Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Coming of age in the years of living dangerously
msnbc ^ | July 6, 2009 | Bill Briggs

Posted on 07/06/2009 10:51:37 AM PDT by JoeProBono

Bike helmets? SPF? Veggie meals? No way, if you grew up in '50s, '60s, '70s When Phyllis Murphy's mother was pregnant, back in the 1950s, her doctor advised her to take up smoking for relaxation.

A few years later, that same mom smeared her toddler's skin with a concoction of baby oil and iodine for a deep, rich tan. Now, safely in adulthood in Vancouver, B.C., Murphy fondly recalls childhood as a time of leaping from rooftops and accumulating “more scars than Joan Rivers.” And Tim Palla, a 46-year-old pastor, spent his childhood just north of Pittsburgh where he got just one vaccination, gobbled wild berries and mushrooms, drank from the ditch, and chewed road tar like gum.

Like Palla and Murphy, many of us who were raised in the 1950s, '60s and '70s are survivors. We were tiny daredevils: sun-blasted, pocket-knife-carrying, bottom-spanked, cow eaters. We ran the streets armed with BB guns, boxing gloves and bottle rockets, wholly unprotected by bike helmets, sunscreen or Amber Alerts. Our houses were filled with the blue cigarette smoke of our cocktail-drinking parents and we believed it wasn’t supper without a mountain of red meat.....

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: childhood
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-65 last
To: mom4melody
I won’t let my kids in their own front yard unattended...

Why not? You survived just fine.

61 posted on 07/07/2009 7:34:15 AM PDT by GraniteStateConservative (...He had committed no crime against America so I did not bring him here...-- Worst.President.Ever.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: JoeProBono

My dad had the Model 25 pump action... I shot it a lot. Not very powerful, but very fast...


62 posted on 07/07/2009 7:45:00 AM PDT by Little Ray (Do we have a Plan B?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: GraniteStateConservative

I grew up in the 1960’s, less perverts out of the closet.


63 posted on 07/07/2009 7:58:11 AM PDT by mom4melody
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 61 | View Replies]

To: Little Ray

64 posted on 07/07/2009 8:08:14 AM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 62 | View Replies]

To: JoeProBono

I remember that the muzzle unscrewed and you pulled it out and loaded BBs into a tube, screwed back in.


65 posted on 07/07/2009 10:21:23 AM PDT by Little Ray (Do we have a Plan B?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 64 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-65 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson