Born in '68.
Posted on 01/09/2007 9:18:52 AM PST by HungarianGypsy
I am wanting to write a story based on a young adult in the 1960s. Since I was born in 1973 all I really know is what I studied in books. But, I want to get beyond love beads and LSD. I want to be able to write this as it really was. I know it's said if you remember the '60s you weren't really there. But, if anyone does remember I would appreciate reading your stories and facts. Thank you.
I know I am taking advantage of the Food Ping list by doing this (it's not something I do often, though. so forgive me this time). I was hoping some of you could help me with this topic and maybe even pass it on. Thank you very much.
That's just for starters.
Families did bizarre things, like all eat dinner together at the same time, and they all ate the same thing. Peanut allergies in particular were unknown among children.
Great music... I still have Motown collections in the car.
What do you want to know? I grew up in the San Francisco Bay area and was in high school in the early sixties, and spent the summer of 1967 (the Summer of Love) living in San Francisco. I had older friends who were involved with the Diggers and through them met (though how much one meets anyone at parties suffused with alcolhol and drugs, even though one has a lengthy conversation is debatable) various members of the Airplane and the Dead, including the late Ms. Joplin.
I smell another Boomer v. Xer battle brewing.
Born in '68.
The biggest misconception involved drug use - widespread drug abuse did began to be a major problem in the 1960's, but the real devastating drug problem took off in the 70's, and actually peaked in around 1979.
I graduated from high school in 1963 and drugs were never mentioned as a problem by any adult. LSD was around, but only in certain locales and social circles -- it didn't become more common until the very end of the 1960's.
I don't have time to write my life story here, but if you have specific questions, mail them to me and I'll try to help.
I would point out that there was no one "sixties" -- one's experience could vary widely depending on what part of the country one was in. Until about 1964, it was really just an extension of the 1950s, but even that could be wildly different: in San Francisco we had the legacy of the Beat Generation, but that was fringe. Parts of the country didn't enter the "sixties" until they were chronologically passed, and general norms and mores varied enormously from place to place.
Well, I graduated from High School in 72. But you are going to have to ask specific questions. I will say this, althought my friends smoked dope, I thought it was stupid. However, I did a report on the evils of dope in my senior year and discovered there was really no "REAL" evidence for it doing any harm, Reefer Madness notwithstanding.
I still didn't touch the stuff until December of 72. And then only because I was getting drunk while the rest of 'em were getting stoned and a seriously gorgeous chick came into the room I was in and "talked me into trying it".
Come to think of it, that's the70's.
Never mind...
That's all I have to say about that...
My father went to Vietnam for a year and didn't recognize us when he got back.
Although I was born in 1972, I remember seeing hippie buses when I was two years old.
I also knew it was time to go home when the streetlights came on.
I agree. What we think of as the 50's was really the late fifties and early 60's. And frankly, I think that what we think of as the 60's was really the late sixties and early 70's. But even then, that is only when referencing pop culture.
When discussing things like auto racing or baseball or anything else more quantifiable, the decades line up more precicely.
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