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Where were YOU on 9/11?

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Carole D.
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« on: September 09, 2008, 11:23:38 pm »

Where were YOU on 9/11?
As the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks approaches, those of us at Chronicle Podcasts would like to hear your 9/11 story.

Where were you that day?

How did you first learn about the attacks?

How did 9/11 change or affect you personally?
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Carole D.
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« Reply #1 on: September 09, 2008, 11:24:17 pm »

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I was awaken by my dad's call to tell me about a plane crash at the World Trade Center. Thinking that this plane might be a small jet or helicopter, I proceeded back to sleep. After a few minutes, curiosity of the issue led me to turn on the TV. I was shocked at the scope of the attack, and actually felt the meaning of what is terrorism. Even after 5 years, I can recall the day with vivid details, and probably always will.



Posted By: | September 06 2006 at 06:29 PM

Where were you that day?

I was at home in Oakland with my wife.

How did you first learn about the attacks?

My Mother called me and told me I HAD to turn on the news, which I did.

How did 9/11 change or affect you personally?

I felt really bad for all those touched by this tragedy. Yet because I was here on the West Coast I also felt an unusual disconnect. My world didn't just stop, I kept living. On the 12th I went to a Weezer concert.

That said, I also need to add that 9/11 had nothing to do with Iraq! Why are we still there?



Posted By: RenHoek | September 07 2006 at 12:13 AM

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« Reply #2 on: September 09, 2008, 11:24:46 pm »

I phoned an old friend to confirm lunch plans. After a while he said, "You're watching the TV, aren't you?" "No." He told me what was happening and I spent the next hour in tears watching the World Trade Towers crumble. I wrote in my journal about it with anger and shame for both the perpetrators and our own government for bringing this on ourselves. We had our lunch, at a crowded Vietnamese cafe where the staff watched in blank-faced puzzlement the ongoing TV coverage, and a US Postal Service letter carrier explained to them what Wall Street was.



Posted By: A retiree in KC, Mo. (an alias) | September 07 2006 at 03:16 AM

I had just come home after a very long day at work in the evening to my apartment in Tokyo, Japan. I turned on the news just after the Japanese main broadcasting station, NHK, had switched to continuous live coverage after the first tower was hit by the first airplane. I



Posted By: isabelle | September 07 2006 at 04:46 AM

I was in my living room in Massachusetts watching the Today show, getting ready to return to work after my vacation in San Francisco the previous week. They broke in with live news that a plane had hit the tower. About 20 min. later, the second plane hit, and I was stunned.

I drove in to work; Route 95 which is usually really busy was eerily quiet. No traffic at all. I arrived at work wondering how to tell everyone what was happening, but there wasn't a need. They had seen it on the conference room television, and employees were coming out of the building having been released for the day.

After giving a co-worker a ride home, I went home and watched coverage all day long, shell-shocked. It was hard to believe that I had just flown on the same route 3 days earlier to return home. In fact, I was travelling with a friend who had never seen NY, and we made a connection through Newark on the way home. I pointed out the Towers to her on the skyline that Saturday....and 3 days later, they were gone.

It really felt like the world had changed that day; like things would never be safe again.



Posted By: aljdewey2 | September 07 2006 at 05:36 AM

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« Reply #3 on: September 09, 2008, 11:25:13 pm »

When news of JFK's assasination was broadcast on 22 Nov 1963, I was ironing a shirt in preparation for classes as a student at Long Beach State. It's ironic, but, on 11 Sep 2001, I was again ironing a shirt, this time before delivering a lecture on California wines at the University of Florida, when the news came in that a plane had crashed into the WTC. Not exctly deja vu all over again, but close. In 1963, two days after Kennedy's death, I sang folk songs, smoked a joint, and lit candles of remembrance with friends along the shore of the Alamitos Bay. Two days after 9-11 found me drinking pints of Guinness in an Irish pub in Tampa, and singing "God Bless America" with friends serving at nearby MacDill AFB.



Posted By: GatorsFan | September 07 2006 at 06:13 AM

I had been laid off my job in July, 2001. I had just gotten up to log-on to my laptop to begin my usual search and couldn't, not understanding why. After about a hour, I finally got connectivity and saw the headlines about the World Trade Center towers. It didn't seem real, like this was some kind of practical joke.
I turned on the TV just to make sure this was real, and the first image I saw was the smoke and fire and replay of one of the planes crashing into one of the towers. I immediately tried without success to call my brother, who lives in lower Manhattan along with my parents and grandparents. I then called my sister in Ohio. She said she couldn't reach my family yet. About a half-hour later, my best friend called to find out if I had heard from my family. My sister called a few minutes later to tell me she reached my grandfather. He was in his late 90's and didn't know what had happened. She told him to turn on the TV. My brother finally called and said everyone in the family was OK. I spent the rest of the day glued to the TV, still in disbelief this happened. It was like a bad disaster film, only it was real.



