World Trade Center

[applcin]

Giuliani was a mixed bag up til then, I think. There was stuff he did ya hated and other stuff he did was great. I think he brought back a certain amount of pride and resurgence to the city (we had Koch and Dinkins before then and they didn't seem to do the trick)--he was aggressive against organized crime, he cleaned up Times Square (so long, lowlifes) and made it a great place to go again. Probably one thing his supporters and detractors can agree on is that the man doesn't lack cajones. Actually, that reminds me of how fortuitous it was for us NYers that he was still mayor on 9/11. Remember, he was running for Senator against Hilary but got sidelined by prostate cancer. It still amazes me today, after seeing the immediate responses of local and national leaders during 9/11 (namely, Rudy's immediate take-chargeness vs. Bush's "hiding"), that government has apparently learned nothing of how and when to respond to mass devastation. There was no excuse for the poor reaction to Katrina given what should have been learned from 9/11, to say nothing of other disasters. I remember Giuliani in interviews shortly after 9/11 talking about the various ways his administration did drills and such just in case such a massive disaster occurred. They had a plan. I'm not sure the federal government has one, or if the one they have was outlined on a cocktail napkin. Hey, at least if Rudy becomes President, I don't think he'd try to stiff NYC out of anti-terrorism security funding! And, during the aftermath, and what was required of that, he took the time and effort to attend as many firefighter and cop funerals as he could...and even stood in as "father of the bride" at a wedding. I mean, he knew what needed to be done and what we had to see him doing, and the fact that he needed to update us every so often on what was going on. Just the absence of that after a disaster is appalling at this stage and simply shouldn't be.

I was at work, too, when I found out what was going on. We did think at first that some commercial airliner had accidentally crashed into the tower. When the antennas went down, anybody that didn't have cable tv hookup or a radio or internet access was out of luck (the "regular" rabbit ears tv offered nothing but static...and, hey, you know those "Emergency Broadcast" alarm beeps they always do for a minute to test the system....what happened to that, anyway, lol??? If ever there had been a time to use it....). And the more news we heard, the other planes, the towers falling...it felt like we were waiting to be bombed or finished off somehow. The news saturation was a double-edged sword. We needed to know what was going on but, at the same time, it was indeed traumatizing. Between the constant replay of images, the talking heads and lack of alternatives, it was as damaging as it was necessary. Honestly, I don't know how "average" people who live in countries where mass violence is a daily way of life do it. Two months after 9/11, a commercial plane did crash into a Queens neighborhood, killing over 250 people, and that kind of set us on edge all over again until it was determined to have been an accident.

I agree, Rugrat. It's good to remember and share with others. Painful but it helps.

I hear ya, Rug. I don't care for the subway and I'm glad I don't have to take it on a daily basis..not so much for the subway itself but the overcrowding and the crazies. I think I'd handle myself better stuck in a train in a tunnel than I would being up dangling in one of those trams a few months ago that lost power, remember?

Wasn't that 2003? If I'm not mistaken, on or around August 14, 2003. The reason I remember that is because GL's Edmund & Cassie had an especially hot love scene and their fans joked it was so hot it overheated the system.

Anyway...yeah, we've had quite a few heart-pumping situations we've had to deal with since 9/11 that make us start questioning. Not to mention the various items on the news about "intelligence" that some kind of violence was being hatched aimed at wherever, like the tunnels. Like I said, I don't know how people in other countries manage to deal with this on an everyday "you know something is gonna happen" basis.

[Danni]

Rugrat, the blackout was in 2003.

[King]

This movie looks awful. So, no. I'm not going to see it. Ladder 49 much?

[Tishy]

I watched the A&E movie and thats the only one I will watch. It was beautifually done. It touched my soul.

I was actually asleep when the planes it the towers. I had the day off and was talking to one of my friends on Yahoo about Jesus' plan for everyone. We talked the night before until almost 3am ET. I was woken up by the phone and it was a telemarketer. I hung up and turned my computer on and lit a cigerette. The first thing I saw was Bush saying it was a terriost attack. I turned on Ashleigh Banfield (who I think got married and had a couple kids, I loved her). and just cried.

The first show I watched after was Big Brother. It was down to the Final Three and I know they were debating whether to continue or just send them home. They continued because really, it was the safest place for them. I remember watching the producers telling them and you knew that they would not be able to comprehend it since they weren't able to see it. I read an interview once with Will and why he didn't show more compassion and he said because he didn't understand the scope of it.

