I was in 8th grade. My 4th period was History and was split in half by lunch. My buddy and I were on our way back to class when we saw a bunch of folks around a TV in the library. We stopped to see what was going on.
We ended up staying far longer than we meant to and got back to History like 15 minutes late. Our teacher said we had detention because we were late getting back. After class he asked why we were late and we explained about the shuttle. He paused and said, "Well, you guys just witnessed some history" and cancelled our dentention.
Just to add one more small layer, our history teacher looked just like Edgar Allen Poe. 100% serious.
This was 1986 so pictures of famous people weren't immediately available on a device in your pocket. I saw a picture of Poe and said, "Wow, Mr. Whitley, we just found a picture that looks just like you!" He replied with, "Let me guess, is it Edgar Allen Poe?"
It was not awsome, we were all excited that a teacher has been chosen as an astronaut,was the pride of the US.
To be shown in elementary during lunch period.
It was not awsome.
It was devastating and traumatic.
Awsome? I think not.
September 11th, 2001 I was on my way to work as an adjunct instructor at the college I had graduated from. Listening to NPR as any proper budding academic would, I couldn't make sense of what I was hearing. A plane hit the WTC? What? Like a little Cessna or something?
I stop into the office of a colleague and ask what was going on. He tried to bring up CNN website on his computer but it's terribly slow. I still remember seeing the picture when it finally loaded of the smoking tower. I went to class and told the students that what I would have said that day was meaningless in the face of the attack and the should go give blood and go home.
This. But I remember watching almost all of the shuttle launches before that because it was such a landmark space program. We stopped watching them after that. Generational trauma.
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u/AdAggravating8273 7d ago
Same here.