Every Fall, Beloit College produces what they’ve come to call the Beloit College Mindset List, a list of popular culture and historical references that demonstrate the incoming freshmen class’ mindset, having grown up when they did. For example, those born in 1987 and entering college this year have never known a day when the federal budget was less than a trillion dollars, Andy Warhol, Liberace, Jackie Gleason, and Lee Marvin have always been dead, and Iran and Iraq have never been at war with each other.
You get the idea.
So, today, in honor of my 46th birthday, I thought I’d give you a glimpse into what has happened since I was born.
- I remember when homes only had one television, and it was huge!
- I remember when televisions only came in black and white.
- I remember watching the Ed Sullivan and the Red Skelton shows.
- I remember seeing the Vietnam War every night on the evening news.
- I remember seeing Neil Armstrong land on the moon.
- I remember watching the (war) draft on television.
- I remember the years between the end of the draft and the beginning of the Selective Service.
- I remember when cable and satellite television for the home was unheard of.
- I remember when HBO first became available.
- I remember exactly where I was when President Nixon resigned.
- I remember the Challenger exploding.
- I remember voting for Reagan. Twice. Fondly.
- I remember the fall of Siagon.
- I remember the Iranian hostage crisis.
- I remember disco. Not fondly.
- I remember when John Lennon was shot.
- I remember when the Beatles were still together.
- I remember the Banana Splits.
- I remember Tang.
- I remember when white men in Shreveport used the slur “n****r” in open conversation. (To be clear, I’m not saying that’s a good thing, I’m saying I remember it happening, and it’s something I hated then and I hate now.)
- I remember when there were no black children in my class.
- I remember hearing something about what happened at Chappaquiddick, but being 9 at the time, didn’t care much.
- Sadly, pretty much the same thing for Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy.
- I remember being stunned with news of the People’s Temple suicides.
- I remember begging to watch Batman at the dinner table.
- For that matter, I remember when everyone in the family ate dinner together, and no television was allowed.
- I remember when calling someone “gay” meant he was a particularly happy individual.
- I remember when every guy I knew had a copy of Farrah Fawcett’s poster on his wall. I remember why, too.
- I remember when porn was shown only in theatres downtown, in the seedy parts of downtown.
- I remember when Superman, Star Trek and Star Wars all opened.
- I remember actually being impressed with their special effects.
- I remember not even knowing who Bill Clinton was, when he was the governor of a state that’s less than 30 minutes North of where I grew up.
- I remember hearing about how bad our neighbor’s daughter was because she smoked pot!
- I remember when we could get two gallons of gasoline for under $1.
- I remember when my first car cost $5,000. New!
- I remember the lines around the service stations and rationing because gasoline cost $0.94 a gallon (About $3.08 in 2016 dollars.)
- I remember Jimmy Carter’s pep-talk to the nation.
- I remember when the Macintosh was first introduced.
- I remember playing Zork on an Apple IIc.
- I remember when my hair reached the middle of my shoulder blades.
So you see, I’ve been around for an old man. Here’s hoping I stay around for a few more interesting things.