Fun_People Archive
31 Mar
It's 1998...Do You Know Where (or Who) Your Kids Are?

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Tue, 31 Mar 98 22:18:37 -0800
To: Fun_People
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Subject: It's 1998...Do You Know Where (or Who) Your Kids Are?

[A sobering thought or two... -psl]
Forwarded-by: <joev@archtop.com>
Forwarded-by: "ORourke, Jim" <Jim.ORourke@metrokc.gov>

* The people who are starting college this fall across the nation were born
  in 1980.

* The Iranian hostage crisis occurred before they were conceived.

* They have no memory of a time before MTV.

* New Wave" is their PARENTS musical generation.

* Cyndi Lauper, Boy George, the Pretenders, the Kinks, the Sex Pistols --
  are all old musicians who they have probably never heard of.

* They have no meaningful recollection of the Reagan era.

* They were prepubescent when the Persian Gulf War was waged.

* If they have heard the name "Oliver North," it was probably as a losing
  Congressional candidate, or perhaps in some obscure survey history text
  reference, such as might be made to Huey Long or Teapot Dome.

* Black Monday 1987 is as significant to them as the Great Depression.

* Their world has always included AIDS.

* Having not lived through the Disco Scare, they can romanticize the 1970s.

* They see "Family Ties" as something middle-aged ladies watch.

* They watched "Star Wars" years ago, when they were kids -- on video.

* Atari predates them, as do vinyl albums and cassette audiotapes; they may
  have heard of an 8-track, but probably have never actually seen, or heard
  one.

* From their earliest years, a camera was something you used once and threw
  away.

* As far as they know, stamps have always cost around 30 cents.

* The oil crisis is history of which they probably know nothing -- and why
  anyone WOULDN'T buy a Chevy Suburban is beyond them.

* Most of them have probably never seen a real nun, even if they went to
  Catholic schools.

© 1998 Peter Langston