3746 I remember

Sunday, June 30, 2013

And who can doubt that it will lead to the worst disorders when minds created free by God are compelled to submit slavishly to an outside will?  When we are told to deny our senses and subject them to the will of others?  When people devoid of whatsoever competence are made judges over experts and are granted authority to treat them as they please?  These are the novelties which are apt to bring about the ruin of commonwealths and the subversion of the state.

--Galileo Galilei--

--------------------------------------------------------------------

I remember the insecticide spraying of my childhood.  Trucks went up and down the street almost every evening, spraying.  They killed indiscriminately, though. 

"Sunday Morning" did a segment today on mosquitoes.   They, the mosquitoes, are winning.  With so much flooding all over the world and evolving resistance to insecticides, I think it's likely to get worse.


We have a lot of mosquitoes in the city house neighborhood.  Big ones.  I'm pretty lucky in that I am rarely bitten, but the Nugget attracts them in droves, even when she's covered in repellent, and worse, her parents often take her on hikes in the woods.  Her little legs are covered with bites.  I worry (a LOT) about all the nasty diseases carried by the bugs, so I bought some of those yellow, coiled, inexpensive bracelets impregnated with citronella oil, geranium oil, and lemon grass oil.  Reviews claim they work.  I intended to put one on one of her wrists, and another on the opposite ankle.

Maybe they do work.  We'll never know because they stink so strongly they make your eyes burn, and the Nugget absolutely, flatly, vociferously refuses to wear one, let alone the two I'd prefer.

We went for a walk the other evening, and I wore the bracelets myself.  They seemed to work as long as she held my hand -- the hand with two bracelets on the wrist -- but she's too independent for that, wants to explore on her own (plus she wanted to distance herself from the stink), so within a half block we had to retreat back home.

She's too young to accept the logical argument that "the bites are worse than the stink, therefore you should accept the bracelets."

Suggestions?

Perfection would be a trained pet bird that sits on her shoulder and eats any bug that comes near her.  Opportunity for an entrepreneur!  You'd be a billionaire in a year!

--------------------------------

I remember when milk, eggs, and bread were delivered to your door.  The milk came in glass bottles with heavy cream at the top, and paper caps.  If you didn't have a milk box and a bread box by the door, you had to guard them from squirrels.  Squirrels would pull the paper caps off the bottles and lick out all the cream.

--------------------------------

I remember when the dry cleaner man came to your house to pick up and deliver laundry.

--------------------------------

I remember when sheets and bras, shirts, blouses, skirts, dresses, pants, tablecloths, and often men's boxer shorts had to be ironed.  In effect, everything except towels.

I remember hanging wet laundry on a clothesline when the temperature was below freezing, and gloves were too awkward for the job.

--------------------------------

I remember when all doctors made house calls. If you had a fever, they figured you shouldn't be going out.  They didn't want you spreading germs, and getting sicker from the physical stress of getting to the office.

Now, no matter how you feel, if you can't drag yourself to the office or the ER, you need an ambulance.  I don't understand.

---------------------------------

I remember ashtrays in hospital rooms, theaters, airplanes, buses.  I remember when teachers smoked in the classroom, especially in college.

--------------------------------

I remember when nobody we knew had a TV.  Then when we all got them, I remember when shows usually had one sponsor, there were commercials at the beginning and end of the show, and maybe one in the middle, and there was ONE commercial at those breaks.  I remember how horrified I was when they started doing two and three commercials for different products, all in a row.

--------------------------------

I remember when, especially in larger communities, you didn't ride the school bus if you lived within a mile of the school.  Even in elementary school.  You were expected to walk or ride your bike.  In cities, they didn't even have dedicated school buses.  If you qualified, you were issued tickets for the city public buses, and rode with the general public.

