Before and after

‍ Here, and in our weekly newsletter, we asked “where were you when 9/11 happened?” For previous responses, see here and here. Below is another one.

On Tuesday, 9/4/01, I taught a class of 35 Morgan Stanley employees who were taking MBA courses offered by the Baruch College faculty. The course was taught on the 110th floor of Tower 1, I believe. As I was writing on the blackboard, I heard students saying that they would only take a few courses where they worked but never attended Baruch.
On 9/11, a week later, I took an early train into New York City, and there was a bunch of men excitedly pointing out the window. They said a plane had just flown into one of the towers. (I thought, even a beginner would not crash their plane into a building.)
I had come in around 9 a.m. to see my chiropractor. When I arrived at her office on 29th Street, I watched on TV as the second tower was destroyed. The announcers said they saw people leaping out of the upper floors. The trains back to Long Island were shut down until 10 p.m.

On 9/18 my class met in a horrible classroom at Baruch. There were no windows in the room. Fortunately, all 35 Morgan Stanley students had survived.
The class was a dismal event for another 11 weeks. Students were in mourning, and I taught with a dreary countenance. I’m relating my story because I find it so poignant.