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What's the first major news story you can remember living through as a child?


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I vividly recall the Cuban missile crisis. My dad was worried about being attacked and was seriously considering building a bomb shelter. I remember having overwrought discussions with friends about who we'd let into our bomb shelter and what kinds of food we'd stock it with. 

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I was born in 1972.  I remember Lennon's death pretty vividly.  Anything newsworthy that predates that didn't make it onto my radar.  After that, I remember Mondale/Ferraro, and the LA Olympics.

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Moon landing, Watergate, Bicentennial, space shuttle being carried by an airplane, Fonzie jumping the shark.

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There's a buncha old fuckers on this site.

 

Well this is a "dad rock" band's fan-site.

 

I was born in 72 and don't remember anything about Lennon's death, but I remember the whole Reagan shooting that happen a few months later.

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Bicentennial was a huge event and was in the news a lot at the time. At least from a childs perspective.

 

Bruce Jenner in the Olympics. Man, he was worshipped as THE American icon for a while there.

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I remember some of Gorbachev's Politburo meetings on television, military parades, François Mitterrand, Reagan, Central America guerilla, mostly Cold War stories, Gorbachev was on the cover of several magazines my father read.

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The OJ trail. I remember watching an episode of Burke's law at my grandparents house when they cut away to show the car chase right when they were going to revel who did it. Took my siblings and I years to figure out what show we were watching. My brother got me a dvd set for my wedding.  

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I vividly remember the Challenger explosion, too (born 1974). But I think the earliest major news story that I can remember noticing is Beirut being bombed in 1982. Those war images on the evening news stuck with me for a very long time.

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Apollo 11, the first moon landing, July 16, 1969. I was mesmerized watching on TV. I rememberi my entire family in silent awe. I think it seemed less impossible to me, as a child, then it did to the adults. My grandpa was agape. He died the next day or two after. Very cool he saw it.

The landing was on July 20.

 

Born 1976. I vaguely remember Reagan being shot and Sally Ride being the first American woman to go to space, but like many others, the first big event I remember clearly is the Challenger explosion. I was at an off-site thing with some of my fifth-grade classmates, and the mother who came and picked us up was crying. Took us a while to understand what was going on. One of my teachers that year had participated in the Teachers in Space program, but didn't get selected to represent Kansas.

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There's another sci-fi film (but I think it's a short film, which makes it harder) that I have hazy memories about. It was cheap, and centered around kids, and I remember they had the ability to shoot lasers? In the woods? The day I figure out what that movie/short film was will be huge. I don't know what else to go on.

 

You talking about Laserblast?

 

My first memory is probably the eruption of Mt St Helens in 1980 (born in '73) which apparently happened in May. Lennon's December death definitely outshines that one (inc. sobbing teachers gathered in my classroom) now, but damn that volcano freaked me the fuck out. Being in the Boston area, I couldn't have been much further from the danger.

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The landing was on July 20.

 

Hahahaha!! You are correct, sir. The launch was on the 16th. You continue to perform the pedant role at VC and I commend you for it. I hope you find time to leave your residence on occasion.
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Born in 80 mine would be the Challenger as well. Strange how things work though with memory. My first memory period was getting stung as a 2 or 3 year old after getting into a yellow-jacket nest somehow. We lived in a rural farm town in KY and I vividly remember my mom and a neighbor lady covering me in some sort of baking soda paste and laying me naked on the floor in front of a box fan. My first news stories besides the Challenger were all murderer and child molester related. My mom was a single parent of 3 and would use the tactic of scaring the shit out of us to keep us on our toes as she worked a couple jobs and we were home alone most of the time. I basically remember a talk from one apartment that would have put me around 5. "This is John Wayne Gacy...this is what he did. There are still people out there like this." Richard Ramirez also scared the shit out of me. I believe he had a tattoo of a pentagram on his palm and flashed it walking out of the courtroom one time. 

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You talking about Laserblast?

 

That's a good guess, but I really don't think so.  My very limited memory of the flick was that it centered around kids. And I'm also guessing this movie was from the early 70s/late 60s. I think I remember the kids wearing red or blue shirts (as if they were teams) and sunglasses.

 

Makes me think I'm just talking about Star Trek episodes...

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Hahahaha!! You are correct, sir. The launch was on the 16th. You continue to perform the pedant role at VC and I commend you for it. I hope you find time to leave your residence on occasion.

The only reason I remember the date is because it was my mother's 20th birthday.

 

I find time & occasion to leave my domicile nearly every day. Yesterday I went on a bike ride. Today I am at the office.

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