What historical events do I remember?
Oh, man. TOO MANY. Most of them lately. But let’s go back, instead…
I think my first real historical event I actually remember vividly is Dukakis losing to George Bush in…’88? I remember because my mom voted for Dukakis—the main policy point I remember he talking about is the fact that Bush wanted to drill for oil off the California coast; something they followed through with, I think—and when he lost, I was shocked. How could the person my mom wanted to win, not win??? And I remember the concession speech he made, where he said what used to be the norm for the person losing the race to say: I’ll be watching what they do, keep them honest. Which of course never happens. The person who loses the election used to disappear.
I remember the Barcelona summer olympic games in 1992, and then Lillehammer in 1994 for the winter games, and especially the 96 summer olympics in Atlanta, where the women’s gymnastics team won gold and I had one of the my very first crush’s on Dominique Moceanu. I remember there was a bomb at those olympics, a precursor of what was to come.
I, of course, remember 9/11–I was just into my apartment on campus, barely…a week or two? I think two weeks in. My mom called my (on my landline!) to tell me that they’d bombed New York, and I turned on my TV just minutes after the second tower had been hit. I watched the towers fall, and news come in of the pentagon being hit, and a plane crashing in Pennsylvania they think was intended to hit the White House. I remember the spanish-language channels showed close-up video of people up in the towers leaning out the windows and jumping. I didn’t watch those channels after that, it was too disturbing.
I remember the elation and astonishment in 2008 when Obama was elected. I remember the horror and shock when Trump beat Hillary in 2016. Liz keened in the shower when that happened, which felt like a knife to my gut. Those following four years were some of the most intense years of my life, and not just because he was president, but partly because of it.
I remember the housing crisis. The banking system spiraling out of control, the Planet Money podcast that came out of it from This American Life. I was doing Midsummer Night’s Dream, at the time.
I remember COVID, when the world stopped. We bought a house that summer, and voted Trump out of office.
A lot has happened over the forty years of my life. I was too young for Chernobyl. I don’t really remember the collapse of the Soviet Union beyond the fact that we had a world map placemat as one of the ones we kids would eat on, and when we bought a new one, all the sudden there were a bunch of new countries on it compared to the old one. I just missed Mount Saint Helens’ explosion.
The world is crazy like that. I just keeps going. It’s tense out there right now; there’s more to come. I hope, soon, we get a period of quiet prosperity. That would be lovely. Here’s to that.
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I feel better today! A little better. And, I should say I feel a little better tonight. For most of the day, I felt pretty much the same, which is to say: fine. A little achy. A hint of a fever. Super tired. Sensitive tummy…but fine. I got my work done. Nothing beyond that. Took a good nap. Watched Wrexham draw their Tuesday game. And that was about it. The day just slipped away. I wouldn’t be surprised if tomorrow is much of the same. We’ll see.
Night night.