Posted By: family in OH & NYC (an alias) | September 07 2006 at 07:00 AM

I was in Galvenston Texas after traveling from Moab Utah to be with my mother at the Medical Center there. I flew in the weekend prior to 9/11, long trip but a good thing because I would not have been able to get there if I waited. I called my mother at the hospital the morning of 9/11 to check in and she told me what she was watching on TV. I thought she was delirious from the morphine drip so I turned on the TV to see what she was talking about. I became glued to the TV watching all of this take place and in total shock and disbelief. Later that day we got the news my mother had pancreatic cancer. She died four days later. It was as if she was one of those victims of 9/11. It was too much to handle. This event changed my life in many ways I will never forget what happened that day. My mother, as I am, would have been appalled at what has happened to the United States since 9/11.



Posted By: topogjo | September 07 2006 at 08:01 AM

I was getting for work and to make the drive from Oakland to San Francisco...I had the tv on and when the second plane hit I was in shock...and that continued all day- I did not want to come to work but my former boss said to come in- I think as he did not have family he wanted to be surrounded by us...I remember calling a company in S. California and they always answered the phone saying *It's a great Day*...I told them it was not a great day and to check the news...I decided to start a family in the coming years so if one of us should have an accident a piece of us would be left behind thru our children....and to echo the sentiment of other posters here...American's should be ashamed of our involvement in Iraq and wonder who is buying the garbage out of Bush's mouth?...



Posted By: tomba | September 07 2006 at 09:43 AM

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« Reply #4 on: September 09, 2008, 11:25:38 pm »

Where were you that day?

I was at home in bed.

How did you first learn about the attacks?

My parents called and told me to turn on the TV.

How did 9/11 change or affect you personally?

Well, I was in Manhattan a week after the tragedy. I was so shocked by what I saw. The buildings were still smoldering and everything smelled like chemicals. I cried when I was in the subway station on 42nd street and saw all the pictures of missing family members. I remember thinking that we now live in a much more dangerous world. I think I felt sheltered before 9/11 and now I feel exposed and more fearful. I'm also shocked at what fear has driven this country to do and accept. I won't go into a political tirade, but, suffice to say, we need to lead the world by example. I don't think our current policies are providing a proper role model on how to handle the terrorist threat.



Posted By: imjustsayn | September 07 2006 at 10:08 AM

I was in Memphis, TN. at 7:30 a.m. local time when the attack began. About 25 classmates and I were on a private bus, on our way to a training course at our headquarters, completely isolated from news and the outside world. We found out after both towers has fallen when an instructor came in to interrupt the class with the news, It was about 10:30 a.m. EST. We decided to evacuate because we were not sure if we were targets as well, and hearing rumours of missing planes all over. When we finally were taken back to our hotel I was able to see it on tv, about 2 hours after it began.Having lived in NY as a child and watching the Towers go up in 69-70, it was a part of my dying.



Posted By: CargoSeller | September 07 2006 at 11:01 AM

i was getting up and had the TV on channel 2 as part of my mroning ritual. The 1st tower was already hit and was in flames; my 1st thought was, the firemen are going to have a hell of a battle with this hi-rise fire; how are they going to battle it??? Then all of a sudden, the 2nd plane hit and then I knew it was a terrorist attack. I woke up my adult children and we all watched it awe, sorrow and anger. I finished getting ready for work. Got to work and all we could do at work was watch TV and get this latest news. AWFUL, AWFUL day...



Posted By: dcparaiso | September 07 2006 at 11:12 AM

Where were you that day?

I was living in DC on Capitol Hill.

How did you first learn about the attacks?

I was watching the Today Show. Shortly thereafter I could see the smoke billowing out of the Pentagon. I watched and heard the jets taking off from Andrews Air Force Base. I watched the national guard roll into our city. My friends who didnt live in the city, couldnt get out. Many of them had to walk up to 10 miles home over the bridges into Virgina.

How did 9/11 change or affect you personally?

It changed everything. It changed my life immediately. I became more aware of my surrounding and I value our freedom more than ever. It was great to see all the Patriotism after the attacks. I often wonder where that sentiment has gone. More than anything, I value life.



Posted By: ten4cin | September 07 2006 at 11:25 AM

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« Reply #5 on: September 09, 2008, 11:26:43 pm »

I just read that ABC is airing a TV miniseries that appears to point a finger at the Clinton Administration for 9/11. Look for the AP article on sfgate in small print. If ABC is in fact misrepresenting Clinton officials' actions relating to 9/11, it's outrageous--and calling it a "dramatization" doesn't change that. Further, the misrepresentations could impact fall elections. Read the AP article. Then, if you wish, go to ABC.com, scroll to the bottom of the page for "Contact ABC" to tell them what you think.



Posted By: mcc | September 07 2006 at 11:53 AM

I was woken up by a family member as I was getting ready for work. I turned on the television as I usually do to get the days' news, I saw the breaking news. My mom and my siblings work around the area so I called them immediately and was thankful my mom was late for work that day and stayed home. My sister-in-law had just quit working at the restaurant on top of tower II. I am thankful everyday for all the coincidences of that day that saved my family.



Posted By: tree_sha | September 07 2006 at 12:50 PM

I was working for the Pittsburgh Pirates and we were preparing for a home day game vs the New York Mets. We all had TV on and were watching in disbelief when suddenly flight 93 went down just outside of Pittsburgh. We were all told to immediately leave. After all the staff had left I was doing a few wrap ups when a large gloved hand was placed on my shoulder and said leave...now. An entire SWAT team was at the ballpark as they initially thought the plane was intended for Pittsburgh. How has this changed me? Driving home from a completely deserted major city that day I thought our warm and fuzzy sense of safety in the U.S. will be no longer.



