TV Pop Culture ....

Okay, still gearing up to write more on my life's journey, thought I would post a little bit of pop culture on you.    These were TV shows I watched at the time (1980s).     

 

My favorite cop show of all time

 

 

 

Many sitcoms were the mainstay of my evenings

Diff'rent Strokes would be one of them

 

 

 

 

And yes, I owned a Tshirt with this very saying on it. 

Wore it proudly for a while.  LOL 

 

 

 

 

And then there was daytime drama, John & Marlena on "Days of Our Lives"

 

 



Then And Now ...

I feel it behooves me to state some comparisons here about what it was like when I was a kid and what it is like now. 

Societal norms have changed a lot.  Government "interference" in daily life has changed a lot.   How parents rear their children has changed.  And how kids interact with the world at large has changed IMMENSELY.  And I got examples!

When I was a kid in the 70s, corporal punishment by a teacher or principal was legally and ethically fine.  I know this because on one occasion in the 2nd grade I had been punished by the principal with a paddle.  Not fun at all.  Kids were raised to respect their elders and many parents used corporal punishment at home.  Mine sure did. 

Today's youth seem to be allowed to bully their peers, their parents, their teachers, and there are a lot of stories of kids calling the authorities on their parents if they touched them.   What was once acceptable discipline, is now possibly against the law in some counties.   Striking a child with a paddle isn't, at it's heart, a very fun thing to do.  And I mean one good whack on the tush, not a repeated thing intent on injury.  

We were given a choice of paddling or standing in the corner.  I always chose the least painful option, and stood in the corner.  This was at home mind you.  When I got older, no choices, it always was "go to your room."  I was a sassy teenager.  I admit it.  If I heard my Dad raise his voice, it was cringe time, and time to shut the heck up!   Kids nowadays don't even care about all that.  They just talk louder right back.  Some parents have become their children's friends, and opt to do no spanking and let their children seemingly do whatever they want in public.  This always disturbs me, cause it seems like some parents have let the child take over the household.  That never would have happened in my parent's home.  NEVER!

After I graduated high school things seemed to change quickly, and now you see and hear more kids being verbally belligerent, ignoring authorities, and more bullying and unfortunately criminal behavior with guns and mass shootings in schools.  My has the world changed so much in 30 years. 

Of course technology has changed immensely since the 70s.  TVs only brought in local channels.  Most were huge boxes with vacuum tubes and giant monitors.  And, oh dear, you had to get up and turn a dial or touch some buttons to change the channel!  Most families only had 1 or 2 TVs and most kids didn't have their own TVs in their bedrooms. 

Computers in business, computers in schools, computers in the homes....this phenomenon didn't occur until the 80s.  We never had a computer in the home until after my brother graduated high school.  I first learned how to write a simple computer program in my senior year.  It was on a Radio Shack TSR80 computer.  The monitor only displayed 2 colors, black and white.  No pretty dance of the spectrum of the rainbow.  That came a few years later. 

When I was a kid, art was my world... common mediums were markers, pencil, wood, glue, and paper of all kinds.  Now things are created on computer screens with many different programming tools.  2D is common, 3D is the rage now.  And kids can create many things I never even dreamed of when I was in elementary school.   They pick up any computerized gizmo and suddenly are like Rembrandt to a canvas, they design things as if it is no big deal! 

Now I like the changes in technology, don't get me wrong. I'm a sucker for my IPhone, IPad and computer.  I can communicate with more people in a click of a button than the number of people I ever knew in my 13 years of schooling (before college).  What I realized over the past several years, is they can become your life, become addicting, and change your moods.  Not good if you cannot control what you do with them and how long you spend on them or in front of them.  

Society has not been able to KEEP OUT the unwanted things though with this rampant technological age of changes.  Spam hits our emails, graphic sexual displays are clicks away for youth to see, hackers get into every kind of business' computer system and steal names, numbers, and destroy people's financial lives and sense of security.  

I never ever thought of the number of ways technology could be used to harm others while I was learning about computers.  I was always amazed and engrossed in the ways text could be manipulated on the screen, the background colors could be arranged, the way you can click on a word on the screen and something happens.  THAT was amazing to me.  Knowing how to ruin someone else's life was not in my heart.   That part has always stumped me, but I guess some people get a kick of out the evil they can partake in, at the expense of others lives and well-being. 

Parents have to be diligent to monitor their children in new and inventive ways.  Parents are busy with their work and careers, now they must be cognizant with what their kids are doing on computers and who they interact with.  I don't recall being concerned with so much when I was a youth.  And since I don't have children, I have not had the same worries as those peers of mine that do. 

Life has gotten crazier in many respects.   And I believe some of it has to be from disengaging in personal one-on-one interaction and caring about others.  I love my computerized gizmos, and I love "talking" with others on them; but they do not make up for the human connection through personal touch, hugs, and kisses, and companionship while sitting in the same room as another.  The art of everyday conversation has turned into the art of texting while driving and hoping to avoid the next accident.

    ....  in some ways life brings new exciting things, in other ways it loses its sense of meaning.  Hold on, we'll be back to my life's journey next time. 

 

 

 

 

 

Dad's Family...

Dad was 1 of 9 kids. Second youngest in the brood. He had one brother and SEVEN sisters!! Egad! Lots of girl talk in that house.

Uncle Don was older than Dad, and I knew very little about him because he lived on the other side of the state and seldom visited. I didn't realize until a couple years ago he had more than 2 kids. I don't recall meeting any of them but one who was closer to my age. Don had been married twice and had kids in both marriages. I am not sure if Dad really liked his brother. He never talked about him.

