My alibis.
An interview meme on traumatic memory.
1. Where were you when heard that Ronald Reagan died?
I was passing the bar area in Gameworks, in Schaumburg. I noticed Reagan’s photograph on the big screen TV and knew before the dates came up.
2. Where were you on September 11, 2001?
I walked in to work and my Office Manager mentioned that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I thought he was talking about a small plane, like a Turbo-Prop. Awhile later, he told me another plane had hit. And that both planes were large airliners.
I looked out the window and saw people running for the train, watched downtown Chicago in a state of evacuation. That was about the time it became serious.
3. Where were you when you heard that Princess Diana died?
I was in Hobie and Dan’s dorm room in Carr One; I’m pretty sure we were watching a movie. Alex walked in and gave us the news.
He also said that now she could be called “Princess Died.” I was morbidly impressed with the speed in which the first tasteless joke had appeared. It was at least three days after the Challenger explosion before I heard the punchline “Need Another Seven Astronauts.”
4. Do you remember where you were when you heard Kurt Cobain had died?
I heard about it just after high school let out for the day. I remember being surprised, but not emotionally affected. I knew other people who were truly depressed by it, but I didn’t really understand. Cobain didn’t speak to me in that way.
5. Challenger disaster:
I was in a Gifted Students class. I remember being very saddened at the death of a teacher.
6. Fall of the Berlin Wall:
Right there, tearing great chunks of the concrete out with my bare hands. Nah. I don’t remember.
7. Oklahoma City bombing:
I don’t recall.
8. O.J. Simpson verdict:
I got back from class and turned the TV on in our dorm room (Adam and I) on Carr Ground. What I remember most distinctly was stepping out into the hallway and watching one woman on the custodial staff howl in frustration, almost punching the wall with full force.
9. JFK Jr. dies
I don’t recall.
10. Where were you when you learned that the 2000 presidential election was undecided, despite being called the night before?
I had stayed up until about two in the morning in my apartment, watching the networks go back and forth, and finally gave up, assuming that when I woke up later somebody would have sorted it out. I remember saying the words “You’re Kidding,” out loud when I turned the news on and rediscovered the chaos.
11. Where were you when the Waco Branch Davidian compound burned?
I must have been in class in high school, but I can’t tell you anything more.
12. Where were you when you learned about Paul Wellstone’s plane crash?
I was at work, but I haven’t the foggiest idea what I was working on at the time. I remember it being a really rough day in terms of how I felt about the world; this happened at the same time as the Chechen terrorists took over that Moscow theater.
Creative Control 