Running With Quills: What year was it?

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Sunday, April 20, 2008

What year was it?

The year I graduated from high school was a tumultuous year in history.

I was in the senior activity center kind of flirting with this black athelete from another school when we heard Robert Kennedy was assassinated. Martin Luther King had been assassinated earlier in the year and I thought the world was getting to be a very crazy place.

Laugh In and The Smothers Brothers Show cracked me up. The Graduate was different than any movie I'd ever seen and its Simon and Garfunkle songtrack just blew me away. Bonnie and Clyde showed every minute twitch and jerk of the bodies being riddled with bullets with all its accompanying blood splatter. (To this day, I'd rather see the hokey slap of a hand to the wound when a character gets shot and the victim staggering around unconvincingly than watch the impact of the bullets hitting bodies)

A boy named Steve Cameron read The Catcher In The Rye with the book barely open because he loved the cover and didn't want to crack the spine. We argued that one to a standstill as I did NOT unders

tand how he could sacrifice the reading experience to preserve a stupid cover.

The Beatles dominated the charts but I played Otis Redding's Dock of the Bay until I wore out the record. Seattle's Jimi Hendrix was jailed in Stockholm for trashing his hotel room. (Lots of rockstars seems prone to that. Never got it)

Pantyhose had been invented but they were sort of one size fits all, so we still wore garters.

The Viet Cong launched the Tet Offensive and American soldiers massacred civilians at Mai Lai. Students protested the war in the streets, staged sit ins and took over college administration buildings. I was conflicted because I truly didn't believe in the war. But I was a middle class American girl who did believe in the soldiers. I knew people, had lost people to that war, and the soul mate who was my boyfriend at the time had been drafted into the Army (and would be shipped to Nam the following year).

Feminists protested the Miss America contest, protestors died in the Democratic Convention riot in Chicago, Baltimore burned.

And I struggled to grow up.

Man, this is way too easy, but what year was it? And what happened the year you graduated high school or college or perhaps another eventful time in your life?

39 Comments:

Anonymous said...: 1968 - I turned one year old that year.

I graduated from secondary college in 1987 and I can´t remember single, solitary, eventful thing from that year apart from my 20th birthday and graduating with my Matriculation examination (similar to Associates degree).

I do remember Miss Iceland being elected Miss World in 1985 and later in 1988, the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989 (I was in Germany that summer and couldn´t imagine such a thing would happen just few months later). I remember Reagan and Gorbachov holding their summit in Reykjavík 1986 and loving Wham 1985.

But 1987 - the year I graduated from secondary college. I don´t really remember ANYTHING from that year.; 4:39 AM
Margaret Garland said...: 1968. Yes, Susan, it was way too easy for me, anyway. I was alive & kicking then. A young divorcee and had 2 kids in elementary school. I remember those good/bad old days.
I graduated in 1956. So long ago, I cheated and Googled the year to see if my memory still works. Forgive me.
1. Elvis's "Heartbreak Hotel" hit the top of the charts. First for him. He also appeared on Ed Sullivan for the 1st time and "Love Me Tender" opened. Who were the Beatles? LOL
2. 1st Dear Abby column appeared.
3. "My Fair Lady" opened on Broadway.
4. "As the World Turns" & "The Edge of Night" premiered as 1/2 hour show. I loved the Edge.
5.Most important event for me and millions of kids. Jonas Salk's polio vaccine was made available to the public. I remember standing in line at a school in Houston to get my dose.
5. The Hungarian revolution began. The Cold War was in full swing.
6. 2 airliners collided over the Grand Canyon. Scary then & scary now.
Not as exciting as your graduation year, but the 50's kids had the atomic bomb to worry about. It was all as white bread as some would have you believe.; 4:47 AM
Margaret Garland said...: I meant, of course, that it WASN'T all as white bread as some would have you believe.
Senior moment there. Duh; 4:50 AM
Anonymous said...: I was going to guess 1968 because I remember it. However, others have beat me to it. That was the year I started high school (ours was 10th-12th grade). It was a time full of turmoil and uncertainty. Since my dad was in the Navy reserves, saying anything disrespectful of the military or the war was not allowed. I listened to reports of violence on college campuses and decided to go to an all-woman's college so that I could concentrate on my goal of becoming a nurse and study. Near the end of the fall semester 1970 there was a minor riot on this campus with about 20 people arrested. It wasn't brought on by the war, but there was a lot of racial tension. It was the first time I have ever been afraid for my life because of someone's race- thinking that she might want to hurt me because of my color, not because I would ever be rude or cruel. When there were speakers on the college quad area, the administration had flunkies with video camers taking pictures of everyone who attended. They were labeled "troublemakers" even if they were only listening. Those were birthpangs of a better society. Attitudes that were common then would not be even slightly acceptable now and I'm glad for that. (Not to say that we have arrived at the perfect world but I think things *are* better than they were then.) KathyK; 6:53 AM
Anonymous said...: 1968. My senior year of high school (1994/1995), my brother passed away at the end of the first semester--just a few weeks later, I was removed from an English class discussion of Anna Karenina because the teacher felt students wouldn't participate with me in the room.