Thankfully, I didn't lose anyone I know and my heart goes out to all that did. My college roomate lived in New Jersey and she and her husband were late getting to the subway. They saw the second jet fly into the tower and decided to stay home. They lost a lot of friends. I had to wait until the next day to talk to her and I finally called her mother to see if she was ok.

Sorry for the rambling

[Danni]

While we're on our what we did during 9/11 experience, I'll add mine.

I was at school, sleeping in the library when it happened. I was heading to my first class when the librarian told me what happened. Of course, it's one of those "You're joking" reactions. So I basically went about my business until the students were called to chapel for an announcement. I was worried about my mom (and it was her birthday) because she works near the Empire State Building and Penn Station, and they were two places that could've gotten hit. I later found out that my aunt was injured walking to the verizon building, but she's fine now. It was weird because my high school is in downtown Brooklyn, so all I had to do was go to the roof and see the smoke, ash, and debris. Of course this also meant that I was stuck since all the trains were shut down and the train that I needed to take to go home runs next to WTC. Basically, I had to stay at a friend's house for a couple of hours until I heard that the trains were running. I remember going to the promenade with some friends from school and we could see the smoke just billowing out from it.

[Marilyn_M]

Thanks to those who live in NYC (and surrounding areas) who shared your story.

I was in french class and we were all studying and my teacher was reading her email. All of a sudden, she starts screaming and tells us that her husband send her an email saying that someone had hit the twin towers and she immediately turned on the tv and they were showing a replay of the first plane hitting. It gave me chills and my heart ache for those who were hurt. In my mom's generation, the question asked was "Where were you when JFK was shot?" and now in mine its "Where were you when the Twin Towers were hit?"

[Bree]

I won't be seeing it, because every September 11 they do day-long programming, so why bother?

I was at work that day. I was at the front desk of the nursing home lobby and one of our pharmacists walked by and said "A plane just hit the World Trade Center." I knew it was terrorism before the second plane hit. Before the morning ended, we were on lockdown and I must have answered that phone over 100 times, calls from concerned family members. It was scary.

[DrewH]

Well since everyone is sharing their stories, I'll share mine. I was in 8th grade when it happened. I remember being in lunch. I had first lunch so our lunch was around 10:40 (so early, I know). I remember this one kid and he was like, "Two planes just flew through the World Trade Center!" Everyone was so hyper about the whole thing. To tell you the truth, before that day, I didn't know waht the Twin Towers were. I had no idea this was even a huge story until I found out about the Pentagon getting hit. And then I live about 30 miles east of Pittsburgh so when I found out about the plane that went down in Somerset, I knew this was important. It didn't hit me how important the first 2 attacks on the towers were until I was in English class and we turned the TV on and I saw the two towers and how huge they were. I'll never forget, just like I'm eveyrone else, those two towers with smoke coming out of the sides on the New York skyline. It's an image everyone who was alive on that day will be reminded everyday. Parents were coming to pick up their kids and I was like, "Where's my mom?" She never came and picked me up. When I got home she told me that she wanted to come get me but, that her work convinced her I was in the safest place and if the school felt she should come get me, they would call. There was nothing on TV that day. It was so nice, but no one was outside to like play with. Everyone was glued to their TVs with their families. My mom let me stay home the next day and I remember waking up to Whitney Houston singing the National Anthem on one of the morning shows (Good Morning America, Early Show or Today). I sat there all day and watched the news channels, flipping back and forth to see the mayhem that was an unrecognizable New York City.

[PMac]

Thanks to all the New Yorkers for sharing your personal stories. ((hugs)) I know from living through Katrina that watching the news coverage at home pales in comparison to living it.

I was at work on 9/11. At the time, I was doing audit work at a CPA firm right outside metro New Orleans. I saw on MSN right after the first tower was hit and thought, "What a shame! The weather in NYC must be terrible for a pilot to hit the World Trade Center!" Then about 20 minutes later, a co-worker comes running from her office screaming that another plane hit the second tower. I didn't really like this woman, and for a few minutes, I assumed she didn't know what she was talking about. Then my office phone started ringing off the hook - my mom, my boyfriend, my sister; then the realization started to sink in.

We tried to watch TV in our conference room, but one of the partners at the CPA firm told us this was nothing to get worked up about and go back to work.... what a moron. I ended up driving to the client's office I was scheduled to be at that day (a school), and I was listening to the Today show on my radio when the first tower collasped. I never got to see any footage until 6pm that night.

Applcin, I know a lot of New Yorkers didn't like Giuliani until that day, and during and after Katrina, I found myself wishing New Orleans had Giuilani as a mayor instead of "Chocolate City/Willy Wonka" Ray Nagin.