autobiography, part I

I was born in May of 1974, five years after Woodstock, and six years before Reagan. That's what we were, a generation caught between hippies and corporate America. We had drugs and we had high-tech. Hell, we mixed them. There's nothing like tripping on acid and playing Nintendo - crystal meth and Moral Kombat.

The day I was born, the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee opened impeachment hearings against President Richard Milhous Nixon. Nixon would later resign beneath the Watergate scandal. Nixon was considered one of the most idiosyncratic Presidents, both brilliant and devious. He was a notorious football fan, which tells me he couldn't have been all bad. But he was a Republican, which means that he was mostly bad.

Besides me being born, and the Nixon thing, that week was pretty uneventful.

Then, several days later, Patricia Hearst (AKA Tania) opened fire on Mel's Sporting Goods store in Inglewood, California, in order to free her S.L.A. brethren who were caught shoplifting socks. The Symbionese Liberation Army had held Hearst captive in February of that year and converted her to their cause. The next day, Los Angeles police raided the S.L.A. safehouse and lit fire to it. Over 9,000 rounds were fired, killing six of the members.

Later that year, the Cleveland Indians learned that 10-cent beer was a bad idea. West Germany hosted and won the World Cup. A television journalist named Christine Chubbuck committed suicide on live tv. Muhammad Ali knocked out George Foreman in 8 in the "Rumble in the Jungle."

In November, Carol DaRonch narrowly escaped abduction by Ted Bundy, but Ronald DeFeo succeeded in killing his parents and four siblings in what later became called the "Amityville Horror House." A 3.2 million year old hominid skeleton named "Lucy" was found near the Awash river in Ethiopia.

Most of my early years were spent watching Hee Haw, the Dukes of Hazzard (I grew up in the South), and The Midnight Special after we got tv's in our rooms. That was the only show on after midnight, and if it was on after midnight, it had to be bad - so we had to watch it. "We" is my sister and I. She is a year older than me, and a lot more sensible. I have two parents, one male and one female. We had a Cairn Terrier named Mac. Mac loved to swim so much he would jump off of a moving boat. I learned to swim before I can remember. Well, I learned to not sink before I can remember - I can remember swimming lessons. I was scared of the high-dive. All the kids had to jump off of the high-dive, but I had to jump with the instructor holding me. These days, kids are not allowed on the high-dive, and swimming instructors are not allowed to hold the children. The 70's were a lot looser time.

to be continued...