'Queen Elizabeth II sent a message of condolence expressing her "disbelief and total shock."' according to this article from cnn.com. doesn't that make you feel better?
my god.
everyone in europe is expressing condolences. israel is pulling out everyone from their embassies around the world. i wonder if they know something we don't or if they're just being safe.
the skyline will look entirely different now. what year did the british burn down the white house? 18-something, right? we rebuilt it. i wonder whether we'll do the same or whether, out of morbid stubbornness or plain nostalgia, we leave the rubble. or, better, erect a monument?
did nostradamus say anything about this? that's what i want to know.

my mother called me early this morning while becca and i were listening to the radio. we were still laughing about it b/c it seemed so freakish and unbelievable. i told her to take grandpa and grandma and go to rockville. my dad's safe in albuquerque. it's like independence day, becca and i squealed to each other. george II got on the radio to stammer about how this "would not stand." we rolled our eyes and said, shut UP. that man is a moron.
we brought a walkman to class, for which we were late, and b/w that class and the next someone told me that the towers had actually collapsed. i didn't believe him at first but another person confirmed it. in my next class, polisci, my prof came in wearing a makeshift black armband, looken shaken and near-epileptic. he said we were free to go (only about 10 of us were there anyway) but if we wanted to stay and talk about it, we could. i lingered a few minutes, then walked out in search of a computer. i ran into alison in kohlberg and the two of us went to LPAC, where someone had hooked up a huge screen and people were scattered throughout the theater. we watched peter jennings ramble on about wars and terrorism while behind him, on the monitor, the twin towers exploded and fell, smoke rose in thick rings around the neighboring buildings, and people scattered, holding shirts over their noses, over and over again on a loop.

eventually we went to lunch. everyone was just as shaken there. who doesn't have family in either ny or dc? almost all of philly has been closed down as well: the train service into the city, the principal train station in the city. oh, and disney land has just been closed. i guess america's covering all its bases. as long as the liberty bell and disney land are safe, we're okay.
how much longer will this go on? will they rebuild the twin towers? will they reopen the airports? i'm sorry, i know i'm just reitering the same questions everyone's asking. but christ. people are calling this the worst terrorist attack and most serious threat to america since pearl harbor. and then we knew who our enemies were AND had a strong, reassuring president.
i think i'm going to go home and hook up the tv. and call my mom again.
i hope everyone's safe.