BlogHer - Boomer Memories of Macrame and Mr. Ed - Comments

Latter Boomer 10/4/62

Linda at 2nd Cup — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 17:33:03 -0500

I've been on the look-out for slightly older bloggers, too. Thanks for the links!

born in 1950

Mata H — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 16:54:23 -0500

Boomer claims to fame:

1. Saw Janis Joplin in concert when she was still with Big Brother and the Holding Company.
2. Grew up enjoying drive-in movies with my folks in my jammies, and grew up more and enjoyed them without my folks. (ahem.)
3. Knows the music of Buffy St Marie, Tim Hardin, Donovan, and also the Shirelles,.
4. Can sing "Duke of Earl" and "Come Softly to me" and "Leader of the Pack" (including background vocals.
5. Had a "favorite Beatle (George)
6. Watched Sputnik from my back yard.
7. Remembers what the "Red Menace" was.
8. Remembers too many assassinations - JFK, RFK< Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, Harvey Milk
9. Was hitch-hiking to the famous Woodstock festival with my ex husband but the nasty rain made us turn back.
10. Used to be able to tell you the names of all of the Chicago Seven (plus one)
and their organizational affiliation.
11. Was a draft counselor who helped guys avoid the draft.
12. Can still recall cigarette commercials on TV (You can take Salem out of the country, but you can't take the country out of Salem. Show us your Lark pack. Raleigh coupons. LSMFT - Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco. I'd walk a mile for a Camel. Marlboro Country and the Marlboro Man. Benson Hedges - the silly little millimeter longer.)
13. Used to collect S&H green stamps and True Value stamps.
14. Knew what it meant to be 'going steady' or to 'be pinned'.
15. Owned white bucks. Saddle shoes. White canvas sneakers.
16. Watched TV when it only came in black & white.
17. Saw Elvis's 1st appearance on the Ed Sullivan show where they mostly filmed him from the waist up as his hip gyration was too bold for TV.

Lordy me....

~~ Contributing Editor, Mata H. also blogs at Time's Fool

I was born in July 1961 and

Magi — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 11:57:55 -0500

I was born in July 1961 and became a mom for the first time in April of this year. I remember Ram Dass, macrame, and the rest very well. I'm also deep in diapers and the general care and feeding of a very lively, adorable 17-month-old daughter. I guess I'm one of those rare boomer mommy bloggers.

This was fun. Thanks!

I'm a boomer blogger and

Catch Her In the Wry — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 09:04:39 -0500

I'm a boomer blogger and also older mom (age 35).

Another Aging Hippie Reporting In

maryrwise — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:26:14 -0500

I've been blogging (or online journaling) since '02. I loved Mr. Ed, but I loved Rocky and Bullwinkle more. And, I still have my original copy of Be Here Now (it cost $3.33!) and saw Ram Dass live. While I didn't see his butt (alas), I was quite taken with his smile.

The Blog: Red Nose
The Book: Girl Clown

Thanks for your kind comments!

GoingLikeSixty — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 08:18:39 -0500

I read Ron regularly in my RSS.

Seeking Female Voices

desconix — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 07:13:13 -0500

Thanks so much for mention of BoomSpeak. We are desperately seeking female voices to contribute to our ezine. Essays, travel pieces, fiction, or photography -- we want to hear from female boomers.
And we have a tagline -- Your Whole Life's in Front of You.
And we loved Mr. Ed.
Thanks again,
Jay
boomspeak.com

Ah! My Sister Boomers! You have arrived!

Grace Davis — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 00:45:27 -0500

One whiff of patchouli oil, and you all show up. Fabulous!

Sujaco - Betty Crocker Waldorf Salad, macrame belts, being fully present with Ram Dass AND Mr. Ed. Please, don't forget Mr. Ed.

GoingLikeSixty - Actually, the blog I listed at the end of my entry, I Remember JFK is the creation of Ron Enderland. So, there's one non-tech, non-political male Boomer blogger. And, thank you for pointing out your extensive blogroll. Boomer bloggers galore! While there, I checked into Suburban Hippie and immediately succumbed to a savage hot flash after reading the span of her children's ages. The eldest at 23, the next three kids six years old and under. Gah, I broke into a sweat just typing that.

