#1548 | Thursday, August 15th, 2002
I was in school. I was at the computer in the library when a boy in my class ran in and said, "Come to the Media Lab, a plane has just crashed into the World Trade Center!" We all ran to the Media Lab. We watched on TV and various people (mostly boys, surprisingly enough) started crying. The drama teacher said, "We're at war," and a young science teacher began murmuring that her husband was on that flight. We stood and watched for a long time. Then we were all herded into the theatre where they were broadcasting CNN. Then another boy from my class ran in and said "High School can go," so I got out of there. Luckily I lived five minutes away. The people who lived in Brooklyn and Queens couldn't get home 'cause the bridges were closed. I walked home and only started crying in the elevator. When I walked into my flat my dad looked very relieved. He told me to stay home for the rest of the day. Cell phones weren't working. I called my friend in Boston and cried, and then everybody I knew in New York. Then, there was nothing left to do but homework. So that's what I did.
Masha | 17 | New York

#1549 | Thursday, August 15th, 2002
I'd been up at a quarry all day working on my geog coursework with the rest of the class then I went to my after school activity and my dad picked me up at about 5:30 it wasn't till i got home at 5:40 that I found out that the two towers had been hit by planes and had collapsed - I spent the rest of the evening watching the news
deb | 16 | United Kingdom

#1550 | Thursday, August 15th, 2002
I was at school. We watched it on TV. I felt little or nothing as I watched, and cannot muster much feeling about it now. Everyday, millions of people whom I don't know die, many by violence. I don't believe that any life is more valuable than the next, so why should two buildings full of people I don't know dying affect me any more than the deaths of anyone else? If I was going to be affected by everyone's death, then I would be mighty affected all the time. American lives are not worth more than the lives of any others. How many people have we killed since September 11? A whole bunch, and not all of them could have been terrorists. This site's attempt to romanticize what were the results of a drab socio-economic reality is as depressing as are the displays of "patriotism" since the attack. Go Team, Whoop them Muslims.
Jace | 16 | South Carolina

#1551 | Thursday, August 15th, 2002
On September 11th I was in my Computer class (1st period) Senior year High School, when my teacher had told us the horrible news. :(
Marissa | 17 | California

#1552 | Thursday, August 15th, 2002
I was in my third period art class, on the second day of school. When our teacher walked in 15 minutes late, we jokingly scolded her for being late to class and asked if we could put the radio on. She just stood there in shock for a moment and she asked us to sit down. She said "Girls, something terrible has happened to our nation that I need to tell you about." We all sat in silence, wondering what could have happened. The first thought that jumped into my mind was that the President had been assassinated ... what other terrible thing could have happened to out nation?

Before she began to tell us the news, she looked at one of my classmates and assured her that my her mother was safe and that she "got out." At that point, many of us started to worry. We knew it was something in New York or New Jersey if our own parents were in danger. She began very calmly, telling us that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. After talking a deep breath, she added that a second plane had crashed into the other tower. Someone immediately asked if it was terrorism. She gave them a quick look, almost as if she was putting them on hold because she had more to tell us. My teacher then told us that the Pentagon has been hit and that one of the towers has collapsed. We sat there in silence and disbelief at what we had just been told. At this time, any student with a family member working at the trade center was asked to go to the office. I watched 3 of my classmates file down to the office with absolute fear and terror in their eyes. They returned only moments later, nervously informing us that the phone systems were out and that no calls could be made into New York. One girl did get through, but she was placed on the company's hold line. Instead of the usual music, she heard news of the ensuing events. When she returned to out classroom, she told us that reporters were saying that there was ash raining down on the City... I immediately thought of the movie, "Schindler's List," when the ashes from concentration camp ovens would snow down in Germany.

Secretly ignoring our principal's orders, my teacher turned on the radio and allowed us to listen. She also turned on a television and took it with her to the back corner of the room, but did not let us see because they were worried that panic would set it. She read us each message that scrolled at the bottom of the TV and then let out a panicked sigh as she watched the second tower collapse in a replay. Worried about her own sister working in Manhattan, my teacher just stood in front of the television, in some sort of transfixed daze. The rest of us sat quietly in our chairs, listening to the radio and comforting those who worried about their loved ones. We had been told that all planes were grounded, yet we heard the loud sound of an aircraft above us. This, we would later learn, was one of many military jets circling above us.
When third period finally ended, there was a mass of confusion in the halls. Half of the students were crying and panicking, and half of the students were puzzled and unaware of the magnitude of what had happened. During lunch, I slipped up to the computer lab so that I could find out the complete news. News websites, however, were overwhelmed and it was difficult to learn much of anything. I finally gave up on the administration and their rules and slipped off to the bathroom with my cell phone. After trying for nearly ten minutes, I finally got through to my parents, who were watching the events unfold across the river. I told my parents that I loved them, wiped away my tears, and gathered with my friends again as we prayed that we might get to see another day; because at that moment in time, nothing was certain and any fate was possible.
TS | 18 | New Jersey

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