With inspiration from my best friend, Kristin, I posted a comment on chicago.craigslist.org, asking people to share their 9/11 stories with me. The following post shares people's memories of that fateful day.
please note: these are not edited for content. these comments are exactly as they appear on craigslist.Reply to: pers-418840317@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-09-10, 1:24PM CDTI was on maternity leave, thank God. I was sleeping on the couch with my 2 week old.
One reason to be thankful that I had to be induced early. I was working downtown at the time.
Reply to: pers-418893956@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-09-10, 2:12PM CDTI was waiting in line at the Walgreen's at Dearborn and Division to buy a pack of smokes, typical Tuesday morning. Nice, sunny & warm morning. I was watching the little TV they had for sale. They had the news on and all of a sudden you see the footage. We all shrugged our shoulders nonchalantly and figured it was a drunk pilot. It seemed like something out of the ordinary, but it didn't seem like a "terrorist attack"... then again, what doesn't these days...
Reply to: pers-418843477@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-09-10, 1:25PM CDTSitting on my couch next to my purring cat, drinking coffee, watching the morning news and applying the last touches of my makeup. After that I sat frozen, until I picked up my phone to call my boyfriend who starts work earlier than I do. Seconds earlier he had just been on the phone with someone in his company's NY office. Then, not knowing what else to do, I got in the car headed to work with the radio on. As I looked around at all the other drivers (also looking around at one another) I couldn't help but notice how pale and ashen everyone's face had become.
Reply to: pers-418900846@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-09-10, 2:19PM CDTI was on the Metra train headed to work, my bf called me and told me to get on the first train back home. Suddenly all the other cell phones on the train started ringing, people started crying, gasping, and saying "a plane hit the world trade center"
Sad indeed.
Reply to: pers-418921660@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-09-10, 2:40PM CDTmy alarm clock woke me up. It was set to b96(i know they suck), all i heard was eddie and jobo say that this is real, that they were not kidding around, we were under attack. I turn on the tv, after a few seconds I saw the tower come down. It looked like straight out of hollywood. Then a few mins later the second one came down. It was like a movie. All I remember was my sister saying that we are under attack. I found out that the high schools were not letting the students out, I had a little brother in high school. It was crazy. I remember going to work still in disbelief.
Reply to: pers-418952564@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-09-10, 3:11PM CDTWow, I heard it from Eddie and Jobo as well.
It was my day off,I was dropping my sons off at school when the first plane hit. By the time I got home and turned on the TV the second plane hit.
I woke up my husband and we watched, in horror, together.
Reply to: pers-418977379@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-09-10, 3:36PM CDTI was in the shower. I turned on the radio just before I left for work so I had something to listen to while I ironed by clothes. I woke up my roommate to tell her and we turned on the television. The first plane had just hit. As she fell to the couch, I left for work. By the time I got to work, the second tower had fallen. I didn't even know there was a second airplane.
Downtown Chicago soon closed down and all of my friends congregated at my apartment. We watched Peter Jennings, made dinner and got really drunk. We were all liberals who went to college under Clinton. The "real world" coincided with Bush, 9/11, and extreme unrest. What a rude awakening.
I'd give anything to have that pre-9/11 world back.
Reply to: pers-418976961@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-09-10, 3:37PM CDTWe crowed into the only room with a television until 5 minutes after the 2nd plane hit and the CFO yelled, "Shows over, now get back to work...!"
I feel sad over his ignorance.
Reply to: pers-419000175@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-09-10, 4:01PM CDTwell, technically i was sleeping when the first plane hit... but anyway, i was still in college at the time... it was a tuesday (obviously), and my first class that day was at 9:35am central time... the first plane had hit about two hours prior to that.
but anyway, i woke up at 9:20, put on sweats, sandals, and hurried to class. on my way, i ran into a friend of mine who said "hey did you hear about the plane crash", which i hadn't since i went straight from bed out the door to class... so she proceeds to tell me that a plane crashed into the world trade center.
i just remember thinking how in the hell a pilot could make that type of mistake... i didn't get it. so i got to class and then realized what was really going on.
so we watched a bunch of cnn and whatnot, but the unique thing about this situation was that i was in a database development class at the time... and our class did pro-bono work for a very small islamic school on the north side of milwaukee... were were eliminating all their paperwork and putting together something system based for them to use to track students, teachers, classes, grades, etc.
so our client (the principal of this islamic school) was supposed to give us requirements that day... and the poor woman was at the front of our classroom dressed in all her traditional islamic clothing, just in tears apologizing profusely for what was going on right before our eyes that morning (as if it was her fault).
so anyway, she talked for a bit and we continued to watch the news... that class ended at 10:50 and the dean got on the speaker saying that the whole university was closed for the rest of the day. i kinda moseyed back home, ran into some other people... and then just had people over for the rest of the day to cook out, have a few beers, and watch everything all night. i just remember standing outside and thinking how freaky it was with absolutely no noise outside... like the whole country had just gone on vacation that day.
anyway... rambling now, but it's one of those days that i will never forget.