Finally, you have to market your blog tagline -

When I turned sixty, I thought I had patience
Turns out I just don't give a shit.

- Yo! This should be printed on tee shirts, cross stitched onto pillows and made into bumper stickers. With all of us rapidly hurtling towards 60, that tagline is a cash cow!

Kalyn and Mata - My Boomer sisters, let us Be Here Now. Speaking of Ram Dass's buns, when he returned from India with his new name, his father made endless fun of it by calling him Rammed Ass. Ram Dass laughs like a hyena when he tells that story. Of course, it was the same "Rammed Ass" who nursed his elderly father when he was dying.

Further to your remarks on 'Duck and Cover, Mata, here's a flickr group of fallout shelter brochures and magazine photos. All of these were so freaky and surreal that I couldn't help but make a snarky comment on this image.

Judi - I hardly qualify as one of those mature mommies. See the previous link above.

Thanks for chiming in, Boomer Women!

And now for a word from our sponsor:

Pillsbury Space Food Sticks! Eat like an astronaut! In chocolate, caramel and peanut butter!

I boomed years ago

Mata H — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 21:38:24 -0500

Ahh Ram Dass -- who also had a great set of buns from what I could tell from an admiring distance. That is another sign of a boomer -- the yummy mix of sex and spirit. We were the last generation who could explore, learn about and discover the joys and limits of sex freely without fear of death. Not to mention the last generation that could go trick or treating alone to strange houses with no fear of harm. Not to mention the last generation that was not plagued with life threatening allergies to foods like peanuts. We just had less limits, less reasons to be anxious...unless you spent time talking about The Bomb and building concrete bomb shelters (Duck, Cover) Seriously, what I think I treasure most is that we got to be children for so much longer than kids today. We didn't have to make decisions about sex and drugs and violence at such early ages...we could just play.

~~ Contributing Editor, Mata H. also blogs her aging yet fairly vibrant life away at Time's Fool

Boomer Blogger

Judi Freedman — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 20:11:06 -0500

I'm a boomer blogger...soon to be 50 boomer blogger...there aren't too many of us out there...I agree...there are more mommy bloggers...but we are the mature mommies who are now the mentors to our younger friends.

Judi
ayearto50.blogspot.com

Oh My

Kalyn Denny — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 19:00:06 -0500

Oh yes, I once heard Ram Dass speak in Salt Lake and enjoyed every minute of it. Great post!

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

Try finding MALE boomer bloggers!

GoingLikeSixty — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 18:04:19 -0500

Hi,
Stop by my place and check my blogroll if you would like. I have a few more boomer bloggers. http://goinglikesixty.com
Suburbanhippie.com is a mommy blogger, but hates that term! So qualifies as a boomer - and has a three year old! Whew.
Most male boomer bloggers like to write about politics or technology.
My blog just releases my "inner smart ass."
See you soon I hope.

Thanks for the memories

sujaco — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 16:13:53 -0500

The coveted Betty Crocker cookbook, macrame, AND Ram Dass? I can certainly relate. Nice post, Grace. Lots of good links, too.

Boomer Memories of Macrame and Mr. Ed

Grace Davis — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 14:32:25 -0500

Baby Boomers. We started showing up in 1945 and kept rolling off the conveyor belt until 1964. There's 78 million of us, 28% of the American population. We are a huge tribe. We are the target of marketeers. We are running for president. We are in your face. We are everywhere.

Everywhere except the blogosphere. At least, that's what I thought until recently.

I will admit to a case of myopia. I couldn't find many Boomer bloggers, but I really didn't try as I was already nestled in the comfort and community of the mommy blogs. I didn't care that I was one of the few 50 plus year old mothers ranting online about grounding my kid and fretting about her grades. The job of mothering is fundamentally the same for both toddler and teen wranglers. After all, the dynamic of toilet training and making sure the homework gets done consists of an identical teaching: Sit down and do it. Don't get up until you're completely finished.