Sheesh.  Now, the school bus drivers around here won't pick up or drop off a child under 12 years old unless there's an "approved" adult to "release" and "receive" at the bus stop.  Think about that a minute -- if a 7-year-old, known to the driver as a regular rider, is standing there alone in the morning, the driver won't pick the kid up, will drive off leaving the kid standing there.  Is that supposed to be safer for the kid?  Or does it have more to do with liability insurance?

--------------------------------

I remember when a woman couldn't get a job beyond clerical, secretarial, or service if there was even one man who applied, regardless of comparative qualifications.  (I lived that one.)  And a woman couldn't get a loan unless her male keeper (father or husband) cosigned.

I remember when when a woman's husband could walk into a bank and drain her personal in-her-own-name-only accounts, and could sell anything she owned in her own name, including a business, without her permission.  (I lived that one, too.  It's how Ex#1 tried to prevent me from leaving him.)

Women were kept "in their place", by law.

--------------------------------

I remember life before air conditioning.  I remember outhouses.  I remember woodstoves -- not the fancy ones for supplimental heat, I mean like in the kitchen, for cooking.  When I was in high school, most of my friends had outhouses and woodstoves.

For a short period in my early years, Gramma had a real honest-to-goodness ice box.  The iceman delivered blocks of ice for it.

I remember coal bins in the basement, the roar of coal being delivered down a chute, and shoveling coal into the furnace and carrying ashes out.  As the eldest kid, that was my job.

--------------------------------

I remember when Yale, Harvard, MIT and other highly selective technical schools did not accept female undergraduate applicants.  Period.  Women could go to one of the associated women's colleges, which were more liberal arts oriented.  It may have been separate, but not exactly equal.

--------------------------------

I remember the civil rights movement, but it seemed remote because it wasn't reported on or discussed much in the north.  Things were so very separate that we northern white folks didn't much see segregation.  It was invisible.  The closest I came was when the high school class ahead of mine couldn't go on the traditional senior class trip because the one black student in the school was in their class, and the usual trip hotels and restaurants wouldn't allow her in.

--------------------------------

I remember when girls had to wear skirts to school, including college classes and the library, and if the hem was above your knees you were sent home to change.

--------------------------------

I remember when long-distance calls were expensive, and were made only for emergencies and special occasions.  I remember party lines.  I remember the onionskin paper of airmail letters and envelopes.

--------------------------------

I remember life before cell phones and the internet, back when it was possible to relax, to escape demands, to be "unavailable".  When things weren't so immediate and insistent.  Back when people sent real letters and cards.

-------------------------------

I remember when citrus fruit was rare in the winter, and an orange in your Christmas stocking was a true treat.

--------------------------------

You know what I find absolutely amazing about today?  That apparently a girl STILL can't, either because of the rules or because of social pressure, go to her prom without an escort. 
.

2737 My memories are older than I am.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

A man's perception is his reality.

-----------------------------------------------------

--------------------------

A cringing confession: I have fallen in love with the TV show "My name is Earl". It's a wonderful ensemble cast with tangled relationships and an interesting concept. Not to mention lifestyle.

--------------------------

I seem to recall that in the past, the temperature rose just before a snowstorm and stayed higher during and for a while after. Doesn't seem to do that any more. Now it drops and stays very low. What changed?

--------------------------

How old am I exactly?

