Historical Moments YOU'VE witnessed.

[Danustouch]

I don't think any of us will ever forget where we were on the morning of 9/11. I'm sure we'll all be telling our grandchildren about that.

But..what other historical moments have you witnessed in your lifetime, that you will never forget? Moments you will tell your grandkids about when you are old and grey?

The ones I can remember off the top of my head are

NATIONAL HISTORY

The Space Shuttle Challenger exploding: I was in the fifth grade, and we were watching it on television. My teacher, mr. Gulya was crying..and we were all so upset, they sent us home early.

The attempt on President Reagans Life: I don't recall what year that happened in (no pun intended), but I do clearly remember that day. I know I was very young, but I recall it fairly clearly.

The Ollie North Trial: This too, I remember.

The Strike on Libya: I remember all of the parody songs about Quadaffi playing on the radio, and people calling in requesting Queen's "We Will Rock You".

Of course... OJ simpson trial.

Of course....Clinton/Monica Scandal.

Desert Storm. I was at home when that news broke. My mother was working nights then, at a telemarketing Job. And the night that war was officially declared, and Scuds were lighting up the sky over baghdad, she was making calls. The way she found out, was by calling a potential customer, to hear them say.."How can you be calling us at a time like this! Don't you know we are at war?". Soon after, the facility closed, and sent all its' employee's home with pay, since obviosly, the nation was riveted to their televisions.

Hurricane Gloria- I don't know whether or not this was a really large hurricane, in the grand scheme of things, but..it was pretty big to us when I was young. We taped up all the windows stocked up on supplies, got a kerosene heater, the power was out for days and days, and we were eating food cooked over sterno, sandwhiches (meat being packed in a cooler with ice), and instant oatmeal (with water heated over the kerosene heater), for days. I remember when it finally subsided, my brother and I going out into the yard to clean up debris, and my father freaking out because there were downed power lines all over the place. And I also remember that the radio's played "Gloria" (pat benetar?) over and over again during the storm (we had those little transistor radios )

The Oklahoma City Bombing - I was in college, and had just finished up my last class of the day, and getting ready to go watch soap opera's...when it came over the loud speakers, to send prayers to the families of our students who came from that area. I remained glued to my television that day, and indeed, one of my classmates had lost a relative in that disaster.
*********************************************

LOCAL HISTORY

My hometown mayor being sent to federal prison for embezzlement.

The Huge library in our town burning to the ground. (the clock which the fire melted still hangs on the wall of the rebuilt library today, as a reminder).

The GREAT DANBURY FAIR being sold, and torn down, and the Danbury Fair Mall being put up in its' stead. I cried for days on end when we heard that that was going to happen. We used to go every year. In fact, Schools used to let out early every day during the Danbury Fair week, and give tickets to students to attend for free admission. It was a HUGE thing in my local history, and something that my family and I associate with many pleasant memories.

I'm sure there are many more that I can recall.

Just give me time :)

[Squiddy]

Being a person on this board of the "older than dirt" persuasion ;)

I remember walking to school in the snow and me and my brothers only had one pair of pants, so we had to take turns going to school... -- No wait, that was my dad! LOL!

Sorry, just kidding!

Seriously, some things that stand out in my memory are:

The JFK assassination.

Man landing on the moon.

The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show for the first time on US TV.

See, I told you I was older than dirt!

~Squiddy

[Mnemosyne]

I remember most of the events that Danustouch mentioned.
Another event that sticks out in my mind is the LA riots after the Rodney King trial. I remember watching the news on that day; I was completely shocked to see people rioting in the streets and stealing from the shops. That event really shook up this city. This year marks the tenth year of that event. Can you believe that much time has passed by?

[Mithrea]

The Challenger explosion was the first thing that popped into my head.

I also very clearly remember the morning we found out Mandella was freed.

I remember the Berlin wall coming down and watching that on TV.

I also remember being glued to the tele during Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

Oh! And the ballot "recount" in FL. The second time the US election was called wrong.

I'm still thinking ;)

[Theres]

well, most of what has be stated already...

JFK
The Beatles
the Pill
Apollo 11
Mt. St. Helens
the fall of the Wall...

but the first thing that popped into my mind was the 1989 Loma-Prieta earthquake. i was supervising the nightshift at a factory in the north Bay Area, and i had been out partying the night before. i bent over to pick up my calipers, when the walls started moving back and forth. 'Damn' i thought, 'I didn't drink THAT much last night!'.
then i realizes that it wasn't just me, and hollered out for everyone to evacuate! it was only then that i noticed that i was the only one left in the building!
now, i've been through a number of earthquakes before, but this was crazy! when reports started to come in about the Bay Bridge collapsing, as well as the freeway in Berkeley, we really got worried.
64 people died in that quake, but it could very easily have been MUCH worse!
and it left quite an impact on me, i tell ya!

