November 22, 1963:  I was in school. I lived on a Kansas farm and went to a country school. 2 rooms: 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades in one room, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades in the other room. An outdoor john! Anyway, the teacher from the other room came into our room with a radio. I was at the back of the room and couldn't tell what was happening, but then our teacher burst into tears. That was shocking to me and everybody else. All her pets ran to the front of the room to comfort her but I stayed at my desk. The only other thing I remember about that day was getting home and realizing that none of my favorite cartoons and shows were on because all the TV channels were covering the assassination. I complained out loud and my dad yelled at me to "have some respect!" That was shocking to me too, and I cried from being yelled at. The thing is, I came from a staunch Republican household. I barely knew Kennedy existed because Dad would turn the channel whenever his face appeared and refused to talk about him. In the days following, with the funeral and all, I learned more about Kennedy. I will never forget seeing Caroline and John-John standing with their mother. I didn't know they existed either. I was near to the same age as Caroline and really identified with her as a kid whose dad had died and it made me think of how I'd feel if my dad died.

The freakiest thing happened. As I wrote the above I was listening to my Shoutcast stream and a song came on that incorporated one of Kennedy's speeches as samples. I've just sat for 15 minutes shaking my head at such a strange coincidence!



February 9, 1964: The first album I ever bought was a Beatles album, but I don't remember watching this. We always watched the Ed Sullivan show so I have no idea why there's no memory. Perhaps mom or dad nixed the show because they didn't like the Beatles. I don't know.

July 20, 1969: We had just gotten out of church and went over to my aunt and uncle's house. The TV was on all day and my brother, cousins and I played while the adults ate and talked. When the time came, everybody gathered in front of the TV and watched.

Watergate
Lennon's murder: December 8, 1980: 
Diana's wedding:
Diana's death:

Hyatt tragedy:
Nov 9 1989 (Berlin Wall falls) 


March 30???,1981: I'll never forgive Mark David Chapman???? for this. At the time, I worked for a company that delivered cars (for people moving, repossessions, etc.)  and I was on assignment to drive a car from Kansas City, MO (where I lived at the time) to a tiny town in Wyoming. It was a great trip! I was able to route myself so that I could stop and see Mount Rushmore and Devil's Tower along the way. I had planned very carefully so that I would reach the town, deliver the car, eat dinner, then hole up in a motel room with a TV so I could watch the Academy Awards. I had only missed them once since I was old enough to be aware of them. This year was especially important to me since Sissy Spacek, my favorite actress, was up for Best Actress in Coal Miner's Daughter. I delivered the car to a car dealership and people were listening to the radio, but I didn't pay attention. Someone from the car dealership gave me a ride over to the motel. Somewhere along the way I learned that Reagan had been shot. I didn't really care. I hated Reagan with a passion. I felt bad for the other people who had been shot though. What I really cared about that night was the Academy Awards and when I found out they were postponed I was livid! I had to be back at work and there was no way I could postpone going back the next morning. So, I was on a Greyhound bus when my beloved Sissy won her Academy Award. Damn!

January 28, 1986: I worked a night shift and had slept late. When I got up I turned on the TV and then went to do something else. For the longest time there was only shots of a blue sky and no real commentary. After a while I wondered what the hell was going on and went and sat down. It took me a little while longer to realize that something had happened to the space shuttle earlier. I flipped around channels and saw a repeat of the explosion. I was in shock. I felt horrible for the people in the shuttle, but also for the countless schoolchildren who had witnessed such a thing.

Tiannimean Square: I had a live radio show on a Community Station and had spent the day preparing for it, so needless to say, I wasn't watching TV or listening to the radio. I got into the studio, the show started, I was happy and chatty. Then a little later I got a phone call from a listener who was a bit shocked that I seemed to be so happy. I asked why and he told me about the killing happening in TS. I was devastated! When the next song ended I came back on the air and apologised to my listening audience, explaining that I hadn't heard the news and wasn't being cheery out of disrespect. I started crying while talking and then played the next song. The phones lit up and people were trying to comfort *me*! 

January 16, 1991: Living in Chicago now, I had another radio show that I would tape at home on reel-to-reel and then deliver to the college radio station for play. I was at the college, had delivered the reel, then went into the lounge to get something out of the vending machines. All the TVs in the lounge were tuned to CNN and the bombs had started falling. I was mortified that my show would air with me sounding all chirpy and happy, but it was too late. I had a Walkman and tuned into the station. Yep, my show was airing. Shades of TS!

May 16, 1995: I was at home, and our TV was out, so I got all my news about Oklahoma City from the net. It was days later when I saw TV footage of the horror.

October 3, 1995: I again was at home and watched the verdict on TV. I couldn't believe it and got on the net to see what other people were saying. I got into quite a few flame wars that day.

September 11, 2001: I never watch TV or listen to the radio while getting ready for work, so I left the house not knowing anything. I was tired on the train and closed my eyes and rested. The train was packed but very very quiet. No one was talking about it. As I got close to my stop I looked out the elevated train window as we passed a building's commissary. Inside, people were all huddled around TV sets in the lunch room. That's when I wondered if someone had died. Obviously something had happened. When I got into work I saw the Office Manager and he said something about planes hitting the Word Trade Center. I followed him into our lunch room where everybody was gathered around a TV. The first tower had collapsed just before I got there. Everybody was in shock, of course, and rumours were rampant about the Pentagon getting hit, the White House getting hit, Camp David, I don't remember what else. An executive posed his head into the room and asked that the TV be turned down. He then made the announcement that our office in one of the WTC buildings had been evacuated and it looked like no one had been hurt. He then said that our office would be closed and if we wanted to go home we could. When he left someone turned up the TV again and we found that the 2nd Tower had collapsed while he was talking to us. Seeing the reruns of the collapse was too much. Most people, including me, went back to our desks and left. It was scary because our 48 story building faced out onto Lake Michigan, and it was easy to imagine a plane heading straight for us.