As seen at
Anastasia's
1.) Challenger space shuttle exploded (1986):
Orono High school -- didn't see it, but several classes were watching it live.
2.) Berlin Wall falls down (1989):
I don't remember where specifically -- but, I would have been living in MN going to school and working a lot.
3.) Oklahoma City federal building bombing (1995):
I remember watching the coverage in our tiny third bedroom in our first base housing house at Offutt AFB, NE. It was chilling because Omaha was a secondary target.
4.) OJ Verdict (1995):
At work at the beauty supply company -- with lots of red necks. Their commentary was more ignorant than I'd expected.
5.) Princess Diana dies (1997):
I'm sure I lived in Omaha, but I don't recall finding out. She was beautiful and sweet -- but, I was up to my ears in a crazy school/work combo, so I could only notice so much --- and she wasn't on my radar.
6.) Columbine massacre (1999):
Again, we were in Omaha. The thing that was chilling about it was that my job in Denver included making appointments down in that area. Also, my first job in Denver (cleaning houses -- ick!), was based in a neighborhood very near the school. The woman I used to work for had elementary school kids who would have grown up to go to Columbine. Also, a relative of Hubby's went to school there for a while.
7.) JFK Jr. Plane crash (1999):
I remember sitting on the swing in the back yard of our second base housing house, talking about it with a friend who was in town for a week -- we drank a lot of wine that night --- and she was much more traumatized than was I.
8.) Bush/Gore crazy election (2000):
We watched the returns at Hubby's undergrad (and current uni). After a long while, we left --- the campus was quiet and dark. Hubby didn't really go to bed until the retracted concession.
Funny thing was that four years later we had debaters over for an election night party. One of them was a Japanese exchange student who asked how long this would go -- when we told her that last time it lasted weeks, she kind of thought she'd be staying at our place for weeks :).
9.) September 11, (2001):
I remember this one vividly. I was on the couch in our last apartment in Omaha. Hubby was sleeping and I was going to start on a mountain of grading. The TV was on to the morning news programs when they interrupted things to report the first plane going in. They were showing the first one burning live when the second hit. I then went in to wake Hubby... who asked, "what, another Cesna?"
We spent that day with a couple of debaters and every possible information source on at the same time. One of the debaters suggested going down to Offutt AFB to see Air Force One land. We convinced him that wouldn't be a good idea, as they guys at the gate had real bullets for the first time EVER.
It was also weird to see the neighborhood we'd just moved out of gaurded by guys with real guns -- and to see Bush go into the door where I regularly picked up Hubby.
10.) Space ship Columbia disintegrates (2003):
I don't remember the specifics, but I do recall it --- mostly because it was so different than Challenger.
11.) Hurricane Katrina hits (2005):
Washington DC for the American Political Science conference.