[Danustouch]

Thanks for reminding me about the Berlin Wall.. I can't believe that slipped my mind in this post! My father was stationed in Germany when the wall was still being built. So...he avidly watched the news when that happened. I can remember watching news reports when I was very young (one specific account happening in the same year as the greg luganis incident in the olympics), of people being shot trying to climb over the wall. And I remember when it came down, people were playing that Scorpion song "Winds of Change" and a Pink Floyd song which I can't remember off hand, over and over again.

Oh..and of course...another thing I will always remember..the Death of Princess Di. I was sound asleep when that happened, my friend called me at like..five in the morning, crying her eyes out. I couldn't figure out what was distressing her so badly...but she kept urging me to turn on the news. So I climbed out of bed, and saw the news report. I think I cried for three days straight, and watched every bit of funeral coverage.

[Arduinna]

Most of mine would qualify for "watched on tv, live" I wasn't actually there in person for most.

First moon walk
Viet Nam War
I was at work when the space shuttle exploded and we actually had a TV on in to watch the launch
Watergate
Nixon resigning
John Lennon killed (that is the big one for me)
LA Riots I lived in LA at the time, but not that specific area. We did leave town though for a couple days.

[MammaStar]

After 9/11, the Challenger popped in my head first. I remember, being at WtchyChick's house. We had Mid-terms and me, her and our friend Lael went to her house to hang out between tests for lunch. I remember, she & Lael were in the kitchen and I was in the living room. I went to turn on my soap, when the news cut in showing the Shuttle exploding. I called them into the room with me and we just stood there. I think we cried, I don't remember. I just remember being very very sad.

Also, I remember when the Hostages from Iran were not only taken, but when they finally got to come home, and Terry....can't remember his last name, the last one finally coming home. His sister running to him & jumping in his arms.

I remember the day John Lennon was killed. I was in NYC that nite with my family. I also remember when, of course, Jerry Garcia died and George Harrison. Princess Di's tragic death. They sound silly to some. But you must understand that these three people (along with Lennon) were ICONS and their deaths will be noted in History.

I remember the Welcome Home Parade for the Vietnam Vetrans in NYC 20 years too late.

Desert Storm, of course. I remember watching TV, war being declared and a big a$$ thunderstorm hitting my town right after. I was home alone too. Freaked me for like a minute, till the rational (yes there is one!) calmed me down.

[Danustouch]

Terry Anderson :)

There was an awesome coffeehouse in my hometown, called "Seattle Expresso". The person who ran it was originally from Seattle, and very into the grunge scene (agghhh..those days). When the news came that Kurt Cobain had died, everyone in the shop started crying their eyes out, and she closed the shop, draped it in black...and it basically became a place for followers of Nirvana to mourn. The same thing happened when Jerry Garcia died.

[Autumn]

The biggest thing I remember was the Challenger explosion. They broke into a radio broadcast to tell us, My college roomate and I ran out to the lounge and comendeered the TV from some dippo watching gameshows. I still look back on that and shiver...9-11 is as burned into my memory. just utter horror...

Sorry to say, my prime reaction to Princess Diana's tragic and peventable death was one of frustration...It didn't have to happen, drunk driver and her not in a seatbelt...a damn shame!

[cherrywind]

A horrible tornado in my hometown. That's actually also my first memory. It's called "black friday", but I suppose there are a lot of those (I was 4).

Fall of the Berlin Wall, although at that point I didn't fully understand the significance of it (I was 6).

The landing of the rover on Mars. I watched the entire thing on TV.

The Hale-Bopp comet and Heaven's Gate.

Hmmm... what else? I better think some more.

[flar7]

Berlin Wall
Challenger
Reagan getting shot
Ollie North
Desert Storm and Shield (my anniversary)
Ford getting shot at
Iran Hostage crisis and the birth of Nightline(argh)
OKC bombing
9/11~this doesnt stick with me yet, its still to new to seem history.
Elvis death
Bruce Lee death
Birth of Aids(naming it and such)
Lady Di(conspiracy?)

too many to lists.....

[Valnorran]

Well, the Challenger explosion was the first thing to spring to mind. I was in ninth grade english when I found out. My first thought was how odd it was that the shuttle exploded the day after the anniversary of the Apollo fire. This was followed by dismay as some of my classmates began making jokes about it.

Reagan getting shot.

John Lennon getting shot.

The air strike on Libya. Ah, yes. All the radio stations here played "Another One Bites the Dust". I went to an air show about a week after that. Security on the base was, shall we say, impressive.

Desert Storm. Heard about it at lights-out while in basic training for the navy.

John Wayne dying.

Elvis dying (though having never understood the obsession with Elvis, this one didn't have any real impact for me).

Mother Theresa dying. I must say that I was a bit dismayed that her death was treated as a minor side note because she had the inconsideration to croak on the same day Princess Di did.

The L.A. riots. Nothing about it I found particularly shocking. Civilization is an exceedingly thin veneer. It requires very little to be stripped away.