Posted By: bballlive | September 07 2006 at 12:53 PM

i was in yokohama japan visiting my wifes family. i had just gotten back from bowling with my sisters in law, and my in laws had the tv on. the first plane had just hit. we watched the 2nd plane hit, then the pentagon, and the collapses all live. i was essentially full of rage, as i grew up in the nyc area. my father in law saved my sanity that night. he's a survivor of the nagasaki bombing and stayed up all night with me explaining not to let rage and hate eat me up. i took his words to heart, so i guess that day changed me in that i try not to let the terrible things in the world change my belief in the good of man. that said, my heart still goes out to all who lost thier lives that day and the families and friends who live with the loss.



Posted By: fjv66 | September 07 2006 at 12:59 PM

well, it was early morning, I had just awaken..turned on the TV and headed for restroom..while in the restroom, I can overhear the early report -- something to the effect, Tower 1 being hit by a possible small aircraft. I stepped out and watch as a pillow of smoke emerged from the first building hit. I continued to watch, not aware of what was to happen next. A few minutes later, a second plane stuck the second building.
It was then it suddenly dawned that this was no human error, this was no small G5, this was a terror attack against innocent people. I was intially dismayed, as terrorist was fairly a unknown word to the vast general public. Being that I work for SF Bay Area Rapid Transit police, it was a term I hadn't heard until that day. Shortly after the second plane, I called my Sgt, whom is a friend of mine. He said, today was to be a very long day. Indeed, it was -- for the next 3 years. I quickly, began to organize my equipment, but as I was readying myself for a long work day, I suddenly decided to look back at the TV. At the very moment, I can see that behind the new reporter, a building was now in the process of cascading downward. The reporter, who wasn't intially aware -- stopped and shouted the building is falling. I was in complete horror, but just as fast as those lives were lost -- my anger filled equally as fast. I was angry! I was angry that thousands of people were in the process of dying -- in a very painful way, no less. I froze. I couldn't move, my mind was in a state of shock, my body went limp....I guess I stayed frozen for some time, because shortly thereafter the second twin fell to dust. From that point on, my life would change -- police work would, especailly for underground transit policing, would never be the same. May god bless all those affected.

G



Posted By: officer_G (an alias) | September 07 2006 at 01:25 PM

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« Reply #6 on: September 09, 2008, 11:27:00 pm »

Where were you that day?
I was getting ready for work when I heard something on the radio about an explosion at the WTC. I got to work at 7:00am and all the brokers and coworkers were glued to the TVs. We were all in total disbelief and were sent home for the day and the following day as well.

How did you first learn about the attacks?
(see above)

How did 9/11 change or affect you personally?
I realized that life's too short and too fragile. We can walk out our front door and it may be the last time we see our loved ones. I got smart and ended a useless relationship because time can't be wasted on futile things. At work, I had the arduous task of speaking with some of the surviving spouses of those who had perished in the attacks. Listening to the pain and anguish in their voices was not easy. This is not something that training can teach you but required alot of compassion and understanding while completing day to day tasks. That was as real as 9/11 came to me. Speaking with and assisting the wives whose husbands died in that tragedy--that loss affected everyone.



Posted By: | September 07 2006 at 01:30 PM

At the time my children & i lived here in SF and my wife(now ex) lived in Chicago. That morning my children were in school and i was on MUNI heading in to downtown. As soon as i arrived at the Powell Station, my cell phone rang. It was my wife calling me. She was a little hysterical. At the time she worked for United Airlines in their corporate office. She was saying something about planes crashing or something in New York. I thought she may have been mistaken. After talking to her, i arrived at work and my boss and co-workers looked shellshocked. After they informed me as to what had happened in NY, i was in disbelief. My children's school called me at the office and said to come pick up my children from school. I remember leaving the office, it was like nuclear fallout the way people were leaving downtown.



Posted By: SFman43 | September 07 2006 at 01:48 PM

I remember waking up and getting ready for work. I turned on the TV to listen in to the local news and I could hear news of a plane hitting the WTC. I watched in shock and after seeing the second plane hit, I was horrified. I went into work sad thinking about all the innocent people who died and all their families who were grieving. At that time, I worked right by SFO and could see and hear the planes taking off and landing through the week. On that day, it was eerily quiet and still. By noon, the CEO asked everyone to go home and be with their families. How has 9/11 changed me? I work in Downtown SF and I think about the potential terror threats that can occur during a normal commute. All of our lives have been impacted, to the way we travel anywhere. We will never be the same but we will never forget those who lost their lives on that day and those overseas who are still fighting for our freedoms.



Posted By: ssfgal | September 07 2006 at 01:56 PM

On Sept. 11 I was living in San Fran....3000 miles from my family on the East Coast. I found out later my mom was heading to the Pentagon to begin her work day. I tried all day to get a hold of her or my family (who lived in Jersey)....with no chance...
Finally, much later into the night, I reached my family and my mom to see if they were all ok. My mom was shell shocked having seen the plane fly into the Pentagon. What a scary situation? I spend the whole day watching the news with my 2 roommates...we were all just mesmorized by what was happening. They could not fully understand the impact to NYC because they had never been there.
How it changed me? I look at the world in a whole different way. It's not a safe place out there...and anything can happen at any moment!