During Spring break, while in Florida with my family sitting in a dive in the Everglades eating fried clams--the Oklahoma Federal building was bombed.

The night after the prom I sat in a theater watching the Rocky Horror Picture Show for the very first time, as men in black lace acted out the scenes in the audience. Until that moment I would never have considered myself sheltered.

Later that fall, I sat in my college dorm lounge with every other kid from Cleveland as the darned Atlanta Braves beat the Indians in 6.

Joan; 7:13 AM
Kay Webb Harrison said...: 1968 was my high school graduation year as well. I attended a federal govt. sponsored Latin American Studies program at East Carolina College (University?) that summer and began classes at Old Dominion College in Norfolk, VA (turned University in 1969) that fall. It was even more of a commuter school then than it is now; I lived with my family and worked part-time at the Norfolk Sears store. My Dad was a yeoman in the Navy; I think that he was stationed on a Norfolk-based ship at the time; since yeomen work as secretaries, he was as much in demand for shore duty stations as sea duty ones.

I spent most of 1968 working to make the best grades I could to get into and to stay in college and to earn money for the expenses that scholarships didn't pay for. I was aware of what was going on in the greater world, but my being rarely shifted from my personal reality.

Kay; 7:34 AM
susan andersen said...: Sirry, that must be you who turned 1 the year I graduated. (Iceland was the giveaway :) Why you're just a sweet young thing. *g*

Margaret, I remember standing in line for vacinations in grade school in the 50s and the "bomb" drills, which were terrifying for a little kid (worrying how I'd find my mother if it happened for real while I was at school) I was too young to grasp the significance of the A-bomb's power--ie, that there would be nothing left of any of us to worry about locating family members.

Kathy K, was your college in a southern state? Not that racial tension was limited to the south, but I think it was much more prevalent south of the Mason/Dixon line in the 60s and 70s.

Joan, how awful to lose a brother!
But yay on the Rocky Horror Picture Show--I LOVED that movie!

Kay, you sound as if you were much more focused than I!; 8:20 AM
MichiganMom said...: 1968...I had dropped out of the University of Michigan to get my PHT (Putting Hubby Thru) and remember sitting in our tiny married housing apartment and hearing about, first, MLK and later, Bobby Kennedy.

1965...I graduated high school to the tunes of the Moody Blues, Rolling Stones and the Beatles. I remember sitting in history class and discussing the assassination of Malcom X; President Johnson's signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965; MLK's march in Selma, AL; debating the rightness of US combat troops in Viet Nam. The Viet Nam war dominated my thoughts as many boys I graduated with decided to enlist. Those same boys either returned as men in body bags or Vets who were scarred and unappreciated.

Sorry for the downer...but those events have framed my thoughts and actions ever since.

