Born in 1965, I just made it into the growing up in the 60s and 70s generation, and can relate very much to what you write. My sister is five years younger than me and it is remarkable how different her childhood and education was. I'm not a feminist, but girls of that generation were still hampered by the antiquated and rigid social expectations of our parents (at least I was). In fact, I think we came of age right at the collision point of the women's 'liberation' movement and the more traditional views. Girls have so many more opportunities these days. It's the boys I worry about.
I enjoyed this refective piece. I too think the "Me Decade" idea was overstated. Sure there was more inwardness and the curtailing of the type of mass mobilzations of the 60s, but the 70s continued that legacy and spawned all kinds of new movements, especially environmentalism.
Thank you for a stroll down memory lane. I grew up in the 50s and 60s and had my kids in the 70s, but it was the same kind of childhood, where kids were expected to entertain themselves outside all day after chores and only come home for lunch and dinner. And no one called CWS on kids left in the car while mom shopped or when kids played without adult supervision at the park. Of course we didn't have carseats or wore seatbelts and dad driving while drinking a beer was no big deal. Kids didn't wear helmets on bicycles or motorcycles, and we all went surfing without wetsuits. We all had so much more freedom and lived more fearlessly. I do miss so much of that.
Bravo to you for not wishing to be a trust-fund baby if you could have a do-over. I have similar feelings about the easier road not taken. The work you have done to become someone who values relationships and accepts with humility humanity’s place on the planet is a pearl beyond price. Thanks for sharing your experiences here.
Thank you, Andrew; we are who we are because of our experiences and the decisions we have taken. At this point in my life, it is chiefly about relationships and trying to live in harmony.
I never rode a school bus and I was never driven to school. I was fortunate that it was never more than a 10-minute walk.
As for Tom Wolfe, I enjoyed his Bonfire of the Vanities (1987), an indictment of the 1980s Wall Street, when it all began to unravel for us, which is still true today. I enjoyed the movie, as well.
My criticism of Wolfe is related to the "Me Generation" article, which was critical of touchy feely new age. I am glad that he found bigger fish to fry with Bonfire. We are still living the after-effects of the 1980s "greed is good" mantra, except in my opinion it is far worse now.
I enjoyed your recollection of youth, partly (although the same era) because of the contrast, since my experience was so different, being brought up mainly in boarding schools far away from home from age 8->18. I remember though walking to a little village school from age 6-8. And generally mucking about in the fields roundabout, and watching the farmer across the road take his cows to and from for milking twice a day. Supertramp, Pink Floyd, Moody Blues, Elton John, Slade, Dr Feelgood, Bad Company ... the 70s was a great era for concert-going.
You have outlined and filled so many very nostalgic and now distant moments of my own childhood with this Perry, your own as evocative of freedom and fearlessness as my own… a different continent admittedly but the ground rules seem the same… I could talk endlessly on the ‘No’ word which I heard often as child but never as an adult working with children every day, there is so much we learnt from that one small word!
Oh Perry, thank you! Memories! Different times. Different outcomes on how growth arrives. I have a few “yard stick” stories myself from teachers. We were free to roam as kids. We took care of eachother. Now we are needed as elders. Bless you. 🙏❤️
I was not around yet, during the era you are writing of, but whenever I hear someone speaking of growing up in the 60s and 70s, this hum of hopefulness seems to permeate the nostalgia. I loved reading this and your fond memories. Thank you for sharing!
Wonderful retrospective of growing up in the 60s and 70s, Perry. I enjoyed reading this very much and love the homage to Fleetwood Mac and Christine, such a beautiful vocalist and musician, really a defining sound. I’m about 5 years younger than you, and it was the same independence and playing outdoors that defined growing up in Oregon. I have such a love of the outdoors and nature because we were always playing outside. It’s so important. I really appreciate not only your reflections on this but your insights as well in terms of human resilience, compassion and understanding our kinship with other species. And a special thank you to Arya and his incredible wisdom.
