and let us not forget that it's possible that no one cares where you were on 9/11:

http://www.wonkette.com/politics/9%252f11/wonkette-psa-no-one-cares-where-you-were-on-september-11-199807.php

I was at work in the UK and of course 8am your time was lunchtime over here. The company I worked for specialised in digital TV production so we had TV's everywhere. A colleage was reading Israeli news on the net and said that a cessna had crashed into the trade center in New York. So I flicked over onto CNN and saw the first tower on fire. I could believe it having been there myself. I remember thinking thats no cessna thats made a hole that big, then the second plane hit. The entire office of 50 people were glued to the TV. A Manager tried to get everyone back to their desks but our collective glare made him shut up. We were all stunned and there were jitters about targets over here. rumours were rife and we were nervous as our building was just across the road from military intelligence headquarters.

Its one of those things that I kept going over in my mind... I cant believe it. I havent been to the US since and thats a combination of recent security alerts here and the overbearing security there which would never stop a determined lunatic anyway.

I'm a native New Yorker, over the age of 40, and don't live on the Upper West Side. I cannot express how much I love this city. One of my neighbors died in the Towers, and I was a few blocks away when they were hit. I was going to jury duty and running late when the first building was hit, and inside 200 Centre Street when the second one hit. I didn't fully realize what happened until after I got up to 17th and Broadway and turned around- from the east side you couldn't see what had happened. I remember starting to scream.

While I don't like every post on this site and find some of them too obvious or just too young for me, I love sharing it with my boyfriend, who is not a native. While the obsession over Shake Shack and new bands that are pretty much meaningless is sometimes a bit much, and the small amount of coveage of activities like museums and art galleries, classical and jazz music, sophisticated stores like Lord and Taylor and Saks (and no, I'm not rich or white or tired), and events outside of 'hip' areas of Brooklyn and Manhattan sometimes get me down, I really like the site. I get a new perspective on my hometown, links to political news, some great pictures, and info on some little-known food places (I'm crazy about Famous Fat Dave's posts).

I would be happy to read other blogs about New York City by some of the dissenters here. Please put up links to your blogs- I'm sure they must be very good since you are so critical of this one, and probably much deeper and urbane, too. If you don't have blogs yet, I'm sure you'll be mentioning them soon so those of us who truly love New York can share the love with you.

I live in Chicago and was in the office when the towers were hit and fell. Internet service slowed to a standstill and many people were listening to the radio and watching the TV in the lunchroom. When the towers fell, I couldn't bring myself to go upstairs and watch it on TV ... I know it would be hammered into me eventually. My coworker and I walked the nine miles home because it was such a nice day and I really was in no hurry to go home. Plus, it seemed like the right thing to do: walk and talk about it.

When I finally got home my sister (also my roomate at the time) was watching TV and crying. Much like the old space shuttle Challenger explosion when I was in seventh grade, they were showing the towers cascading into dust over and over. I turned the TV off and my sister and I walked to the lake. Like in NYC, it was a gorgeous day here. No clouds. 70 degrees. We sat on the shoreline in Ohare's usual flightpath and watched nothing but an occasional military jet fly eerily by, at a much higher altitude than O'hare traffic flies at. No one else, not a single person, was at the lake. Everyone was either at home watching TV or in bars getting drunk. A few days later I confirmed that my New York friends were all OK. For the next week I had nightmares, not of buildings falling or of people dying - - more like shocking and waking realizations that life and the world had changed for the worse.

My sister called me on Tuesday to say she was glad we went outside and just talked that day. New York City is the best city in the universe. I've always felt that way. On 9/11, I felt like someone had attacked a close friend of mine. New York City to me represents all that is good about America.

i stood on the corner at the dmv at battery place....watching the first tower on fire...thinking it was something small that hit it, a small plane anyways...stood there, on my cell phone, calling work saying 'i'm gonna see what's going on'. stood there until the 2nd plane rushed fast past on my left and crashed into the 2nd building and i ran as fast as i fucking could cuz i'm a fucking coward and ran to the 4/5 train and cried as i couldn't get my metrocard to work and had to buy another and then someone on the train didn't believe me that i saw what i saw. i wonder now, does she remember me? does she remember being so mean and skeptical? i was alone in my apartment with my dogs...all locks, even the chain across...cuz that would save me. i slept for weeks with the radio on...no news was good news....i can't stand it.

I was a temp at ADT Security putting in info for alarm systems. It was computer work..it was a job..and a few months before I was laid off from a company in Battery Park. The guy sitting next to me noticed alarms going off one by one in the WTC and then the phones started ringing off the hook. He looked at me for a moment..said nothing..and then told me the WTC was hit by a plane. I didn't believe it..My boss ran out of the building..my mother called me from her work Cell..told me to go home..I remember watching tv for a minute or two and then leaving..all the major roads were blocked so I was lucky to know the back roads rather well..and never to return to the job. There are other details but I would rather not share..its to sad of a memory.

I remember thinking how the F am I going to make this month's rent.