Posted By: DanaC | September 07 2006 at 01:57 PM

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« Reply #7 on: September 09, 2008, 11:27:49 pm »

I just arrived at work in the tallest office building between Chicago and San Francisco. My sister had boarded a flight two hours earlier in Paris, France - headed to New York Laguardia. My four young children were at school. As an employee of a major financial services firm, I routinely had a television in my office running all day - on CNN or MSNBC. When normal programming was interrupted for coverage of the first tower hit, I felt a small personal shock having been a former resident of the Tribeca neighborhood, adjacent to the World Trade Center. When the second plane hit, the sense of dread and forboding flooded over me. Were terrorists hijacking planes and aiming them at high rise financial buildings (one of which I was in at that moment), were terrorists hijacking all planes headed for or leaving New York (one of which my sister was on), was the entire nation under attack? When the third plane hit the Pentagon, I knew I could no longer stay where I was. I headed directly to my children's schools and pulled them out of class. With them, I headed to my mother's house where we frantically awaited communication from my sister - who was somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. We finally heard from her six hours later, as her plane had been diverted to Monaco in light of the events on the East Coast. The horror of that day will live on for millions of people. The pain is heightened by the fact that our country entered war with Iraq instead of hunting down the terrorists responsible for this tragedy.



Posted By: tetre | September 07 2006 at 02:05 PM

I was working in Massachusetts. Someone stopped by the office and mentioned what she had seen on television. I thought at first that she was talking about an accident. I called my mother that lived in downtown Brooklyn. She said the streets were full of people that had walked over the bridges to get out of downtown New York.
I could not visit my mother till Friday.
When we got downtown it smelled of burned plastic.



Posted By: mollyb (an alias) | September 07 2006 at 02:51 PM

I had just started working for the government, not even 3 weeks. On my way to work, as I drove onto the Bay Bridge, a weird feeling came over me as cars were pulling over into the right and left hand lanes. Not knowing what was going on, I decided to turn on the radio. That's when even the music stations were broadcasting news of the WTC and it was mentioned that all landmarks including the Golden Gate Bridge and Bay Bridge were potential targets. What was I to do? U-turn and take my chances of a head-on collision, or continue across and take my chances. Not much of a choice... I continued to work and found out that I was going to have to go back over the Bay Bridge cause work was let out, indefinitely. Had I turned on the radio earlier, I may have avoided this altogether.



Posted By: Undecided (an alias) | September 07 2006 at 02:58 PM

I was getting ready for work and turned on the TV, I saw explosion and two airplanes but I thought it was some Cheesy Godzilla Movie being aired in the early morning (it looked like a black and white movie with all that smoke) . My little brother and I, we felt like something was wrong and didn’t really talk much on the drive to work and normally we do. After he dropped me off to work he called me and told me to turn on the TV.. and then the shock start rolling in. I still get teary eye whenever I think about 9/11, and the fear of always being afraid for something to happen again…



Posted By: KD (an alias) | September 07 2006 at 04:06 PM

I was an Orientation Leader at UCSC getting ready to welcome the new school year & freshman class. Although we were supposed to be preparing for Orientation Week, the other OL's and I sat in shock watching Bush on a big screen TV. I remember feeling as if I couldn't trust him to bring us through this horrible event, and also overwhelmed by the bombardment of footage. A lot of kids were unable to start school, and missed the beginning of classes. 9/11 made me realize how much of an impact our actions have on the rest of the world. We take for granted our security & privileges.



Posted By: gmotors | September 07 2006 at 04:27 PM

I awoke on 9-11 to KFOG on the radio saying "the transamerica tower could be next...people should get out of downtown. This is so tragic." Dazed and confused I turned on the TV to find out what was happening, and flipped networks over and over to confirm it was indeed reality. I was in a state of shock, but I all I could do was call my friend's cell phone who worked in WTC #2 on the 92nd floor. All circuits were busy. My call never went through.



Posted By: dawggggg (an alias) | September 07 2006 at 06:54 PM

I had just come home after a very long workday to my apartment in suburban Tokyo, Japan. I turned on the TV to the main Japanese broadcasting station, NHK for news. By the time I tuned in, the first tower had been hit minutes before and NHK had already switched to continuous live coverage. I recognized the World Trade Towers immediately from my visit there in high school years before. It took several minutes for me to process the images I saw on the screen and comprehend what was happening. I felt that I could not see clearly, as though looking waves at the surface of a pool of water at some object below. As meaning and images gradually coalesced as I watched the two towers crumble, I steeled myself against my fears that my husband of just 4 months might be hurt. I knew that he was in the vicinity, having arrived the previous evening (Sept 10) in New York City on a brief vacation, the highlight of which was to see a live New York Yankees game and the Japanese player, Hideki Matsui, playing live the same week. I particularly remembered with chilling clarity a recent conversation over dinner, where I had recommended that he start his first visit of New York City with a visit to the publicly accessible observation deck at the top of one of the towers. I had visited that deck as a high schooler and had been very impressed with the view. He had not made any reply to my suggestion at the time. Had he gone straight to the tower for his first full day in New York City? If so, he would be in one of the two towers that I saw in flames on the screen. I sat on the floor, Japanese style, glued to live coverage on Japanese TV for another 5 hours until finally I received his call. He had not gone into the towers, having decided to go to visit the Statue of Liberty first thing in the morning instead. He had been standing a few blocks away on the upper deck of a ferry bound for Staaten Island and had seen the plane fly into the tower, and captured the last moments of the flight on his digital camera using the video clip feature. Later, he had walked into the city only to find himself in the path of the dust cloud as one of the buildings came crashing down, and had taken refuge in a doorway. He walked the several miles back to his hotel on Upper West Side, and then was able to call me to tell me he was okay. It was then about 5:30am Tokyo and I finally felt that I could to go to sleep. I was never so relieved in all my life to get a phone call.



