Unintentional Plagarism

Today is the 30th anniversary of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant accident.

Ian, whose shows I produce for the national radio show I work with, asked me to tell him what I remembered from that time. It was early in the morning and I am not the best writer in the mornings (I'm sure I'll be going back into Blogger and editing this post at some point). So, I had already submitted my memories on NPR's website, for kicks. I went there to cut-and-paste my thoughts into my email to Ian. Then I went to my sister, Lisa's, blog and saw what she had written. And, she had included details I had forgotten. So, I copied her words, too, and edited both of our little essays into one cohesive whole.

Ian asked me if he could read some of it on the air and I said yes.

I didn't know he would read THE ENTIRE LETTER!!! It was cool, but I felt horribly guilty that I didn't write the whole thing all by myself. Because I have world's most guilty conscience, I have re-printed the letter here, a co production of Lisa and myself:

It was my senior year of high school. My family lived just outside the 10-mile radius from the plant. That was important because officials kept talking about evacuating people who lived 5 or 10 miles from the plant. But, nothing was coordinated. There were only recommendations.

News of the accident at the plant started trickling out in the morning of the 29th. But we all went to school and prepared to have a normal day. By the afternoon, though, the principal gave an announcement over the loudspeaker, telling all of us to stay inside and close the windows. We were going to be sent home early. Rumors were spreading and everybody was scared. A few of my friends ran around saying "I don't want to die a virgin!!!" (but in my choir-and-band-geek crowd, nobody accommodated anybody on that front) It was a beautiful spring afternoon. My sisters and I took the school bus home. The bus driver had all of the windows open and had no idea about the TMI accident. School remained closed for several days, as nobody knew what the heck was going on.

Over the next few days, the details began to emerge. Would we be evacuated? Would we be allowed to stay put? We were all finally allowed to stay in our homes if we wished.

Everybody in our family got sick from a cold or had a bad headache. I will never know if it was from anything that spewed from the plant or not. More likely, it was from all the stress. All of my friends left with their families to other places, far away. My family was poor and we didn't have anywhere to go. So we stayed. And worried.

I remember mostly the confusion and the fear. I also remember that we, living in Harrisburg, were not getting the same news about TMI that the rest of the country got from outside the region. Remember, this is in the days prior to CNN. I'll never forget listening to a local DJ talking to a nuclear official at the plant and asking him "what's the coffee situation"! (of course, nowadays, I don't know what I would have done in the situation on the air. How do you keep it together?)

My mother, in her infinite wisdom, took us all to the movies during this time to see "The China Syndrome" (it was so freaky that this movie had come out shortly before the accident). There's a line in the film that says something like "if this plant goes, it could wipe out the population in an area as big as the STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA!!" (talk about synchronicity) Leaving the theater, a reporter from The Boston Globe wanted to ask us questions. Mother refused, fearing the media, I guess.

But, what was most upsetting to me and my friends was that the Billy Joel concert scheduled a few days later at the Hersheypark Arena was canceled!! It was the biggest event of the year, and everybody I knew had tickets. About 15 years later, my sister actually got to meet Billy Joel backstage at a concert in Tacoma WA. When she reminded him, he said "I KNOW! It wasn't MY FAULT!" (The arena had canceled the show because officials thought they might have to use it as temporary housing).

What a crazy time.

Lisa, thank you so much for your beautiful words.