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It's safe to say anyone over the age of 30 remembers where they were the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, and what they were doing when they heard the news that three hijacked airplanes had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. And that a fourth plane had crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pa., after passengers and crew fought back against hijackers, preventing them from striking a fourth target.
I was working nights at The Buffalo News back then, so I was awakened by a friend's phone call telling me I needed to turn on the television. I remember not being able to process the magnitude of what I was seeing. I called my editor and asked where I was needed. The answer was simple: Just get here.
Back then, we published seven print editions through the day − pre-internet, so no website to consider − and the newsroom was busy doing what we could to digest what had happened and update coverage with what we knew for each edition. What I remember most was how _quiet_ it was since we were all in shock.
At home, my future husband − an Army reservist − had gotten a call to be prepared for deployment at any time, so he was ironing his uniform and shining his boots while watching the devastation. His deployment didn't happen for another year, but his unit was prepared for whatever was to come.
We've lived with and covered the ripple effects from that morning for 25 years, and this week, our newsroom will remember and reflect along with the rest of our country.
Welcome to The Short List, and thanks for reading. The goal of this column (which I've been writing as a newsletter for the past six months) is to keep you up to date on what's going on each week in the Buffalo Niagara region and what's coming in [The Buffalo News](https://buffalonews.com/). It should inform and enlighten you, but I also hope to highlight stories that will entertain and delight you. I won't just tell you what happened; I'll also tell you why it matters.