I was a student at the University of Memphis on September 11, 2001. I was having quite a bad few days. School had began two weeks before and I was having a host of “first world problems”: I couldn’t get my mini-fridge, computer or TV delivered to campus until to the end of the week, a class I needed was full and I was waiting for someone to drop it so I could enroll in it and I’d yet to purchase my textbooks because my new debit card had not arrived in the mail yet and I could not get to the bank.
And the previous week, I had a falling out with my supervisor on my cushy work study job and I abruptly resigned, so in order to get my work study funds, I had to find another job.
That Tuesday morning, I was prepared to just skip class. I was going to take a nap, go to the library, visit the computer lab, or just do something to take my mind away from my “problems”. I was living in Robison Hall and my roommate was a former Army sergeant who was enrolled in the ROTC program, which was located in neighboring Hayden Hall. He had PT (physical training) at 6am and class afterwards, so normally after he cleared out in the mornings the dorm was all mine.
That Tuesday I awoke at 8:30a. I turned on the TV and the big news story was Michael Jordan’s return to the NBA. As I prepared to skip class that day, I had a flashback to my Intro to Philosophy class from the previous Thursday. Our professor told us that we were having an exam the next Thursday and Tuesday would be the day we went over the study guide. I could not blow this class off; by the time I realized this, it was 8:45a and class began at 9:05a, a whole 20 minutes to shower, get dressed and arrive to class. Robison Hall was a traditional dorm with community showers outside the rooms; I had to rush to the showers, bathe, race back to my room then run to Clement Hall.
I arrived to class about 5 minutes late and class began. I looked around and thought “Wow, a lot of people must have dropped”. About 30 minutes into class about 5 students came into class. One of the students said, “Hey, have y'all heard? An airplane hit one of the World Trade Center towers in New York”. After that, another 3 or 4 people came into class. They said the lobby was full of students watching the news on TV. After a few minutes of discussion, the professor said we would discuss it later because we had to go over the material for the study guide. About an hour later, class let out.
In the haste of rushing to class, I’d left my wallet in my dorm room. I was going to go to the UC dining hall to get some food. As I traveled across campus, I noticed it was eerily quite; people were in small groups conversing quietly, and there were way fewer people outside as usual.
I got to my room and located my wallet and was about to make the short trek to the UC for some lunch. I noticed my caller ID was blinking. Hoping it was someone who called my roommate, I quickly check the number so I could leave (I was really hungry!). It was my mother. I wanted to leave and get my food, so I called Mum to see what she wanted.
“You didn’t hear what happened in New York?”, she asked. I was not able to put the pieces together at that moment so I turned on my TV. Then it hit me: this is what they were talking about in class. I watched and saw the live coverage unfolding. I sat there and watched in horror as one of the WTC towers fell. The news anchors repeated speculation that it was a terror attack.
After about 2 hours I decided to finally eat something. Afterwards, something told me to go over to Patterson Street to check in on the Catholic Center. I had a friend who worked and lived there. As I entered the Catholic Center, a group of students were praying. As I walked down Patterson, all the religious houses were filled with people: Barth House, church of Christ, Presbyterian, Hillel…these places became refuges on campus.
I wish I’d had a video camera with me that day; I had so many touching encounters with people that day, most of whom I didn’t know. The thing I remember the most was how quiet it was: in Memphis, the sound of aircraft is commonplace, so much that it’s very noticeable when it’s not there. That, and the fact that everyone was in a somewhat somber mood gave the environment an ominous feel.
TV coverage was wall to wall. Every channel on TV had news coverage. Viacom stations like MTV and VH1 was showing local coverage from NYC. In fact, between that Tuesday and Sunday, not a single commercial was shown on TV. I can remember WREG block feeding the week’s episodes of “Jeopardy!” at 1am that fallowing Saturday.
It was very interesting having an Army sergeant as a roommate during that period; we had a lot of discussions about what was going on. I can remember the sentiment afterwards for everyone went from fear, sadness then anger. Extreme anger. I remember a Sikh student was harassed in front of the library on campus because he “looked like a terrorist”.
It sounds super cliche-ish, but things were never the same after that day.
