It’s bigger than Howdy Doody September 13, 2008

I was born in 1949, so I did grow up on Howdy Doody, Captain Kangaroo, and I Love Lucy.

Those are the memories I cherish.

But of course there’s more, folks.

When I was very young, we had two sources of news: newspapers and the 6 o’clock news.

There was no cable television, no cell phones, and no Blackberries.

And no internet, of course.

At my house we got morning and afternoon newspapers, and we watched Walter Cronkite in the evening.

Things started changing the day that President Kennedy was assassinated.

For four days, television networks televised the ongoing story of Kennedy’s murder, including his funeral.

As the years went by, we watched the horror of the Kent State shootings, Viet Nam, Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, then Robert Kennedy’s murder.

My parents were blue collar workers, and they owned a home, had a new car every few years, and furnished us with 3 square meals a day.

A visit to the doctor cost a few bucks.

On Sunday, after a nice dinner, we (me, my brother, and our parents) got in the car and took a ride out to “the country” where we enjoyed the scenery. During the summer, we stopped at fruit stands, then got an ice cream cone before going home to bath and bed.

The pipeline of news and information was slower and not always in living color.

It was a different time, and I think that as humans we were able to live, work, and love with a marvelous sense of detachment from the horrors that life can inflict.

Things like wars and reports of missing children always happened to “other people,” or so we told ourselves.

Being a Baby Boomer is about more than being born after World War II and watching Howdy Doody.

It’s about growing up in a world that has changed with a speed that is at times exciting (when considering technology), and at times absolutely frightening (e.g., watching an airplane fly, on purpose, into buildings occupied by thousands of people).

This Baby Boomer is a disaster junkie September 1, 2008

I’m a disaster jinkie, and I’ve been glued to the television, and my laptop, as Gustav tears through Louisiana.

Here’s a neat blog: Feisty Side of Fifty/Baby boomer Women.

And here’s a blogger, FortRight, who defines a Baby boomer as “anyone born after the war who watched the original Howdy Doody show. Period. End of discussion.”

What a hoot!

I’m going to get back to my drug right now.

Between Gustav and Sarah Palin’s pregnant teenager daughter, there’s a lot to keep up with.

Sorry, Howdy Doody, you are so yesterday

What’s a baby boomer, anyway? August 19, 2008

You may call yourself a baby boomer if you were one of the 76 million births after World War II, the years 1946-1964.

Here are some links for information about baby boomers:

• Aging Hipsters
• Baby Boomer Headquarters
• The Next Fifty Years

After World War II, The U. S. economy was healthy (sigh), and people like my Dad, a high school graduate, got a job after he came out of the Air Force. Dad worked for New York State until he retired. We were never rich, but my parents owned a house, got a new car every few years, and were able to fill our bellies with lots of good food.

My dad grew up on a small farm in rural upstate New York. My grandfather grew enough food to feed his large family and sell some things to neighbors. It was the Depression, and times were tough. Every month or so, a neighbor would steal over to my grandfather’s farm and steal a chicken. My uncles wanted to chase him away, but they were always stopped by my grandfather.

Leave him be, boys. He’s a good man, he’s just trying to feed his family. I never met my grandfather because he died of a heart attack a few years after the start of World War II.

My father told that story every so often, to remind us that we had it good, compared to the lean years of the Depression.

Anyway, besides the house and the car, we had television.

Oh yes, black and white television, the subject of my next post.

Aging and hearing loss May 24, 2008

This article from the Seattle PI confirms that I am one of the 38 million aging baby boomers experiencing hearing loss.

And, according to this article, we are not inclined to do anything about it!

That sounds about right.

There are 76 million boomers, and half of us keep saying “huh?” it seems.

Ha!

Aging is an amazing experience, with equal parts of depression and euphoria.

My aging body parts cause me grief some days, most days.

I’m totally in awe that there are parts of me, inside, that are no different from the eighteen year-old girl who graduated from high school in 1967.

But resting alongside this girl is a woman with a lifetime of experience, who keeps learning about herself every day.

So what if we don’t hear as well as we used to, my boomer buddies.

We still rock!

Boomers–can you retire and still eat? May 24, 2008

I’m going to work until I drop–I’ve seen too many people retire and drop dead.

Does that sound noble?

Actually, I can’t afford to retire unless my Lotto numbers come in.