Pam; 8:22 AM
Lori Foster said...: Incredible blog, Susan. I graduated in 77, but I had so much personal stuff going on, I have no idea what happened in the world around me.
I didn't take any college courses in school, because college was never mentioned, much less encouraged. It was sort of "get of age and get out."
I concentrated on art and writing classes, and surviving the hell that highschool can sometimes be.
No one realized I'd graduated because I didn't attend the ceremony. I had my certificate mailed to me.

Police were called to our house numerous times that year. The fire department came when my mother set the bedroom door on fire because my father wouldn't open the door.

Family was arrested, family was drunk, parents finally filed for divorce (thank God) and I moved out to escape - but was drawn back in again and again.

I married shortly after that, and started work at a Kroger grocery store.
My life was about me.
The used furnishings I bought for our apartment; the home we bought six months after marrying; planting flowers in the yard - and trying to distance myself from my roots so I could be different.

All way too personal.

Life happened around me?
I suppose it did, but I'd need an aged newspaper to tell me what went on during that very difficult time.

Hugs to all!

Lori; 8:30 AM
DFender said...: Great blog, Susan! I love "going back" myself. Of course the year you described is 1968. I was 2. Ha! Hadta rub that in, it's so rare I'm "younger". LOL.

I graduated in 1984. It was the decade of feathered, poofy-banged hair, tight Jordache jeans and heels. "Night Court" started on TV. John Lennon's "Nobody Told Me" was released. Wendy's "Where's the beef?" commercials were on TV. Who didn't love Clara Peller? LOL. Madonna was H.O.T. Our president was Ronald Reagan for another 4. Thank God. Howard Cosell retired from Monday Night Football. Doug Flutie won the Heisman. The Cleveland Browns become the "Kardiac Kids" (Go Cleveland!)
Bananarama, Prince, Michael Jackson, Night Ranger, Bryan Adams, Naked Eyes, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper and the Go-Go's were on the radio. Vanessa Williams was fired as Miss America.

Wow, whatta year...LOL. Oh the music of the 80's has gotta go down in history as awful...LOL. Yes, I still listen to it, still have it memorized and still cringe. I'd ace "80's music" on Jeopardy...LOL.

Thanks, Susan!

Deb; 8:45 AM
susan andersen said...: Pam, I don't find that a downer--the era was what it was and it wasn't always pretty. I think America as a whole learned from the Viet Nam war that you can hate the war but love the soldier. That was one of the things that made me so angry with Bush when he got us into this war--he unilaterally labeled anyone who protested the idea of jumping into it as anti-soldier and my knee jerk reaction is don't tell ME I'm against the military just because I don't think this is a good idea--I've been through this before!

Lori, I think at the end of the day most 18,19, 20 year olds lives are all about them and it sounds as if your home life was way more tumultuous than most. Obviously you succeeded spectacularly in your goal to be as different as possible from the family in which you were raised, because look at you now girl, with the beautiful, stable family you and your husband created! (not to mention a career most writers can only dream of)

Deb, sheesh--another sweet young thing! I remember those bangs well--I was the auction coordinator for a private Lutheran high school and was surrounded by swoops of amazing heights! (and used some of the 80s fashion memories for a conversation between my h/h in my upcoming Cutting Loose!)

Notice the sneaky way in which I skillfully slipped in a little promo? Man, I'm smooth.; 9:08 AM
Anonymous said...: Deb - you forgot to list the shoulder pads and eyeshadow; Dallas and who shot JR; guys in parachute pants with big plastic comb handles sticking out of their back pockets.

It is very important to remember that support the soldiers doesn't have to mean support the war.

Marcia in OK; 10:13 AM
susan andersen said...: Marcia, great minds think alike--I also mentioned parachute pants in my CL conversation and the hero--well, I won't do a spoiler. I have a son who was in late elementary/middle school during that era and he was a fool for parachute pants. I took the job at the high school in large part because I had three nephews and a niece who went there and the teenage years can be a time when you lose touch with the kids and I didn't want that to happen.; 10:23 AM
DFender said...: ...and the Mullet. Gawd!; 10:24 AM
elizabeth said...: I was in college, working, and rather bemused by the whole racial hoohah, because every school I'd ever attended was mixed race. Like all kids, I just assumed that was the way it was.

