5 Years
I was at school at 7AM that day.
Early, hmm? It was a black day -- as defined by the school, designating the day in our block scheduling that contained Student Responsibility Block, a school-wide study hall -- so we were there shortly after sunrise for marching band.
In any case, I was there at 7AM. Nothing had happened yet, and we were all in blissful ignorance for the majority of the events. Even latecomers got to school before anything had happened.
During first block, I was in the band room for vocal music, the only room in the school NOT equipped with a television. At that point, most of the events had yet to unfold, so there were few trickles of information from those who had listened to the radio on their way to school. For 45 minutes more, I still had no idea that there was anything of consequence going on in the world.
At break, my friend Dani and I dropped in on O (our band director) to borrow his tape player. He was hunched over his desk, listening intently to the radio and looking more than just a little worried. I didn't really ask, although Dani chatted with him for a minute before we headed for a practice room. There, she filled me in; the World Trade Center had been hit by a plane. She didn't know why or what else was going on. O was worried for various reasons, among those being our upcoming band trip to New York City, but at that point that was all we knew.
When SRB (the following block) came along, the whole school sat in stunned silence, every TV in the building tuned to the news.
The rest of the day passed in much the same way. As the towers fell and the Pentagon burned, school as we knew it came to a screeching halt; teachers were just as curious as we were as to what was going on and why. In a small town in South Dakota, this was unbelievable. Even as our own Mount Rushmore closed and all flights out of Sioux Falls were cancelled, reality was nonexistent.
Six months later, I stood on the observation deck of the Empire State Building, watching two pillars of light shine where there had once been two towers. Then -- not till then -- it all seemed real.
Early, hmm? It was a black day -- as defined by the school, designating the day in our block scheduling that contained Student Responsibility Block, a school-wide study hall -- so we were there shortly after sunrise for marching band.
In any case, I was there at 7AM. Nothing had happened yet, and we were all in blissful ignorance for the majority of the events. Even latecomers got to school before anything had happened.
During first block, I was in the band room for vocal music, the only room in the school NOT equipped with a television. At that point, most of the events had yet to unfold, so there were few trickles of information from those who had listened to the radio on their way to school. For 45 minutes more, I still had no idea that there was anything of consequence going on in the world.
At break, my friend Dani and I dropped in on O (our band director) to borrow his tape player. He was hunched over his desk, listening intently to the radio and looking more than just a little worried. I didn't really ask, although Dani chatted with him for a minute before we headed for a practice room. There, she filled me in; the World Trade Center had been hit by a plane. She didn't know why or what else was going on. O was worried for various reasons, among those being our upcoming band trip to New York City, but at that point that was all we knew.
When SRB (the following block) came along, the whole school sat in stunned silence, every TV in the building tuned to the news.
The rest of the day passed in much the same way. As the towers fell and the Pentagon burned, school as we knew it came to a screeching halt; teachers were just as curious as we were as to what was going on and why. In a small town in South Dakota, this was unbelievable. Even as our own Mount Rushmore closed and all flights out of Sioux Falls were cancelled, reality was nonexistent.
Six months later, I stood on the observation deck of the Empire State Building, watching two pillars of light shine where there had once been two towers. Then -- not till then -- it all seemed real.
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