Thank you, Heidi. I do think it was a good time to be a kid. And it was common in Canada, America, Europe, and so many other places in the world. That spirit of adventure and freedom. Arya reminds me of the freedom that is still possible, at least in spirit.
Perry. Your hockey stick shoots the puck straight into the net of club house antics. The world is a universal marble with similar classic curves and bell bottoms ring tie-dye tees around necks on a hot summer’s day. Silent Spring woke me up to not put M-80s ashcan fire works in frogs moths. Cruelty as kids yes. But got the bang bang out of our systems before we could get AK-47 and we could dig into cherries jubilee. Your essays capture the fly balls and highlight home runs before the streets lights come on.
Being Canadian, I should have mentioned street hockey, but I might save this for another time. I sure played my share of pick-up baseball, as well. I had a friend, a bit crazy, who put firecrackers in the mouth of frogs, but I could never hurt an animal. I know all about the cruelty of kids; so I am glad that you gave that up early. Let's trade all the AK-47s for cherries jubilee.
Totally agree. B-B guns I used to shoot down plastic planes built from kits in winter. Hung planes from tree limbs. Creation-destruction at early age. Results plant flowers now and then that reseed, resist ravages of time.
I was born in 1966 and remember the late 60s and the 70s with a lot of fondness in many ways. Rumours is one of my favourite albums.
It is a phenomenal album; I remember playing it over and over again. It is my view that the best music came out in the 1960s and 70s.
Most of the best music came out in the 1960s and 1970s certainly.
This piece brought back so many memories—much of what you included was typical of my years growing up in the 50s, as well!
Life pretty much stayed the same in the pre-Computer days. It really started speeding up in the 1990s and took off like a rocket around 2010.
Born in 1965, I just made it into the growing up in the 60s and 70s generation, and can relate very much to what you write. My sister is five years younger than me and it is remarkable how different her childhood and education was. I'm not a feminist, but girls of that generation were still hampered by the antiquated and rigid social expectations of our parents (at least I was). In fact, I think we came of age right at the collision point of the women's 'liberation' movement and the more traditional views. Girls have so many more opportunities these days. It's the boys I worry about.
There is reason to worry.
As a mother of four boys, believe me, I know.
I enjoyed this refective piece. I too think the "Me Decade" idea was overstated. Sure there was more inwardness and the curtailing of the type of mass mobilzations of the 60s, but the 70s continued that legacy and spawned all kinds of new movements, especially environmentalism.
I'm a little younger but much of what you said is familiar turf. It reminds me of this piece I wrote last year, which was purposefully and whimsically "out there": https://punditman.substack.com/p/time-kept-on-slippin-slippin-slippin
Thanks; I will read your piece.
Thank you for a stroll down memory lane. I grew up in the 50s and 60s and had my kids in the 70s, but it was the same kind of childhood, where kids were expected to entertain themselves outside all day after chores and only come home for lunch and dinner. And no one called CWS on kids left in the car while mom shopped or when kids played without adult supervision at the park. Of course we didn't have carseats or wore seatbelts and dad driving while drinking a beer was no big deal. Kids didn't wear helmets on bicycles or motorcycles, and we all went surfing without wetsuits. We all had so much more freedom and lived more fearlessly. I do miss so much of that.
No; we did not have bicycle helmets; there were no seatbelt laws and we ran around the streets unsupervised. It was a whole different way of living.
Bravo to you for not wishing to be a trust-fund baby if you could have a do-over. I have similar feelings about the easier road not taken. The work you have done to become someone who values relationships and accepts with humility humanity’s place on the planet is a pearl beyond price. Thanks for sharing your experiences here.
Thank you, Andrew; we are who we are because of our experiences and the decisions we have taken. At this point in my life, it is chiefly about relationships and trying to live in harmony.
School bus.
I got what you meant, but it is always good to clarify.
I thoroughly enjoyed your essay. I was 15 in 1960, rode school is 3 miles to small town, bike to swimming pool.
