Once again, I am subbing at VHHS. Towards the end of my last period, I overheard a couple of the students (juniors) complaining about not having cell phones. Another one went off on the "crappy" Vestavia cable system that only provides 56 channels. I realized that it has been exactly 20 years since I was a junior in high school (1985-1986.) Things have definitely changed.
We had one cordless phone in the house (cell phones were not even thought of yet) and the range of this one cordless phone was roughly the end of the driveway. We had cable, but there was a clunky, shoebox-sized box that had to be attached to the tv, and the channels had to be changed manually at the box. I remember we had 23 channels, and we thought we were the ultimate in high tech. (Ted Turner's tv station was still called WTBS/Atlanta, and the other two major cable stations were WOR/New York and WGN/Chicago.)
Reagan was in office, and I remember "Miami Vice" was popular. (I think I still have a pastel blue cotton jacket somewhere in my parents' attic.) I had a poster on my bedroom wall of this hot new singer, Madonna. The words "internet," "email," "cyberspace," (and for that matter, "blog,") meant nothing to anyone, and the Star Wars movies consisted only of the Luke/Han/Princess Leia story. Molly Ringwald was making movies, and Eddie Murphy was a hilarious stand-up comedian just hitting his stride. I had my first car, a 1979 Ford Mustang, and I think gas was somewhere around $1.15 a gallon. Records made of vinyl were still being manufactured and sold.
It's official...I'm old. I've even started using the phrase "back in the day."
I have asked a few friends to comment on their own high school years. Jonathan Goldstein remembers having 3 pairs of parachute pants. He also recalled the "New Coke" fiasco.
FLT3
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