Kennedy(s), King, Cuban Missle Crisis. I was dating a SAC co-pilot at that time and the university I went to was about three miles from the end of March AFB runway. Every time one of those big B52's took off the buildings would resonate. If more than one wing took off, the professor would wait to continue speaking.

I learned to count the "wings" taking off. Normal maneuvers, yellow alert, red alert.

Way too many of the red sort. It was chilling to understand what the rest of my classmates only took as an irritating interruption in their chatter.

And I knew that my date was out heading toward the "fail safe" point. At the very least the date was off.

At the very worst...well, I tried not to think about that too much.; 11:36 AM
Jayne Ann Krentz said...: Hell of a year, wasn't it, Susan? Then, again, aren't they all? I'm with you: Don't anyone dare tell me I can't support the soldier and still think the war is stupid. Learned how to do that back in 1968.; 11:47 AM
Anonymous said...: In 1968 Washington DC burned... it was very frightening to be a child and watching this on TV. I didn't understand why this was happening and as I look back now, I think we have come so far and yet, not far enough.

I wore a POW braclet and watched the list for my soliders name, but he didn't come home.

I don't support the war, but I am very proud of those that are in uniform, both at home and abroad.; 12:04 PM
AgTigress said...: How young you are, Susan! The year I completed secondary (high) school was the year Buddy Holly died. :-)
1968 was quite a year in Europe, too. There was a lot going on, with riots and civil unrest here and there, not to mention a bit of invasion of Soviet tanks.; 12:46 PM
Kay Webb Harrison said...: Hey Susan,
Did you get the May/June 2008 issue of the AARP Magazine? There is a twelve page article on "1968: The Year That Rocked Our World." It has LOTS of pictures.

Kay (again); 1:05 PM
Anonymous said...: I graduated in 1966 between the John Kennedy and MLK/Bobby Kennedy assinations. Everyone was still trying to figure out he John Kennedy "conspiracy" when the other 2 were killed.

All 3 murders were very shocking and completely rocked my average, middle class life into chaos and uncertainty.

I lived in the upper midwest, Minnesota, so we didn't have a lot of protests, etc. I don't think it was because we didn't care or worry about the war and civil rights, but when it's 20 below zero, staying warm becomes the top priority. Also, this area of the country is very conservative and not overly demonstrative.

When I started college in the fall of '66, it was my first face to face exposure with African Americans, black people in those days. I only had 1 black guy that I became friends with and he was a football player, but that wasn't til later in my college career.

For music, I remember the Beatles, of course, Simon and Garfunkle were great, and The Monkeys debuted on TV in the fall of '66. In my dorm we only had a TV in the lobby, so we had Monkeys parties every Monday night with popcorn, etc. It was so silly but we had great fun.

I think that year I was still quite naive and it wasn't until I was in my junior or senior year in college that I grew a social conscience and awareness.

Then I came to Hawaii!

Kathy H; 3:05 PM
Anonymous said...: Susan, yes the college was in north Texas. Desegrgation was just beginning in the Dallas school district. There was a white flight to the 'burbs and the public schools began their inexorable slide to ineffectiveness. I got a good education in Dallas public schools. By the time my sister, seven years younger, went through it was the pits academically. KathyK; 4:54 PM
talpianna said...: Buncha runny-nosed kids! In 1968 I was in grad school--I think I already had my M.A.!; 5:12 PM
susan andersen said...: And the mullet. Who thought that was a good idea?

Antigress and Talpianna --I LOVE that you two are. . .Old. Neener neener. (just foolin') And Antigress: Bye, bye, Miss American Pie. (I'm not sure where you're living now, but are you familiar with that song about the day the music (Buddy Holly) died? I have a brother 6 years older than I and he turned me into a BH fan when I was about 8. *g*

Elizabeth/Ann--like you I went to racially diverse schools. Although it's funny. I always thought my highschool was about a third black. But looking back at my yearbbooks, I see that the ratio was much less than I assumed. It was a heckuvalot greater than the soulmate's school, however, which had a pretty pale student body.

