By Beth Kalisiak
A & E Co-Editor
“Then, the towers fell.”
That’s how Corrina Steil Kettner described the dramatic events of Sept. 11th. Kettner, a former IVCC student who now lives in New York, experienced first hand the immediate effects of the planse crashing into the WTC.
“That smell the news keeps talking about was all the way up above 14th street today. The street was just lined with people watching them (Towers) burn.
“(At our other office) people were wandering in just to ask for water and some of them were bleeding and covered in ash.
“It was a tough and quiet ride back across the river as we all just watched the smoke start up again when the[second tower] fell. hopeful faces looking for loved ones in the huge crowds."
Dr. Mary Weeg, retired chair of the HFA division compared this attack to that of Pearl Harbor.
“The difference mainly for me was while Pearl Harbor was surprise attack, but it was navy against navy, a military against a military,” she said.“The Pearl Harbor attack did not go after Honolulu City. We were here in the middle of the country and nobody had planes that would fly that far then,” she said.
“This time you are threatened no matter where you are...You are standing on the street and a 100 story building falls on you.That’s what’s more frightening. There’s no place that’s off limits.”
English instructor Kimberly Radek was concerned about her father, who works out of Washington and flies to New York frequently.
“I couldn’t get a hold of him,” she said, explaining that later in the afternoon she learned he was stuck in Kansas City.
Her husband’s uncle does clerical work in the Pentagon, and it was some time before Radek and her husband learned he took a sick day on Sept. 11.
“I hope they rebuild WTC the way it was to show terrorists, in that restoration of the skyline, that America can’t be conquered by violence.
“I’m mostly worried that many of Afghanistan’s people, especially the women, could be victimized by a retaliation, when they are already being victimized by their own government
“It sickened me to think that some factions in our country want to blame other Americans for attacks, and that any educated American would condone or carry out violent attacks as a solution to violence, especially where they target their victims based on incorrect stereotypes.”
Sally Beneke, lead teacher at IVCCs day care center, had the task of explaining to three, four, and five year old children what happened.
“The very first day we sent a letter home to the parents explaining a little bit about what the best practices are,” Beneke said. “We encouraged them to let the children talk about it, to stress to the children that the adults in their lives will take care of them.”
An IVCC student who is a teacher’s aid in Chicago said the school social worker at her school talked to students and answered questions.
“Fifth grade and above were told they were safe because they (the terrorists) were not after them,” she said. “A social worker said to let kids watch(the attack) one time then shut off the TV. The events are disturbing, I turned off the cable in my home for my children.”