Quote:
Originally posted by carnation
I was in 5th grade when JFK was killed. It was awful. I felt so violated and unsafe, just like on 9-11.
My take on the sixties: hardly anyone in the deep South saw anything but hippie wannabes. I taught at Auburn in the eighties and couldn't tell that anything had changed from the early seventies...the protests, etc., that a lot of the country saw back then hardly brushed any of the large public Southern universities. If anyone tried to stage a sit-in or whatever, the students would basically ignore them or walk right over them so people who had a serious message to spread went elsewhere.
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I agree with your comment on the JFK murder.
On the rest, things were pretty much different in the North, I think. I was in college from 1965 to 1969, and it was a pretty interesting ride with the transition of "beatnicks" to hippies, the free love movement, Vietnam and the Draft and fairly dramatic changes in the drug culture. We were a generation that actually did (help) make a difference in the direction of the country.
As both a student and TV professional (I was working for the NBC station in Columbus, OH), I remember the sit-ins and the taste of teargas and peppergas -- of bonfires set on the College Green during protests. And of Ohio National Guardsmen at every other parking meter in town after the Kent State murders. (sorry, that very last is a personal editorial comment on my part)
I also remember the drunken "social" riots on St. Pattys day -- which, with the change to the quarter system, developed into Ohio University's famous Halloween Party.
Additionally, the shape of rock and roll (an important social marker, I believe) really changed from guitar strumming and drums to the beginnings of what we still hear today. Music from groups such as the Beatles, Beach Boys (Pet Sounds) and others took the genre in totally different directions.
Just yesterday, I was reflecting with a younger guy I work with about one of my early trips to New York City for a college broadcasting workship. That trip included not only my first Broadway Musical (Promises, Promises w/Jerry Orbach), my first visit to the Tonight Show (w/Carson), but also was the week of the first huge peace march on the U.N. The Village was jammed, and the police were out in force on horseback with cattle prods.
And, during that, we still had to date and make out and make love and all the other stuff that college students are supposed to do.
OK, enough, but what amazing memories.
It was not only a great time to grow and learn -- but also could be damned scary.
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