Blog 3 Oral History

I interviewed Joe Palinsky. I was the interviewer, and I shared with Joe the details of my account of what happened that day.

 How old are you and were do you live?
Joe: 26 years old and I live in Colonia, NJ.
Me: I live in Rahway, NJ (Joe and I realize how close we live to each other, 5 minutes away.)


Where were you on 9/11?
Joe: I was 15 years old at the time, a sophmore in Union Catholic H.S. I remember being in Italian class it was about 9:30am when the anouncement came over the PA system about a small plane colliding into the world trade. We had inaccurate accounts about what actually happpened but class went on anyway. At 11:30 am my third period chemistry class teacher was all distraught and acting very confused. Her account was that a plane hit disney land. In Union Catholic we all had individual laptops so I went online but couldn't get any info, cause the server was down. We didn't have hi-tech connections back then. It was shear pandemonium as people started finding out what really happened.
At 11:30 in gym class people had found out that the news of what really happened and some students got picked up, the rest of the students stayed in school the rest of the day.




Me: I am can't believe you all had a full day of school. I was 24 and in college at Middlesex County, which has a large Middle Eastern population. No one new what happened initially, the professor in my first class said the world trade was bombed and told everyone to leave immediatley.


What was the sentiment of the people around you?

Joe: It was a lot of fear. I am not a person who is afraid of much. I don't usually get in a state of paranioa , but I was afraid. My religion class teacher showed us the tower falling. There were conflicting views on what happened it was overwhelming. I was hoping it wasn't as bad as it seemed. I had hope as we saw people being pulled out of the wreckage.




Me: As I was leaving school I saw some students of Middle Eastern decent laughing and cheering about the catastrophic event. (Joe is in shock, he could not believe that anyone would cheer at the demise of others.)


Did you have a connection to anyone at the twin towers, pentagon, or on a plane that was affected by 9/11?
Joe: I wasn't really worried about my immediate family no one lived in NY at the time. I did have a friend that it was ironic that both of his parents called out of work that day, and they worked at the towers. I was a little guilty that I was happy about that but it was a small victory. I was happy they survived. I also knew a priest who was connected with my high school who died at the towers.


Me: I didn't have anyone who directly connected but I realized in an instant that I was going to be connected to 9/11. While people around me were thinking of others, I was thinking of how it was going to effect my family. At the time I was a reservist in the United States Army, and I knew after watching the news and hearing a war would be waged on terrorist that I may be called to go overseas.


What did you think about the attackers?
Joe: At the time it happened I didn't know anything about the attackers. I later found out that the terrorist used a computer in William Paterson, the college I was in. He used the library to book a ticket for one of the planes.


How has 9/11 changed the world?
Joe: The world has never been the same. The world is definitley much more bizarre. People are more fearful, there was more profiling of middle eastern groups. Muslims were being treated badly, more wrongs came from the event. The political premise was unecessary, people were patriotic and unpatriotic at the same time. I hated that people were capitilizing off of it. People were afraid to go to NY after that. My parents were not afraid of NY they went to a show in Times Square a couple of weeks later.


Me: I remember people becoming upatriotic and profiling groups that had nothing to do with 9/11. I also remember the boom in cell phones, and no contract cell phones, before that you needed a big deposit to put down if you wanted one, and phones and plans were very expensive.