Session Start (AIM): Tue Sep 11 11:16:58 2001
[11:16] Zac: so have they shut down downtown SD too?
[11:17] BryBry: shut down?
[11:17] Zac: you didnt hear
[11:17] BryBry: no i just woke up
[11:17] Zac: terrorist attack
[11:17] BryBry: really?
[11:17] Zac: go to cnn.com. they crashed jets into the twin towers in nyc
[11:18] BryBry: holy shit
[11:18] Zac: yeah
[11:18] BryBry: holy shit!!

Tuesday, 11 September 2001 11:59pm

A

mazing. Simply amazing. I woke up late today to the blue sky and sunlight beaming in through my window, and the only thing on my mind was "Finally!! The sun is out after a full weekend of gloominess!" -- but no more than half a second after signing on did my friend Zac AIM me, and I found out just how much more gloomy it would be today than all the cloudy days in San Diego put together...
As is often the case with big news stories, my Riceboypage.com messageboard was there, actually scooping the TV news by 10, 15, 20 minutes, even up to an hour, with updated information and images. It's like I have a global team of operatives reporting from all corners of the world, and today was no different, as over 6000 messages were posted.
Gone was the usual bickering about cars, girls and computers, and in its place was grief, anger, and support. The events of today brought unity even to the tiny corners of the Internet.
The images you see on this page were provided by a message board regular who works for the L.A. Times and was feeding these images to the board as they were being placed into the Times' database. As the day went on, image after image was posted, each looking more like something out of a movie than real life. Almost a full hour before appearing on TV news, the RBPMB was alerted by another regular that there were missiles flying over Afghanistan.
Today I think for many has been a day of perspective. Suddenly we realize, all the important issues, all the drama in our lives mean nothing. Gary Conditt? Who is that? After months of heated debate and arguments and whatnot and rage over the "importance" of what he means to our nation... no one cares. That issue, as I have maintained all along, has never really been very important in the grand scheme of things. Reality Television? Reality TV doesn't hold a candle to fuckin' reality.
Of all the horrific images I have seen today, none have been more heartwrenching to me than the ones where you can see the people. Each person with lives, families... The photo on the right (which you can click on to see more detail), I am told was taken just seconds or minutes before the building collapsed... seeing the people there -- I don't have any words to describe the way I feel.
My sincerest condolences go out to all of the people who were affected by this event, which I estimate to be just about everyone who knows about it. God bless us all.

Friday, 14 September 2001 11:59pm

I

t's so unfortunate that in this time of supposed unity, our own misguided hate has driven so many of us into horrible thoughts and acts against our own American brethren. Yes, I'm talking about racism, here at home. On another note, I challenge any of you who have ever suggested nuking or carpet bombing Afghanistan to do a little research on their recent history (oh say the last 10 years or so), taking particular note of the people in power and how they got there, before you suggest wiping out an entire nation and its citizens.

From the index of www.twentysix.net:

Solidarity. Unity. Hate. Why has this even which brought so much unity in our nation also brought on so much misguided hate? Why are Americans still turning on fellow Americans for religious or racial differences? Americans who came here to be able to escape just that kind of oppression? Somehow "unity" which brings New York, which may be hundreds or thousands of miles away, into everyone's backyard, has also turned our neighbors, classmates, and colleagues into "the enemy." Indeed in this supposed age of tolerance, civil rights and political correctness, this newfound unity exposed just how far we haven't gone, and how much we haven't learned since Abraham Lincoln, since women's suffrage, and since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

My most heartfelt condolences go out to the victims of these foreign terrorist attacks, and the victims -- here at home -- of our own ensuing ignorance.