Jayne, yep, all years do have their turmoil, but that was an era of especially radical change, a time when the way we looked at so many things got turned upside down.

Anonymous with the POW braclet, have you visited the vietnam memorial wall in DC? That's an emotional experience. I took a rubbing of my friend Doug's brother's name, who was MIA, to take home to him when I was there for a conference several years ago. It really choked me up and I had never even met Doug's brother as D and Mimi moved to the PNW after that time.

Kay, I did see the article--that's what got me to thinking about my experiences in that year.

KathyH, how did you get from cold Minnesota to Hawaii?; 7:37 PM
Anonymous said...: The year that I graduated from High School was the spring after Pearl Harbor. (I'm showing my age) Went into the Navy not too long after that.

By 1968 I had married and had five kids...four boys and a young lady.

Still have the wife and kids....plus grand and great kids.

Thanks for writing...you do have a way with words that's enjoyable.

Louis; 7:43 PM
Linda said...: Another young'un here.

1993 was a interesting year in Miami. Hurricane Andrew hit a few days before senior year of high school started. We spent the year rebuilding and flirting with National Guardsmen while volunteering at Tent City.

Kurt Cobain taught us to dress grungy, and we dutifully laced up our Doc Martens.

Though we were not quite of an age to vote, we showed up at some rallies and met a then longshot Governor Bill Clinton. Got to shake his hand, as we were among a small crowd.

Linda; 7:52 PM
Stella said...: Susan:

What a wonderful haul of memories you've made. I've enjoyed every post although Sirry and Deb may need their comeuppance. 1 and 2 in '68!

The picture is super. Ah, yes, I remember those things well.

When President Kennedy died I was still in England and watching the Palldium with my mother. That was a TV variety show and there I saw people like Bobby Darren (sp)Shirley Bassey and I can't remember all the many others--for the first time.

We both drew the conclusion that WWIII couldn't be far behind and, as was our way, went outside to walk. Very frightening not to really understand what was going on in the USA when Britain was so tied to its coattails. I wasn't yet over finally understanding Bay of Pigs.

Spent an extended period in France that year and got sucked into the still very active post-Hungarian Revolution scene. Big dark houses, very late at night, where memorable (and I don't mean nicely so) movies were shown and I was surrounded by people who spoke languages I didn't even recognize. Of course there was French but spoken in such torrents of emotional rapid fire that I caught little of what was said. I understood the gist of things and felt the great, angry rushes of emotion one is supposed to feel at that age. I've never stopped reacting and overreacting to injustice.

My French-Algerian friend and I drove around Paris in the just delivered, pale blue Thunderbird left for us by a Swedish friend . . . Only later did I learn that my buddy didn't and never had had a license.

Have you seen the funny old Citroen's shaped like children's wood block cars? They bounced--as in we could take the nose and tail to start a rocking motion, then bounce these vehicles along the curb to make parking room for ourselves.

And bread spread with lard and sugar in the night market at 3 in the morning is another marvel to be remembered, if not repeated:)

Louis, I do believe you took your single time before taking yourself out of the "marriage mart." Congratulations on having a successful marriage and a lovely bunch of people to come along behind you.

Stella; 9:38 PM
susan andersen said...: What a wonderful diverse group we have here. Linda--Kurt brought you grunge from my hometown. :) He, too, is mentioned in my new series--this time in Bending the Rules, which will be the second book. 'Course he's just a mention, but I'm loving all this chat about stuff I've recently written.

Okay, so I'm easily amused. :)

Louis, were you stationed in the Pacific during WWII then? And FIVE kids? Holy moly, I bet things were hopping around your place.

And Stella, you like my garters pic, huh? I'd sort of forgotten about them until I was flipping through my high school era photo album and came across this pic. And your time in France strikes me as so exotic. That's a country I may never get to see--unless I go with a girlfriend or my sweet baby boy. The soulmate, who is one of the easiest-going men in the world (well, you've met him) is totally unreasonable when it comes to the French. He blames them for 'Nam and will not go there.