Posted By: isabelle | September 07 2006 at 07:51 PM

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« Reply #8 on: September 09, 2008, 11:28:41 pm »

A friend called and woke me up. She said to turn on CNN, which I did. Hard to believe what I saw. I knew we had been attacked, and wondered what the President was doing to strike back at the enemy. Later, I found out that he had been told about the first strike before going into the school room, but went in anyway. Then, I found out that after he found out about the second strike, he sat in the school room reading, "My Pet Goat" for seven minutes. After that, there was a photo op with the children before he got on his airplane and went to Iowa or Ohio or someplace safe.
But, the President found out the criminal was Osama bin Laden and promised to hunt him down and kill him. So, after a short stop in Afghanistan, he took us to Iraq, where we have been stuck ever since. Oh, Osama? He's safe in Pakistan.



Posted By: MissMarple | September 07 2006 at 08:19 PM

When I saw the attacks from the news, I cursed Geroge Bush because he caused it.



Posted By: Cherry | September 07 2006 at 09:12 PM

I woke up early and turned on the morning news as usual. Then I was one of the towers I use to go up to as a kid in flames. I didn't think it was real till I saw the 2nd plane fly into the 2nd tower. First thing I did was call my baby sister who was at NYU at the time. She was planning on going to the towers later that day to run some errands. Luckily she wasn't there at the time. As the days after 9/11 passed I heard so many stories about fathers, classmate, other people from my town who passed away in the towers. Life cut so short so soon. May they forever be remembered. Never forget



Posted By: linygal (an alias) | September 08 2006 at 12:08 AM

I was at home in the lower haight, living alone in a 3bdr victorian temporarily, without a TV.

My sister called first with the "turn on the tv" message. I was still mostly asleep, that hit the answering machine.

My boss called next, with a cryptic answering machine message that I misinterpreted as "Because of the Terra people from New York, you shouldn't come in today".

At the time, our tech company was just bought by the spanish company Terra, and I thought my boss was basically saying "hey, we don't want any of you geeky engineers around mucking things up, so just stay at home!"

Spent the rest of the day scouring the net for news/videos, and finally went out with a friend at 8pm and saw it on t.v. at a bar.

One last thing:
http://www.911truthla.org/audio/binladen_djgreenlantern.mp3



Posted By: | September 08 2006 at 01:34 AM

I was vacationing in the UK and just finished a long walk in the countryside. My husband and I got into the car and turned on the radio and began hearing distorted reports from a BBC reporter in America. All of a sudden, the radio report went silent. We had no clue what had taken place until we got back to my sister-in-law's and turned the tv on CNN. It was shocking and made me feel numb. Personally, I wake up every day and I'm thankful and I never take anything for granted.



Posted By: elloluv | September 08 2006 at 07:24 AM

I had awaken around 7:30-ish to hear something on the "Today" show about a plane crash in NYC. I didn't pay attention. I had just bought a small, overpriced "house" in EVIL GUERNEVILLE, and I went to see my realtor friend in another nearby WHITE TRASH DRUGGIE "TOWN" out there. I saw the second crash on TV around 9:30 a.m. on his TV - it was UNBELIEVABLE !

Completely surreal. That's the best way to describe it, and soon it was on every channel.



Posted By: Guerneville is SATAN (an alias) | September 08 2006 at 07:26 AM

I was in Washington, D.C. for meetings with a client, about 6 blocks from the White House. I'd taken the Metro and as I got on the elevator, I met another attendee of our meetings. "Did you see the news?" he asked. "A plane hit the World Trade Center."

In the meeting room, we turned on the TV and watched as the second plane hit. Our attention immediately turned to our own location as we recognized the attack in progress. The next hour included waves of rumors of explosions at the State Department, the White House, and finally at the Pentagon. The smoke was visible, in TV shots from downtown. We decided to continue our meeting, which was after all about helping people internationally.

I've since learned that no matter how horrific the attack was, it's important to keep it in perspective and not to steer your life by fear of terrorism. There are more important things in this world.



Posted By: Fig (an alias) | September 08 2006 at 07:31 AM
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« Reply #9 on: September 09, 2008, 11:29:25 pm »

By the way, GUERNEVILLE is TRULY EVIL !!

There are SATANIC CULTS OUT THERE, so DO NOT BUY OUT THERE ! I am 100% serious. They on are the Police Department out there (I've seen this with my own eyes, but of course I can't prove it to you -- WISH I COULD!!)

