Archive for June, 2009

Every generation has a war that marks and shapes the years of its coming-of-age. For today’s young people, it is Iraq.  Before that, it was the Persian Gulf.  For those who grew up in the ’60’s and 70’s, it was undoubtedly Vietnam.

In his poem, “Facing It,” celebrated writer and Vietnam veteran Yusef Komunyakaa recalls a visit to the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C.  His language paints a powerful picture of a man whose memories of war have been engraved onto him as permanently as the names carved on the wall.

Facing It
by Yusef Komunyakaa

My black face fades,
hiding inside the black granite.
I said I wouldn’t,
dammit: No tears.
I’m stone. I’m flesh.
My clouded reflection eyes me
like a bird of prey, the profile of night
slanted against morning. I turn
this way–the stone lets me go.
I turn that way–I’m inside
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
again, depending on the light
to make a difference.
I go down the 58,022 names,
half-expecting to find
my own in letters like smoke.
I touch the name Andrew Johnson;
I see the booby trap’s white flash.
Names shimmer on a woman’s blouse
but when she walks away
the names stay on the wall.
Brushstrokes flash, a red bird’s
wings cutting across my stare.
The sky. A plane in the sky.
A white vet’s image floats
closer to me, then his pale eyes
look through mine. I’m a window.
He’s lost his right arm
inside the stone. In the black mirror
a woman’s trying to erase names:
No, she’s brushing a boy’s hair.

(source: The Academy of American Poets Website)

* * *

More Poems About the Vietnam War:

• “At the Vietnam Memorial” by George Bilgere
• “Advent 1966″ by Denise Levertov
• “Vietnam” by Michael Collier
• “Driving through Minnesota During the Hanoi Bombings” by Robert Bly
• “The Asians Dying” by W.S. Merwin
• “Song of Napalm” by Bruce Weigl

Famous Poems About Other Wars, Past and Present:

• “Here, Bullet” by Brian Turner [Iraq War]
• “The Death of the Ball Turrett Gunner” by Randall Jarrell [WWII]
• “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen [WWI]
• “The Blue and the Gray” by Francis Miles Finch [Civil War]
• “The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred Lord Tennyson [Crimean War]
• “Paul Revere’s Ride” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [Revolutionary War]

Filed under: Boomers • History • Literature

Check out this great article by Paula Span about the unexpected joys of taking care of elderly parents! It was featured in The Washington Post last week.

Filed under: Boomers

Yesterday, Kodak announced that it will retire Kodachrome film, a long time staple of color photography. According to Kodak’s press release about the discontinuation, Kodachrome was “the world’s first commercially successful color film in 1935,” as well as “the film of choice for family slide shows of the Baby Boom generation.”

Debuted in 1935, Kodachrome itself isn’t exactly a Boomer – its formative years were spent by the time the post-WWII Boom began. However, many Baby Boomers grew up with Kodachrome, and after 74 years of color-popping pictures, I think we’re all a little sad to see it go.

During our childhood, Kodachrome was the film our parents used on a vacation abroad– preserving scenes like the ones featured in National Geographic’s special exhibit, “Kodachrome Culture: The American Tourist in Europe.” (Open to the public, free of charge, June 25 – September 9, 2009)

In 1973, we sang along to Paul Simon’s famous “Kodachrome” lyrics:

“Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day, Oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama don’t take my Kodachrome away”

And even in more recent years, Kodachrome captured some of the images of the world that took our breath away. Baby Boomer Steve McCurry, one of America’s most renowned professional photographers, used Kodachrome to shoot many of his incredible photographs, including that of Sharbat Gula – an Afghan girl with haunting eyes – which graced the cover of National Geographic’s June 1985 issue.

For a trip down a bright and colorful memory lane, check out Kodak’s retrospective Kodachrome slideshow, as well as the New York Times’ LENS blog story.

Share your own memories of Kodachrome and the years it captured in our comments section! What photographs do you hold dear, and what are the scenes they preserve?

Filed under: Boomers • News

Facebook began in 2004 as a way for college students to connect with classmates at their respective schools. The original Facebook networks were exclusive to students who had direct contact with each other. It was a way for students to see, for instance, who else was in their Biology 101 class. Two years later, Facebook had exploded into a world-wide social networking site.

This past Monday The New York Times ran an article about how social networking websites like Facebook  and MySpace have become important to “aging baby boomers” because they provide an easy way for people to connect with each other from home at a time when they begin to feel most isolated. 

The article concludes that by providing an easy way for people to connect with each other, social networking sites have enriched the lives of many aging adults.

A few months ago The New York Times ran another article emphasizing the importance of friends and social connections to longevity of life.

So is it safe to conclude that Facebook, MySpace and Twitter (to name a few) are actually increasing the life expectancy of those who participate in the social networking world?

What do you think?

How do you feel about these websites?  Have they affected people positively? Negatively?

 

Interesting factoid:

Despite the fact that Facebook was created for 18-21 year olds, CNN.com ran an article in April stating that women over 55 are currently the biggest market for facebook.

 

Filed under: Boomers • Media • News