September 11, 2001, was a Tuesday – production day at the rural weekly I edited at the time. I had been in the office until around 2 a.m. the night before laying out inside pages, so I didn’t arrive at the office until after the second plane had already hit the south tower of the World Trade Center.

As soon as I walked in, the staff told me that commercial jets had flown into both towers. They were anxious to get to a television — we didn’t have one in the office at that time. I led them to the bar across the street, convinced the owners there to unlock the door and let us in, and we watched in an empty barroom as the towers collapsed.

We all went back across the street to the office. We started making phone calls to see if anyone in our coverage area had loved ones in New York or D.C. or knew of anyone who did. We found several people who did, got their stories, and put together a story for the next day’s front page that offered a local angle on the national news.

Donald Gilliland is an associate professor in the Jandoli School of Communication at St. Bonaventure University.

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