WE HAVE JUST SEEN Woodstock '94, a concert celebrating the silver anniversary of the famous New York event of August 1969, which symbolized a happy anarchy. It was part of the protest spirit against the Vietnam War.
Observers remembered that most of the music at the first Woodstock was terrible, good bands playing on malfunctioning, rain-drenched equipment, their minds overcome by the size of the crowd and maybe recreational drugs.It was three days of peace and music - a genuine sense of community. The amazing thing to me now, as I read about Woodstock II, is that I was completely unaware of the original Woodstock.
Maybe that's partly because there were so many other things happening in 1969 - like the moon landing - or Kennedy and Chap-pa-quid-dick.
Maybe we didn't see Woodstock as a defining element of the '60s until the decade was over.
But as for me - I was married, we had just had our second child, had finished school and jumped into a 1960 Corvair to travel across the country to take a job in Boston.
And Woodstock just never became a part of my experience.
Have you had experiences like these? Major historical events that you entirely missed because of the press of your personal life?
It's amazing.
We met Alayne and Harry Greenberg in Massachusetts many years ago, and miraculously, we have retained a close friendship with them in spite of our having lived several years in different states.
Recently, we visited them in California, and they took us to spend a weekend at a condo they own in Mexico. We learned from them there how to relax.
Harry has a gift I have always wished I had. At 10:30 a.m. or at 2:30 p.m., he would suddenly say, "It's time for a nap," and he would disappear. He would plop down on a bed or just relax on a couch and fall into a deep sleep in what seemed like a few seconds.
Only 20 minutes later, he would just as suddenly wake up and say, "It's time to go get something to eat!" He was invigorated by those few minutes and ready to go again.
The few times in my life I've tried to have a nap, it always takes me ages to go to sleep, and if I succeed, I have a major struggle waking up. Then I sit on the couch in a fog for several minutes, trying to remember what day it is.
Have you ever noticed how difficult it is to get the Popsicle flavor you want from those boxes in the grocery store? There is always orange and red and sometimes lime - but rarely banana and almost never purple or root beer.
We definitely need reform and a solid movement for equality in the Popsicle industry. Those Popsicle executives are probably just making their favorite flavors.
Maybe I'm the only one who has noticed that every reference we hear to THE crime of the century uses the term, "The O.J. Simpson murder case."
Now, it seems to me we should say the Nicole Simpson-Ronald Goldman murder case. After all, they were the victims - and we don't know yet if O.J. actually did it. (By the way, how did Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream become the principal evidence?)
Kathy Crockett, a friend of mine, was recently wishing for an invention to make it possible to carry a pen or pencil without the use of a pocket.
There are many shirts or blouses without pockets, and most of us are continually rummaging around to find a pen. Could someone please invent a magnet or a Velcro system that would allow us to carry a pen all the time?