The blowing of the Marine barracks in Beirut. I am dying to know what moron decided it was sound tactics to send our people into a war zone and forbid them to load their weapons.

Grenada - after Vietnam and the Iranian hostage fiasco, a boost to our national confidence. So what if it was a crummy little island no one had heard of until we invaded it! We won! *lets fly a Homer Simpson-like woo-hoo*

And last but not least, 9-11. I was asleep from working all night when my wife came in and told me the whole world had gone crazy. I thought that an odd statement, as it implied the world had once been sane. Then I wondered what the kids had gotten into now. I finally stumbled into the den and saw what she meant. Well, I thought, it finally happened. Middle Eastern terrorists of one sort or another has had us in their sights for how long? 30, 35 years? The only thing about this act I found particularly shocking was that it took so long to happen. I'm waiting for the next hit to be here on the Gulf Coast. After all, where does America get most of its domestic oil?

We didn't have Hurricane Gloria (the song was by Laura Brannigan) but we did have Hurricane Andrew. The only damage our house sustained was the loss of a few shingles. Were are surrounded by gaurdians in the form on ancient live oaks, so while we had one hell of a mess in the yard to clean up, we came through fine.

Good heavens, can I think of no positive historical event?

Berlin Wall came down... and apparently that's all I can think of for now.

[Danustouch]

For those of you who just listed a bunch of historical events...do you recall exactly where you were when these things happened? What your reaction was? I'm curious to hear your stories and memories :)

[Arduinna]

I remember being at home and watching TV when they showed the footage walking on the moon. That just amazing to me. It's one of my earliest and clearest childhood memories.

About Viet Nam, I don't have a specific thing that stands out, other than it was on the news every night. I just remember the news casters and all the footage from the war. It was a pretty scary thing for a kid. I think the biggest memory about it was when we pulled out. And the helicoptors.

John Lennon- I had moved to Texas and was living with my boyfriend at the time. I was just literally in shock that someone would kill him. And I can't really explain the loss I felt. I remember when I found out I just went numb, it was dumbfounding. I still remember that day every year.

The LA riots- I was living back in LA where I grew up. My daughter was 2. We had been following trial pretty closely. I actually grew up in Simi Valley where the trial occured from second grade until I was an adult. But I just say LA becasue no one really knows where it is. Anyway, Hubby and I were at a bar that afternoon hanging out with some friends. And they showed footage on the TV. He was really worried how far the riots would spread. We weren't near downtown, we were in the suburbs but he was still worried. So we picked up our daughter and threw a bunch of camping gear into the truck and headed to the sierras. It was about 4pm and the streets and freeways were packed. It was pretty scary. Alot of people looked like theywere getting ready to leave town. My mom I think thought we were a little nuts. But what else is new.

[MammaStar]

Do you REALLY want some of us to list our memories Danus? Cause there are folks like me who ramble! :lol:


Originally posted by LdyStarlite
I remember the day John Lennon was killed. I was in NYC that nite with my family. I also remember when, of course, Jerry Garcia died and George Harrison. Princess Di's tragic death. They sound silly to some. But you must understand that these three people (along with Lennon) were ICONS and their deaths will be noted in History.


Where was I when I heard Jerry died. I was working that day. I used to work at the Deli counter of a local supermarket. I always brought my boom box with me to listen to mainly my tapes & CDs, especially when doing stuff in the back. I didn't have the radio on, just playing tapes. Two of my friends came to work that day, just looking at me kind of odd, and I wanted to know why. They're answer "oh nothing." It was pay day, I remember that too. I left work early (go out at 2 p.m., went to the car, my freind Derrick escorting me for some odd reason, or at least so I thought at the time. Derrick just waited by the car as I rolled down the window and turned on the radio. Turned on K-Rock and heard "Touch of Grey" being played and said "Whoo hoo, Grateful Dead!" and that's when Derrick knelt down. Before he could say a word, the DJ came on (Dave Herman) and said, a little Grateful Dead on this sad day. I felt sick. I remember saying out loud "Please let it be Vince." (meaning they're keyboard player, too long of an explanation to get into, but if you are fan of Spinal Tap, you'll understand). and I heard "Jerry Garcia died this morning." I shreiked. I cried. I screamed. I absolutely FREAKED the F--K out. Derrick opened the car door to hold me. I cried and cried. Then got myself together, soI could get home and call "my family" (the people I toured with). I had 15 messages on my answering machine from all sorts of people. I got on the phone calling friends crying. I had to pay my babysitter for and she had stopped by my house. I had only "big bills" so I took her with me when I went to the local B&N and there, in the magazine section, was the new issue of "Relix Magazine" with a picture of Jerry. It just so happen that this issue was going to feature Jerry. I fell to my knees in tears. I heard my sitter whisper "she's a fan". Horrible day for me. Though doesn't rank up there with the horror on 9-11, but the situations are different.

Then a week later, Mickey Mantle died. Being the HUGE Yankee fan, August of 1995 was a VERY rough year for me.


