took some time for the magnitude of the situation to set in. Maybe it did only gradually. I don't know.
4 comments:
I forgot that I had so many classes with you! My second class of the day was Concert Choir, where Mr. H was understanding enough to pull out a TV and allow us to watch. The second he turned on the TV we saw the shocking, live image of the second tower falling. That moment in time will never leave my memory.
The beginning of the day also has stayed with me. Em picked me up and we listened to Radio From Hell on the way to school. All I can remember is them making fun of the "idiot who crashed his plane into a giant building." I even remember laughing about it since there was so little information. It's crazy to think how the day unfolded..
I first heard about everything from Penny when we met up at our locker before school started. The news didn't really sink in at that point. My first class was AP Psychology and everyone was glued to the television until Ms. Jordan made us turn it off at the principal's request to "resume school as usual." The TV was turned off, but I'm pretty sure no work was accomplished that day. I remember calling my mom at work, asking her what all this meant and her reply stuck with me, "This is huge - bigger than Pearl Harbor."
Two weeks later we were in New York City for the Dance Company trip and dust was still in the air. It was unreal.
I love your last paragraph, because that was how I felt too. I realized it was a big deal, but I wasn't scared or angry or anything at the time. I mostly just couldn't get enough information.
Your day went a lot like mine. I was going to write something about it Sunday as well and then didn't. I still want to though, so maybe I will.
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