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#1297 | Sunday, May 19th, 2002
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I was in my apartment in DC. It wasn't really mine, just rented to me by the people I was interning with at a journalism center. We didn't have a tv, just a radio, so I first heard what happened when my friends mother called. He was squatting at the residence with me. We grabbed a bike and a skateboard and went over to the bar I spent the summer, almost every night at. We watched the tv there and spent the rest of the day hovering about the capital taking things in. The last thing I did was go see a house we were thinking of renting. Our careers in journalism begans only days afterwards. I remember trying to call home in NY and not getting through, finally settling for an okay message to family through email. I remember feeling alive.
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Brandon | 23 | District of Columbia
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#1298 | Sunday, May 19th, 2002
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I was at home on leave because I was pregnant with my son (born 12/16/01). My husband was sleeping; he was on 2nd shift.
I woke up that morning and opened my MSIE (we have cable modem), and my Yahoo page popped up. Plane crashes into WTC. Okay, I thought, who's been drinking? This must have been before 9 am, because the second plane had not yet hit.
I went back to bed, and when I got up again a little later, I went to the he-man.org message board that I post on (avid He-Man/She-Ra fan here), and there were these messages urging others to turn it on CNN or any other channel.
What I saw when I turned on the TV was totally unbelievable. I was just shocked. By then the Pentagon had been attacked and the towers were collapsing. I wasn't so much scared as seriously ticked off (to put it mildly) that someone would do such a thing to innocent people. And thoughts went to my then-unborn child; I wondered what kind of world he would grow up in--obviously different than the one I grew up in.
I got on AIM and let my international friends know that I was okay; I live in Ohio, about a thousand miles from ground zero. I talked with my mother, who still resides in my home state of Michigan; she told me that the Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit had been evacuated. A friend in Virginia told me her city was pretty much in a police state. It was like everything shut down just like that. I think my mother also was on the phone with some Australian friends, letting them know we were all okay.
It's sad and a bit frightening to know that my family are targets for the simple reason that we live in America. How dare they. I don't know what god they worship, but I am a Christian and I know fully well God doesn't approve of this kind of nonsense.
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Alexandra | 29 | Ohio
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#1299 | Monday, May 20th, 2002
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I am a university student, and when the first plane hit I was working in a factory trying to save up some summer cash. My first thoughts were my god thats awful, but then I arried on working. Then I kept hearing bits about another plane, but nobody was really sure what was happening. I went over to the radio during break to hear more, and it confirmed that two planes had hit the WTC. My dad was working in the same place and my first words to him was, 'this is an act of war'.
When I got home and put on the tv the realisation of what happened hit me. the Pentagon had been hit and the fourth plane Flight 93, had crashed in a field. It was a good hour and a bit since I had heard the news in work and had gotten home. Then the towers collapsed. I didn't realise people would still be in there, I thought they would have had everyone out, but I didn't realise how many people were in there.
It truly is the worst thing to evr happen. I'm Glad Bush declared war on terror. The people who did this deserve their comeupance. Seeing it now still makes me cry, I can only imagine what you American feel. It affected me badly, and Im all the way in Wales. I remember that people were stuck over here trying to get home, and the hotels put their prices up, so members of the public were offering rooms to them for free.
The only good thing to come from this is the way that people have come together.
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Becci | 21 | United Kingdom
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#1300 | Monday, May 20th, 2002
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I remember walking into highschool thinking.."My best friend got the first parking space! She's lucky!" 2nd period rolled around, I was sitting next to my enemy. I remember a home-ec teacher walking into my classroom looking upset, and while the students were quietly working, she pulled my teacher into an office and they spoke for a few minutes. My teacher came back into the classroom looking sad also, and I knew something had happened. I thought maybe something happened to another teacher, or a student or something like that. That idea of mine was later backed up when the principal came on the loudspeaker to the whole school and told us that when the bell was to ring in 3 minutes, to stay in our classrooms, not to go to 3rd period. That's when I KNEW something was wrong. Someone must have gotten hurt or something. About 10 minutes later the principal came back on the loudspeaker, and I will forever remember the words she said to all 1000 students..."I have just been informed by the school district publicist that also works for the newspaper, that two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center." just typing that gives me the chills and brings tears to my eyes. Especially living only 15 minutes away from New York City, I immediately thought of every students families. Then I thought of my own. My dad frequently went into NYC for business. I called my mom, she said he was okay, but that the Pentagon had also been attacked. People were being picked up at school by parents and other family members, just if they wanted to go home. In English class my teacher took us to the upper library along with 30 other teachers. There were hundreds of us in there, not moving our heads from the small tv. I waited until 11:30, and decided that I couldn't be in school anymore. I just needed to be home with my mom and actually watch tv. I didn't go to school the next day, and I still can't believe that something like this could have ever happened. I was only 17 years old, and I doubt I can ever feel a pain and sadness like that in my entire life again. Every single person I know had lost someone they know in the World Trade Center, it's still too much to take in.
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Paige | 18 | New Jersey
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#1301 | Monday, May 20th, 2002
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Shanes Oral History
Q:What is your name?
A:Vernon Sato.
Q:How old were you when you heard about the Persian Gulf War?
A:I was just about 30 years old.
Q:How did you first hear about the invasion?
A:I was watching the news and then I saw it.
Q:Where were you when this happened?
A:I was at home.
Q:Describe how you felt?
A:I guess I was a little mad at Iraq for what they did.
Q:How did this effect you and your family?
A:It didn't really effect our family just that we started stocking up on food.
Q:How did you feel towards Iraq?
A:I felt sorry for them because I they were going to get their butts kicked in war.
"THANKS DAD FOR YOUR HELP!"
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Shane | 15 | Hawaii
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