People who are twenty or more years older than me almost universally can recall where they were and what they were doing when they heard that JFK had been shot. I don’t because I was born in 1971.
The first news event that had the same effect for me happened 30 years ago today, the space shuttle explosion. I was a high school freshman, I heard during lunch, and my English teacher confirmed it when we got to class.
There are two other events I can think of that created the same instant recall: the fall of the Berlin Wall and the planes flying into the World Trade Center.
What about you? What news was so important that the circumstances are imprinted on your brain?
The Challenger is the first I remember, also. I was watching it with my 3rd grade class. The Berlin Wall falling didn’t create an instant recall memory for me, but Itzak Rubin’s assassination did. And, of course, 9/11.
Yes I do. I was at work and soon left to be glued to the TV for the weekend. A dividing line in my life. I was about to turn 22. I had seen JFK on a Nashville street in a parade (of sorts) only a short time before then. My world, and that of many others, changed that day.
The two more minor ones for me are the deaths of Michael Jackson and David Bowie. David Bowie I caught on facebook (then checked on TMZ). Whether or not I’ll ‘always remember where I was’ I don’t know yet. MJ, was quite a while ago and it was the first celebrity death that really hit me. I was in my car, listening to Dr Laura Berman (not that Dr Laura) and she mentioned it. I can still tell you exactly where I was.
But the BIG one was 9/11. I was getting ready for school. About once a week I’d be a little ahead of schedule and instead of scrambling out the door I flip on TV and smoke a cigarette to kill a few minutes. I had GMA on in the background and they cut to that. They didn’t even know what happened, they were just speculating, an hour later I watched the second one hit live. Saw both towers fall. Went to one class and then back home since they cancelled class for the rest of the day.
I also remember calling work (family business) since I knew they wouldn’t have heard about it yet and saying ‘ahhh, we’re being attacked’.
I think for my generation (30ish years old) it’s going to be 911 attacks.
I’m 35, the Challenger exploded when I was 5, the Berlin Wall came down when I was 9, I was too young to even be aware of those things and obviously, JFK was well before my time.
I can also remember watching OJ in the white Bronco being chased by the cops for, what seemed like, hours. I was just about to leave for Summer Camp for a week and I was worried the whole thing would have blown over by the time I got back and I wouldn’t get to see how it resolved. Couldn’t have been more wrong about that. Of course, there was some Milwaukee connections so they might have done a bit more coverage than some other cities.
Having lived through the 60s and the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK nothing much made an impression on me until 9/11. I really hope nothing else ever does.
Challenger: I was in the weight room at the college gym. The radio was on and the DJ started to talk about it.
911: I was home with the then wife and current kids. The Today Show was on in the background when they started talking about a plane hitting the first tower. I was watching when the second plane hit. I silently got up and started packing my duffel bag. I started crying when some woman being interviewed mentioned firefighters charging into the building as they were escaping. I later found out my cousin who was FDNY was murdered that day.
John Lennon’s murder: I remember both my parents woke me up for school which was very unusual and they told me what happened the night before while I was still laying in bed.
The Berlin Wall falling was a bit weird. I was in the army stationed in Germany at the time. I remember being very confused as all the events unfolded including the fall of the Romanian government and concluding with the wall coming down. I don’t remember exactly about the wall I just remember the speculation about if the Soviets were going to allow it all to happen.
Even though I grew up in the 60s I don’t remember what I was doing when I heard of the assassinations of JFK RFK and MLK.
I was in college in the 80s. The Challenger explosion I remember vividly because I had gotten up early to watch the launch live on TV. It looked like the launch was going to be cancelled due to the cold weather in Florida, so I went into the bathroom and started brushing my teeth. I wandered back out in the living room – still brushing my teeth – and couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing on the TV. It looked like things were falling from the sky. Right about then the NASA announcer said “[something something] obviously a major malfunction.” Then the camera pulled back and I could see the scale of the explosion, and my heart sank.
I started to type up a list, but quit after I got past a dozen. It would be easier to list the events I don’t have a strong memory of.
One thing EVERYONE my age claims to remember is Neal Armstrong on the moon. I missed it. I was in Europe, it was the middle of the night and I fell asleep.
I do recall hearing about the Challenger and 9/11 (the latter, I heard about from this very board), but I do not specifically remember the Berlin Wall coming down.
I think the Berlin Wall is seared in my memory only because of the specifics. I had just finished up one of the last practices of my freshman year of college cross country, walked into the TV lounge in the dorm, and said “what’s that?” Everyone replied “they’re tearing down the Berlin Wall.” And it seemed rather sudden to me, that the eastern European totalitarianism that had been terrorizing its own population for forty years was dissolving in a matter of days. It was an age where I remember everything that happened to me; all of my experiences were new and fresh and invigorating, even though they were far from universally positive.
Elvis’s death: overheard two middle-aged biddies talking on the tram on my way home from school.
Princess Diana’s death: I was up a ladder painting with the radio on.
The Port Arthur Massacre: had radio on in the car on the way home from a Saturday arvo footy match. Kids were being rambunctious in the back seat, and I had to shut them up to hear the bulletin.
Sept 11: I’d fallen asleep in front of the telly, and woke to see the horror scenes at app 11.30pm. Figured it was an action movie and went to bed…only to wake the next morning to the reality.
They’re the only four I can remember where I was and what I was doing.
JFK - age 5 - saw my mom crying in the kitchen
Moon landing - glued to the TV at home
Space Shuttle - at work - came over the company printer in operations as a system wide message
9/11 - at work - someone called into operations and said a small plane hit the WTC - That was a long day.
I really don’t remember the Berlin wall as a singular event but more of an unfolding event that kept growing.
I was in kindergarten when the Challenger exploded. I was in the bathtub while my mother was in the kitchen, watching the 12" color TV she had Bought With Her Own Money.
She said “oh!” And I asked, “what?” And she said, “it blew up.”
For 9/11 I was in college, and eating a breakfast sandwich in the grad house’s lounge. I saw the second plane hit live.
I was interning with the Tennessee state legislature when one of the representatives I worked for walked into the office, slumped into a chair, and said, “the space shuttle just exploded.”
9/11 I was visiting my parents in Tennessee with our older son when it came on the tv. I saw the towers fall live. I couldn’t get in touch with my wife in the DC area before I left. It was a long drive home.
The OJ verdict (sitting in social studies class in school) and 9/11 (I was in the shower in my dorm (NYU) when I felt the entire building I was in suddenly shudder, like a small earthquake. I ran out in a towel to look out the window and watched it unfold.)
I remember watching the first men on the moon at school (4th grade) and at home.
I was out to lunch on a teacher’s workday for the Challenger.
I had just gone to bed in my dorm room when a guy we called Jersey went running down the hall, hollering how John Lennon had been shot and how he was thankful since he always hated the Beatles. Within five minutes, every room in every dorm with a loud stereo was blasting Beatles music or Double Fantasy. This continued until about 3 AM. Sucked to be Jersey that night.
For 9/11, I was at work. A fellow teacher told me- I thought, oh shit. Things are gonna suck.