The rigors of parenting requires solidarity and peer companionship, but my "real life" circle of friends were well beyond me when I had my Molly at age 36. Their kids were in high school while I was in labor with my daughter. Now, at this time in our lives, my Boomer sisters are luxuriating in their empty nests while I continue to wash and fold the Great Pyramid of laundry that only a teenage girl could generate. My Boomer sisters spend weekends hunting down antiques in quaint rural towns and my Saturday consists of hunching up in a chair at Abercrombie and Fitch and sticking my fingers in my ears because the music is cranked up louder than any of the concerts I attended at Winterland, one of which was an insane Rolling Stones show before the members of the bad boy band became clean and sober, (with the notable exception of Keith Richards who famously continues to eschew the clean and sober lifestyle).

But, any mention of a Winterland concert, or the Mod Squad or where you were when JFK was assassinated (I was in my third grade classroom and our teacher cried as she broke the news), flies over the heads of my beloved mommy bloggers. In turn, I am unable to participate with any intelligence in their detailed discussions of John Hughes movies, Scooby Doo and the horror your elementary school class felt when Space Shuttle Challenger exploded in the Florida sky.

Thus, we are presented with a great cultural divide - the Nostalgia Gap. The fact is, that Gap will never be crossed. So, as it's compelling to entertain our memories of pop culture and historical events, it's always a good deal to seek out our sisters of these shared experiences. For myself, I'm thrilled to encounter bloggers who knotted up macrame plant holders, remembers Ike and ponders, to this day, how they got Mr. Ed to move his equine mouth in conversation. (Some claim the crew stuck peanut butter in the horse-actor's oral cavity. Others will attest to the 'marionette' theory).

So, "Wiiilburrrrr", this is what I found:

Boston journalist Rhea Becker of The Boomer Chronicles mixes it up with a blend of Boomer news retirement advice, health tips, and sweet blasts from the past, like this pic and description of the Betty Crocker Cook Book for Boys and Girls, circa 1960. I know that cookbook. I coveted that cookbook. I would have crawled over crushed glass to get my hands on that cookbook.

An ode to that music-festival-thingy-from-a-long-time-ago and the changes in that particular community is one of the many fine offerings on The Wastrel Show. 'Boomer', describes the present-day Woodstock as nirvana for aging flower children:

I have found great peace and tranquility here. Plus a lower cost-of-living. When I first moved up here no one cared what car I drove, what clothes I wore, where I had been or where I was going. People just wanted to know ME and judged me on my own true, authentic self.

Except for the lower cost-of-living, this corner of earthly heaven sounds like my own hometown of Santa Cruz, California.

Ruchira Paul, founder of the group blog, Accidental Blogger, grew up in India. However, her university student experience was not unlike what was happening on American campuses in the 1960s:

Coming of age at the edge of those socially and politically turbulent times, my friends and I experienced from afar smatterings of what is now popularly called the Baby Boom culture in America...things were different but not entirely placid. Drugs and sex were not what most young people indulged in freely. But the domestic political scene was interesting and identification with global causes popular. Bus burnings, sit-ins, college closings and massive student-labor joint rallies were products of radical campus politics.

In her post, Fifty Years After Saul and Dean, Ruchira reviews one of the three essential spiritual guidebooks for Boomer youth, Jack Kerouac's On the Road. Though Ruchira's take on the novel is a negative one, her description of Kerouac's tale of post-World War II America as "self-conscious spontaneity, alcoholic insanity, brutal casualness" is part of what made 'On the Road' revolutionary, iconoclastic, and a cultural keepsake.

(The other two spiritual handbooks for Boomer youth according to your Elder/Midlife Contributing Editor - Be Here Now by Ram Dass and Hermann Hesse's Siddharthra. At least, that's what got me through growing up in the unenlightened suburbs.)

From a talking horse on TV to the beat poets of San Francisco. That pretty much summarizes the breadth of Boomer nostalgia. Makes me want to dab a little patchouli oil behind my ears.

Two more Boomer sites worth mentioning:

I Remember JFK Pretty much the repository of Boomer nostalgia in the blogosphere. Leisure suits and Radio Flyers, anyone?

Boomspeak This very nicely designed website "...offers original content that is FOR baby boomers and BY baby boomers."

Contributing Editor Grace Davis can recite all the lyrics from Joni Mitchell's Blue as well as the theme song from 'Green Acres'. Ms. Davis, born in 1955 and a proud member of Washington High School Class of 1973, also blogs at State of Grace.