Memory Jogger

 This morning I finished off a box of cereal and when I was flattening the box for recycling, I noticed some interesting images on the back with a caption "Remembering the 80's". At that moment I wondered that the 1980s had much worth of remembering, so while I munched my Golden Grahams made with Real Honey (which was sixth in a list of ten ingredients, so I'm thinking there's probably not much "real honey" in them), I took a few minutes to explore what was being  remembered on the back of the box. There was "spandex," "parachute pants," and the "keytar." The spandex and parachute pants are still around, but I haven't head of a "keytar" in a while, but that reminded me of Mood synthesizers and the first time I heard one to know what it was. There was a concert and demonstration at then Lyndon State College back in the 1970s, and I think all three kids went with me. I know Bob was there, as he was (and still is) passionate about anything to do with music and musical instruments. 

I researched when the first synthesizer was used, and found that one of the first was a "harpsichord" back in 1939. Vera Lynn sang "We'll Meet Again," a popular WWII song that featured Arthur Young on the Novachord, and that is believed to be the first recording using a synthesizer. Vera Lynn was a British singer, very popular back then. She died in 2020 at 103. It was years later, in the 1960s that Robert Moog produced his modular synthesizer that the kids and I learned about. Remember  Switched-On Bach that came out in 1968? Even before that, the band Mookees were among the first pop music groups to use a synthesizer, also the Birds and the Beetles (there was a definite trend in band names in the 1960s). Today they are commonplace.

All of that reminded me of the music of the 1980s, like Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Whitney Houston, Lionel Ritchie, Stevie Wonder and who could forget Cyndi Lauper's (Girls Just Want to Have Fun). Some of the  interesting changes that were happening: the Berlin Wall came down; computers began to rule our lives; tragically we lost the Challenger and the astronauts on board; women began to be recognized as equal to men - Sandra Day O'Conner joined the Supreme Court, and Sally Rice became the first U.S. woman astronaut; Chernobyl nuclear plant exploded; lawsuits against insider traders Levine, Boesky and Milken led to legislation tightening oversight on insider trading and securities fraud; the Exxon oil transport ship Valdez ruptured, spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil onto Prince William Sound in Alaska, and it took 25 years for the ecology to recover. And that's quite enough memory jogging for today. I admit, I did a bit of searching online to find items that I recalled but would never have been able to place in time. 

Those years were busy for me. Fred and I were married in 1983;  we got our first computer - a Wang, about then, also a pontoon boat (still at camp), installed a new septic system and drilled a water well at camp, and loved living on the pond for 17 years until we moved here. All those memories just because I decided to have cereal for breakfast instead of yogurt. What a great way to start the day!

Special note: After I posted this, I had a note from Marti Talbot asking if anyone has seen the baby loon either yesterday or today? She has not seen it, and is wondering if it's ok, or maybe if the wing was a serious enough injury so it did not survive. Let Marti, Gretchen or me know if anyone has seen it, please. 

And this from Gretchen:

Hi Jane,
I just wanted to let you know that our little loon is being taken care of by his parents and is ok for now. They have been feeding it and it’s sitting high in the water. Eric was concerned it might not be able to keep waterproofed and swim but it’s doing both at the moment. Fingers crossed it will be ok once they capture it and access the wing damage.