A Very Belated Post About A Day In September

I'm finally writing something about September 11, 2001. But first I have to mention something that happened the night before, and a bit of a preamble to it. It starts dull and slow, like many ordinary things...

My car has an AM/FM radio and a cassette deck, but no CD player (or anything like one, mp3 or such) and I haven't seen fit to add such. As I often drove good distances, I wanted something to listen to. Most radio is grating and annoying - I really hate modern radio commercials[1] - so this leaves NPR which is pretty much commercial free, but not every program interests me. Also, there are times when I drive out of range of anything I care to hear. Thus tape is very nice. I can put whatever I want on a tape.

On the evening of September 10, 2001 I was recording various tunes from CD to tape. One of the tunes I was recording was from a CD of WWII tunes. One tune was a Spike Jones work I hadn't heard until I bought that CD, Little Bo-Peep Lost Her Jeep, another was a tune calling for support for production, Arms For The Love Of America. If you followed that link you'll find a line that would be rather haunting several hours later, They say over here we've nothing to fear but let's get ready just in case.

September 11 started just like any other day (Gee, is that an overused line I wrote?), did the usual morning things, and logged on for a bit before work (I was still using dialup then). jmaynard , in Manhattan on business, was on IRC. He mentioned something about a plane hitting one of the World Trade Center towers. Like almost everyone else, my first thought was of a smaller craft and/or a very nasty accident. I think I turned the TV on and listened some, then slapped a tape in the VCR and let it record. Jay decided he wasn't going anywhere that day - the plans would have put him a few blocks from the WTC.

The story was about the only thing on the radio during the drive to work, though the clerk at a convenience store had not yet heard. It was also much of the conversation at work, at least for a while. Somewhere someone had heard a second plane hit the other tower. Sometime I got a phone call from one of Jay's parents (I forget which now) and assured that he was fine and that while he was in Manhattan he wasn't near the WTC and wasn't going to be. I left work and headed back home, logged on, got in contact with Jay and got phone numbers from him, as well as tell him about the call. I went back to work, made another call or two and at least let a couple people breathe a little easier. That was my contribution to that day, small as it may seem.

At work someone had rigged a satellite receiver to a big screen TV in a conference room and many stopped by to watch at least a while. This, with CNN's replay, was how many here saw the towers collapse. The other reports and rumors (was a plane headed for the White House? Something hit the Pentagon. Was there a truck bomb in DC?) The net was, at best sluggish. The only working source of news on the net seemed to be slashdot, which did the unusual and covered a "regular" story. In later days there would be an article about just what effort it took to keep slashdot on the net just then. I also recall the new head of the plant (or such) who had yet to really be known coming on the PA system and saying, pretty much, "If you're paying attention to the news, the terrorists have already won." He may have meant well, but it came across as "Thousands killed, save MY bottom line!" (This person lost any possible respect I could have had for him, when he explained that in a bind and offered the choice of getting A done or getting B done (things requiring the same limited resources in a given time), he would answer "Both!" which only proved to me that he has no grasp of the real world. The laws of physics do not take orders and don't care if you came from West Point or East Dubuque. I suspect he is the type who issues memos like "Give me a list of all upcoming unscheduled outages." Perhaps well meaning, but ultimately clueless.)

At noon I went to the store and bought more videotape before going home. Somewhere, now, I have tape of a day or two of CNN's and/or FoxNew's coverage. After that, it all sort of blurs even more than this has. The first casualty estimates put the numbers as high as if the town I grew up in and around had been wiped out. These numbers have been revising downward multiple times, but it's still as if a third of that town had gone. That's how I try (and fail) to get any perspective on it.

The Friday after, I think, I also had an AIM conversation with someone who was taking courses taught in Manhattan. She lives in the Bronx and commutes. Luckily, it turned out, she had been driven to Manhattan and dropped off. Had she taken the subway... well, may as well let Bronxelf tell her own story.

After that (and even that week) is now just a blur. It was rather eerie to look at the sky and not see any trails. The first aircraft I saw in the air (a medical flight, I suspect) was a surprisingly emotional event. "Keep 'em flyin'!" came to mind all too easily.

And I kept thinking of that line from the tune on the night of the 10th...

[1] The old time radio commercials somehow seem less annoying. I don't know if it's that the annoying ones aren't selected for transmission on XM 164 or if it's the filter of nostalgia and historical curiosity or if the older radio commercials simply were not as plainly insulting.

That's brilliant!

Michael A. Rouse, in a letter in today's New York Post notes that the U.N. wants $1 Billion in loan guarantees for building repairs, while many in the U.S. want the World Trade Center rebuilt. Rouse suggests an interesting resolution:

Rebuild the WTC and move the U.N. to the top floors of the rebuilt towers.

* The U.N. gets new facilities.

* There will be no having to coax businesses to those top floors.

* Diplomats will have a reason to really think about terrorism.