[B]I remember the Welcome Home Parade for the Vietnam Vetrans in NYC 20 years too late.

I watched it on TV. I got special permission (because I was such a pain in the butt in school) from the Principal that I could watch this parade on TV in the nurses office. I wanted to see all the men & women get their parade, even though my Dad couldn't march in it (he has arthritis), but my Uncle was there and the rest of my Dad's group.

The bombing in Oklahoma City made me sick to my stomach. Again, I didnt' find out till after the fact. I had called a friend and she said something to me and that's when I turned on the TV. I cried. For all those sweet little children who were dropped off and for their parents. For everyone who lost someone that day. Then I got angry, because when I heard it was done by one of our own, I wanted to find the guy and smash his head in. Violent I know, but well, I think all of you can understand that feeling on some level.

See, I told you I could ramble on and on!

[Earthcup]

Hmm.....

George Harrison dying. I grew up worshipping the Beatles and some of my favorite songs, "My Sweet Lord" and "Something" were written by George. He was the spiritual Beatle and it hit me pretty hard.

9/11. I woke up about the time the first plane hit. I watched both towers fall as Peter Jennings lost his professional manner.

Diana's death. I watched into the wee hours hoping she had survived and somehow knowing she had not. I woke at 3 am to watch her funeral and I remember not being able to express how I felt. People to look up to are hard to find.

Centennial Olympic Park Bombing. Caught up in the spirit of the Olympics I was shocked that such an atrocity could happen so close to home. My mother insisted we see the Special Olympics in defiance of any terrorists, she had decided previously to stay away from the crowds. For months I was worried about what would happen should I see Eric Rudolph, believed to be hiding in the Blue Ridge mountains, and panicked when an intruder was snooping around our back porch when I was home alone.

JFK JR died. My mom have brought me up on the Camelot mythos and I had a great deal of hope invested in John John due to his last name. Even I was surprised that it hurt so much to hear he was dead.

Election 2000. It was the first time I ever voted and I was full of idealistic hope. A few weeks later a lot of my faith and patriotism were gone.

The Queen eliminates primogeniture. The firstborn shall be monarch, regardless of sex. Felt very proud that day.

Waco. My family was glued to the tv through the entire standoff. I remember my father's disgust for the government's actions as we sat there and wondered if the children had gotten out.

Luna is attacked after Julia Butterfly Hill spent two years trying to protect the ancient tree.

Locally?

The new comissioner comes in only to find the old one left us 13 mil in debt with an unfinished dam.

There is a scandal over a land sale and the fighting became so intense that even the monolithic Walmart gave up.

The editor checks his impartiality at the door and gives an account of the fight between city and the sherriff at a public meeting worthy of newspapers of yore.

The Palm Sunday tornado rips across the valley destroying homes and lives as I sat huddled in a friends basement.

The GBI uncovers a still, making them look like the most ridiculous law enforcement agency in the country.

Gainesville, GA was named more dangerous, per capita, than LA.

A missing person leads a law enforcement official to call in a dive team. Only after diving in did they realize the river is six inches deep.

Native Georgians become a minority.

The city decides to remove the original bricks and trees from the courthouse square, now you no longer walk on the same bricks as the town founders and goldrush pioneers.

The Sacred Fire returns east and now burns in both Oklahoma and North Carolina.

[Danustouch]

Ldy Starlight- I love your Ramblings. Ramblings is what I wanted :)

As hard hit as you were about Jerry Garcia's death, I was hard hit about John Denver's death. Know exactly how you felt at that news!

Earthcup- Six Inches of water? LMAO. Ouch!

On Waco- Thanks for reminding me of that one. I had just gotten home from school that day, and was watching the news absolutely shocked, and horrified!

JFK Jr's death- This one hit me pretty hard. He'd always been the One Kennedy who seemed above all the craziness in that family. Not to mention...the company I was working for at the time, Grolier Inc, was a devision of Hachett Philipacchi (sp) enterprises, the company who published his magazine "George". And he actually made a guest appearance at one of the stockholders meetings. Right in OUR building! I can't tell you how tight security was that day, but I can tell you that not a single female in the building got one bit of work done that day, because we were all running to the water cooler every five minutes in rotation, hoping to catch a glimpse. I think he was a HUGE fantasy source for so many women. It was just so odd to know that someone so young, and so full of promise, so strikingly handsome, well spoken, and good natured, had died such a horrible death :(

George Harrison - I only became an avid listener of George Harrison a year before his death. But in that small amount of time, I learned a great deal about him, and came to admire him and his music greatly. My husband was absolutely heartbroken, though, since George had been his idol since childhood.

[Earthcup]

I didn't get into John Denver's music until just after his death but I did love "Leaving On A Jet Plane". Somehow that song made his death even more tragic.

Braves win the World Series for the third time, the first in my lifetime.* I'd been a fan when they were bums and Turner was struggling to turn them around and run a tv station. Very big day!

