This week is the 40th anniversary of the famous "Walk on the Moon" in 1969. There were many skeptics back then who thought it was some kind of Hollywood production -- these were the same people who thought "wrestling" was real, by golly!
There are many life events where I remember where I was when it happened -- when President Kennedy was killed (in school) -- when Martin Luther King was killed (living in Memphis and on my way to the community center and having to go back home because the city was going bezerk) -- when Richard Nixon resigned as President (a sophomore at Auburn Univ.) -- when Elvis died (working at a small newspaper in Camilla, Georgia, and I drew an editorial cartoon for the paper) -- when the World Trade Center was hit by "terrorists" (working at Wiregrass Electric, and we couldn't tear ourselves away from the TV, for days).
But the landing on the moon the summer after 9th grade was one of the most poignant memories of my youth. I was at a bowling alley in Memphis with my best friends Kathy and Rose -- and I'm sure some boys were involved there too. Why else hang around a bowling alley? We watched it on the TV there and were amazed. The pictures are a little grainy -- but hey, we didn't have HD back then!
What an era growing up in the 60s! We went from full skirts with petticoats to bell-bottoms and halter tops! We were only allowed to wear dresses to school until 1969 -- and then it had to be pantsuits. By my senior year we could wear blue jeans -- bell-bottoms of course, with embroidered flowers down the leg and the hems frayed out! Those were the days before pantyhose -- when you had to wear a girdle or garter belt and hook the hose on!
Kids today complain that there isn't anything to do, but there wasn't much for teenagers to do back then, either! Hanging out with my friends at Shoney's in my family's Rambler stationwagon -- baby blue, no less, with the little wood strip down the side! Sneaking into the drive-in in the trunk of a friend's car -- to watch werewolf and vampire movies! And you better remember to take the speaker out of the window before driving off! Stores weren't open on Sundays -- and the stores owned by Jewish families closed on Saturdays. Going to church or community dances on the weekends -- always with a live band. That was when the dirtiest dance was the "gator" -- nothing like this booty stuff they do today!
We were living during the "cold war" and worried about nuclear war. My friend Susan had a bomb shelter in her basement -- and all public buildings had signs for where to go in case of a bomb. I had many nightmares during those years about trying to get to a bomb shelter -- you know, where you're running but you just can't get anywhere? It was the beginning of technology and computers -- and the end of innocence. I can imagine how my parents must have felt back then -- kind of how I feel now when I see kids with pink hair, tattoos and piercings all over their faces -- how I feel when I see "big brother" becoming real life.
One of our required readings in high school was the book "1984" by George Orwell, written in 1949. The novel has become famous for its portrayal of government surveillance and control and its increasing encroachment on the rights of the individual. The government was "big brother" and ruled every aspect of their lives. Orwell may have had the date wrong, but the changes I see now in our government are closer to big brother every day.
Sorry, I had a Nanny moment and got sidetracked! Get off your soapbox Cary and back to Apollo 11 and the first moon walk! For those of us who were between kindergarten and college in 1969, the "walk on the moon" was the biggest thing that had ever happened in our lives. It marked our lives just as the Great Depression and the Second World War marked our parents' and grandparents' lives -- and how "September 11" will mark my children's lives. Wow, where have the last 40 years gone!
No comments:
Post a Comment