The Russian River area, besides being "gay", is filled with DRUGS, METH LABS, DRUGGIES and lotsa WHITE TRASH (as in CRIMINAL TYPES OUT TO CAUSE HARM). Sad, because when I moved there, after 12 years of living in nearby Rohnert Park, I thought it would be "nicer". It's NOT.

The GAY COMMUNITY should BOYCOTT Guerneville and the Russian River Area.
Most merchants out there (not the obviously gay ones) ARE HOMOPHOBIC and ONLY WANT YOUR MONEY (sounds familiar, people ?) Kiss your GAY ASS, and Stab you in the back-type of atmosphere.

What's this gotta do with NYC on 9/11 ?
There are PERSISTENT "rumors" that Satanic People or a "presence" was seen there by good people with a "gift" of "supernatural sight". This all sounds kinda flaky, New Age-y, but I've learned from Evil Guerneville that IT IS ALL TRUE !

Satanic Cults are REAL. They exist in San Francisco, and, sadly, Guerneville.
And THEY MEAN BUSINESS, PEOPLE !

Beware. And pray. And stay closer to God, because HE, TOO, IS ALSO WATCHING !



Posted By: Ex-Guerne Resident (an alias) | September 08 2006 at 07:33 AM

I was to leave for college in Santa Cruz a couple days later, and so I had spent the night before driving around Berkeley and the hills, reliving old memories. The next morning, my mom woke me up extremely early, very flustered and pulling me towards a TV in another room. I got to watch the second plane hit, live, and at that point, the only thing I could think to do in my benumbed state was to run out and fill our family's cars' gas tanks.

I spent the rest of that morning staring at the TV in shock, but, around noon, I decided I needed some human contact. I drove down to UC Berkeley, where classes were already in session, and ended up watching events unfold on the big, flat-screen TV in the FSM Cafe with a hundred other stunned-silent college-age kids.

There was a candle-light vigil in Sproul Plaza that night, and I was there, looking down from the MLK Student Union's balcony, looking down on one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen -- thousands of points of light, spread all across the square, united in a glowing sea of concern and rage, growing less impotent by the minute.



Posted By: Graham (an alias) | September 08 2006 at 08:40 AM

I was riding the bus on my way to work. I turned on my headphones to hear a shockjock say that a plane had crashed into the first tower. Thinking that was even tasteless for him, I switched to another station. By the time I got to work, the second plane had hit the tower as well as the Pentagon. Our building was suppose to have been evacuated by 8:30 am because of threats to the Sears Tower (a block from where I worked) but my boss didn't feel that it was any concern and made us stay until we were personally escorted from the building.

Four days after the attack, a friend and I boarded a plane for San Francisco for vacation. We were delayed because of an idiot making an off colored comment that resulting in a bomb sniffing dog coming on the plane and the man being taken away by police.

Since that incident, I truly hate to fly. Any thing out of the ordinary will truly send me into a panic.



Posted By: dollofvoodoo | September 08 2006 at 09:12 AM

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« Reply #10 on: September 09, 2008, 11:30:18 pm »

I was heading to work that morning, and stopped to see what was going on.....then the first tower was hit. I went on with my work anyway; not believing what I'd seen....but, still had to go to work.......

As the day progressed, it became apparent that this act had turned some of the people I know into really pissed-off madmen; some people started to look at the coworkers of Mideast desent like THEY were the ones who had hit the towers; and it really became ugly......it went from respecting the worker's for who they were to yelling, being mad at those who are of differing background; racist attitudes and comments (some people calling those of the aforementioned desent sand nig**rs, you name it....I almost wanted to deck a couple of coworkers for their ignorant comments myself) flying all over the office; it was like nothing that I've ever seen....but, in thinking back on it, I shouldn't have been supprised..... It was good that they sent everyone home early.....I am sure that there would be a fight if we'd stayed there much longer.

As I went home, I noticed the looks on the people who were riding with me; everyone had a "blank" look in their faces; a look of disbelief and some with a look of dispair. And, when I got home, all they were showing was the towers being hit, over and over again.....it came out later that the people who were the bommbers were not from Iraq, but were from Saudi Arabia (supposedly our friend); but bush, cheney and others of this administration seemed bent on attacking Iraq, no matter what, for what happened to the WTC. Even though Iraq wasn't responsible (bushe's words, not mine) we still went over there and raked the country......and we are still there 5 years later, with the same kill-and-burn mentality and a madman running the US into the ground.

In my opinion, the fools who attacked us in the first place got what they wanted; a country gripped in fear of itself and others; a administration that went from somewhat tolerable to completely intolerable and evil; and a citizenry which is afraid of it's own shadow, thanks to not only the evil that the bombers did, but also the evil that bush and his minions have fostered. Rather than being a time to remember and hope, 911 is now a political ploy by the republicans to keep the American public fearing itself; and I wish that people would look at how this date is being prostituted into something vile by this administration.......but of course, this is America.

It's right to hate. It's right to fear............



