Single What? Female...

And where were you?

A friend of mine posted on her Facebook page, "Where were you on 9/11?" and told the story of how she was teaching pre-school in Boston at the time and as it got around that two planes which had taken off at the nearby Logan Airport had crashed into the twin towers, she and rest of the teachers were trying to keep it together for the kids.
I didn't want to post the whole story of my day as a "comment" as I never can just shorten it to just that first moment when I and the other fellow actors in line for an audition heard the news, so I sent her this message instead. I added a couple of details that I forgot to add at the time, but, well...here's where I was that fateful day...

The day started out sitting outside on this cool, perfect and clear tuesday morning, waiting in line for an audition. I remember talking and laughing with people, all of us remarking on how gorgeous a day it was. We got let into the building at 8:30am or so - sign in was at 9am - and as we are getting settled, this guy with those radio headphones calls out that "a plane just hit one of the Twin Towers" I got my walkman out, scrambled to get my headphones on and listened to the news as well. The room was kind of hushed already as we took in the news that a "small" plane had hit one of the towers: what sounded like a horrible accident. Next thing you know, the hush is broken by first, the monitor who has not heard the news yet announcing that it's time to sign in and to find our places back in line if we'd left, and then by the guy with the headphones saying "The other tower's been hit, We're under attack!" We're not awake enough and too much in shock to take this in just yet so the line shuffles forward and we get our appointment cards and as soon as I get my card, I get my walkman back out and start listening.
I remember stepping outside and noticing how quiet everything was. No cars, hardly any people...a woman walked up to a coffee cart guy and said "Did you hear what happened?" You heard random "What's going on?"'s and "I can't believe it!"'s and such. When I got to the corner, I looked left like you would for traffic, except there was no traffic, and at the end of the street on the horizon all you could see was billowing smoke. As I walked west to work from 54th and Lex, that smoke continued up Park, Madison, Fifth...I don't think I passed more than 8 people on the streets, and saw all of two or three cars and this was essentially rush hour in New York City.
There's a hotel on 6th avenue whose bar window usually is draped in red curtains. As I passed it, I noticed the curtains were pulled back and there was a construction guy and a businessman, I think, standing in front of the window. The bar had the TV on there on the TV news was footage of the North Tower with a gaping hole billowing smoke. I remember thinking that I had seen some of the building from the street, but there's no way I could have from where I was, but I will never forget that smoke for the rest of my life.
I got to work and immediately turned on the phones, in case someone needed... something. Only a couple of my co-workers were in at the time, one of whom turned on the TV in the boss's office. I somehow felt I had to be glued to my switchboard and rarely left it, as if the news was frivolous and any call that came in would be some sort of an emergency. I did not see the towers fall on the news when it happened, but the guy who had turned on the TV ran down the hall to tell me about it. I remember that was one time I went to the office to see it on TV. And then I ran right back to my switchboard.
Of the few calls I got before they sent us home, one was from my co-worker Marisa in Brooklyn who couldn't get into work because they had shut down the trains...there were ashes that blown across the river and were now on her stoop and the street; another was from my co-worker Seth who had asked if I had heard from his brother as his brother was supposed to cater there that morning and he hadn't heard from him (the catering ended up being some place else, but as cell service was derailed, the only way Seth's brother could contact him was by calling their parents in Alaska and the parents called Seth on a landline...this is why I still have a land line phone in my apartment). Seth asked me to call him if I heard from his brother and then nearly broke down as he told me how he had seen people jump from the towers (he and his brother lived downtown).
I started getting emails. People couldn't use their cellphones in the city, but we managed to have internet. The first email I got was from my best friend's (sadly now ex-) wife and simply read "Are you okay?" Next came from my friend Sean in Boston and then others. I printed up all the emails from that day and still have them...and am so grateful I got them.
The company that was booked at City Center at the time called the boss (who had made it in from Brooklyn that morning) and asked about whether or not they would be performing. We were like "Um, did you see what has just happened?!?!" Apparently, they were worried about missing a chance at a NY Times review (they were from Spain and I would like to believe just in shock). They were assured that the dance critic from the Times was not going anywhere tonight. No one was going anywhere that night.
I remember looking out the window later and seeing lines of people walking. The subways and buses were shut down, no vehicles were allowed on the roads save for emergency vehicles, so people were walking home.
When we got let go for the day, I remember heading to a cafe for lunch with a co-worker. It was packed, full of people talking, but no one was laughing, smiling, joking. Just loud mutterings really. My friend and I were couldn't help but look around, caught up in the eerieness of it all. By the time we were done, the buses were back up. I grabbed a bus that rolled very slowly to 175th and was full of stunned and emotional people. I was planning on walking from 175th, but the subways were back running by the time I got there. I took the train home, walked to my building, went to get a beverage at the bodega at the base of building and looked at the Lebanese guy who ran it behind the counter. His eyes were red and wet...and my first thought was how he and his brother were going to get a lot of crap from ignorant people, despite the fact that they were just as upset as everybody else.
I watched as much of the TV footage as I could stand, but it was so constant...

The next day...I went to work...we were going to be open that night. It would be free to the public. Many folks were appalled, as most of Broadway was going to be dark again in tribute and I was surprised as well, but I volunteered to usher that night even if it was only to get out of the house. I gotta tell ya, so many people were so happy that we were open. We had all these tourists who wanted to get away from their hotel TV's and were so glad to have something else to see and do that night after 9/11. I was so glad that we could be there to help...even if the show ended up not being that great :p
So that's where I was on the the 11th (and the 12th)

Where were you?

Peace --Alex

posted by funkweee @ 8:30 AM