History

The 44th President of the United States turns 48 today.  Born in 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii, he came into the world at the tail end of the Baby Boom.  During the 2008 campaign, much was made of the fact that he was younger than the other candidates.  But did you know that he is actually not the youngest man ever to be sworn in?  A bit of trivia: According to Wikipedia, Obama is the 5th youngest person to be inaugurated as President.  Teddy Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, and Ulysses S. Grant, who were 42, 43, 46 & 5 months, and 46 & 10 months respectively at the times of their first inaugurations, beat him out for the title.

Filed under: Boomers • Fun • History • News

It’s here! The 40^th Anniversary of what some of us would consider our most memorable summer. Whether you were there to slog through the muddy fields yourself, or you heard about it from friends, it’s hard to forget Woodstock and August of 1969.

In celebration of the good times that summer and all those that have followed, we present to you a small collection of sites and events that might help you to revisit that weekend:

The original Woodstock documentary was released in 1970, and was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1996.

A new film called “TAKING WOODSTOCK” is set for release in late August. Visit the IMDB website for more information and to view trailers for the film.

NEWSEUM WOODSTOCK EXHIBIT:

If you happen to be near DC on Saturday Aug. 15, join former New York Times journalist Bernard Collier, as he talks about what made Woodstock newsworthy.

Share your own memories of Woodstock with us! What do you think was so unique about the event? Were you forced to stay at home or did you head off with some friends to camp out in the fields? Have you been to anything like it since?

Filed under: Boomers • Fun • History • Media

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