There are moments that carve life like a great river, and everything is defined as being on this side of it, or on the other. Pearl Harbor, the first moon landing, and the end of Communism all divided our lives like cultural fence lines. The world as we knew it would never again be the same. There was only what came before, and what we were left with.

September 11, 2001, is one of those moments. Children who grow up in this suddenly different world will memorize that date for history tests. And those of us who witnessed it will never forget it.

It's said that Kennedy's assassination was the last time when everybody alive instantly recorded the moment, so that even years later the memory of where they were or what they did on that day is vivid. In that spirit, On Wisconsin asked a variety of alumni, students, and faculty to tell us what they were doing on September 11.