Where were you?

[Rocknrule]

Do you remember where you were/what you were doing when you heard about major news events in your lifetime? Did any of them personally affect you or occur near you? Some I remember:

Oklahoma City - don't remember, but remember taking a moment of silence in school gym on the 1-year anniversary
Princess Di's death - sleepover with friend
Jonesboro - most people don't remember, but my teacher talked to us about it and possible fears we may have of fire drills
Columbine - reading book in class when principal announced it (my school was 12 miles away)
Bush's inauguration - listening on my dad's car radio, thinking "please, don't let him screw up" (so much for that...)
9/11 - U.S. history class (how fitting), thinking we were watching some sort of action movie
Beginning of Iraq war - recovering from power outage due to a huge blizzard, it was the first thing I saw when the TV came back on
Saddam's capture - doing homework when my mom told me
Columbia explosion - ditto
Tsunami - read about it in paper
Bush's "re-election" - in class when someone told us that Kerry conceided
Katrina - in dorm room, saw it on Comcast news
Virginia Tech - checking email in computer lab, also saw it on Comcast news
Obama winning - election night party at CB & Potts
Ft. Hood - once again, learned about it on Comcast news at home

[Cresent City Kid]

1. I don't remember where I was for most of those

For 9/11, I was at work asking a work related question when someone broke the news. It felt surreal to finish the query and continue working.

Katrina is easy to remember, I was on my balcony waiting for it.

[hlthe2b]

4. With both 911 and the Columbine shootings, here in CO

I ended up doing a round-the-clock tv news vigil for three days.... I absolutely was transfixed with a horror that would barely allow me to leave the tube (with Columbine, I literally couldn't as I'd just had orthopedic surgery and could barely move around). It was a long while, after Columbine before that dark cloud of gloom left me and I am convinced it impacted my post surgery recovery. With 911, I not only had the tv, & NPR radio, but DU as my 24/7 obsession.

I have since learned how to wean myself off, for sanity's sake. :shrug:

[BP2]

2. "9/11 - U.S. history class (how fitting)" - I'm sure you had the book right-side up, unlike Bushie!

[BP2]

3. oops, dupe - deleted

[lpbk2713]

5. Launch of Sputnik ... JFK/RFK/MLK assassinations.

I remember them well.

[MiniMe]

6. Jonesboro and Columbine did not leave a lasting memory for me for some reason

The rest I remember clearly. But you do need to be specific as to which Iraq War you are talking about, the one under Bush I or Bush II. But there are many other moments too, the Challenger explosion, Reagan's shooting, JFK/RFK/MLK, Nixon resigning, watergate to name a few. I was young, and I don't remember where I was when JFK was assinated, but I remember the rest I named clearly. I remember JFK's funeral, but I don't remember the assination part of it, how weird is that?

[Rocknrule]

7. Jonesboro has been largely forgotten, it seems

Not by me, though. It was the first school shooting that really got my attention, largely because it was carried out by kids that had barely hit puberty.

[Blue_In_AK]

11. When I saw Jonesboro in that list, I thought of Jonestown,

which was more memorable to me.

[Robyn66]

13. Regan's shooting

I forgot that one! My father had picked me up from marching band practice when I heard!

[LuvNewcastle]

8. I heard about most of those either on tv

or the radio. 9/11 and Katrina stand out as the most important to me. I was recovering from surgery when 9/11 happened, and I thought at first that they were showing a clip from a new movie. I watched the coverage from morning to night for the entire week afterward. My family and I evacuated to Memphis to stay with relatives for Katrina. We watched CNN and Fox News to keep up with the damage reports coming in. However, most of the reports were about New Orleans and the plight of other hard-hit areas was virtually ignored. That was a very frustrating time. My brother worked for the police department at the time and had to be here during the storm, so at least we had him to give us some information.

[elocs]

9. I remember them, but where I was was not really important to me,

although I'm sure I was somewhere.

[Blue_In_AK]

10. The events I remember most clearly

in the "where were you" category are the assassinations of JFK, RFK and MLK, and the end of the Vietnam War. I remember where I was when I first heard of 9/11 because my neice woke us up at 5:00 a.m. to tell us. With Katrina I remember going to bed thinking that New Orleans had dodged a bullet and then waking up to find out that, no, it hadn't.

So many tragic events have happened over the course of my lifetime that I'm really not affected by them much anymore, sad to say. Stuff happens, and will continue to.

[Robyn66]

12. Some of the things I remember from my life

Jonestown Massacre-I was a little kid but I remember seeing all the bodies on the ground on the news and the huge buckets of cool-aid. You would be surprised how many people don't know that is where the term "cool-aid drinker" comes from!

Three Mile Island-I don't know how old I was but I remember watching the news and hearing about it on the radio. Everyone was waiting for it to blow and we were all terrified.

John Lennon's murder-I was in bed and heard he was shot on the late news. I was a freshman in High School.

Mount St. Helens-We were glued to the TV every night. It was so amazing in a horrifying way. The photos were taken by a photographer who didn't survive. An 80 year old man named Harry S Truman lived on the mountain and would not be evacuated.

Space shuttle Challenger Explosion-I was between classes in college and my mother called me in my dorm to tell me.

Desert Storm-I was working in the office at K-mart after I graduated from college (no jobs when I graduated in 1989 either) and as I was leaving, there were 30 or so people standing around watching the TV's and someone turned to me and said "We're at war" I went numb. A lot of my friends joined the military then and had a lot of health problems when they came back.

OKlahoma City-I was at work and someone put a radio on.

Princess Di's death -I just remember hearing about it on TV the morning after it happend. I was a HUGE fan. I had the Lady Di haircut, collected books about her and china and everything. It was a very sad day for me.

Columbine -My youngest daughter was 4 months old I was working nights.

9/11 -We had just moved to our house on Sept 8th and I was unpacking boxes. My husband called me from work and said "a plane just flew in to the World Trade Center" I turned on the TV to see plane #2 hit. I watched about 20 minutes of coverage and have done my best to not see any more.

The Station Nightclub-I was not working and I was called by some friends who live in the Providence RI area. It was horrifying. I know some local cops who still have nightmares.

Bush's "re-election" - I was up until about 2:00am praying for Kerry to win, I don't remember exactly when he conceded but it was before I went to work the next morning and I was sick

Katrina -I remember watching coverage over the weekend and wondering where the hell the national guard was!

Virginia Tech - I thought OH NO NOT another Columbine

Obama winning - I was glued to my TV with my two daughter's all night!