September 11th and 9/11…two different ways of mentioning the same horrific event. The day America and its citizens were shaken to our core.  I remember that morning almost as if it was yesterday. I was in 6th grade at Cass Junior High School. I was getting ready for school, when my Dad came rushing upstairs and told me that there had just been a plane crash at the World Trade Center in New York City. For me, being only 11 years old, I had no idea what the World Trade Center was, yet I still watched in shock, not knowing what was to happen next. By … [Read more...]

September 11, 2001 is the day I will never forget. I just started a life in a new city as was lining up for P.E. to begin as I finished getting dressed in the locker-room. When all of a sudden, my fellow Pakistani American friend looked very anxious and worried. I asked him what happened and he proceeded to tell him what happen. I heard in horror. In French class, I finally grappled what he was talking about. I saw on T.V. how the plane hit the second tower and my French teacher hurriedly went over to turn off the T.V. My friends had mixed reactions. … [Read more...]

I was in 5th grade at the time and one of my classmates was giving a speech on how much she liked clothes, when another teacher came in and told us that we had to see what had just happened. There was a classroom with a TV in it across the hall; on the TV was the video of the first plane hitting the first tower. I did not understand what I was seeing; in my mind I thought it was only a movie. Before I could really process any of what I was seeing the second plane hit. People began to cry and someone turned off the TV. We were taken back to our original … [Read more...]

I remember the day like it was yesterday. The images remain crisp and clear, unfading. I remember where I was, what I was doing, how I felt. I remember it all. That day the sky was crisp and clear, a bright and beautiful blue. I was a couple weeks into my sophomore year of high school and was still getting into the flow of things. I was in English class that day, 2nd period, when a teacher from across the hall came into our room and told our teacher t0 turn on the t.v Images erupted on the television of fire and smoke pouring out of one of the World … [Read more...]

On the morning of September 11th, 2001, I woke up around 8:30AM, made my breakfast and turned on the local morning news. I should have been in school as a big bad 4th grader since the school year had started already in my town but the new elementary school for which I was going to attend wasn’t completed yet. As I was finishing my breakfast around 8:46AM, the tone of the news completely changed. It went from a very enthusiastic and joyful mood that morning news tries to offer to a completely devastating and frightening coverage. Around 8:50AM, the … [Read more...]

My classmates and I were cleaning up our workspaces in Wood Shop class, getting ready for the bell to ring to go to our next class, when the metal shop teacher came into our class. He told my teacher to turn on the TV. And right before he left the room, he said "It's horrible, just horrible!" Needless to say, my teacher turned on the TV and my classmates and I immediately knew why the other teacher said what he said. Both towers of the WTC had already been struck by the planes, but neither had fallen yet. We were transfixed, unable to process the … [Read more...]

September 11th, 2001 found me living in Eugene, OR. It had been a year since graduating from college with a degree in International Development. While the horrorific images of the attacks were shocking to me, the fact that they were occurring was not. After 4 years of studying national and global political, economic, and social systems that fail to recognize the humanity of all, it was not surprising to me that a group of people would attack international symbols of those systems. Don't get me wrong, the violence of that day was atrocious and cannot be … [Read more...]

On a day like today, people aren’t saying this.  But the truth is that there are ways in which September 11, 2001, was exactly like any other day.  I was a senior at Scarsdale High School, located just north of New York City, and as usual, first period had ended at 8:55 AM.  By 9:01, I was sitting in Mr. Maguire’s American History class, groaning (just like everyone else) as he handed out a pop quiz.  And just like any other day, Ben Rappaport rolled into class ten minutes late.  Mr. Maguire looked disapprovingly at him and then at his watch, … [Read more...]