2003-02-02

Where were you?

Ah, yes...the survey. The single easiest way to update without really updating. The houseboy already beat me to it, but here goes:

Where were you....

1. When John F. Kennedy was shot (11/22/1963) - I wasn't born. I don't think I was even a possibility. My brother was around, although being one year old at the time, likely has no recollection of the day one way or the other. My mom was at work; I know this only because on the day that Reagan was shot (March 30, 1981), she called me in hysterics, because she was at her desk when Kennedy was shot, and now here she was at her desk when Reagan got shot, and did I want McDonald's for dinner?

2. When Mt. St. Helens blew (5/18/1980) - I don't remember much of anything about the actual day, other than the fact that my grandparents (who lived in Montana) called to report that it was raining ash in their backyard. I found this absolutely fascinating; I became totally obsessed with Mt. St. Helens, knocking the "History's Greatest Disasters" section of my parents' encyclopedia set down a few pegs in the hierarchy of my obsessions. I'd linger almost lovingly over this series of engravings (the Titanic, the Lusitania), probably causing no end of worry from the folks regarding their bookish, somewhat morbid and antisocial middle child. Wow. No wonder I'm enjoying this survey so much.

3. When the space shuttle Challenger exploded (1/28/1986) - I was a sophomore in high school. I remember sitting in the library, reading all about Keats and whipping myself into a little neo-romantic frenzy about the guy (unrequited love! died young! maybe had syphillis!) when the principal made the announcement over the PA system.

4. When the 7.1 earthquake hit San Francisco (10/7/1989) - Uhhhh, well, that was my sophomore year in college, and given the date, I was probably in rehearsals for The Male Animal. Honestly, I have no idea.

5. When the Gulf War began (1/16/1991) - Actually, I have a curiously more vivid memory of the day it ended (February 27). My roommate Katie and I were basically war junkies, with CNN more or less on from the minute we got up to the minute we went to sleep. I remember we both got up and went to the door and announced the end of the war to our hallmates, and then I think we probably turned the television off for the first time in 43 days.

6. When OJ Simpson was chased in his White Bronco (6/17/1994) - I was on the computer, checking some message boards on Prodigy (Man, those were the days, huh?), listening to the coverage on CNN in the next room while returning to the Prodigy start-up menu every 5 minutes to see how well they were keeping up with it. Christ, I am such a loser....

7. When the building in Oklahoma City was bombed (4/19/1995) - I was in grad school, and I think I'd just gotten back from class and there it was on CNN. Me and CNN got it goin' on, chickens....

8. When Princess Di was killed (8/31/1997) - I hadn't heard about it until my dad came with the moving truck to help move me from Allston to our current digs. I had unplugged the TV and radio and packed them up the night before, so I really had no idea until my dad came up the front walk and told me.

9. When Bush was first announced President (11/7/2000) - Is that really the correct date? Anyway, one of the good things about the fact that I've had this diary for so long is that I can cheat. Total fucking recall.

10. When the 6.8 earthquake hit Nisqually, WA (2/28/2001) - No entry on that date. Closest one was this, so probably I was hanging out with Paula.

11. When terrorists knocked over the World Trade Center (9/11/2001) - I was at work, and had gone in to file something when my coworker Catherine said, "God, those poor people in the World Trade Center." Everyone pretty much spent the rest of the morning online, getting the latest updates. There wasn't much that I could say in the journal but this.

So, I'm not a huge Taker of Surveys, but I gotta say that was sort of an interesting exercise.

lisamcc at 9:49 p.m.

previous | next