The Haitian Refugee crisis. I remember watching this and not understanding why anyone could turn away people who were so desperate....

Breakup of the USSR. I remember my sister being excited, she speaks Russian, and her friends had arrived in Russia with bootleg jeans just as the market opened up and people didn't have to buy black market jeans anymore.... :T

*They were in different cities and called different names the first two times.

[Danustouch]

I grew up on John Denver Music. His songs bring out alot of wonderful memories in me, and they've also been there for me in some very sad times.

I was at work when someone told me, and i had to go to the ladies room to cry, and then called my mother, to tell her. She was deeply upset, too. I tried to get through the day, but the danged Muzak kept playing cheezy versions of his songs off and on throughout the day. Needless to say, my production that day stunk.

Anyway...got home from work, and my friend Paul was waiting at the door with a flower in his hand. He said he'd been leaving messages on my answering machine all day, thinking that I might have come home early...

I went inside to listen to the messages, and each one was like..

"Jean..are you ok? I just heard the news...call me."

"Jean...are you there? If you're there, pick up the phone. I'm worried about you.".

"Jean...i'm coming over, I'm worried about you".

LOL. He knew me so well. I was a wreck.

That night, we played all my John Denver albums on the record player, drank wine, "smoked" and lit candles for John.

Even today, I can't believe his voice is silenced forever :(

[Haedis]

This isnt really in order.

The very first historical even I remember (well it wasnt a big deal) was when President Clinton was first elected. I was in 1st grade and the whole class held a mock election. I voted Perot.

I recall Kurt Cobains death very well, though I hadnt heard to much Nirvana music at that time. (now I own all their CDs)

Hurricane Andrew is another one that stands out in my mind.

Princess Diana's death was really freaky for me since two days before she died my friends and I picked up a magazine at random that had pictures of her in it and mutilated her pictures. My friend scribbled "Die Diana" on one, just out of bordem.

The O.J. Simpson trial
Jerry Garcias death.
The Oklahoma City Bombing
When Soundgarden broke up (hey it was historical to me!)
and of course the more recent stuff like the 2000 election and September 11th.

[Calixto]

Hmmm

1) Elvis' Death
2) The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan
3) The US Boycott of the 1980 Olympics
4) The Iran-Iraq War (then called the Gulf War, so maybe the First Gulf War)
5) The Hostages in Tehran
6) The Falklands War
7) Reagan proposing SDI
8) Reagan assassination attempt
9) Papal assassination attempt
10) The Air Raid on Libya (and the two dogfights btw US planes and Libyan ones), Beirut bombing (and Operation Peace in Galilee)
11) The ascension of Gorbachev and Perestroika and Glasnost
12) Challenger (I was home on a snow day and being a space geek, of course I was watching it live. )
13) SALT I and II
14) The Fall of the Berlin Wall
15) The Gulf War, Grenada, and Panama
16) The Fall of the Warsaw Pact
17) The Coup against Gorbachev
18) The Fall of the CCCP
19) Tianamen Square
20) Uhm, Iran-Contra
21) Election 2000
22) The Real Blackhawk Down
23) The CCCP pulling out of Afghanistan
24) The Rise and Fall of the Taliban
25) 9/11
26) IRA/UK Peace Process

I really wanted these to be in order...

I must admit I've lived in pretty interesting times...

Cal

[Danustouch]

I think it was Flar who mentioned the rise of AIDS as a historical point. I was thinking of that...and I think that another "Historical" part of that disease, is how many celebrities have come out and said they were HIV positive.

Freddy Mercury,
Magick Johnson,
Greg Luganis,
forgot whether or not this one was confirmed, but...Liberace?
another one I wasn't sure if it was confirmed or not..Rock Hudson?

AIDS in and of itsself, has been a major historical discovery/turning point. But often, it fails to really resonate with the general public who aren't affected/infected, until it either touches a loved one, or a Celebrity whom they identify with.

More Historical Moments I just remembered...

The Scandal between the Olympic Ice Skaters Nancy Kerrigan and the infamous Tonya Harding.

Christopher Reeves Paralyzing Accident.

The Scandal of Fergie's pictures.

David Letterman being Stalked in his home.

The rise and fall of Michael Jackson.

"We Are The World" and the famine in etheopia.

Music festivals for causes being so popular in the eighties. Comic Relief, Farm Aid, Band Aid, We are the world, and so many others...which still continue on today. Of course, that started long before I was born. Woodstock, Concert for Bangladesh, being earlier examples.

[Faery-Wings]

I have always felt that don't remember much of my childhood/teen years. These lists brought back a tonn of memories.

A few that stand out for me:
John Lennon- I was in seventh grade and saw it on the news in the morning. One of my new Jr HS friends and I were big beatles fans and she was so devastated she stayed home from school. And I was so upset, I wanted someone to talk to.
It was that same time period thatI remember The Pope and Reagan being shot.

