DU Boomers: What Was It Like?

[Taverner]

What was it like, to be 20-something during a time when you outnumbered any other group?

When you were the majority?

[bluesbassman]

1. It was like this my friend, it was like this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc9wIzi96_E
Mungo Jerry - In The Summertime

[Z_I_Peevey]

2. It was like this too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLcPNhORg_Y&feature=related

[GCP]

3. The late 60's was the best time ever

(As long as you weren't drafted to go to Vietnam). I was a teenager in the UK, and it was GREAT! Miniskirts, boys dressing like peacocks, Beatles, Stones, Who, Led Zep.......

[hippywife]

4. It was just like this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJS8j9YYB9w&feature=related

[swimboy]

5. I was at the tail end of the boom.

and I almost relate more to the group that followed. But I remember sort of knowing that all the toys and cartoons and tv shows were for me.

One of the jingles was "You're in the Pepsi generation." and it felt like it was true.

[kaiden]

6. And it was SO like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g9PiEgYYUU&feature=related

[Critters2]

15. Peter!!

Let us not forget the Monkees!

[begin_within]

7. There was a middle class, and only the Dad had to have a job,

and most families had a pool or a boat, or some interesting family activity. Most people who had jobs worked 9-5 weekdays. There weren't all these weird job hours. Bills were always paid. Drugs were somewhat rare, except for those faraway hippies. Alcoholism was common though, and divorce was becoming popular. Race riots were on TV only, not in our "reality." Same for Vietnam. You knew your neighbors well - they were your friends. Today you can live next door to someone and never even know them - on the same block I grew up on. The 4th of July was a block party with all families on the block particpating. We would play baseball in the afternoon, someone would bring out homemade ice cream and we'd light the fireworks. In August we would all pile in the car for a summer vacation. Then back to school in sunny September was heartbreaking at first, then fun when you saw your friends again. People cooked a lot at home, eating out was more for special occasions. But produce departments in grocery stores were pitiful compared to what is available today. On Halloween we would trick-or-treat for hours - literally from when it got dark to about 11 p.m. and come home with heavy sacks of candy. People on our block made special homemade treats for the kids they knew on our block. The only Halloween decoration anyone had were pumpkins - nothing like the elaborate displays today. Christmas lights were fairly simple too. Sports were social activities - people would gather in the park for volleyball night, or whatever. Cancer was a very scary word. Car crashes were terrifying and gory events. People didn't use seat belts unless they were told to. Plane crashes were shocking and took up lots of TV news time. Now they hardly get 10 seconds of air time. There was very little mixing or blending of different cultures and races.

[Critters2]

11. Most people had a pool or a boat?!! On what planet did you spend the 60's? nt

[begin_within]

17. Here

[Maccagirl]

14. Except for the pool and boat your neighborhood sounds

very much like mine. Remember when someone would get a new car and the whole neighborhood would run out to see Dad driving it down the street? I also remember our neighbor getting the first color TV on the block and everyone watching "The Wonderful World of Disney" every Sunday night in their living room. It seems to me that we (as a society) were trying to right wrongs and solve problems in a more collecive way back them-but maybe I'm just looking through the rose-colored glasses of youth. There just seemed to be more...hope.

[begin_within]

16. We were late in getting a color TV.

The first time I ever saw color TV was a neighbor's set. The Wizard of Oz was on once a year, and our neighbors invited us kids to come over and watch it in color. When the movie changed from B/W to color, we went "Ooohhhh!" But when the wicked witch came on with that green face, I ran out of the room terrified.

[swimboy]

8. Laugh-In was my first indication that the world was changing.

and Mom wouldn't let us watch Dark Shadows.

[skooooo]

9. i luv Barnabas!

[Critters2]

13. I was afraid to watch it! Don't know if my mom would've let me,

cuz I never asked!

[MichiganVote]

10. Watch All In the Family reruns for a view of our changing culture.

We were kids. We didn't think in terms of majorities. We thought of minorities. We were raised in wars, during wars, and after wars. Our generation is defined by wars............


And we're damn sick and tired of it.

[Critters2]

12. I turned 10 in 68. So, I'm the tail end, but I remember 'em.

I went to Campfire Camp every summer beginning when I was 7. We learned all these great folk songs. I just loved sitting around the fire singin' "If I Had a Hammer", "Turn, Turn, Turn", "Where Have all the Flowers Gone", and "Blowin' in the Wind." I had no idea they were protest songs.

