Sandra Harris Writes

  9/11: WHERE WERE YOU WHEN THE PLANES HIT THE TOWERS…? BY SANDRA HARRIS. © Have you ever been asked where you were when Elvis died? Or when JFK was assassinated? I was only a nipper for the first historical landmark, and not even alive when the second happened, but I do remember exactly where I was when the terrorist planes hit the Twin Towers in Lower Manhattan. It was a Tuesday afternoon here for us Irish, as we’re about five hours ahead of the United States. I was walking through town on my way to meet my then-boyfriend for a couple of hours. I didn’t know it at the time- or maybe I did, deep down- but our long-term relationship was on its very last legs, and would only limp on for a matter of a few more weeks, before eventually dying out completely, like a car with a busted engine, on October 31 st , 2001. Breaking up on Halloween? That’s so me…! We had reached this horrible kind of end-game stage where we were meeting up for sex a couple of times a week, but nothing e...

TURNING POINT: 9/11 AND THE WAR ON TERROR. (2021) DIRECTED BY BRIAN KNAPPENBERGER. A NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY REVIEWED BY SANDRA HARRIS. © I binge-watched this five-part Netflix series yesterday, in honour of the day that was in it: the twentieth anniversary of the September 11 th terrorist attacks, probably the biggest assault on America since Pearl Harbour.   For much of it, I was aware that I was practically holding my breath, it was so tense, especially the bits dealing with the lead-up to the attacks on the morning of Tuesday, the eleventh of September, 2001. Lower Manhattan was going about its business as usual on what has been described as a ‘beautiful Fall morning.’ Shortly before nine am, an ordinary commercial passenger plane crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Centre building, one of the legendary Twin Towers that formed such a familiar part of the skyline in New York. The building immediately caught fire. What was going on? Had the poor pilot had a heart attack ...