tablesaw | (no subject)

Just now I said that I didn't have anything interesting to write about my memories September 11, 2001. That's true so far is it goes. See, almost every personal account of September 11 centers around the same thing, the television. Sometimes it's the radio, or the internet, but usually it's the TV. The nation plopped itself down whever they were and all watched the same news feeds coming from all over the world. So, I don't really have much to say about it that you probably don't already know, or that can't be easily seen on any televised retrospective.

But

westernactor just revealed his log of

ifmud for that day. I spent most of the day in front of the computer screen as much as the television screen (I had both in the same room), so the log captures a lot of what I was thinking and wondering throughout the day. I think that, when I get the chance, I'll pick out some quotes and actually put together a composite of highlights of thoughts for that day.

In other news, I stopped by the carriage house on my way home and talked with my uncle about the finishing touches. My place is going to rock hard. The people working on the house, including my uncle, are also in charge of constructing the new million-dollar home of Blythe Danner and Bruce Paltrow. The place looks fantastic, and there's still more to be done. Everyone's invited to the housewarming/showing off party when it happens.

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The nation plopped itself down whever they were and all watched the same news feeds coming from all over the world.

Unless, of course, they could look out the window and see what was happening first-hand.

Earlier today I heard a woman on the radio tell the story of her day. It started with what she thought was an earthquake as she stayed in the World Trade Center Marriott. In the middle, it had her engulfed in the cloud of smoke, ash and debris. It ended with her at a friend's apartment . . . watching TV, watching over and over again the videotape of the buildings collapsing, the same buildings she had watched collapse yards away from her.

In the same log I mentioned, one person who was in Brooklyn. When he went up to the roof, pieces of the collapsed World Trade Center Building got into his hair, and when he opened the window, ash floated onto his computer. But he spent a lot of his time watching the single broadcast news outlet available.

I suspect that other stories are similar, with people being inexorably pulled toward the television, or to the streaming video, or to whichever media outlet that's available.