1968 experiences

by d 23 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • tenyearsafter
    tenyearsafter

    Moshe, I love the '62 Corvette! I had a '68 convertible big block...boy do I wish I still had that car!!

    The music from that era was absolutely epic...Clapton (Cream), C,S,N&Y, Led Zepplin, The Doors to mention just a few...and the fabulous sounds of Motown!

  • moshe
    moshe

    There was a shortage of workers from around 1967-71- due to Vietnam war contracts the factories were going full blast and the draft took a lot of guys away (college boys got a deferment for a few years). Job hunting was easy- you walked into the HR office and filled out an application- if they were hiring and you looked capable, they asked you to wait for an interview. (HR was afraid you would leave and someone else would offer you a job)- after the interview, they would tell you when to report for work- sometimes it was for the 2nd or 3rd shift that same day. And the wages were good- $2-$3/hr ($15-20/hr in todays money) based on your skills. Welders were in great demand back then. Auto workers made $4/hr( backbreaking work) and as one guy told me- If I can just keep making $4/hr for the rest of my life, I'll be on easy street. It was not unusual for a guy to have his day job and a second job after work, like pumping gas or working at the bowling alley. In five years that extra paycheck would pay off the mortgage on your bungalow in that new subdivision. New car loans were for never more than 3 years- mortages were for 20 years or less and everyone wanted to pay it off asap and get out of debt.

    And in 1968 the JWs received their blue bombshell- the "truth" book- stay alive until 1975!

  • moshe
    moshe
    Stop steppin' on my toe Moshe !!

    LMAO!! --was it color or B&W? I hope the TV with a picture was color and the one with sound was- well it doesn't matter! TVs were something else- cranky due to the tubes that were always going bad- cold bad picture- warm good picture- then hot, no picture. Fianlly, you pulled out all the tubes and went to Kmart and plugged them into the do-it-yourself tube tester- hopefully you found a weak tube and could fix the set for $5-$10. Back then TV repairmen came to your house and serviced the big console TVs. Portable TVs weren't all that common until after 1970.

  • tenyearsafter
    tenyearsafter

    I forgot that was the year of the "Truth" book!...it certainly revolutionized FS at the time...it was easy to place and build a "pitch" around.

  • wasblind
    wasblind

    Black and white,

    the picture tube went out on ours, can't remember the brand of the tv all I know it

    stood on long legs, and the babysister brought hers it was portable no sound but

    had a picture. we used that until my mom got us another used one which seemed

    new to us. and we always kept foil for cookin' and clearing up the tv. And again

    the leggs on that tv were so long it could've worn stockin's

  • Band on the Run
    Band on the Run

    Oh yes, pictures tubes that always broke! The TV shows seemed better then.

    Cowboy hoopla.

    The Corvette is beautiful. So impressive. Bright red. One of my dreams is to have a bright red roaster before I die. A Trimph or Jaguar. I'd settlel for a Mazda Miatta but I hear they are bad cars. Actually, I hear that about Triumphs and Jaguars, too.

  • TotallyADD
    TotallyADD

    I was 14 in 1968 all I wanted to do was kiss a girl. Scared to death about the war. Watch it on TV every night. After lunch at school we got to go to the gym and talk to friends and play records over the loud speaker system. That's when I first heard Iron Butterfly Ina-gadda-da-vida and feel in love with rock and roll. Watch both Martin Luther King and Sen. Kenndy killed on TV. Watch the Chicago riots on TV and at the end of the year watch 3 men orbit the moon and read from Gen 1:1. Got my first type writter, it was a manual one becuase I was expected go to jail for not going to war. According to my parents they may not have electric in prison. This all scared me so much I would go into deep depressions for weeks. Grew 4 inches that year to the height I am today. And finally in the spring of 1969 kissed my first girl before my 15 brithday. Totally ADD

  • Giordano
    Giordano

    This is a great thread! For those that don't know that much about Woodstock 1969 the first link is an overview, the second Santana's great performence and crowd reaction.

    Also this: It wasn't held at Woodstock, they had to change locations. They finally ended up in the societies backyard at Bethel N.Y.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ4QF45Vygw

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLDalZ4-53g Nudity alert in the begining and some nude guy carrying a ram or sheep, later on.

    The band and especially the drummer had partied hardy the night before and he was ready to upchuck.....he kept control and turned in a classic performance, Then Santana............ young and almost unknown turned in his classic quitar solo. Check out the girl with the glasses who by her expression was way into that solo.

  • Band on the Run
    Band on the Run

    I forgot about Chicago. By 1968, I was a political activist. I sneaked out of the house to work in McCarthy's campaign. The media focused on elite college students and I dreamed of being one so I thought I would get practice. There were college students galore, tons of them. My espionage career was sidetracked when, despite promises to the contrary, some McCarthy volunteer called and my JW abusive father answered the phone. To back Honors Thesis assertion a tad, my father was a Humphrey union devotee. Humphrey was prowar. We went into Humprhey's local campaign office and pretended to volunteer. We threw the lit they gave us to hand out in the trash and then made calls for MCcarthy. I was meeting young men, my type. My father did not kill me. He mentioned they called. I am still in shock. Part of me believes he would have been a high union official if it were not for the Witnesses.

    He grew up in the coal mines when John Lewis organized. The difference was enormous and practical. So he may have thought I was following in his foodsteps. I wanted to go to Chicago and demonstrate to stop the war. And also to meet guys. Everyone who was anyone went. JWs don't go to Chicago. I was too young. So I visited his relatives near Pittsburgh. Jesus protected me, literally. The police riots were horrid. Students, peacefully working on a major presidential campaign were dragged out of the rizy hotel and beaten with billy cubs. Radical students showed America that college was no longer Norman Rockwellian. Civil disobedience no longer reigned with the assassination of Martin Luther King. Riots, Riots, Riots.

    My father was very agitated. The crowds were chanting something over and over for hours. First, I thought they were screaming, We are all for McCarthy. Cancelling any delegate movement to McCarthy. The press reported they were chanting, The whole world was watching and the entire world saw America beat its students in the head and cart them off to prison. I was never the same. A few years older and those clubs and hoses would be on me. We were used to black people being beaten. Now the struggle was home in a different way.

    One of the reasons I chose my university was that it shut down completely when Columbia needed to build a new gym. Harlem protested university expansion. Mark Rudd led the students who thought a separate entrace to accomodate community members was racist. Soon, Germany and the Sorbonne, a whole slew of European schools were closed. I was so impressed with Columbia'a activism. Now, however, when I realize the damage and what education truly means, I cry when I see references in films and documentaries. I weep hard. Columbia students received draft deferrments. They became leaders of the society they trounced. Later, the people on W.10th St. surfaced from underground. I get agitated when I hear they were admitted to the NY Bar and practice at large Wall St. firms. The Harlem people did not have the benefits they did.

    Sometime soon after, we drove in to see the house W.10th St where a bomb exploded. Total devestation. The only thing that remained was one side wall. It was the library wall, full of books and a college diploma was clearly visible from the massive pile of rubble. Several people were killed. the Weatherpeople were making bombs.

    Woodstock, awesome music, man on the moon and destruction. Don't you know you can count me out.

    I weep when these events are recalled. It was high times and very low times.

  • Band on the Run
    Band on the Run

    I just want to point out that polling showed that the vast majority of American college students were prowar. It was the children of the elite rebelling and the media attention that distorted the picture. It is easy to see why Americans voted for Tricky Dick. I thought no one could be more venal. Maybe not. Ronald reagan and the two Bushes made Nixon appear to be a moderate statesman.

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