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.
A time of tremendous contradictions. On the one hand you had out of control radicals and hippies and on the other you saw a country that elected Nixon in 68.
I was there but I forgot.
Sexual intercourse began
In nineteen sixty-three
(which was rather late for me) -
Between the end of the Chatterley ban
And the Beatles' first LP.
Up to then there'd only been
A sort of bargaining,
A wrangle for the ring,
A shame that started at sixteen
And spread to everything.
Then all at once the quarrel sank:
Everyone felt the same,
And every life became
A brilliant breaking of the bank,
A quite unlosable game.
So life was never better than
In nineteen sixty-three
(Though just too late for me) -
Between the end of the Chatterley ban
And the Beatles' first LP.
Philip Larkin
How funny !!! You hit it, spot on. I can really relate from my childhood.
Was he injured or had you changed so much?
A critical thing to remember about the sixties was:
There was Cathy, who'd lived most everywhere,
From Zanzibar to Barclay Square.
Patty had only seen the sights
A girl can see from Brooklyn Heights --
What a crazy pair!
But they were cousins,
Identical cousins all the way.
One pair of matching bookends,
Different as night and day.
Where Cathy adored a minuet,
The Ballet Russes, and crepe suzette,
Our Patty loved to rock and roll,
A hot dog made her lose control --
What a wild duet!
Still, they were cousins,
Identical cousins and you'd find,
They laughed alike, they walked alike,
At times they even talked alike --
You could lose your mind,
When cousins were two of a kind.
I was the first kid in the parking lot to have a Medallion FM reciver unit that had to be plugged into the car's AM radio to work.
There were two, count em, one, two whole FM stations that you could get.
Then, I got really pushy and installed an 8-track tape.
I was high tech.
My brother and I had grown a lot - I was two and he was 4 - and Mom had lost weight and colored her hair. We were standing by the runway when the air groups landed, and Dad walked right past us!
I remember Bobbie Kennedy being killed. I can still see (in my head) his wife and the flag covered coffin.
Check the films - the world was black-and-white. I was born black-and-white. My parents couldn't afford to color me until 1967. ;)
"Oh, yeah the Mustang, GTO, Vet, Camaro and of course the VW Bug..."
You forgot the meanest dude in that stable:
SUNBEAM TIGER!
Master Blaster!!!
No wonder you're so rebellious,Millie.I entered my Metamucil stage of life some time ago....you're far too young to even know how important Metamucil is. ;-)
So do I.
When I was in Junior High, in 1962, we had an assembly where an older woman, a Mrs. Grundy type, showed us Reefer Madness with a straight face and then delivered a lecture on the evils of marijuana and heroin.
I think I can safely say that other than the pachucos (as thuggish Mexican youths were known) who were rumored to smoke reefres, that none of us had ever seen marijuana or heroin, let alone used it.
The ludicrousness of both the film and lecture, however, resulted in a rather disrespectful reception from some of the boys in the faster crowd, and left most of us more intrigued than terrified.
FR loves a GenXer v. Boomer battle as much as a classwarfare brawl, and they are equally stupid. can you say VICTIM mentality?
Pigeon Toed Orange Peel
Could you ask some questions? I lived in Santa Barbara, CA. Riots, love, beach parties, pot (oh the pot) what in specific do you want to know. Vietnam, families...what in particular.
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