Then I heard the low rumble and the ground shake and said Thank GOD, It's the end of the world, take me with you GOD. I'm Waiting.

then I realised I'm still here and those who perished were the lucky one's. I'm no fortunate son.

My wife and I had just plowed our nest egg into a condo 1 block from WTC and for some reason we left home early that day. When it all went down I was in my office in midtown, facing away from my south-facing window until my dad called me from California (still don't know why he was up at 6AM) to tell me what was going on. I confess my first thought upon seeing the huge black/brown clouds was not the loss of life, but that our home was gone, maybe because I knew my wife was probably already at work (she actually heard one of the planes hit when her train was at Canal St). After getting in touch with her by AIM (phones were useless) I went downstairs and marched northward past stunned faces for about 30 mins, never looking behind until I got to my wife's office -- just in that mode where all you are thinking of is taking care of your family. And mentally that's pretty much where I've been ever since -- my 9/11 experience is very much wrapped up in how to deal with something tangible -- where to go, where to eat, what forms to fill out, how to avoid inhaling toxic fumes -- that in many ways I've noticed 9/11 has been easier for me to cope with emotionally and mentally than a lot of people, including some people who were never there or didn't even live in NY or know anyone who died. Really the radius of the emotional shockwaves from 9/11 is amazing and complex, and I think for many people a sense of frustration in even coming to grips with the concept is a huge part of the equation.

Not to make it a real estate story because a lot more happened afterwards, but our condo turned out OK with some repairs (due to the way the towers collapsed inward), after we were allowed back we lived there for 2 years with a front row view over the WTC site and then sold. I'm glad to no longer live down there, but we still live in NYC because we love it and always will.

"their artifice and false sense of entitlement is a bit sickening."?

Yeah! A post made up of "Where were you five years ago? What did you do?" Obviously smacks of artifice and false sense of entitlement!

(sigh)

Look, I'm really sorry you also lost a loved one but, IMO, your really way off base here. It's a two sentence post. If you have Issues with Jen and/or Jake could you express it in other posts instead acting out your obvious issues over a valid topic of Discussion? Jen and Jake were likely, at the very least, scared like the rest of us that day. Asking that question in a public forum helps people to discuss it if they want to.

And, BTW: Your certainly acting like an arrogant self centered person crying out for attention.

"artifice and false sense of entitlement"

What exactly are you talking about, BegToDiffer? How does anything, *anything* about this post project that?

I couldn't care less that you know the writers of this site, whom you obviously can't stand. They're not my idols, I've never met them; you obviously bear some personal grudge against them and this supposed "self-centered UWS" mentality.

And I couldn't possibly care even less that you're a born-and-raised New Yorker. Whoop-di-fukkin-do! So what? That makes you special?

Chambers and Greenwich Streets...saw the whole thing, then ran for my life.

begtodiffer:

you're not the only one who lost someone. that's where your self centered-self comes into play.

your arrogance is telling us the question of: "where where you..." is sickening.

uh...begtodiffer...YOUR sense of entitlement to 9-11 -- especially the my loss is bigger than your loss thing -- is a bit sickening IMHO.

"However, their artifice and false sense of entitlement is a bit sickening."

Now, see, this is where you step over the line as far as I'm concerned. It's their blog. They can fill it with content however they want.

I'm actually surprised that so many readers were not in NYC on 9/11. But, clearly, that's a big part of Gothamist's audience. And in a way, that's really the blog's perspective much of the time - that of the enthusiastic young "transplant." Don't like it? The solution is simple, and you know what it is.

This is a nice post but I'm will to bet it doesn't have legs like the Steve irwin post.

that's gonna hit 100 in the comment count and people are still commenting. and he died last week.

"an arrogrant self centered person like yourself crying out for attention"

Excuse me, but how am I either? As someone who actually lost a loved one on 9/11, you'll forgive me if I find the whole post in rather questionable taste.

To those telling me to f*** off, or that I don't know Jen & co., well, you're wrong about that. I have met both Jen and Jake. Nice people, both of them, honestly. However, their artifice and false sense of entitlement is a bit sickening. As a born-and-raised New Yorker, there's something definitely off about Gothamist throwing out a "Where were you?" question.

Still, if it's easier to curse and damn the one that dares criticize your idols, then so be it.

Wake me up, before you go go.

"what's with this one upmanship?"

Hey, another complete asshole. Since when is posting one's experience (which, uh, was explicitly *invited* by Jen's post) "oneupmanship"? Fuck you, man.

I'm interested in reading folks accounts of that day (9-11). I'm interested in seeing their personal photos.

If this offends some folks delicate sensibilities, then stop reading and point your browser elsewhere. The rest of don't give a shit that you don't like it.

Keep talking folks. It's cathartic IMHO.

BegToDiffer, just f**k off.

Also, malatron, how the hell do you expect to talk about their experiences? In the 3rd person? Would you like someone to tell us how you felt that day?

There are some hopeless morons out there, and Gothamist is so blessed to have them vomit their bullschitt all over the comments.