My dad and I were talking about this not long ago. My church had a bonfire, and we sat around singing these songs. My dad was here for the weekend. Later, I said I was amazed at how many of those songs I knew from camp. My dad replied, "Yeah, every summer we'd send you to camp a moderate Republican, and you'd come home a McGovern Democrat". Happily, we're both Dems now.

[Wapsie B]

18. I remember 'Nam being on TV every night on the news.

I remember an uncle being sent over there. Remember the day he flew off for basic training. The whole family was at the airport to see him off. One of the few times I saw my grandmother cry. But I didn't turn 20 until '76. I remember being in college at the time, trying to find my way much like people that age do now. Even though I'm in that demographic I think I identify more with the group after me than the 60-somethings. I was too young to experience the rock festival phenomenon. I heard and read about Woodstock, even had a small festival near my hometown in '70. I remember hearing the wrath of god from dear old dad about anyone who'd dare go to such an evil place. :eyes:

Many of us didn't tune in turn on drop out. I hate the term simpler time. :puke: For a kid growing up without direction it wasn't any simpler than today really. Before the pullout in 'nam we had the fear of going to war hanging over our heads. There was still drugs out there. People were dating, having sex, getting married young.
But many like myself had fewer responsibilities, which was nice. People today complain about technology, especially the internet and its undue influence on people. Looking back though I would've appreciated being able to talk to like-minded souls from places I've never been. It was isolating in that respect. But that's just me.

[valerief]

19. Friends died. Junkie vets lined downtown streets begging.

Civil right riots all over the country during what the media christened the Summer of Love (how diversionary). People were dying in Vietnam to keep the ruling class rich and the press talked endlessly about hemlines.

And there was this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KxBMMtOdHA

[clixtox]

20. Bliss was ignorance, indeed!

I graduated from Berkeley High School in June, 1964 and I didn't have any idea what Marijuana was until a month or two later.

Soon after, the San Francisco Bay Area became one of America's and the world's entrepots for every "recreational" substance, especially LSD. Don't blame me, I had help... Just joking!

University campuses were complacent bastions of the status quo until the FREE SPEECH MOVEMENT(FSM) at UCB during the Autumn of 1964. Mario Savio will be a secular saint on the day when justice finally reigns.

Diversity was considered scary then by most people. Racism was so common that being against racism was actually dangerous in most of America.

There was still a "third- world" back then to ruthlessly exploit, now we, you and me, are the "third-world" being ruthlessly exploited.

Long hair was enough, by itself, to keep you out of many places in America, including Disneyland! It happened to me and many others, really!

I bought used cars back then, that ran well, for less than $100, even less than $50 sometimes, that I could drive to LA or Lake Tahoe. One could register these heaps in any phony name you chose and abandon them when they died.

New low-end Chevys and Fords were about $2000 in the early 1960s.

Mailing a letter was 3 cents and during the run-up to Christmas there would be two residential mail deliveries a day.

Sexual repression and censorship were ubiquitous. Hypocrisy was also, of course. El Cerrito, a little town near Berkeley was notorious for prostitution and gambling until it was "cleaned up" in the 1960s. There were corrupt communities across America catering to those desiring "Action". Covington, Kentuckey, Hot Springs,Arkansas and later Las Vegas capitalized on these loony moral codes in huge ways.

Despite the realities of the "changing times" it was a simpler, less stressful for most, and people felt that the American Dream was working for them.

No more...

[Skittles]

21. I WALKED SEVEN MILES TO SCHOOL IN THE SNOW

YES INDEED

[WritingIsMyReligion]

26. Uphill both ways, no doubt.

:D

[shugah]

22. "It was hell,"

recalls former child.

[enigmatic]

23. I listened to this

Changed my life:

[old mark]

24. Graduated from high school in'65, class of over 400, largest

ever then.

Worked over the summer, went to college and found I didn't like it. BUT I found a very good blues band and became their bass player/singer for a few years.
Had to go into the service, and got pretty screwed up. Went back to a very different world. Played in bands on and off, but never got anywhere.

I did not really have a great time in that part of my life, never really found my way till IU was in my 40's.

Now that I' am old fart, I'm having a great time.

mark

[Karenina]

25. It was the best of times...

It was the worst of times...

[Tikki]

27. No lie....and the 70's for us...

Boomers was like living every day in a funky Twilight Zone.


Tikki