What Happened During 9-11-2001

It was ten years ago that I was getting ready for work at JPC – I had been there about a month.  I was curling my hair. In the dark ages before DVRs I had two VCRS set up to record the soaps on channel 2 and channel 7 on tapes that I erased every morning.  I had already set up my VCR to tape channel 2 when the news broadcast was interrupted to talk about a plane flying into the World Trade Center. While that seemed odd, it wasn’t entirely implausible that would happen – at that point it seemed an accident. But as a witness was describing the situation to Bryant Gumbel – another plane flew into the east tower just below the camera shot and a giant fireball went into the air. My first thought – everyone’s first thought had to be – “This is no accident!”

Robert was in New York so I called him first, and he was already on the phone.  His secretary asked if she should interrupt him, but at that moment I just wanted to make sure they were far from the disaster. I wasn’t sure he knew about it – it was clear by his assistant’s reserve that she didn’t, and it was too horrifying to fill her in – I had no idea how I would explain it, so I just got off the phone.

I called my mother, who was missing all this action - she was living in Vegas at the time, and it was about 6am there.  She was asleep, so I’m sure I sounded as if I was screeching into her ear when I said “Get out of bed, we’re under attack!” My mother honestly thought I had cracked up. Then I called Robert in Boston knowing he was also already at work – he was in a tall building as I was – and we were more than a little concerned.  He wanted to leave, but he didn’t.  I was on my way to work, and I had no idea what to expect.  I had only been there a month – what was going to happen there – JPC had an office in New York and at that moment I had no idea how far Rockefeller Plaza was from the World Trade Center. 

By the time I got in the car I was listening to an account of the attack on the Pentagon. Chicago looked like a sitting duck. I get to work and catch up with the rest of my family – they were probably all working also. My father was at home watching with rapt attention as I had been.  Alan was leaving work and Adrienne was going home also.  I, on the other hand, had a big day ahead of me.

My first call was to Blue Cross - I had to confirm that terrorist attacks were covered on our insurance plan – what would happen if one of the buildings our employees were in was ever under attack?  What about life insurance?  It sounds cold – but forewarned is forearmed!  Before that day, the World Trade Center had been bombed, but terrorism was still covered on most policies – after that day insurance companies were dropping those provisions like hot potatoes. I had to make sure our terrorist coverage was always in place.  JPC had an office down the street from the White House in DC and the office in Rockefeller.  There was no way to tell what was next, but in case the worst happened, which could have easily been an attack from the Klan, we had to be covered. Since so many people had already gone home or hadn’t come in after the attack, it was hard to get an answer, but I was successful.

I made a lot of friends that day – some people who had lived in DC were astonished that the Pentagon was burning – but we all were reminded that day that everything burns when it is hot enough. We were all waiting for something to happen to the Sears Tower – we couldn’t take our eyes off that building all day. We got to leave after the magazine was put to bed (around 3pm) and the exodus took about five minutes.  Most people were at home already.

I went to my second job – at the hotel, working the evening shift until 11pm.  The person at the Concierge desk was so relieved that she kissed me.  She ran out before she even said good bye and it wouldn’t take long before I understood why.  People at the hotel were frantic to get home or on to their next meetings.  Life had ground to a halt – no airplanes in the air. I wasn’t sure that I would ever get on another airplane again anyway.  There was no answer at Amtrak, and buses were the best bet to get out of town, but they were sold out for days and already behind because of the attacks.  People started taking rental cars and driving them back home in desperation. Only a few restaurants were open, the bars were jammed, and Walgreens was sold out of over the counter medication.

The true drama started when I got home.  I lived in the Illinois Center and the Israeli Consulate was located in the building. Everything was at high alert and a dog team was searching in and under my car like a terrorist was clutching my muffler ready to toss a grenade into the garage. It was a long crazy day and it ended with me staring out the window until I was ready to fall asleep.  Sleep would not come easily for a long time afterwards.

Sing out, Louise

Drawn to the stage at an early age!

As a child, I would spend some summers at my mother's school - and it was fun!  Going to my mother's school meant that I was at a predominately African American school.  Coles was still fairly integrated then.  My group of friends were the original rainbow coalition.  Lynn was German, Lupe was Mexican and Salvador was Filipino.  \

This school had a talent contest and I was determined to audition.  I sang one of the songs in the classic music book and then I sang a contemporary song.  All I can recall is how I grabbed the mic like a super diva and belted out "Stop! In the Name of Love" The teacher was very surprised to see that I knew almost all of the words. When I was little, many of my aunts and uncles were teen-agers.  I knew the words to every song by the Supremes, Temptations, Sly and the Family Stone, and Gladys Knight and the Pips.  Elaine and I watched them on TV, listened to them on the radio, played their records, and danced and sang around the house all the time. I was a natural as a miniature Diana Ross.  I even had back up singers.

My mother taught me the words to the song and the steps that we had for the performance and I was a willing pupil.  She kept me from having too much shimmy in my shake.  It was an incredible amount of work. In looking back at it, you have to marvel at what the Jackson Five achieved.  I had two songs to memorize and perform, learn how to sing without closing my eyes like George Strait singing "And The Race Is On" (another of my favorite songs when I was a kid - yes, I like country music), and smile continuously. I had a lot of bad habits to break.  I rehearsed so much I lost my voice the day before the show, but I was a trooper - I recovered in time to meet my public.

This was no "Toddlers and Tiaras" talent show. We were three little girls in press and curls in pink tights and paper dresses decorated with balloons.  There was no make-up, wigs, or false teeth involved. We hit the stage with the latest hit from Diana Ross and the Supremes and the Temptations - "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me".  We finished the set with "Up, Up, and Away" by the Fifth Dimension, blew kisses to the audience and then went backstage to sign autographs (on the show programs). I had been on stage before - but only to act or dance.  Now that I had added singing to my repertoire, I was officially a triple threat.

What happened to talent shows, dance class, and music instruction?  The strict curriculum in most public schools is adding to the sense of disengagement and the drop-out rate for present day school students - maybe an infusion of non-traditional fare would be advantageous to keep children in school.