The US Hockey team, beating the USSR in the Olympics- I was such a huge hockey fan. I still can see myself sitting in the chair downstairs screaming at the screen.

The Iran Hostage situation- I remember all of the yellow ribbons everywhere and singing, Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree (is that the title?)

All of the aids music projects- Band Aid, Farm Aid, Live Aid

Vaguely, I remember Nixon and Watergate. I remember that my brother had written him a letter and we have a letter he wrote back. I think it hurt my brother to see him in a scandal such as that.

The "birth" of MTV :)

As a young adult, I remember Desert Storm, watching the bombings on tv with my dad.
OJ SImspon's "car chase" It was the night of the big Metallica show in Orange County NY and we were late because we ended up watching it and losing track of time (That and getting lost LOL)
The 93 bombing of the WTC- I was at work when a co-worker came back from lunch to tell us the news. Same with OK City.
Columbine shootings- My son was a baby and I remember being glued to the tv crying.....
9-11....nuff said there.....

Hmmm, i realized that I, along with most of you, are remember mainly the bad things....why do we not remember the good as well?

[Danustouch]

Wow...You remembered a few that I'd forgotten to mention. The Shooting of the pope..oh yeah!


That's pretty true, that history seems to be etched the most strongly when it is a tragedy or scandal..but...there was the moon walk :) That was good history :)

And the Berlin Wall coming down...that was a great thing, too:) And Glasnost.

I'll have to try to remember some more of those "Good Things" :)

[StarryDancer]

As another oldster, I've a long memory of events. But hey, how about THINGS that have come into being? I remember when...

It was really cool that your family had A TV!
Captain Kangeroo
Commercial Blimps (NOT the "Goodyear" expo variety)
Airliners with Propeller Planes
Walking to school -- Neighborhood schools
May processions
Door-to-door deliveries of: Bakery items, milk, fruits/vegetables
A man who collected rags using a horse-drawn cart!
78 RPM records
Cars with fins
THE FIRST MCDONALD'S
Milk in glass bottles
pets that stayed outside all the time
Gamma Globulin shots when a neighborhood kid came down with polio
The Salk polio vaccine
Smallpox vaccinations
the cholesterol theory as it relates to heart disease
high blood pressure medication
45 RPM records
computers that used ticker-tape and keypunch cards
33 RPM record albums
8-track tapes
betamax videos
Atari video games...

[Danustouch]

Ha..now this could be fun.

Underoo's.
Smurf mania
Waiting in line for hours for my first cabbage patch kid doll.
Old computer games, like Zork.
The first home computers (oy)
Transistor Radio's.
Read and Play Records (the records that came with the books)
Slip & Slides
The "Birth" of VCR's and Microwave ovens for the home.
The "Birth" Of CD' players.
The Great Space Coaster.
Bannanna Splits.
Land of the Lost,
Dukes of Hazzard Mania
Those dolls that "Pee'd" when you fed them their bottle.
My Little Pony's
Transformers
Voltron.

Atari
That Nature program sponsored by Mutual of Omaha (damned if I remember...wild kingdom?)
3-2-1 Contact in school.
Big Wheel's.
Hot Wheel's.
The Magic Garden (two chicks on swings with guitars. heh..cool.).
Muscle Cars
First "Cell Phones".
First "Cordless Phones".
Hair Crimpers
"Jelly's"
Charm Necklaces
Water/Glitter Bracelets.
Madonna doing Like a Virgin for the Awards show, dressed in that white dress.
Every girl in the neighborhood wanting to dress just like her.
George Michael's "I want your sex" creating a HUGE controversy.
Jimmy Swaggart Controversy
Jim Baker Controversy
Nelson and Winny Mandela's divorce.
E.T.
Gremlins (didn't you want a mogwai?)
Roy Orbison's Death.
Andy Gibb's Death.
The Death of Disco (ick..it's Baaaaaa-aaaaack).
Poltergheist (compared to the movies of today..not that scary).
Slasher Movie's (nightmare on elm street, Halloween, Childs Play).
Halloween Parades in School
Dressing up like pilgrims in school for Thanksgiving.
Velcro Sneakers.
Suede Puma's with the wide laces.
Wearing three shades of eyeshadow (mostly, pastels), and blue mascara, Jeans that zipped up the side, and leather fringed jackets.

[Tammy Sullivan]

Well ....to add to your list
abortion clinic bombing in Birmingham al.

Jim and Tammy Baker
The death of Sam Kinnison
Death of John Belushi
Death of Elvis
Donna Rice and Gary Heart
The first female vice presidential candidate
Vanassa Williams de throned
The berlin wall coming down
just to name a few, GAH! I feel old....

[StarryDancer]

Ginny dolls
the ARRIVAL of "Barbie"
Patty Playpal
Betsy Wetsy
The arrival of color TV!

Jackie Gleason
I Love Lucy -- the FIRST run
The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
Star Trek -- the FIRST run
Art Linkletter
Merv Griffin

Ooo, Ooo -- who remembers "Queen for a Day" and the applause-o-meter???

