Posts Tagged ‘GenX’
The Day Television Lost Control: “The Heidi Game”
TweetShareShareIt was the football game that changed the rules of broadcasting. It was the game that showed how the democratic, decentralized people’s voice could overrule the authoritative, centralized control of network brass. It was the game where a little girl in the Swiss Alps and superstar athletes toppled how we would watch live sports forever.…
Read More“Back to God”: The Spiritual Message and Power of Dwight D. Eisenhower
TweetShareShare In 1940 church attendance in America hovered at 49%. Not bad but not great either. Meanwhile our nation was gripped in a battle against communist aggression–both at home and abroad. The Soviets had fired the first shot in the “space race” and America was behind the eight-ball. On February 7, 1954, President Dwight D.…
Read MoreYou Should Be Dancing: How The Bee Gees Reinvented Their Lives and Revived Disco
TweetShareShare Irving Stone studied great men his entire life…their habits, attitudes and qualities. He finally concluded their primary characteristic was RESILIENCE. “You cannot destroy these people” he said, “Every time they’re knocked down, they stand up.” And sometimes they even dance. Need an example? Consider the Bee Gees. This trio of brothers formed in…
Read MoreThe Tale of Two Kings: How Two Men Began and Ended the Modern Civil Rights Movement
TweetShareShare The modern civil rights movement began and ended with edicts by two different “Kings.” Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech on August 28, 1963 launched it, while Rodney King’s “Can We All Get Along?” television message on May 1, 1992 ended it. It was three decades of “movement” that abolished segregated…
Read MoreGen X Goes To Jail
TweetShareShareGen X (born 1961-1981) is the most incarcerated generation in American history, as the Pew Research confirmed this past week. According to the Bureau of Justice, the number of Americans in prison currently has returned to the 1995 level, and continues to fall annually. The rate had been rising exponentially every year since 1980, when…
Read MoreBuckner and Bartman: How 1986 and 2006 Framed a Generation Named “X”
TweetShareShareGen X. Goonies. Nerds. Bad News Bears. Born in the 1960s and 1970s, these kids were also known as “slackers” and the Dumb Generation. They wore their baseball caps backward, listened to heavy metal, grunge and rap. They dropped out of school and church, played video games, got tattoos and earrings, and generally disgusted our…
Read MoreSix Months That Changed The World
TweetShareShare You could call it the Great Cultural Earthquake. Within a brief span of six months, three separate historical events happened that completely reshaped America. If you are over 62 years of age, you might remember them: 1. Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech (8/28/1963) 2. The assassination of John F. Kennedy (11/22/1963)…
Read MoreThe Day Disco Died (And How We Got It In The First Place)
TweetShareShareIn the late 1970s, there was only two opinions about a popular dance craze known as “disco.” It was either the best thing since the jitterbug or the worst thing since the Hindenburg. Very few had a view in the middle. For the critical ear, the monotonous beat, synthesizer hooks, flourishing strings and banal, often…
Read MoreSchool Prayer Outlawed (June 26, 1963)
TweetShareShareToday is the anniversary of a ruling that was far more transformative to American culture than Roe v. Wade (1973). On this day, school prayer was ruled unconstitutional (a year later the same SCOTUS would opine that Bible readings were equally wrong). It’s the day religion (Christianity) was essentially segregated…and barred in the educational curriculum…
Read MoreThe Long Play (LP) Vinyl Arrives!
TweetShareShare Today is a big day in the “Vinyl is Final” world, as it’s the day that 33 1/3 rpm records debuted. This format allowed for longer recordings (around 30 minutes per side). The LP (long play) would be a significant technological innovation for the coming “rock ‘n roll” era that relied upon “singles”…
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