Laughed over the image of bouncing your Citroen into the curb to park it. And Lard and sugar sandwiches, hmmm?

Yum.; 10:45 PM
DFender said...: Susan,

This blog topic was just incredible. I'm a huge history buff and all of the comments are like a little time capsule. Especially to a youngun such as myself... *snicker

As a history buff, I'm an avid reader of military history, too. The Vietnam era, although I wasn't old enough to understand, affected the lives of every American family that I know. My friends Dads (and some Moms) served and suffered. My parents adopted me at Ft. Sill in Oklahoma where my Dad was stationed. I went to the Vietnam Memorial with my Dad when I was a kid and it's the only time I've seen him cry. Seeing all of the former soldiers so emotional brought home the fact that war was real and horrifying. I was and remain so proud of my Dad. I was 9. JFK, MLK & RFK's assassinations also affected all of the families that I know.

It's amazing, to me, how the same event can so differently influence individuals.

Thanks for reminding me of some of the events that shaped my life. And the mullet? I blame that on the South. LOLOLOL.

Deb; 4:46 AM
aussie dee said...: I liked reading everyone's comments but would my comment make anyone feel old? in 1968 I wasn't even here yet :); 5:05 AM
Tina said...: I, too, graduated in 1984. I graduated a little early (though not as early as I'd wanted to) so that I could join the Air Force and get out of my house as soon as possible. I don't remember a lot of cultural happenings specific to that year. However, I do remember going to see "Purple Rain" at a movie theater in Rantoul, IL, (just outside the now-defunct Chanute AFB) with a gorgeous, intelligent, funny, charming yet well-mannered young man that I was emphatically not dating because I grew up in Kentucky and I was still young enough to be overly worried about what others would think of me dating someone from a different race. (Looking back, I could smack that stupid girl because he was a really great date and an all-around Good Guy.)

Hmmm, what else do I remember? REM was on the radio, as was Bananarama, Men At Work, and the Eurhythmics. I bought some of my first cassette tapes--Bryan Adams, "Cuts Like A Knife" and Bon Jovi's self-titled "Bon Jovi", featuring "Runaway" and "Shot Through the Heart". Cassette tapes had already been out for a few years, but I never had the money to buy a cassette player or my own music while living at home.
In the dorms on base, there was the Indiana Jones weekend--someone had rented the movie on tape and a vcr and it played in the dayroom all weekend long. I kicked serious Trivial Pursuit butt in that dayroom, too. I kicked some serious Centipede butt, too--and my date for that particular evening suddenly remembered something he'd forgotten that he had to do right after I beat him soundly at the game. (He also forgot to ever ask me out again! The 19-year old male ego can be a fragile thing.) Of course, none of those things came out in 1984 but they were still new-ish and very popular.

Oh! And I had the most awesome purple shirt that snapped at an angle, instead of straight up and down. Pictures of me in said shirt now make me cringe!

And the mullet? I blame that on the South.

I think you can tag us with Nascar, but not necessarily the mullet. We may have embraced it as a lifstyle choice, but that doesn't mean we invented it or caused it's wide-spread proliferation. Personally, I blame Indiana-born Michael Jackson and the popularity of Thriller.; 8:40 AM
Anonymous said...: Hi Susan.
Yes it was me who was born in 1967. I forgot to put my name to the text.

The year when I graduated from secondary college (1987) was in many ways difficult for me for various reasons, so that particular year is in a kind of dark cloud in some distant part of my memory. It´s not something I revisit often.

The year when I graduated with my B.S. degree in Geography, however, from the University of Iceland in 1995, is another matter entirely. That was a very happy time for me, filled with interesting courses at the Univ., active social life with my friends and all in all a great time.

Sirry; 8:43 AM
Elizabeth Guest said...: Amazing blog, Susan. Poignant and sad and wonderful and funny comments by so many of you.

Agtigress, my brother was a huge Buddy Holly fan---so naturally, as his adoring younger sister, so was I. :-) We were in Iowa visiting our grandmother at the time BH's plane crashed only a few miles away.