[StarryDancer]

Oh, and I almost forgot! Remember when there were only THREE American TV networks??? (ABC, NBC, CBS)
How great is was when UHF TV stations came into being?
TV syndication?

[Maia]

Originally posted by Valnorran

Mother Theresa dying. I must say that I was a bit dismayed that her death was treated as a minor side note because she had the inconsideration to croak on the same day Princess Di did.

[/B]

try this...my gran, who had pretty much stood in as parent #2 for me in lieu of my dad, died that same week. i was about 10 or 11, and crying my eyes out, and all these people saying "oh, r u upset about diana?" i just wanted to scream...true, it was a tragedy, but i'd just lost like my second mum.

mmm, nehow, before i go off on one about gran :( , what else does my 16-year-old mind remember? *ponders*

i vaguely remember the end of apartheid (sp), with my mum saying "this is history! watch it! watch it!" and me making the effort so in years to come i cud say i remembered. guess she was right ;) ditto the gulf war.

of course, 9/11 - i'm ashamed to say i was coming down with flu and slept thru it all, only to awke from my fever delirously asking "did i make this up, or...?" i was scared because my dad lives a stone's throw from canary wharf in london which is always a UK target for terrorism.

oh, speaking of which, the IRA...i remember a lot of the troubles i've seen from news reports etc.

one thing that does stick out is the dunblane massacre in scotland...a primary school massacre :( i was about 8 or 9, i believe, and i used to sit in the main hall during assembly planning my escape route if someone was to do it in my school :( i was so scared.

and, to end on a happy note, the Queen's Golden Jubilee. I can't say I'm all that pro-monarcy, but a 50-year rule is something to be proud of.

and while we're in politics, that whole Labour landslide election. i cooked my nan chicken curry while my mum helped with the polling in the school hall. which brings us back full circle to gran. and i was trying to be cheerful n all ;)

thanx for the thread - v. interesting n thoght-provoking.

eudaimonia!
xxx

oooooh yea i know - Aung San Su Kui's (Definite sp there!) liberation from house arrest recently. that's something to celebrate. :)

[bluecat]

9/11 is burned into my brain ... I was watching the TV just as the second jet slammed into the tower.

Challenger

JFK Assassination

RFK Assassination

MLK Assassination

2000 Presidential Elections Scandals

Viet Nam (My Lei Massacre) << -- probably misspelled that.

Elvis

Star Wars

A little known but horrific explosion of a rocket fuel plant just outside of Henderson, NV.

ALBEIT I have not personally "witnessed" all of these, except thru the eyes of a TV or the sound of a radio, they are still events that live in my history.

Blue

[Sequoia]

hmm. . . .

dono if anybody mentioned this (can't remember ^^; ) The Trenchcoat Mafia syndrom. . . with everyone being paranoid. But then again, the school shootings. . . what was that town, wasn't it in colorado? *tries in vain to remember*

I remember one day coming home from a DR's appointment and sitting eating macaroni and cheese (my fave kind) watching star trek, when suddenly the news came on showing somewhere inthe middle east being hit by bombing strikes and all sorts of stuff. . . now, I really can't remember what exactly that was. It was probably around between 7 and 5 years ago. . . but I remember how I went beserk, crying, they had announced war and we were all going to die from nuclear fallout. Or something like that. As I remember, it was over fairly quickly. . . It was weird.

OOOh Shoemaker-Levi 9!! KABOOM! and hmm oh yeah that idiotic thing where they were sending a ship to mars, and they messed up thinking it was american standard when it was metric (or was it the opposite?), and they totally destroyed a few billion dollars worth of spacecraft?

oaklahoma. . . AHA columbine, that was it. The Columbine high school shootings. and the olympic pipe bomb thing. . . clinton's first election. . . nintendo and SNES and sega genesis and SEGA CD!! and 3DO and N64 (remember all the hype?) and PS and PS2. . . and now XBox and GameCube. . . bleh! OOOH I remember when game boys were these huge ugly grey, black-and-white screen, battery-muching machines!

Record players and OMG CDs!! and all the MP3 controversy. . .

People living in the redwoods north of here in protest of logging. . . the loma prieta quake. . . el nino. . . dang it flooded like crazy around here. . . and of course, 9/11. . . I'll never forget that.

lotsa stuff. . . then again, I'm only 17, so I havn't really seen as much as you guys. . .

[Danustouch]

I remember one day coming home from a DR's appointment and sitting eating macaroni and cheese (my fave kind) watching star trek, when suddenly the news came on showing somewhere inthe middle east being hit by bombing strikes and all sorts of stuff. . . now, I really can't remember what exactly that was. It was probably around between 7 and 5 years ago. . . but I remember how I went beserk, crying, they had announced war and we were all going to die from nuclear fallout. Or something like that. As I remember, it was over fairly quickly. . . It was weird.