Posted By: thinker | September 08 2006 at 10:16 AM

I woke to a message from my friend in boston saying check the news, something about the twin towers. work was canceled that day so my wife and i went to the marina and passed by a bar showing footage of the towers burning and collapsing. it was a beautiful sunny day and as we were walking by chrissy fields i got a call from my brother saying our first cousin Peter Morgan Goodrich was on one of the planes that hit the towers. At first i was saying there is no way he could be dead. then a few more calls confirmed he was murdered. we are a very close family and grew up with our cousins, every summer in maine, weekends together. we were best friends



Posted By: ldonavan (an alias) | September 08 2006 at 11:29 AM

I was living in Newport Beach down in Orange County. My boyfriend's mom called and woke us up. We turned the TV on and there it was...destruction. After watching the news for about 1 hr, I decided to go to my 8:00 accounting class. When walking around campus, everyone was on their phones and I saw tons of people crying. Once in the class room, the professor told us "Now we all know what happened today, but let's put that aside and focus on today's lecture"...everybody was SHOCKED...15 minutes later, the class was empty...we had all left...



Posted By: cmventura | September 08 2006 at 12:08 PM

I was in the bathtub in London, England. I was a few weeks into a work-abroad program, and my roommates knocked urgently at the door, telling me that New York was under attack, and told me to come watch the news with them. We watched the footage on the BBC for hours, and I called my family in Sonoma county to tell them the news, waking them up. New York seemed so far away. Londoners were worried that they were next, and the business districts emptied, and everyone left work. Because it was the biggest and most deadly terror attack to date, there was a sense of disbelief in the US, which from afar, seemed naive. There have been plenty of heinous disasters and atrocities throughout the world, and this was one of them. There was also a real feeling of how isolated the USA has become as we watched the hysterics from across the pond. I pray for those who were more affected than I, and wish them peace and closure. The reactionist and protectionist political aftermath is ridiculous, however. People forget that winning friends is more powerful than conquering enemies in the long run.



Posted By: bugonaball | September 08 2006 at 01:08 PM

My dad (happened) to have a heart attack on 9/11, just hours after the WTC situation. I was a college student in the Bay Area and woke up to one of my sisters on the East Coast calling me to inform me about the WTC and to let me know they were okay (her husband worked at the Pentagon). Only an hour later, I received another call, my dad had a heart attack and was in serious condition in the hospital, in surgery. Ordinarily he would have been alone at work, nearly an hour away from any family. But his office closed that day, and he was at home. Another sister had gone to my parents home to spend the day together, and was with him when the heart attack occurred. He was able to get to the hospital quickly and receive treatment.
I am thankful for his health and recuperation, and yet, recognize how complex the events of the day were for everyone involved. I constantly wonder whether he would he have had the heart attack on that day regardless of 9/11?



Posted By: LSB (an alias) | September 08 2006 at 01:12 PM

I was just waking up, getting ready to go to work in Mountain View. My parents were already up, watching TV (a friend had called them). My parents alerted me to what was going on, and as I stood in front of the TV watching the news, I distinctly remember my knees feeling weak and just wanting to sit down. I will never forget that feeling. Perhaps it was because my brother was living in midtown Manhattan at the time, and I was worried for him. I drove to work and of course, they let us go home right away. Before I left the office, however, I was able to get a hold of my brother via AOL IM...thank God he was alright and nowhere near the twin towers. Definitely a tragic event that will parallel none other in my life. I now live on the East Coast and hearing co-workers' tell their stories makes me realize that no matter how hard I think it hit me, it pales in comparison to how hard it hit everyone here in NY. I feel terrible for anyone here during that moment in time, but am so inspired by stories of how the community came together during crisis - I love that!



Posted By: ChenK (an alias) | September 08 2006 at 01:14 PM

I was visiting my parents in Ann Arbor and was asleep when my father knocked on the door and said, "You might want to get up. History is being made." I had planned to make a side trip to NYC and Washington, DC, and thus might have been in NYC that very day, but had decided not to go for financial reasons. I had to postpone my trip home for several days due to planes not flying. My father, who is extremely nice, offered to drive me 2500 miles home. When I went to the airport, I was such a nervous wreck that I managed to scare the airline personnel--they had me taken off the plane and interviewed by security agents to make sure I wasn't a threat! There were no particular personal effects to me worth mentioning, but it was certainly the beginning of what has become a nightmare for our nation, referring here to pre-emptive war, loss of civil liberties, destroyed reputation in the world, lives lost in Iraq (ours and theirs), and so much more.



Posted By: bugwalk | September 08 2006 at 01:47 PM

I received a text at work in London, UK, that a plane had hit the WTC building in New York. My immediate thoughts were that it was an accident. As soon as a 2nd text was received on my mobile, I knew this was a 'terrorist' attack. The internet pictures on CNN and the BBC were jammed. No one was working, even as far away as London. When I reached home and put the TV on, it was sureal. It was like watching a Hollywood blockbuster as the news networks showed repeatedly the pictures of two airlines hitting the Twin Towers, and one that crashed into the Pentagon. It's one of those 'Where Were You...' questions. People older than me talk of the JFK assassination or the Moon Landing. My generation remember when President Reagan was shot, the slaying of John Lennon, and the attempt by the IRA of assassinating Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and even the collapse of the Berlin wall. But, the use of passenger airlines to crash into buildings will remain in my mind to the day I die.



Posted By: Naveed | September 08 2006 at 03:58 PM

I was riding bart going to work then I recieven an email telling me not to go to work on blackberry. San Francisco was on lock down for fear of a terror event occuring.

