September 11 is our generation’s JFK assassination: everybody remembers where they were on that traumatic day. Whether you were nearby the attacks in New York City, Washington, and Pennsylvania or watching in horror from far away, it is a day that changed our country and many of our lives. Today will be filled with memorial services and constant TV coverage, but some of the most poignant remembrances are already happening on Twitter where people are sharing where they were and what they did.
Jeff Jarvis, who was near the World Trade Center that day, today is Tweeting out his vivid recollection of what it was like to be at Ground Zero (unfortunately, his Twitter account got rate-limited briefly because he was Tweeting so much, but now is restored). NPR’s Andy Carvin is gathering many of the Tweets and rebroadcasting them using the #OnSept11 hashtag (he is also collecting them into a Storify here).
Everyone has a memory about where they were and how the felt. I was living in San Francisco at the time, and woke up to the news. This was right after the first plane hit the World Trade Center and nobody knew what was going on. I turned on the TV and called my girlfriend in New York (who is now my wife). She was on Fifth Avenue watching the smoke billowing from one of the towers. Then the second plane hit, calls wouldn’t go through anymore, and the country came to a screeching halt. At least for a few days. Airplanes were grounded and nobody would go near a tall building anywhere. Where were you #OnSept11?
I saw people using anything, even Snapple Iced Tea, to wash the dust off themselves. #911—
Jeff Jarvis (@jeffjarvis) September 11, 2011
A building guard told us to stay inside. But what did he know? I wanted to get away. A few of us left. #911—
Jeff Jarvis (@jeffjarvis) September 11, 2011
#onSept11 RT @freewimin: @acarvin My Dad, WWII vet, went to the bank to take out cash thinking a long war had started on 9/11.—
Andy Carvin (@acarvin) September 11, 2011
@acarvin Saw one man waving a gigantic American flag on the freeway in Los Angeles. Didn't know what happened yet. #911memorial—
David P. Alexander (@mrdavidpatrick) September 11, 2011
I remember my friend in college, a Pakistani Muslim, praying that the hijackers wouldn't turn out to be Muslim. #onSept11—
(@scatx) September 11, 2011
From his office on the 17th floor, 1.5 miles away, my husband had a clear view of the towers. He turned away — he couldn't watch. #onSept11—
Nancy Miller (@nancefinance) September 11, 2011
#OnSept11 I was living in SF and woke up to the news, called my then-girlfriend in NY who was watching from the street. She is now my wife.—
Erick Schonfeld (@erickschonfeld) September 11, 2011
@erickschonfeld #OnSept11 I was on a United flight. Miami to SF. 7am takeoff. We were grounded in Oklahoma City for 5 days, after 2 hours.—
Keith Teare (@kteare) September 11, 2011
Photo credit: George Hackett/Getty
Created in 2006, Twitter is a global real-time communications platform with 400 million monthly visitors to twitter.com, more than 200 million monthly active users around the world. We see a billion tweets every 2.5 days on every conceivable topic. World leaders, major athletes, star performers, news organizations and entertainment outlets are among the millions of active Twitter accounts through which users can truly get the pulse of the planet.
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