As for Dad's sisters, I have met all of them. The oldest was my Godmother, Aunt Doris. She had 4 kids, all much older than the three of us kids.  Aunt Doris and Uncle Jule had a lovely home on 4th Street and had many family get-togethers there. My favorite memories were when their eldest daughter's kids would be there, they were close in age to me and my sibs. We'd hang upstairs or on the stairs themselves and just listen to all the women chatter on below us. Unlike my Mom's family that loved to play cards; Dad's sisters like to talk and talk and talk. The fellas usually hung out in another room or maybe headed to my Uncle's wine cellar in the basement.


Two of the aunts we spent a lot of time with were Aunt Peggy (Uncle Mel) and Aunt Sallie (Uncle Don). Peggy was the neatest lady. She taught Sunday school at her Baptist church and I remember hanging with her one time in her class and coloring in pictures of Jesus and other Biblical people.  Her son played the piano and sang in all the choirs. I loved going to their house cause there (again) I found a place to play my favorite instrument. Her son and daughter again were much older than I. Rarely did you see her daughter. But her son loved hanging with the family. My Uncle owned a lot of property in town including a television repair shop. When colored TVs started being affordable he sold my parents one and the first thing we watched on it was "The Sound of Music" with Julie Andrews! My favorite musical.
Aunt Sallie and Uncle Don just has one daughter. They too had a piano at their house but I don't recall being allowed to play it. Their daughter sang as well.  I don't remember too much about Uncle Don. He was a quiet man. He unfortunately died from a brain tumor when I was a teenager I think. My Aunt I believe was lost for years after he died. Such a shame.

Dad had a younger sister Aunt Barb (Uncle Ken). They had two kids both close to my age. All very bright and all college educated. Aunt Barb was the only one of the nine to get a college degree. Her husband was a dentist, her son is a Colonel in the Army as well as a GYN doctor that specializes in womb traumas I believe. His sister is a very talented artist and has worked everywhere and traveled everywhere stateside...she's the rebel, the adventurer and athletic one in the family bar none. I have oodles more to say in later posts, but she is one I always looked up to for inspiration when I was going to college. Barb and Ken moved their family to Seattle. They divorced a long time ago.  I do remember when they visited after Mt. St. Helens erupted in 1980. She brought a container of ash that spewed all over the North West. Very cool!

My sister's Godmother was Aunt Mattie (Uncle Moe).  Aunt Mattie could sew like no one else I knew in the family.  Like I mentioned in an earlier post, she would sew outfits for my sister and I.  I am sure she sewed for many people.  I know when she got arthritis and couldn't sew anymore that had to be heartbreaker for her.   She and Uncle Moe had one daughter who was a hair stylist.  She was the one that did my hair when Brian and I had our pictures taken after getting married (plenty about that time of my life in future posts).  I loved that she lived long enough to do that and visit once at our house after we married.  Sometime after that she was diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (of which one form is similar to mad cow disease).  That was a fatal disease and awful symptoms of memory loss, dementia, brain deterioration from prions.  Just horrible.  She went from vibrant woman in her 50s to a completely different person needing lots of care until she passed away several months later.  I miss my cousin Maureen a lot.  She was funny and laugh oh so much! 

Finally there were Aunt Betty Sue (Marshall) and Aunt Margie.  And for the life of me I cannot recall Margie's husband's name.  (Sorry Margie.)  I didn't see these aunts or their kids very often.  And only remembered one of their daughter's names until 2 years ago when several of us girl cousins got together and visited on a couple occasions.  I learned about cousins I didn't know I had.   I don't have many memories really of either of their families, except when my sister had her wedding shower at our home, Aunt Betty Sue was there, and possibly her youngest daughter who I now have officially met as an adult. 

Then there was Grandpa (Elmer) and his wife Mildred.  Grandpa was married twice.  First to the mother of all 9 of his children.  My Grandmother (Bessie) died from cancer, not sure which kind but probably ovarian or uterine based on what I have heard over the years.   My Dad was 9 when he lost his Mother.  And I know that upset him all his life after that.  Grandpa was left to raise several of his kids on his own, and the oldest daughters that had married by then also helped take care of the younger ones.  I believe when my Dad turned 14, Grandpa remarried.  Mildred had one son, Hugo.  I don't know anything much about Hugo.  My Grandpa was a stern man. and we visited him and Mildred often in Union and Mom and Dad would play pinochle with them.  Us kids would play outside most of the time or I'd hang out in the spare bedroom.  Mildred died in 1980, Grandpa in 1982.   Grandpa is buried near his first wife, Mildred in buried in Illinois somewhere. 

This family was pretty dysfunctional after losing their Mother but I don't know if you could blame it solely on that.  Some had less problems than others.  But I always sensed a lot of loss, secrecy, and unsettled tension when visiting sometimes at different functions.   Mostly the ones when I was a kid.  There is a lot of history to be told.  And unfortunately most of it is not pleasant.   I wish not to dwell in all that negative space.  I want to tell an honest story as I remember it, but not bring up family dysfunction of families that cannot defend themselves.  The only family I speak of intentionally and intimately is my own family of origin.  The only Aunts left living as I write this are Aunt Barb and Aunt Sallie.   My Dad and the rest of his siblings are gone and hopefully in the presence of Jesus now.  

    ..... families go through a lot of ups and downs and stress and trials, it is from this that we grow in strength, character, and learn to be the people God meant us to be.    More of this saga to be told in future posts.   Please hang in there!

My Grandpa Bacon with Mildred holding me as a baby circa 1967