~EG; 9:04 AM
Anonymous said...: Hi Susan and everyone,

I went to Hawaii for a vacation right after I graduated from College in 1970. I didn't have a job lined up and had some money saved. I had always wanted to come to Hawaii, so I thought, what the heck, I'll go for a quick vacation before I settle down to the job search. It helped that an old boyfriend had just gotten a job in Hawaii, so he let me stay with him. Anyway, my 2 week vacation turned into a 38 year love affair.

Every morning as I watch a fabulous sunrise, or every evening as I sit in my living room watching the sunset amidst a spectacular wash of color, or breathe the sweet scented air or the tang of the ocean, and listen to the rolling surf and watch the palm trees sway in the tradewinds, or look at all my friends and realize how many different races live here in harmony and that I am among them, I know that I am truly blessed to have found my place.

Kathy H; 12:37 PM
Catherine said...: What I remember most was the year before graduation--President Regean was shot and John Bonham of Led Zeppelin died ( drugs and alcohol gets you every time). Why John Bonham? A girl in my class was so upset, she wore a black armband to school.
Amazing what sticks in your mind all these 20+ years later.
Thanks Susan for the great reads.

Catherine; 8:36 PM
Ranurgis said...: I can still remember the shock we felt when M.L. King was assassinated. It was an unforgettable year. My father died 15 years to the day after he did.

Congratulations on your RITA nomination. I'm pulling hard for you to win. I didn't realize the nominations were out until I went to Nicola Cornick's site for some info and found that she was up for one.; 9:02 PM
Ranurgis said...: Oddly enough, I can't remember too much of what happened during the year I graduated. Perhaps I was too busy graduating in 3 more subjects than anyone else in my school, planning for a trip from Winnipeg, MB as far as San Francisco, CA and then doing all the paperwork for an overseas stay in France. While I was in Germany, I then proceeded to break my left funny bone and spent 3 weeks or so in the hospital.

A number of Thalidomide babies were housed in the same hospital. With the friend I made during my stay there, I'd sometimes go to see them.

While I was in France, several weeks late getting there because of the broken elbow, the Bay of Pigs fiasco and the Soviet missile crisis occurred and I was afraid for a short time that I might be separated by war from my family. Fortunately the crisis passed and after I'd been in Paris for 9 months, I went to stay with my uncle and aunt in Frankfurt for a year. It was on my way by ship across the Atlantic that I first really heard about the Beatles and saw a newsreel about them. We almost froze on the ship while we heard reports of sweltering heat at the World's Fair in New York. I am still amazed that during 9 months in Paris I only lost my way in the Metro once while I lost my way on the subway several times in only 5 days in NYC.; 12:17 AM
byrdloves2read said...: My graduation year - 1968.

I remember standing on a friend's apartment balcony watching the smoke rising from the riots in Washington, DC.

I remember being horrified by the My Lai massacre but I had a lot of contacts with the military and felt the news media overplayed the story.; 5:25 PM
Kate Douglas said...: 1968 was the year I graduated high school, and I was so intent on getting out of school and getting away that a lot of what happened in the world went right on by me. My father was military and I opposed the war--so did he, and it was tough for that retired colonel to try and justify to his three kids what his government was doing. The second half of 1968 was spent at college where I managed to graduate four years and two husbands later...I kept the second one. We've been happily married now for 36 years.; 9:43 PM
Laurie said...: I graduated in 1972. Ending the war was a HUGE ISSUE!I remember a male classmate being bummed out because December 25 was picked #1 for the war draft. Luckily, the war in Vietnam ended!
Nixon was the Republican incumbent presidental candidate running against Democratic Senator George McGovern. Nixon won, then resigned after Watergate! (The bugging of the Democratic Convention offfices in Miami.) IMPEACHMENT was the word of the day!!
The Godfather movie came out. Best picture was The French Connection. Roberta Flack, Carole King, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Moody Blues all continued to be very popular.; 3:04 AM

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Sunday, April 20, 2008

What year was it?

39 Comments: