I volunteer taught a group of seniors a course on how to Access the Internet in the Milwaukee area at 9:00 am on 8 Tuesdays in Sept/Oct 2001. On Sept 11, I had just pulled up in front of the School Sisters of Notre Dame who sponsored the LaFarge lifelong studies program. I was listening to a local radio station.

It was hard to believe what I heard was happening and, as 9:00 approached, I new I had to stop listening, go inside, and have the class see the power of the Internet. Some had not heard anything about the events of that morning and others were wondering how we could find out more.

After suggesting they add .com to the normal television call signs, we all tried to get access to whatever information we could. We learned that every media source we tried some could get in but others could not. Eventually everyone had access to one or more web sites. When someone saw something we hadn’t seen on our screens we would rush over to see what was happening. Time seemed to stand still. No one wanted to class to end. Anyone who wanted could stay in the computer lab as long as they wanted.

I went home and after lowering my flag to hafl staff, sat transfixed at the TV for nearly the entire day.