Reply to: pers-419003876@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-09-10, 4:07PM CDTI was ironing my grey silk blouse and heard the television news anchor say something about the WTC in the next room. I wandered over and stare at smoke pouring out of WTC 1, hoping that friends who worked there were okay. I saw the other plane arcing out of the right-hand side of the screen and screamed, "no, no, stop!" as I watched it collide, live, with WTC 2. Just a few floors above where I used to work.
I called my mother, voice trembling. She, in her oh-so-matter-of-fact way, said that I just needed to go to work. Like an automaton, I dressed and left.
The bus was eerily silent. Some people had mp3 players, radios, whatever, in their ears listening to the news. I certainly did. Our faces were all ashen, eyes wide. Other people were blissfully oblivious, chatting like it was any other day.
I got to the office, only to find almost everyone had no idea what was going on. We turned on a television and people crowded around to watch. We watched the towers fall and then a member of management came around and told everyone they could go home.
I remember walking north along LaSalle because no one wanted to be near Michigan Ave, the Hancock or any other major area in case of a local attack. Along the way, a policeman asked why so many people were leaving the loop. My friend and I filled him in.
I sat in front of the television, numb, for the rest of the day. No phones were working in Manhattan, so I couldn't get through to find out if my friends were alive or not. I remember just wanting to be six months out in the future, when we'd be able to look back at the situation with more clarity.
Reply to: pers-419043151@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-09-10, 4:46PM CDTBriefly: in the loop. I was at the office and passed by a conference room that had a couple people in there with a tv on. We were watching wondering about that mistaken pilot crashing into a building when the second place hit. Among many things that I am fortunate to remember (as opposed to being on one of the planes or in the WTC or Pentgon), was taking the "el" home at about 10:30; it was rush hour packed-- completely somber. Horrible.
Tomorrow, MSNBC is replaying the Today show from 9/11/01. Somber, but probably a decent vehicle to transport you back six years ago. (btw: not trying to get involved with the Fox/NBC dabate-- I know MSNBC is carrying it, so that's why I mentioned it).
Take care.
Reply to: pers-419064966@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-09-10, 5:19PM CDTJust as I always do, I turned on CNN in the morning. The first plane hit and it seemed kind of odd. The second plane hit, and it was beyond coincidence. One of my friends who worked at the CBOT called, as they had been sent home. We went for breakfast at Greek joint. The whole day was way beyond being earily silent, as was the week. Nothing seemed to make sense, and I really hope nothing that horrible ever happens again. It awakened my eyes to all things global, for I never thought of things on such a broad plane before. I would have to say that the entire week was just about the longest stretch of drunkeness I've ever put myself through, but for my friends and I, it seemed like the only thing.
9/11 still affects me in ways that it probably shouldn't. I do not like flying or being anywhere in the heart of downtown Chicago. While I would like to see us get the Olympics, I also fear what some knuckleheads might see as an opportunity. There are those that argue we aren't an open society, but the truth is, we seem so vulnerable out there. What the people of New York and DC went through is so unbelievably sad. So many families destroyed, so many children who never got to see their mothers, fathers, brothers, aunts and uncles again.
I really hope that this whole situation with the Middle East sorts itself out soon. But I really don't see it happening any time soon. Tomorrow, I will probably shed some tears the same way I did that week in 2001. We all need to keep each other in our prayers.
Reply to: pers-419078384@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-09-10, 5:28PM CDTAt work of course, 300 S. Riverside Plaza right adjacent to the Sears Tower. We were given an option. You can stay or you can go home if you want?
If we want???? I tried to leave my feet print and smoke on management faces AND asses, leaving the building. Believe me people. Some dumb as "Kiss Asses" stayed behind for brownie points. What if the plane had plunged into the Sears Tower is what I always imagined today. Who ass would the Kiss Asses had kissed then?
Goes to show you the city/country we're in.
All of us Americans were numb for a minute, extremely nice to each other, very diversified. Now we are back to normal. Go figure.
Does it take an attack from another country to HAVE respect FOR each other, "My fellow Americans?"
I'll answer for you...Naaahhhh, Fuck You, NOPE! (from my observations)
Reply to: pers-419106449@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-09-10, 6:01PM CDTI was at a photo-op surrounded by a bunch of first-graders reading a book about baby-goats. I had just gotten a new job and part of my responsibilities were to make as many photo-op appearances as possible. (My advisors said that I should get out more in public. I had been spending lots of time at my ranch before this. In fact, I had spent three months on vacation during my first six months on the job! How cool is that!) Anyway, my assistant spoke to me in hushed tones about what was taking place. Naturally, I was very confused about what to do next. The nation was in PERIL, but afterall, I was on a photo-op and the book WAS about baby-goats (and who does not like baby-goats!). The kids would have been dissapointed so I made my first real executive decision to sit there for another ten minutes while they finished hearing the story. It all worked out for the best. I got to make another executive decision later-on when I misled congress about going to war and my buddies (Chaney, Rumsfield, Wolfowitz,... I know they sound like characters from a Dicken's novel- but I swear I'm not making any of this up) helped plan the whole thing!