I THINK you're referring to Desert Storm?

[Garnet]

I remember when JFK was assassinated. I was in third grade & the principal made the announcement & dismissed school for the day. Since I was a kid it didn't make much of an impact except for leaving school early, & the racist "I'm glad he's dead, he started all this n***** trouble" comment made by a schoolmate's mother.
I remember the day Isreali Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin was shot. I was at work, supposedly training a coworker. Actually, he was close to the end of his training & doing the work alone, so I just sat in the office & read. I had NPR on the radio when the program was interrupted with news from Isreal. Stan came back & found me in tears. "You don't understand," I told him. " We Jews aren't supposed to do this to each other!"
I remember sitting with my family & watching the first moon landing.
I watched the Challeger exploding. I had been thinking, "A teacher going up...that is so cool. Imagine the stories she'll have to tell her class. I'd like to be the first sewage treatment plant operator in space."
Sept. 11 I slept through...I worked nights that week.

[talamh]

Hey.. are we going for the "Oldest Living Memory" Award?? i remember standing with my family in the back yard in a small town in Ontario just after dark in 1957 when i was nine and watching Sputnick.. the first-ever satellite... swinging across the soft summer sky. My Dad got us all out to see it. i remember thinking.. what's a satellite for? But i also remember it being something about space travel and the dawn of a new age.

i also remember that i deliberately didn't watch the moon landing in 1969.. i went out and sat in a lovely wild meadow and looked at the full moon and apologized on behalf of the human race. Not only have we littered our planet with garbage... now we've done it to the moon as well. At this rate, i hope we don't make it to Mars until we've learned to clean up after ourselves. bb talamh

[Danustouch]

I remember Ostara a few years back, was on a full moon, with a Lunar Eclipse, and it was also the year that the hale-bob comet was around, so that was in the sky at the same time :) Felt really important and spiritual at the time :)

Anyone remember Haley's comet?

[Garnet]

I can't believe I forgot to add this...
I took part in the March for the Equal Rights Amendment in Washington D.C. in 1978. There were three busloads & more than a train car full of women just from southern Wisconsin.
It was so great.

[ChelleOfShadows]

I remember surviving Hurricane Camille when we lived in Columbus, Mississippi...... The END of the Vietnam war and the way the men coming home were treated...... Haley's Comet, we went to the planetarium and got to see it through the really huge telescope..... Life before AIDS/HIV...... When every boy with a truck in school had a rifle in the back in case they saw dinner on the way home and noone thought anything of it, actually marksmanship was a part of ROTC and 4H.......When Princess Diana got married, the romance of the year next to Luke and Laura on GH......... When you didn't have to have your kids Halloween candy taken to the hospital to be x-rayed and you could eat the carmel apple the lady down the street gave you....... When the Pledge of Allegiance was said every morning and noone nitpicked the words in it just respected the meaning........penny bubblegum..... when rolling down a grassy hill was just about the most fun in the world except for maybe chasing lightening bugs..... the smell of my grandfather's pipe...... and the smiles of my children. They may not be major events in your life but history was made with me!!!!

[Danustouch]

Ahhhhhhhh...thanks Chelle! lots of those are memories for me, too. I was very young when lady di and Prince Charles married, but I vaguely recall that day, too. And I do remember the Luke and Laura wedding as well :) Rolling down grassy hills...ahhhhhh..how bout jumping into piles of leaves? That was great too. We went on a vacation somewhere in upper ny state once when I was a kid, and there were just tons of lightning bugs that year. I remember catching a TON of them that year.

Anyone remember "Hands across America"?

[Naillosotarrain]

I remember running through a field full of lightning bugs with a stick in my hand playing baseball with them :D Does that count?

[Danustouch]

*BUMP*

[Maggie]

Originally posted by Squiddy
Being a person on this board of the "older than dirt" persuasion ;)

I remember walking to school in the snow and me and my brothers only had one pair of pants, so we had to take turns going to school... -- No wait, that was my dad! LOL!

Sorry, just kidding!

Seriously, some things that stand out in my memory are:

The JFK assassination.

Man landing on the moon.

The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show for the first time on US TV.

See, I told you I was older than dirt!

~Squiddy

If you don't remember the Kennedy/Nixon debat and the Berlin Wall going up, my dirt is older than your dirt!!!!! <G>

Maggie

[earthcat]

Another person standing on 'old dirt' here.... I remember most all of whats been mentioned here; I don't recall any one mentioning Woodstock;
I remember when Jimi & Janis died, and I remember getting spanked with a paddle at school!

[kcrys]

I just wanted to pipe in here and say... thanxs for making me feel much younger! *grin*

Reading all that everyone remembers brings back memories, though I can't exactly remember if they were dreams or not as I know I've dreamt of the various things that have happened in my life time.

Kcrys

[Badgerval]

for the biggest peace march *ever* in the UK :) It was awesome!

[Danustouch]

*bump*