maleficent

Interesting bump...

Berlin Wall Coming Down - Nov 9. 1989 - Was in a bar with some friends watching it on the news and realized that we were indeed watching history. Bar picked up the tab for a round of drinks.

Tianemen Square - especially when the kid stood in front of the tank - June 1989 - watched the events unfold on the news... probably in a bar.

Oklahoma City bombing - Worked for a PR firm at the time, and there were televisions every few feet so that people could watch those pointless celebrity shows that interviewed the celebrities the firm represented. The televisions were onthat morning - because of some celebrity interview - don't remember who... The news broke in with the pictures of the after effects of the explosion.

Reagen Attempted Assassanation - March 30, 1981 - I was at work at my part time job as a cashier in a supermarket. Time basically stood still for a few moments.

Challenger Explosion- Jan 28, 1986 - It was a beautful day in Massachussets and I was driving to my job with the window of my car open. The news announcment broke into a song that was playing with the news that Christa McAulliffe (she seemed to get more press than anyone else0 and the rest of the astronauts were killed in an explosion. The very next song on the was Broken Wings by Mr Mister. I walked into my job and gave thepeople the news, my boss was on the phone wiht his daughter who had watched it explode on television consoling her.

9/11 - I was in a hotel room in Sydney Australia taking a nap having just arrived 24 hours prior, I had fallen asleep with the television on - and something made me wake up - within moments of my waking up - Australain television was taking news feeds of the US Networks (it was bizarre seeing Katie Couric) and I had the news. It took me about 15 hours before I was able to get an international line, but only about 2 hours to realize that my best friend was dead.

The attack on the marine barracks in beruit where over 150 people lost their lives - sometime in 1983 - I was in college watching the news on a very small black and white television in my room. it's probably one of the first major news events (aside from the Reagen assassination) where I actively hunted out a newspaper (ah life before the iternet) and realized that there wasa big world around me.

The hijacking of the Achille Lauro in the mid 80s by Palestinian terrorists. and Leon Klinghoffer being killed and thrown overboard was in a college dorm room watching the news again, on that same small black and white television...

1985 was a rough year... there was also the hijacking of the TWA flight by Lebanese terrorists, trying to go to Beirut. One Navy diver was killed, if I remember correctly, this went on for about 2 weeks as the plane went to a bunch of different places and finally ended when Israel released a boatload of prisoners. I still vividly recall the news images of the pilot in shirtsleeves leaning out of the cockpit with a terrorist holding a gun to his head.

The release of Terry Anderson and (first name draws a blank) Sutherland in '91- after being held hostage for more than 5 years...

February 1993-- World Trade Center bombing -- I was on the 82nd floor and walked down 82 flights of stairs to evacuate, lost my shoes that day and headed over to my favorite bar across the street from the World Financial Center and drank quite a bit with some other soot covered people.

Sometime in '79... The taking of the us embassy in Iran... I was in high school at the time and we talked about it for days in a contemporary issues class

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