Reply to: pers-419111466@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-09-10, 6:10PM CDTIn the car, driving to work. The 1st building had been hit and the announcer had a guy on the phone in Brooklyn who was describing all the smoke etc. In the middle of his descriptions he began screaming something like "Oh no, the other building just exploded! WHAT IS HAPPENING?" It was gut-wrenching to hear live.
I sat there in confusion trying to figure out what was going on. Up to that point the announcers were comparing the accident to the plane that hit the Empire State Building in the 40's but at that moment it became clear that this was no accident.
Those were horrible, dark times. I felt gloomy for weeks. I just couldn't believe it and it still seems surreal to me, 6 years later.
That evening driving home from work in a daze I saw a lone man sitting on a lawn chair on an overpass holding a big American flag. On any other day he would have looked ridiculous but that evening I found it really touching. People just didn't know what else to do...
Reply to: pers-419124415@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-09-10, 6:22PM CDTRe:where were you when the first plane hit?...
Reply to: pers-419109419@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-09-10, 6:04PM CDT
THANK YOU.
on the edens when they came down I was on the CTA. Never dreamed that they would come down. I just though it was scary and horrible. Thought that a few people might have died. Thought they would just fix the buildings. then I got to Marshall Field and I found out that they had come down.
Reply to: pers-419128633@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-09-10, 6:28PM CDTI was living in Baltimore at the time. I had arrived a few minutes early for our every-other-Tuesday 9:00 a.m. meeting with clients at their office across town. Shortly before the meeting started, one of the clients slipped into the conference room and said, sort of casually, that she had heard something on the news about a plane hitting the WTC. Somebody asked her if it was a small plane or a jet? She said she hadn't heard. I wondered aloud if it might be a terrorist act, mentioning the earlier (1993?) booming in the WTC garage.
Anyway, we remained coccooned in the conference room for about an hour or so and I, for one, had pretty much forgotten the story about the plane. As we were leaving the conference room, one of the clients' secretaries was sitting at her desk nearby, visibly upset. She spontaneously filled us in on details: the second plane at the WTC, the plane hitting the Pentagon, she said we were under attack. I was stunned -- it seemed like a bad dream.
I went back to my office and everybody was glued to the 'net, surfing around to find the latest information and watching the streaming videos. Within a couple of hours, we got the word that we were allowed to go home. I chose to stay at work just because the internet connection was faster than what I had at home and I don't have cable TV.
Reply to: pers-419158113@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-09-10, 7:04PM CDTI had worked until 4am came home and woke up to get my kid off to school. As always I had the news on, drinking a cup of coffee hurrying my son so he wouldn't be late. I saw it on the news and I have never felt like I felt that morning, not before not after.My son was late that day. We hurried to the car to get the radio on as not to miss a thing. The rest of the day I didn't sleep, I sat watching CNN in horror. For me it was a big deal. I made many changes in my life right after that. I realized that life was too short and have lived by that ever since.
Reply to: pers-419320886@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-09-10, 10:39PM CDTI was starting my second day of work. I'd just moved to Hawaii. Got out of the shower, turned on the tv and at first thought it was a preview for a movie or something. Took me a minute to realize the reality of the situation that had happened a couple hours earlier. Such a sad, sad day. I just remember feeling so helpless and scared not knowing what was going to happen next. I was so far away from all my family and friends in Chicago.
Reply to: pers-419340812@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-09-10, 11:11PM CDTI was in the shower, listening to WGN. The news guy said it looked like a small plane hit the WTC - I immediately got out of the shower -just in time to see the second plane hit on TV.
Before it hit, I thought it was one of those firefighting planes that put out forest fires with foam - I wondered how it was going to hurt the people on the ground.
God, that was a terrible day. I was in college.
Reply to: pers-419342565@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-09-10, 11:14PM CDTI was in bed. I had already gone out for breakfast at Clarke's on Belmont with my girlfriend. We came home and had some great sex, 2x I think. The phone rang, it was her parents so she answered it since they had never called my place before. They told her to turn on the TV. We turned it on and she was all freaked out (most people who were oblivious to all of the prior attacks on American property tended to be surprised that something like this could happen- duh). While it was still surreal to me, it wasn't shocking. And since what had happened could not be reversed, I immediately became thankful that finally we had a wake up call for the common morons who were oblivious to the world's hate of the US, hate which started long before Bush. I dreamed of a day where MTV was shut down, 5 dollar coffee stores went out of business, democrats saw the light and quit living excessively while millions of people of color toiled thanklessly all over the world for less than a living wage just so that a relative handful of wealthy liberals could have too much stuff and say "we're going to help you little dark man- we'll just take more from the middle class while we enjoy the same tax shelters as do our wealthy colleagues in the republican party. We'll be the administrators of tax money and we'll thank ourselves for jobs well done with lavish parties in Hollywood while pointing out a few hypocritical republicans so you won't notice that all of us are screwing you, too."
