Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Good Letters

Home
Catholic
My September 11 Story, and Ours, Part II

My September 11 Story, and Ours, Part II

Last updated on: September 13, 2016 at 3:00 am by Caroline Langston

My September 11 Story, and Ours, Part II 2016-09-06T14:54:55-07:00 Caroline Langston

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

For Scott Simon, and for Bill Craven

Continued from yesterday.

In the back of my closet, inside a cellophane folder where I keep the rarest papers I own, there is a plain piece of unremarkable 8 ½ by 11 printer paper. At the top of the paper is the inscrutable coding “TC2001091307CD22AM.”

Just to look at this piece of paper makes me shiver, a bit, in recollection. Here’s why:

The first days after September 11 were just as bewildering as the one that had come before, though the daily schedule picked up again almost instantly—this was, you see, the circumstance for which the phrase “the new normal” was actually created.

My husband worked all kinds of unexpected hours then, on top of a schedule that was already pretty unpredictable. NPR had moved to twenty-four-hour nonstop live coverage, and listening to it was like gathering to warm your chilled hands by a campfire.

My own work was less urgent and more time-bound, but on the morning of September 12, I got up and put on my work clothes and drove over the bridge into the city. The Pentagon was still smoking.

That night, a man named Bill Craven, who was then the Logistics Manager for NPR News, came into my office and told me that I would be needed in the effort to help log the massive backlog of uncatalogued recordings that were piling up from the production of so much unexpected news coverage. He appealed to my role as the spouse of an NPR technical employee—“you understand how Engineering and Operations work”—and said he was glad he could count on me.

I was just one of the many people with whom Bill was having this chat. But it has remained one of the proudest moments of belonging in my life—Bill was a legend by then at the network, was exacting and serious (though really funny too), and to have earned his tacit approval meant something.

In due course, I received a pack of CDs to listen to at my desk—although it’s worth noting that the network was still using reel-to-reel tape and had not yet phased it out.

This is the explanation for the artifact of printer paper that I keep in the closet: It is one of the catalogue records of news coverage that was produced during this effort by a non-librarian. The time code I cited above notes the day and hour: Thus, it was September 13, 2001. The hour was 2:00-3:00 a.m.

This is not one of the hours I logged. It is an hour where I lay in bed in the dark, a caesura amid hours of sleep, my ear glued to the radio. And it is, in part, why I still like to have the radio on at night when I can’t sleep, kind of like a little audio vigil lamp in the dark.

I’d probably gone to bed around eleven. My husband was still at work; if I recall rightly he got home around midnight and fell horizontally across the bed. I am still not sure why I woke up, but once I was awake I was alert and still. Listening.

The log notes that Scott Simon was hosting. The hosts and reporters were working all hours every day during those weeks.

“Track 1 (0.00),” the paper reads, “Billboard: Status of Investigation; latest briefings; American Muslims face acts of bigotry.” Then followed the newscast with Shay Stevens, who is still the network’s overnight newscaster today.

Then in succession follow a series of quick blurbs describing all the stories that hour. Sometime in the next few months, I thought to look up the hour in the TechLib system, print out the rundown, and tuck the paper into the file where it remains today.

It might, oddly, be one of the things I think to grab if there were a flood, or fire.

Some of the stories:

“NPR’s Peter Overby reports Members of Congress gather outside Capitol for prayer vigil, prayer offered by Congressman J.C. Watts (R-OK) and together sing ‘Amazing Grace.’”

“WNYC’s Kaari Pitkin reports New Yorkers share stories, hug and walk through the streets as many bridges and tunnels are closed. Lawmakers begin work on request from President Bush to help victims and begin reconstruction.”

“Atty General John Ashcroft news conference audio.”

And toward the end: “Scott describes prayers etched in chalk on the walls of Georgetown University in Washington, DC; prayer vigils; blood donation flyers; Georgetown students and colleagues (Judy Feder, Colin Campbell, Mark Rom, Ted Gayer, Donna Morrison, and Bill Gormley) remember Leslie Whittington, Professor of Public Policy, Georgetown University.”

Whatever your thinking about NPR and its supposed politics, my colleagues rose to this honorable moment. It is a great thing to work somewhere with a serious and national mission, and to feel united in that task.

How great is the love and regard I still hold for all these folks, and for all of us working together. How I miss those early weeks when our whole country felt united, before everything that came after.

Love and work. Work and love.

A native of Yazoo City, Mississippi, Caroline Langston is a convert to the Eastern Orthodox Church. She is a widely published writer and essayist, a winner of the Pushcart Prize, and a commentator for NPR’s All Things Considered.

Image above is a U.S. Navy photo by Journalist 1st Class Preston Keres. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Previous Post

September 12, 2016

My September 11, and Ours: Part I

Next Post

September 14, 2016 What My Kid Knew about Kubo

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A. G. Harmon Alissa Wilkinson Allison Backous Art Authors Brad Fruhauff Bradford Winters Bryan Bliss Caroline Langston Chad Thomas Johnston Chris Hoke Christiana N. Peterson Culture D.G. Myers D.L. Mayfield Daniel Bowman Jr. David Griffith Elizabeth Duffy Faith Film Greg Wolfe Guest Contributor Interview Jan Vallone Jeffrey Overstreet Jessica Eddings-Roeser Jessica Mesman Griffith Kelly Foster Lindsey Crittenden Morgan Meis music Natalie Vestin Nick Olson Peggy Rosenthal Personal Reflection Poetry Friday Reflection Relationships Review Richard Chess Richard Cole Sara Zarr Shannon Huffman Polson Sonya Bilocerkowycz Tania Runyan Tony Woodlief Topical Categories Uncategorized Vic Sizemore Writing

Select a Month October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 February 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

An entire city of 120,000 people repented, yet I was angry when God relented from judgment. Why was I displeased?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Because they were enemies Because God showed mercy Because my prophecy failed Because I looked foolish