Where were you?

The Challenger Explosion - January 28, 1986

I was 4 years old. I think my mother drove me up to my brother's elementary school where they were showing the launch on a big screened TV in the gymnasium. The school made a big to do about the mission because it was supposed to contain the first teacher in space. I think there were even local news cameras there to film us watching the launch. When it exploded, I didn't really know what happened. Teachers started crying and the students remained silent. The teachers took the news the worst. A few of the younger boys laughed and screamed, "Pow!" After a few minutes the principal appeared and shut off the TV. My mother had to explain to me that the teacher never made it to space.

The Berlin Wall Falls - November 1989

I always associated the fall of the Berlin Wall with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. I finally got the explanation behind this when I looked up the date for the fall: November. It all happened at the same time. Being 8 years old, I had no idea there was a wall in Berlin. I remember watching it on our TV. People were standing on it and cheering. Everyone was picking at it with hammers and taking a piece of it home with them. That wall had a lot of graffiti on it. I remember liking how the people took it down. After that, the news was flooded with stories of families reuniting.

Atlanta Will Host the Centennial Olympics - September 1990

I was in the 4th grade and my parents had already been divorced for at least 3 years. Each grade got a TV in one classroom . We hosted the TV for our grade and the other 3 classes piled in. Then that foreign guy with the funny accent reads, "The city of Atlanta." Everyone started screaming and jumping up and down. Wait, you mean the Olympics won't be here for another six years? In high school, most of my friends would perform in the opening ceremony. The ones that marched in the band would be a part of the 100 and the colorguard would get new flags for the show. The friends that danced, well, they danced. I would watch it on TV.

OJ and that Damn White Bronco - June 17, 1994

This was when we all knew he did it. It was a Friday. I remember this distinctly because I was at my dad's house for our bimonthly visits and I was trying to watch TGIF on ABC. Where's my "Boy Meets World" and "Step by Step?" I watched all four hours of that chase, thinking that the minute I changed the channel, something exciting would happen and everyone would be talking about it. Unfortunately, I don't think that Bronco ever hit 45 mph and nothing of significance would transpire. I want those four hours back.

The Death of Princess Diana - August 31, 1997

I was a sophomore in high school. My parents had already gone to bed and I wanted to stay up and watch Saturday Night Live. SNL never came on and for the first time I saw the British news. I eventually gave up at 2 AM and went to bed, but I watched as they first reported the car accident. Then they said she was injured. She then went from seriously injured to we don't know if she's alive or not. Then the British newscaster touched his hand up to his right ear and said, "We've just received confirmation that Diana, Princess of Wales, passed away at" and then he gave the time. From the very beginning they announced that the limo was running from the paparazzi and you could here the anger in the newscaster's voice as he reiterated that after we knew she left us. The American correspondent, who came on every few minutes and announced that we were watching British news, was obviously torn over the announcement as well.

Massacre at Columbine - April 20, 1999

It was Hitler's birthday and the day after the anniversary of the bombing in Oklahoma City. I, a senior in high school, came home and immediately called my prom date to make plans. I was lying on my couch, talking to whatever-his-name-was (he would never end up taking me to prom). I turned the TV on and saw this image. The one of students running out of the school with their hands above their hands. "I think something happened," I remember telling him. It wasn't until 30 minutes later that I got off the phone to watch. I was so glad I was in my final month of public school because everything drastically changed after that. We even had optional days of school towards the end because of bomb threats. My mother, being a teacher in the same county, called me once and told me not to go to school that day because of something she had heard. It was every child's dream to have her mother call and order her not to go to school, but I was scared.


World Trade Center Attacks - September 11, 2001

I had gotten into the biggest fight of my life with my boyfriend. I got home in the early morning hours, tear-stained and emotionally drained. We had broken up. I was staying at my father's house that semester and he came in my room and woke me up (I didn't have classes on Tuesday or Thursday). "Wake up," he barked. "We're under attack. We're at war." Sleepy-eyed I stumbled into the living room in my pajamas. We watched the chaos and then the second plane striking. I don't need to go into the details. UGA closed it's campus that day and the following days were very strange. Everyone had a sense of commonality. The following day between classes I worked my way into the Coke room. Coca-Cola bought a room in the econ building and filled it everything Coca-Cola: 8 vending machines, comfortable couches and TVs hanging from the ceiling. We all smushed in and watched the president speak about the day before. And then my afternoon classes were cancelled because of a conspicuous U-Haul. The police thought the terrorists had placed a U-Haul outside of campus to blow up the University of Georgia. Turned out it was an abandoned vehicle. My boyfriend and I would eventually work things out and he would really explore his alcoholism for another year.