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Welcome to Thinking Out Loud, a blog that contains postings from The Tampa Tribune’s Editorial Board and from various Tribune Community Columnists. Unlike the unsigned editorials that represent the newspaper’s institutional voice, the blog postings offer personal perspectives on the issues, personalities and events of Tampa Bay. We invite you to participate by posting your comments. We’ll do our best to respond.

Contributors:

Joe Guidry

Joe Guidry is the deputy editorial page editor of The Tampa Tribune. He is a Tampa native and a graduate of the University of South Florida. He is married and has an adult son.

Jeff Stidham

Jeff Stidham grew up and lives in Bartow. He has been with the Tribune for nearly 22 years, the last 10 on the editorial board.

William Yelverton

William Yelverton is a Tribune editorial writer who has worked for the paper nearly 22 years. He lives in the Dade City area.

Jim Beamguard

Jim Beamguard is a Tribune editorial writer. He is a native of North Carolina and a graduate of Davidson College. He and his family live in Brandon.

Jackie Papandrew:

Jackie Papandrew is a freelance writer and editor. Her syndicated humor column appears in publications in the United States, Canada and India. She lives in Largo with her husband and children. Visit her website at www.jackiepapandrew.com.

Camille Beredjick

Camille Beredjick is a senior at Chamberlain High School, an avid musician and a scribbler with a quirky sense of humor. In the fall, she will be attending Northwestern University to study journalism, political science and music, and she plans to pursue a career in journalism.

Jim Harnish

Jim Harnish is in his 17th year as Senior Pastor at Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Tampa. He and his wife, Marsha, have two daughters and two grandchildren. He is a graduate of Asbury Theological Seminary and received the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Bethune-Cookman University. He is the author of six books and numerous articles and studies. He enjoys playing with his grandchildren and cheering for the Florida Gators.

Angela Hunt

Angela Hunt is a novelist living in Pinellas County with her husband and two 220-pound mastiffs.

Sheryl Young

Sheryl Young was a Tampa Tribune Community Columnist in 2005-2006. A freelance writer since 1997, including the Tampa Bay Business Journal, Tampa Style Magazines, St. Pete Times and nationally in Better Nutrition, Today’s Christian Woman and more. She’s received a First Place Amy Foundation national "Roaring Lambs" Writing Award, and has lived in Tampa Bay with her family for over 20 years.

Christie Gold

Christie Gold teaches English and journalism at Freedom High School in Tampa where she advises Revolution, the school newspaper. She has been both the Hillsborough County Teacher of the Year and Florida Journalism Teacher of the Year. She lives on a small farm in Wesley Chapel where she trains as a competitive equestrian.

Natalie D. Preston

Natalie D. Preston is a karaoke singing, only-child pouting, Seminole Tomahawk waving, newlywed bride blushing, 50-state traveling, girlie girl who loves to shop, read, run and jump up and down on her soapbox.

Fernando Figueroa

Fernando Figueroa is a researcher, educator and lives in Riverview.

Gary Beemer

Interests include humor, politics, economics, community and world affairs, finance, people, religion, music, sports, current events, the arts and education.

Nicole Yunger Halpern

Nicole Yunger Halpern is an undergraduate at Dartmouth College, where she studies everything she can get her nerdy little hands on. Desired major: life. No, not necessarily biology. Life.

Kris DiGiovanni

Kris DiGiovanni is a Tribune Community Columnist, Huffington Post contributor, Daily Kos diarist, and teacher, who recently moved from NW Hillsborough to another planet - a small beach community in Pinellas County. She also blogs at www.sandscript.wordpress.com

H. David Braswell Jr.

H. David Braswell Jr. is an Information Systems Professional. He is a native New Yorker and a lifelong NY Giants fan. He attended college in California (Cal State Northridge) and moved to Tampa in 1998.

Sean Marcus

Sean Marcus teaches creative writing, journalism and reading at Chamberlain High School. He has one son and is expecting a daughter in early March. He can be reached at wuizabug@gmail.com

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The Longest Day Ever

Posted Sep 9, 2011 by Natalie D. Preston

Updated Sep 9, 2011 at 02:04 PM

I was pecking away on my computer at The University of Tampa.

I don’t recall what I was working on at the time, but BBC America was playing in the background. Whether at home, work or in the car, NPR is always on.

I’m a junkie.

The tone of the broadcaster suddenly escalated. His quaint British accent was panicky. I stopped typing to focus on the broadcast and hear what he was so excited about.

A U.S. passenger airplane had hit one of the World Trade Center buildings in New York City.

WTF!

How does an airplane happen to run into a skyscraper?

I raced down the hall and turned the corner into my supervisor’s office.

“A plane just hit the World Trade Center Building!”

He hadn’t heard the news.

I never knew why, but my boss kept a portable, emergency TV/radio in his office (hurricane preparedness, maybe?).

He grabbed it from the closet and sat it on the table for us to watch the unfolding news footage … in disbelief.

The television remained on and perched on his table for the remainder of the day. Colleagues frequently rotated in and out of his office for updates. Some lingered to discuss the possible terrorist attack while others watched, shook their heads and left with heavy hearts.

Later that evening, I became obsessed with breaking news, video clips from the scene and bystander accounts of the gruesome attack on Americans.

Some might say that I scare easily. However, I describe myself as overly cautious and a little hypersensitive. For example, in a movie theater I remove my glasses to avoid seeing the scary trailers … just to be safe.

When the Twin Towers fell, I was an only child who lived alone in a two-story condo.

Uh-oh.

Try as I might, I could not bring myself to sleep upstairs in my queen-sized bed. Instead, my deep red sofa provided some weird sort of comfort during this time of peaked uneasiness in the country.

With my cell phone resting under a pillow, my prized Ken Griffey, Jr. bat within arm’s reach on the floor and two escape routes—the front door and slider—in front and behind me, I settled in for the night.

At one point I dozed off, but the sound of a helicopter startled me awake. I didn’t dare go outside to see what my ‘lively’ neighbors were up to.

Instead, I checked my bat, clutched my cell phone and channel surfed for more breaking news, video clips and play-by-play accounts.