Remember 9/11

[Chocolatl]

I don't remember much, but I do remember that I was in my 10th grade art class when our teacher turned the t.v. on and we finally found out what was really happening after hearing all sorts of rumors in the halls.

There were a fair number of transplanted New Yorkers at my school, and I remember some of my classmates being either in mute shock or wailing hysterics. Hearing one New Yorker friend's thoughts in a creative writing class I had that semester is what I remember most of that time period -- the broken-hearted shock, the sadness, the rising determination, and always the question of Why, why, why.

People's parents started to come pick them up to take them home, and as we moved from class to class, the population dwindled. The administrators tried to make an announcement to turn off all t.vs, but the teachers let us choose. We usually asked to keep them on, because the uncertainty was worse than anything.

Some people became convinced that "they" were going to come bomb Disney World, because it was a cultural icon, or Miami, because it was a port town, or our high school, because it was a... well, I'm not sure why anybody thought our high school would be a target. But the fear was in us just the same.