1984

1984

Williamsport, PA (until June)
and
State College, PA (summer)
and
Abington, PA (August- December)

Age: 28-29

School: I was entranced in a doctoral program at Penn State. This program owned my life.  During the school year, I took classes at night and on the weekends.  In the summer, I went to school all summer and lived like a poor student again.

Work: During the 1983-84 school year, I was a Guidance Counselor  at Loyalsock High School in Williamsport, PA.  In June, I moved to Montgomery County, PA and started as a Guidance Counselor for the 1984-85 school year with Jenkintown High School.

News Events

• Indian Prime minister Indira Gandhi  was assassinated.  Her death was shocking to me.
• The  Apple Macintosh personal computer went on sale during January of 1984. I wouldn't buy this computer until 1993.
• Britain and Ireland's top  musicians formed Band Aid and recorded the song "Do They Know It's Christmas"  to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. Powerhouse performers included Phil Collins, Bono, Sting, Duran Duran, Culture Club, Bananarama, James Taylor, George Michael, David Bowie, and Paul McCartney.  
• The UK and China agree Hong Kong will revert to China in 1997.  I got to visit Hong Kong under both regimes.
• The first solo transatlantic flight in a helium balloon was successful.  
• The first flight in space by humans un-tethered using jet back packs took place as teh whole world watched.
• Widespread Famine in Ethiopia after political conflict affected as many as 10 million people who facing starvation 
• USSR  boycotts the Olympic games in retaliation for Western Boycott in 1980 . I don't think anyone missed them.
• English pound notes are to be taken out of circulation.  My older friends all talked about buying as many of these notes for investment purposes.  I didn't have any money to invest as I was living paycheck to paycheck. 
• By the year end more than 70 US Banks failed but I was oblivious to the impact this had on our economy as I had no damn money.
• Sally Ride became first American woman in space on the Space Shuttle Challenger. I was so damn proud of her.
• Margaret Thatcher won a landslide victory in General Elections in the UK and there was no talk in our country of a woman ever winning the presidential election here in the USA.
• Bernhard Goetz shoots four black youths on a Manhattan subway, claiming self defense.  Many others claimed racism and the news covered every minute of this trial. 
• The MTV Video Music Awards started.  Watching the music videos was as interesting as listening to the music.
• Michael Jackson wins acclaim for his Album Thriller and sales over 37 million copies 
• AIDS Virus is identified by a French Immunologist. It's viewed as an exclusive disease of gay men.
• AT&T broken up through Anti-trust laws. We now had choices in telephone service providers.
• Sony and Philips introduce the first commercial CD Players. I bought my first CD in 1986.
• Genetic fingerprinting or DNA profiling was developed and was now used by Forensic scientists when obtaining evidence in crimes. 
• US Presidential Election Ronald Reagan (Republican) defeated Walter Mondale (Democratic). For the first time, I am interested in the elections and I did not vote for Reagan.  

Movies

• Ghostbusters 
• Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 
• Beverly Hills Cop
• Terms of Endearment 
• Police Academy 
• Romancing the Stone
• Splash 
• Amadeus 
• The Killing Fields 
• A Passage To India 
• Footloose
• The Cotton Club
• Micki and Maude
• Moscow on the Hudson
• Purple Rain
• Repo Man
• The River
• Sixteen candles
• A Soldier's Story

Popular Musicians

• Phil Collins 
• Alison Moyet 
• Billy Joel 
• Tina Turner with  " What's Love got to do with it " .  I loved this album.
• David Bowie 
• Wham! with  " Wake Me up Before You Go " 
• Billy Ocean 
• UB40 
• Stevie Wonder with  " I Just Called to say I love You " 
• Bruce Springsteen 
• Kenny Rogers 
• Bananarama 
• Duran Duran with  " The Reflex " 
• Ultravox 
• Cars 

Family and Friends

• My sister was diagnosed with cancer.
• My friend, Kathy Flatley, was married and I was a Maid of Honor in her wedding.
• Someone broke in to my apartment in the middle of the night and scared the hell out of  me.  He got away but he didn't hurt me or take anything.