ROCKIN’ THE BOOM

I was born at the tail end of the Baby Boom, the twenty-year period of post-World War II American prosperity. In every sense of the term, I’m a boomer. In birth year, sensibilities and spirit. If you dig what I’m saying, then let me hear you say “right on!”

• When I hear the word “news,” my first thought (before I remember what year it is) is Cronkite or Chancellor or Reasoner -- not Twitter.
• My personal stamp of approval is always given with the word “cool.” “Awesome” is a descriptor of the powers of a supreme being.
• The drama of the Olympics will forever be associated in my mind with Cold War rivalries – and LeRoy Neiman paintings.
• If you watch America’s Got Talent and you’ve never heard of The Gong Show, then our generation gap rivals the Grand Canyon.
• Jeans that don’t flare at the bottom are called “straight leg,” not “skinny.”
• Classic rock is simply rock.
• Watergate and Wacky Packs profoundly shaped the person I am today.
• When I turn on the TV, I sometimes forget – for an instant – that there are more than three major networks and a couple of cheesy UHF stations.
• I know all the words to Coke’s “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing” and the Burger King jingle that starts “Two hundred million people…”
• I treasured the moon rover toy I got from a box of Cheerios, I loved the chemical taste of chocolate fudge Space Food Sticks and I remember where I was when Sky Lab fell.
• Being a mall rat meant checking out the pet rocks, posters and naughty board games at Spencer Gifts, buying 45s at Record & Tape Outlet and browsing the sexy dresses at Merry-Go-Round.
• I still believe that the U.S. will be going metric in 1980.
• Mood rings, macramé owls and MOR radio – need I say more?