What They Said--by Ann Parker

One of the great things about posting on Saturdays is that I can point back to the week that has just passed and say: Read these!

And indeed, the LadyKillers this past week have such great things to say about high school--the good, the bad, and the ugly of it all--that I don't have much to add. Plus, it's Friday night, and what I really want to do is watch something on NetFlix.

So instead, I'm just going to take you all down Memory Lane (my Memory Lane, that is) and post what was going on the year I graduated from high school. Maybe some of this will resonate with you as well. And no, I'm not going to tell you the year. You have to guess! ;-)

I realize this list is very U.S.-centric, but then, so was I!

In addition to Ann Parker graduating from high school in the San Francisco Bay Area, the following happened in this particular year:

• Janis Joplin dies in a cheap motel from a heroin overdose.
• The first New York marathon is run in New York.
• Simon and Garfunkel release their final album together, Bridge Over Troubled Water.
• California becomes the first U.S. state to adopt "No Fault" divorce law.
• 100,000 people demonstrate in Washington, D.C., against the Vietnam War.
• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA ) begins operation.
• The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations.
• First Earth Day celebrated.
• A gallon of gas cost 36 cents (on the average).
• IBM announces the successors to the IBM System/360 family the IBM System/370 with improved multi-processor support.

Popular films included...

• M*A*S*H,
• Patton
• Woodstock
• Hello, Dolly!
• Catch-22
• On Her Majesty's Secret Service

This was one of the most popular songs of that year. I'll confess, I don't remember it much, although it is familiar.

Here was another "most popular" song for the year I graduated. Now this one resonates with me!

So... did you guess?? :-)

 

Comments

[Camille Minichino]

Sure, I know because I won the NYC marathon that year. :)

[Mysti Berry]

I asked my dad who the Beatles were when I was a kid. He said, "You don't have to worry about them. They're just a bunch of guys who do drugs."

He had a unique slant on the world ;)

[Ann]

HA! Camille... you are so funny. Was running a *habit* with you at the time? ;-)

[Ann]

OMG Mysti, Now I feel very old indeed. You had to ask your FATHER who they were??
While listening to this song, I was overcome with a wave of nostalgia for George Harrison's album, All Things Must Pass, which was apparently also released in this specific year. However I associate that album with my first year of college, not high school.

[Camille Minichino]

I'm hurt that no one thinks I ever ran -- I would have, if I'd ever been chased.

[Ann]

Camille, if brain power and sheer mental drive were measured in mph, you'd be an Olympic star! :-)

[Priscilla]

I was only 5000 behind you, Camille, and running has never been a "habit" with me...

[Cristina Flores]

I KNOW! :D That definitely is quite a bit of history the year you graduated high school! How cool.

[Staci]

Definitely a lot of stuff going on the year you graduated, Ann. Gas was 36 cents a gallon?! I can't even imagine!

[Michael A. Black]

Didn't Jimmy Hendrix die of an overdose right after Janis? I'll add that I was in basic training at Fort Polk, Louisiana when they showed Patton, and George C. Scott's line, "You won't have to say, I shoveled s**t in Louisiana" caused a wave of laughter to sweep over the all-GI audience.