-2 weeks later I was laid off
-1 month later arrested, taken to hospital for blood samples, dna and finger prints.

As an Muslim Arab American, I don't people who claim to be muslim representing my faith. So prior to 9/11, I was not practicing muslim, but afterwords, I became practicing muslim.

I'm not stating that 9/11 was the catalyst for my change but it was a driver since the very same people who claimed to be true muslim hijacked my faith.

I had two choice, deny my faith and assimlate to american society and look like everyone or start my own jihad in the way of allah in which to spread the real message and meaning of ISLAM.

And that is to deliver the message of peace. The terrorist who did the tragic event in no way represent ISLAM, let alone arabs americans.

We americans have to stand togeather from all faiths.



Posted By: | September 08 2006 at 04:02 PM

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« Reply #11 on: September 09, 2008, 11:30:50 pm »

I was in Washington, DC for my company at a tradeshow taking place 2 blocks from the White House. The big news of that morning in DC was that Michael Jordon was coming out of retirement to join the Washington Wizards. I had completed with our booth set-up when word that a jet had crashed into the WTC. 5 minutes later an announcement over the PA system recommended that people vacate the building (little did I know that the building the tradeshow was taking place in was affiliated with the WTC). I was in the process of leaving the building when the jet hit the Pentagon. At this point the fire alarm sounded and another announcement ordering a mandatory evacuation of the building.

I made it to the street level of the building and found park benches to sit down as I wasn’t going to make much progress outside... the streets were gridlocked with vehicles. At this point I decided to use my cell phone to call my family to inform them of my situation. I guess everyone else had the same idea as I had 12 voicemail messages from random friends and family, but my phone never rang and all the circuits were busy from the massive overload of the phone system. I finally reached my hysterical mother... 6 hours later. She was so relieved that I ok and "not in New York or Washington, DC!". That's when I had to break the news to her that in fact I was in Washington and most likely stuck there for a while, at which point she broke down and cried. It was at that moment I realized the world had changed forever.



Posted By: wysiwyg (an alias) | September 08 2006 at 04:13 PM

I was living on the island of Kauai and awakened to a day that promised to be a great day. I would be going to the job site for the ground breaking of my first big house that I had designed on my own. I bolted out of bed and turned on my computer to check the news. My home page is SF Gate. At first when I saw the headlines I thought, If they keep making these kind of movies and having their awareness on this kind of subject they will attract that energy. Then I read more but still didn't get it. I walked over to the other side of my house where my roommate was in her art studio and I asked her if what I read was true. She said yes and I kept thinking, we have created this, we have attracted this. I went to the site and when I got there, my builder was there standing looking at the beautiful property looking out at the beautiful ocean. I had spent a year working on this house and it was finally going to begin. I called my clients that day and thanked them for having me work on their project, thanked them for allowing me to do what I love; to focus my creative energy on something so beautiful and wonderful. To focus my creative energy on creation instead of destruction. What a blessing. Now, every 9/11 I write and thank them again.



Posted By: Lilikoi | September 08 2006 at 05:49 PM

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« Reply #12 on: September 09, 2008, 11:31:20 pm »

I was in Los Angeles visiting a friend. We were awaken from a phone call from my friend's mother in NJ. We followed the news all day and by dusk we took a walk on the beach, where the usual active scene was still and stunned. I had to return to the bay area on a Greyhound bus b/c the airports were closed on the 12th. The ride up the grapevine was filled with nervous chatter. I had with me an LA Weekly, with Perry Ferral on the cover -- inside he discussed plans to promote a "Jubilee" festival in Israel -- it never happened.



Posted By: yomommy | September 08 2006 at 05:52 PM

I was driving my son to school in Berkeley when I caught a few words on my car radio about the towers being gone. I thought I misheard. I drove to the BART parking lot to continue on to work. Since I was not clear about what I thought I heard, I stayed in the car to listen to the news before going to work in Oakland. The towers had already collapsed. I could not believe it. I got on BART and went to my work in Oakland. I watched the news on CNN on the Internet. I downloaded the amazing images that I saw and saved them to a personal file. I could not work. I knew that our lives had changed forever. I still look at those images every once in a while. I was, of course, particularly horrified by the jumpers. I could imagine, far too well, how they felt as they sought to escape the pain of the fire by leaping. I could imagine their final horror and exhiliaration as they zoomed at terminal velocity past the sleek glass and steel cliff of the building to the onrushing concrete. Yes, I knew that our lives would never be the same.



Posted By: lyrinda | September 08 2006 at 07:31 PM

My brother and I were on board a TWA flight on the tarmac of the San Jose Airport, awaiting a delayed departure to Saint Louis. We were excitedly discussing a long-planned Midwest trip to visit all the towns and homes our parents had lived in as children and young adults.

When the pilot announced we were returning to the gate, we assumed mechanical problems. As the plane halted at the gate, the pilot notified us in a tremulous breaking voice that two planes had just crashed into the World Trade Center towers.

We flew back to the Midwest exactly one week later, determined not to put our lives and our Heartland travels on hold. I try to keep that positive attitude whenever I fly these days. Admittedly, I sometimes find that difficult. I cherish friends and family more than ever.



Posted By: janebn | September 09 2006 at 02:34 PM

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=5&entry_id=8602
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