I still remember parts of it like it was just last week.

I remember that the only reason -- the only reason -- I knew it wasn't a joke was that WEBN, my local rock station, had interrupted Lynyrd Skynyrd with an announcement about a plane hitting the first tower. If it had "interrupted" some disc jockey banter or been in the middle of a string of commercials, I might've just thought it was a gimmick ad for a suspense movie.

I assumed, like so many others,...