SECURITY REDUCED? – AT 9:53 P.M. ET:  It seemed to me that the security at Grand Central Station, a major target, was far less when I left for home than when I arrived.  I have no explanation for this.   New York is going through a severe budget crunch, and maybe that was a factor.

It's still all bin Laden all the time.  The ultimate reality show.  President Obama is coming to Ground Zero later this week, his visit symbolizing the end of the bin Laden saga.  It's a good political stroke as well.  He'll be photographed with cops, firemen and other emergency personnel, and once again we will see Obama the "moderate" presented to the electorate.

One of the most inspiring things today was to see the number of college students out demonstrating on behalf of America.  Even the most elite of college newspapers, the Harvard Crimson and the Columbia Spectator, featured bin Laden's end on their front pages, and showed photos of students cheering. 

As the news of Osama bin Laden's death began to spread late Sunday night, images of college students celebrating across the United States started to pour into CNN iReport. From waving flags and blowing vuvuzelas at Yale University to a chorus of voices rising above Penn State University, the mood among campuses was electric.

"It was crazy, everyone was so unified and excited," said Colleen Russo, who joined around 400 other Denison University students in Granville, Ohio, to celebrate the news. They sang patriotic songs, shot off fireworks and cheered "USA! USA!" until the wee hours of the morning.

Although the majority of undergrads were just elementary school students when the September 11 attacks occurred, it seems the significance of bin Laden's death is not lost upon them.

"I remember I really lost my innocence that day," said Russo.

The 21-year-old psychology major explained that she grew up knowing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bin Laden's death, 10 years later, "[is] kind of like closure for me," she said.

"The attacks happened at an age where I was just beginning to understand world politics,” said West Virginia University student Puthiwadh Owen Huot, who was in 7th grade and living in Washington D.C. at the time.

He watched thousands of rowdy students fill the streets of Morgantown, West Virginia, chanting, honking car horns, and, in some cases, setting couches on fire.

"People are celebrating like crazy where I am," said Huot. "I think its more of a mob mentality and students are just looking for a reason to celebrate."

Vanderbilt University student Chris McDonald, 22, said he was moved by seeing images of other college students reacting to the news.

It has been reported that professors watching the demonstrations were treated for shock and given the last rites of the Young Socialists Club.

May 2, 2011