1972

1972

Woodbine Avenue

Overbrook

Philadelphia, PA

My age: 16-17

School- Merion Mercy Academy, Merion Station, PA- 12^th grade.  I was finally becoming a better student.  I had been at the bottom of my class but now I was making a bit more effort.

Books- in school, we were reading American literature for the first time and I liked it.  We read JD Salinger and F. Scott Fitzgerald and Our Town and Death of a Saleman and I finally found books that I wanted to read.

Work

•  I was a babysitter for $1/hour.  It was a dreadful way to make a buck.
•  I volunteered as a candy striper at Lankenau Hospital.

News Events- there was lots of turmoil in the world.

• 11 Israel Athletes were murdered at the Munich Olympics. We watched in horror as these young men died right before our eyes.
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• White House operatives are arrested for burglarizing the offices of the Democratic National Committee.  This was the beginning of the Watergate Scandal which dominated our news for several years.
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• Hurricane Agnes wreaked havoc on in Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland and Virginia causing the death of 117.
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• 16 survivors from plane crash survive and are rescued after practicing cannibalism.  I vaguely remember the story at this time.  But I read about it later and it must have been gruesome for these survivors to reach this decision.
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• Bobby Fischer beats Boris Spassky to become the World Chess Champion. We were all so proud of him and then years later, it turns out that Bobbie Fischer hates America.
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• The last US ground troops withdrawn from Vietnam. I thought this would be the end of conflict in that area.  But our focus just turned to Cambodia.
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• Bloody Sunday: 14 unarmed Catholic protesters are gunned down by the British Army.  My family supported the anger of the Irish people. In hindsight, we may not have fully understood the complexities of the situation.  But it was volatile between the two areas. 
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• The Equal Rights Amendment which provided for the legal equality of the sexes passed by the U.S. Senate. But it never went any further and we are still fighting this battle.
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• CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) organizes a series of demonstrations against nuclear arms.  This was probably the first issue that caught my political attention.
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• Antiwar demonstrations draw 100,000 demonstrators in US cities. It seemed as if they were demonstrating every day.
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• Palestinian hijackers hijack a Lufthansa jet. This was the beginning of the world’s negative views of Muslims.  They seemed ruthless to us.
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• Governor George Wallace is shot in an attempted assassination attempt by Arthur Bremer which leaves him paralyzed. Wallace was an ugly American.
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• Richard Nixon visited China which proved to benefit both countries tremendously.
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• Swimmer Mark Spitz won a record 7 gold medals in the Summer Olympics in Munich.
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• The Volkswagen Beetle becomes the most popular car ever sold. It was a favorite for poor college students. I always wanted one but my father told me I could never have one, "It's a movable hotel room for sex."
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•  In India, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was elected.  A woman was running the largest democratic country in the world.
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•  US Presidential Election -Richard Nixon (R) defeated George McGovern (D)

Technology

·       Richard Nixon ordered the start for the space shuttle program. We were going to go back to the moon.

·       Apollo 16 landed on the moon so that the Lunar Rover could be tested.

·       Apollo 17 lands on the moon and the last men walked on the moon. By this time, it didn’t seem to be a big deal to walk on the moon.  We had done it so many times.

·       The first scientific hand-held calculator (HP-35) was released on the market. I, however, continued to use a slide rule up until I completed all my higher-level math courses (1974).

Popular Films

•    The Godfather- wasn’t allowed to see it.

•    Fiddler on the Roof- I think we went as a family to see this movie.

•    Diamonds Are Forever- I don’t even remember this movie.

•    What's Up, Doc? - wasn’t allowed to see it.

•    Dirty Harry- wasn’t allowed to see it.

•    The Last Picture Show- wasn’t allowed to see it.

•    A Clockwork Orange- wasn’t allowed to see it.

•    Cabaret- I thought Joel Grey was wonderfully creepy in this movie.

Musicians and songs

I started listening to WMMR, Rock Radio. This station played more rock and less pop.

For the Roses was my favorite album - Joni Mitchell

I liked lots of songs:

• •       ABBA- never liked them
• •      The Eagles- not a big fan but I never tell this to many people because it is almost sacrilegious
• •    John Lennon- sometimes it seemed as he was going off the deep end.
•     Simon and Garfunkel-   I loved every song they released. The lyrics of their songs were used in lots of our English classes.
•     Rod Stewart- Maggie May is a song I could hear every day.
•     Don McLean with - American Pie - OMG, I hate this song.
•     Michael Jackson –Ben- I think this was a song about a rat.
•     Elton John- he had lots of hits that I liked.
•     The Moody Blues
•     David Bowie- This guy was weird for the time and he captured my attention.
•     Led Zeppelin- They were too heavy metal for me.

Popular TV Programs

•    Monty Python's Flying Circus- I didn’t get their humor.

•    Sesame Street- My younger brother watched this new and bold approach to TV for kids.

•    The Benny Hill Show- I thought it was weird and didn’t watch much of it.

•    The Brady Bunch- I watched this show with interest.  Now I can’t imagine what was it that held my interest.

•    Dad's Army- I don’t even remember this show.

•    Hawaii Five-O- I didn’t watch this show.

•    Here's Lucy- But this time, her show was old and not as funny as her earlier shows.

Travels- Beach Haven, NJ.  My parents rented a house near the beach for the month of August.

Family-

• My grandfather was diagnosed with lung cancer.  He went through a round of grueling chemotherapy and radiation. We were all optimistic.
•  We rented a house on Long Beach Island for the month of August.  My grandparents couldn’t come with us because of my grandfather’s treatment. And I missed them. 
• My parents traveled a lot at this time due to my father's job.  They always hired a woman to stay with us.  One time, the woman was so old that we worried about how she could care for my two-year old brother.  My siblings and I took turns taking a day off school to stay  home and help this woman.
• I don't have a car so I have to bum rides from friends, hitchhike or take the bus through life.
• Kathy, my sister, and I joined the Columbia Record Club.  For $1, we got 12 free albums and committed to buy thousands more in the next three years.  We never bought any more records and I never understood how this record club ever made any money. Maybe some people fulfilled their obligation but I never did.