I think Tom Wolfe was forecasting a future where "me" became, for some, an excuse to grab whatever they could and it carried over to their children.
Be well.
Thank you, Malcom.
I never rode a school bus and I was never driven to school. I was fortunate that it was never more than a 10-minute walk.
As for Tom Wolfe, I enjoyed his Bonfire of the Vanities (1987), an indictment of the 1980s Wall Street, when it all began to unravel for us, which is still true today. I enjoyed the movie, as well.
My criticism of Wolfe is related to the "Me Generation" article, which was critical of touchy feely new age. I am glad that he found bigger fish to fry with Bonfire. We are still living the after-effects of the 1980s "greed is good" mantra, except in my opinion it is far worse now.
Yes.
I enjoyed your recollection of youth, partly (although the same era) because of the contrast, since my experience was so different, being brought up mainly in boarding schools far away from home from age 8->18. I remember though walking to a little village school from age 6-8. And generally mucking about in the fields roundabout, and watching the farmer across the road take his cows to and from for milking twice a day. Supertramp, Pink Floyd, Moody Blues, Elton John, Slade, Dr Feelgood, Bad Company ... the 70s was a great era for concert-going.
Yes, it was.
You have outlined and filled so many very nostalgic and now distant moments of my own childhood with this Perry, your own as evocative of freedom and fearlessness as my own… a different continent admittedly but the ground rules seem the same… I could talk endlessly on the ‘No’ word which I heard often as child but never as an adult working with children every day, there is so much we learnt from that one small word!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and memories.
It was indeed my pleasure sharing my thoughts and feelings.
CAR!
And then we grudgingly moved the nets. :)
Lovely trip down memory lane, Perry. It was the same for us in Europe.
Oh Perry, thank you! Memories! Different times. Different outcomes on how growth arrives. I have a few “yard stick” stories myself from teachers. We were free to roam as kids. We took care of eachother. Now we are needed as elders. Bless you. 🙏❤️
I was not around yet, during the era you are writing of, but whenever I hear someone speaking of growing up in the 60s and 70s, this hum of hopefulness seems to permeate the nostalgia. I loved reading this and your fond memories. Thank you for sharing!
Wonderful retrospective of growing up in the 60s and 70s, Perry. I enjoyed reading this very much and love the homage to Fleetwood Mac and Christine, such a beautiful vocalist and musician, really a defining sound. I’m about 5 years younger than you, and it was the same independence and playing outdoors that defined growing up in Oregon. I have such a love of the outdoors and nature because we were always playing outside. It’s so important. I really appreciate not only your reflections on this but your insights as well in terms of human resilience, compassion and understanding our kinship with other species. And a special thank you to Arya and his incredible wisdom.
Thank you, Heidi. I do think it was a good time to be a kid. And it was common in Canada, America, Europe, and so many other places in the world. That spirit of adventure and freedom. Arya reminds me of the freedom that is still possible, at least in spirit.
Thank you, Perry. We agreed with Arya!
Perry. Your hockey stick shoots the puck straight into the net of club house antics. The world is a universal marble with similar classic curves and bell bottoms ring tie-dye tees around necks on a hot summer’s day. Silent Spring woke me up to not put M-80s ashcan fire works in frogs moths. Cruelty as kids yes. But got the bang bang out of our systems before we could get AK-47 and we could dig into cherries jubilee. Your essays capture the fly balls and highlight home runs before the streets lights come on.
Being Canadian, I should have mentioned street hockey, but I might save this for another time. I sure played my share of pick-up baseball, as well. I had a friend, a bit crazy, who put firecrackers in the mouth of frogs, but I could never hurt an animal. I know all about the cruelty of kids; so I am glad that you gave that up early. Let's trade all the AK-47s for cherries jubilee.
Totally agree. B-B guns I used to shoot down plastic planes built from kits in winter. Hung planes from tree limbs. Creation-destruction at early age. Results plant flowers now and then that reseed, resist ravages of time.