Writing & The Vagaries of History

Writing, an art form going back over 6000 years, is fascinating, frustrating and addictive. The computer, for me, has enabled me to write with relative ease due to the ability to edit at nearly the speed of thought, something not envisioned when going to school as a English Major at Lafayette back in the late 60's. The reason for the post was the Summer Fiction: 20 Under 40 issue of The New Yorker as

it shows how vastly different the world view is of a person much younger then yours truly as history accumulates in one who is old while history is "just" becoming with one under 40. For instance:

• JFK: I remember the optimism, the eloquence and the horror of Dallas.
• King: I have a dream resonates, his assassination also 
• RFK: The all-powerful Attorney General, the carpetbagger and his transformation into a statesman who could have changed the nation died on June 6th, 1968, a victim of another assassin's bullet.
• Nam: The tragedy of the 60's and early 70s, the time the US lost it's innocence and civility.
• Nixon: I am not a crook president who opened up China. A chimera of the first order
• Analog: I remember the world without the computer or the net, an inconceivable concept to anyone under 30.
• Woodstock: I was there, honest. :)
• Music: My generation had the best of it. Free love, righteous pot, amazing rock. The bummer, Nam. Any questions?
• Cheap Gas: 22 cents a gallon in Texas
• Muscle Cars: The Hemi and Cobra ruled
• Chuck Berry: Marbelline & Johnny Be Goode 
• Elvis: The Ed Sullivan Show
• The Beatles: The needed diversion from Dallas
• Seeing color television via Gramp's RCA
• McDonald's, one of the first of their franchises came to West Springfield MA way back when, a concept we actually thought was marvelous in the year 1959
• The Moon Landing/1969: I was jamming with my jazz rock band in Boston. (Berklee Alum I am) Almost got busted but the cops were cool as they liked our music. Never will forget that, ever.
• Jazz: It was the golden age from Davis & Brubeck to Nelson and Ellington. The list extends far too long but Brubeck, Jarret & Konitz live on, happy to say.

The rest of history after 1970 (a really bad decade save for Steely Dan) I keep up with thanks to the Net and the 24/7 connectivity it provides to the world.

Like Bird, Tech lives.