Remembering ...

There’s no doubt in my mind ‘United 93’ will top the box office at the end of the weekend. Some say it’s too late, some say it’s too soon … either way, it’s here, and count me among those who are glad it is, not in the form of an over-hyped, over-produced, computer-generated, explosive-packed Jerry Bruckheimer movie. But a simple film that remains true and accurate to the heroism that occurred that day.

With other things filling our schedules and movie tickets rivaling the price of a car, it’s likely Kates and I won’t see it until it’s on DVD … when the time comes, though, I will be more than ready and willing to take it in …

If it’s anything like A&E’s ‘Flight 93,’ which I saw earlier this spring, ‘United 93’ will be a powerful and historic account that will grip you from the very beginning, conjuring up all the heartache and horror we felt on 9/11. No doubt, as there were in the A&E film, there will be scenes that are tough to watch, but the scenes are very real …

Like JFK’s assassination, like the Titanic sinking, like the Challenger explosion -- 9/11 remains one of those mystifying, historic tragedies that will fascinate me forever. It's the news junkie/history buff coming out in me. The historic magnitude of it (and the fact I’m a pack rat …) is why I’ve collected a VHS tape full of documentaries and footage, a stack of magazines and newspapers from that daze of a September week and two CDs worth of audio clips and music inspired by the attacks …My way of remembering and honoring the victims, I guess …

It’s also hard to deny the lessons we’ve learned and the things we no longer take for granted since 9/11. We're reminded of that daily …

I know I’ll never forget it.

Even in rural Missouri, it was a sunny, gorgeous Tuesday morning and I was returning to my college apartment about 9 a.m. from an early rhetorical writing class I rarely made … and on the radio I hear the DJ give some vague report about the Twin Towers ‘leaning.’ Then the editor of my college newspaper, my gut told me there might be something to this and I promptly turned my car around to head to our student publications office (I hadn't yet come into the cell phone age so simply calling someone wasn't an option) …

Blowing through the door, I said something to a desk worker, who said she heard something too, but didn’t know for sure what was happening. I remember a race to find a television or radio before finally finding our newspaper adviser’s office. And there she was in her desk chair, glued to the TV coverage. And there it was, one of the towers on fire, thick black smoke pouring from it …

The more we watched, the clearer it became how real and serious this day would be …

Before the second plane crashed into the towers, I was on my way to my apartment to grab a camera and begin searching for reaction shots throughout the community. There was my roommate -- aka: our newspaper’s photography editor -- stumbling out of bed and getting ready to take a shower. All he had on his mind that morning was meeting a previous obligation to mow our adviser’s lawn. He had no idea what was going on and couldn’t have cared less about journalism at that moment in time. I'll never forget our intense exchange, me the hard-working editor, trying to clue him in on the enormity of the situation …

‘Well, John, we kind of have an American tragedy happening right now!’ I shouted, racing around our apartment putting together a camera and loading film …

…Minutes later I was popping in and out of the downtown shops and municipal offices to get reaction from residents and photos. The Super Wal-mart was eerily empty and quiet … and at the schools, the kids were virtually locked in classrooms, some were allowed to watch TVs, but most were shut out from anything outside their school’s walls …

And I’ll forever remember speeding out of the high school parking lot, my adrenaline flowing at full speed, with a cop and his flashing lights pulling up behind me. I had my license out and ready before he even got to my car, I knew I was going about 10 over, but I’m thinking ‘There is no way he can give me a ticket today …’ … He asks me where I’m headed. ‘I’m the editor of The Missourian and I’m just going around town to get some reactions and photos from the attacks this morning,’ I told him. If he needed any proof I was telling the truth, the camera was strapped around my neck in plain sight …The officer goes back to his car and returns a few minutes later, letting me off with a warning …

Then there were the frantic calls to the members of our newspaper staff, calling an early afternoon meeting. We were halfway into our production and ripped apart all the stories and pages we had planned for the week to start from scratch. And I begged everybody to just work together and help wherever they could.

There was the scramble to gas stations and then the lines, as we all feared gas prices were going to skyrocket. There was the call to my parents, as Peter Jennings and so many other TV analysts were urging, just to let them know I was thinking of them. There was the memorial that night around the bell tower in the center of our campus … I get chills thinking of it now. There were the members of our staff crowded around the television that night to watch President Bush’s speech … And there were several days of little sleep, skipped classes and endless, endless television coverage.

My memories.

Movie reviews & news...
a 'United 93': Is America Ready for the Movie?
a FAA Chief Relives 9/11 for the Big Screen
a Baltimore Sun: 'United 93' revisits the terror -- and the humanity -- of 9/11
a Arizona Daily Star: 'United 93' unflinchingly chronicles passengers' heroism
a Washington Post: 'United 93': Agonizing Heroism
a 'United 93' contributing to memorial
a For Paul Greengrass, a Connecting Flight

Other 9/11-related reads ...
a Freedom Tower work begins at WTC site
a Sept. 11 terrorist attacks claim latest victim
a Trying to Fill a Void Left by 9/11
a Lone Lawmaker Blocks Flight 93 Monument in Pa.
a 9/11 Museum Taps Holocaust Museum Official
a NY Times: Complete Coverage: The 9/11 Records (Oral histories and audio files)