# Where were you 12 years ago today? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 20, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-12-years-ago-today/579099 "2011-04-20T16:47:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-12-years-ago-today/579099/1 "2011-04-20T16:47:57Z")
I was in college when Columbine happened. Hard to believe it’s been that long. (note to mods: I don’t consider this mundane and it’s not a debate or rant) ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-12-years-ago-today/579099/2 "2011-04-20T16:49:28Z")
I was at work. A schoolteacher friend e-mailed me to say that something really bad happened. Wow, hard to believe it was that long ago. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-12-years-ago-today/579099/3 "2011-04-20T16:57:50Z")
I was less than three months into my new job in a new state. And I had no TV. So Columbine didn’t affect as I saw very little about it ad was occupied with adjusting to my new environment. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-12-years-ago-today/579099/4 "2011-04-20T16:58:20Z")
At work. Someone called me and said “Turn on the TV.” I did just in time to witness a bunch of high school students running out of the building with their hands on their heads. That image will stay in my brain forever. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-12-years-ago-today/579099/5 "2011-04-20T16:59:06Z")
At work in my classroom. Things were different that day. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-12-years-ago-today/579099/6 "2011-04-20T16:59:33Z")
I was in my driveway selling my Jeep to a guy when my wife came out and told me. Remember that clear as day. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-12-years-ago-today/579099/7 "2011-04-20T17:50:51Z")
Living in Joplin, MO. I was unemployed at the time (I think - either way I was at home that day while my wife was at work). She worked about two blocks from our apartment, so I walked over to her workplace to see her and tell her what happened. “There’s been _another_ school shooting.” She shook her head in disbelief. I said “another” because Paducah and Jonesboro had both happened fairly recently. ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-12-years-ago-today/579099/8 "2011-04-20T18:23:54Z")
I have no idea- I remember Columbine of course, but not the moment of hearing about it. It was a bad school shooting, but those weren’t unheard of. I probably saw it on the news that night and though it was an awful shame. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-12-years-ago-today/579099/9 "2011-04-20T18:30:14Z")
At an international research conference in Santa Fe. Workshops and speeches all day. Saw our statistics analysis specialist at, like, 8 p.m., on the way in to the last keynote address of the day. She said “someone shot up Columbine High School this morning, a bunch of kids are dead.” I looked her straight in the eye and said “that’s not funny.” I honestly thought she was joking. I spent the next morning watching news recaps and video footage, and lighting candles in the basilica in the plaza. I have my memorial ribbon on today, the one I made that day. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-12-years-ago-today/579099/10 "2011-04-20T18:30:56Z")
I honestly don’t remember this as much of a landmark event. The [Pearl High School](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_High_School_shooting) shootings had happened two years prior, and that was right in my backyard, so to speak. I remember the details of _that_ day quite vividly - several friends/coworkers had kids at Pearl. Columbine, unfortunately, was just another in a long string of shootings happening at schools and didn’t really register with me. ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-12-years-ago-today/579099/11 "2011-04-20T18:40:33Z")
I probably also saw it on the evening news. I’m usually not in front of a TV during the day, so even if they interrupted regular programming to report on it, I probably wouldn’t have seen it. ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-12-years-ago-today/579099/12 "2011-04-20T18:46:49Z")
I honestly don’t remember where I was the day it happened, but for whatever reason, I remember the day after. I was living in the Miracle Mile area of Los Angeles, and took a little walk to a strip mall Mexican restaurant that I’d never been to before for lunch, and sat and tried to eat lunch as I read the L.A. Times articles on the Columbine shootings. I lost my appetite part way through the meal from the articles, and only ended up eating about half of it. I never went back to that restaurant, and I’m honestly not sure if it was because the food wasn’t very good (I don’t recall if it was or not) or if it’s because I associated it with reading those articles. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-12-years-ago-today/579099/13 "2011-04-20T20:08:18Z")
Moving thread from IMHO to MPSIMS. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-12-years-ago-today/579099/14 "2011-04-20T20:15:58Z")
I was on a cruise ship in the Caribbean. My, now, husband had proposed the night before. We were married one year later. Yesterday was our 11th anniversary. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-12-years-ago-today/579099/15 "2011-04-20T20:17:16Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Moving thread from IMHO to MPSIMS. Note to everyone who’s posted/would want to: don’t be surprised if this thread gets locked. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-12-years-ago-today/579099/16 "2011-04-20T20:21:59Z")
I was doing webhosting tech support for Mindspring, an ISP. I got a call from the minister of a church in Columbine who said his church’s site was down, and oh, please, was there anything I could do to get it back up, because his congregation really needed it. I ran through all the stuff I could do, and it was a problem on the server that I didn’t have access to fix. Put the minister on hold, ran and got my boss. Usually, something like that has to be escalated through the usual routes and it takes a day or two to get figured out. That day? No way. Bossman went straight to the server farm and pulled several of the engineers. I think they had to reboot the server - which they hate doing, because it interrupts at least 200 other websites - but by the time I got back on the phone with the minister, it was on its way back up. He nearly wept with gratitude. I had to take a break afterward, I was so overcome. The only time I’ve been on the periphery of something that horrible in any way and actually been able to help. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-12-years-ago-today/579099/17 "2011-04-20T20:22:11Z")
I was on honeymoon, in Stratford that day, I think. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-12-years-ago-today/579099/18 "2011-04-20T20:24:57Z")
Thank you Cherry for explaining why it got moved! ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-12-years-ago-today/579099/19 "2011-04-20T20:26:14Z")
I was in high school at the time but I did not hear about the shootings until the evening. I had just entered my cynical phase and thus cared very little about the event and people involved, but was proud of my ability to dissect dumbed-down media coverage of it and sneer at politicians who tried to exploit it. I was also happy to explain to anyone who would listen that the odds of getting killed in a school shooting were less than the odds of getting struck by lightning. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-12-years-ago-today/579099/20 "2011-04-20T20:26:35Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > I honestly don’t remember this as much of a landmark event. The [Pearl High School](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_High_School_shooting) shootings had happened two years prior, and that was right in my backyard, so to speak. I remember the details of _that_ day quite vividly - several friends/coworkers had kids at Pearl. > > Columbine, unfortunately, was just another in a long string of shootings happening at schools and didn’t really register with me. Exactly, I’m really surprised that people are talking about this like it was Kennedy getting shot or the Challenger blowing up. I happen to remember I was in chorale rehearsal and somebody mentioned that there had just been “another incident” (it was right after a bunch of other shootings) but it wasn’t some kind of seminal event in my life. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-were-you-12-years-ago-today/579099.md?page=2)