• I remember not having hair conditioner. When you washed your hair, it was tangled and took a lot of time to carefully and painfully comb the tangles out. The first "detangling rinse" was Tame (if you wanted "conditioning", you used eggs and/or olive oil, or ideally real mayonnaise), and I was in the 8th grade when I first used Tame.
• Also, back then, it was customary to take a shower or bath and wash your hair twice a week if you had indoor plumbing, once a week otherwise. In between, you washed anywhere that needed it at the sink or basin.
• I remember when antiperspirant was suspiciously newfangled.
• I was in the ninth grade when the first credit cards came out. Before then, you used cash and checks, which also meant no telemarketing.
• I remember almost all adults smoked, and there were ashtrays on buses, in waiting rooms, and next to hospital beds, removed only if oxygen was in use.
• I remember when most of the kids I went to school with had outhouses. My father's sister had one, too, and they were solidly middle class. I was in my teens before my aunt installed a bathroom.
• I owned and wore a felt poodle skirt.
• I remember when young'uns didn't date unchaperoned until 11th grade. Before then, you might have a girlfriend or boyfriend, but you got together in groups. The b/g-friend was just the favorite in those groups.
• I remember when most drugstores would not sell you contraceptives unless you were married.
• I remember when if you bought a dozen of any baked goods, there were always at least 13 in the box.
• I remember when women were expected to wear a hat and gloves for all social occasions before evening, and for shopping beyond the grocery store.
• I remember when clothing purchases from a department store were always wrapped in tissue, and carried home in a box tied with a ribbon.
• I remember when no one we knew had a television set.
• I remember when kids were pushed out the door to play outside, and the entire neighborhood was safe because everyone watched out for and disciplined everyone else's kids, and if you screwed up, or got in trouble, there'd be a phone call to your mother before you got home.
• I remember when kids were expected to break a few bones along the way, and nobody'd get sued.
• I remember party lines, with coded rings, so your neighbors knew when you got a call, and snoopy neighbors would listen in on those calls, and it was impolite to talk very long, because while you were on the phone, no one else on your line could use the phone, unless they interrupted and yelled "Emergency! Get off the phone!" Of course, then you'd listen in to their call, to make sure it was an emergency, and yell at them if it wasn't.
• I remember (and loved) electric trolleys.
• I remember when the city bus was a perfectly acceptable way to get around town, even on dates.
• I remember trains with white linens, silver utensils, crystal goblets, and live flowers on the tables in the dining car, and good food cooked to order in the kitchen car, served by polite and attentive waiters in white shirts and black vests. Grampa was an engineer, so Gramma had a free pass, and she and I used to take all-day trips just for the food, lunch on the way out and dinner on the way back.
• I remember handkerchiefs, edged with handmade lace.
• I remember when portable hair dryers were the size of an overnight case, and had a soft plastic hood for over the rollers on your head, connected by hose to the blower in the case. It could take a half hour or more to dry your hair. (I still had that hair dryer until the Highland house flooded in 1999, and until then it still worked.) The advantage of that style dryer was that it didn't fuzz up the hair on the rollers, and you could do your nails while your hair dried, and dry your nails at the exhaust.
• I remember when men were not just allowed, but expected, to beat disobedient wives and children. It was almost a social duty to keep them in line. The term "domestic violence" didn't exist, even as a concept. "Spare the rod, spoil the child" was a warning then. (Now it seems to be a command, and has proven the warning true.)
• I remember when unwed mothers secretly went to "homes" for their pregnancies, and the babies were put up for adoption, often to married family members.
• I remember girdles. (They seem to be making a comeback.)
• I remember stockings that required garters. Pantyhose didn't come along until the '70s.
• I remember butcher shops, where you could get special cuts, and all kinds of things like beef hearts and pints of fresh blood.
• I remember when young women were expected to cut their long hair short upon marriage. Long hair on a married woman was considered low class.
• For all the prudishness, cocktail parties were all the rage, and the games played by our parents and their friends at those parties would make me blush now.
• I remember when even in a city the size of St. Louis in the '70s, it was difficult to find a female OB/GYN.
• I remember when long-distance phone calls were a BIG DEAL, pretty much reserved for Christmas and deaths. We communicated by hand-written letters.
• I remember when there were no copiers. Copies were made by carbon paper on typewriters, or by stencils on mimeograph machines.
• I remember 5-cent coffee, and 15-cent packs of cigarettes. When the first fast-food outlets opened, a hamburger was 15 cents, I think, and a hot dog was 5 cents. Of course, starting salary for a teacher then was around $4,000, a new car was well under $2,000, and a three-bedroom house was perhaps $15,000.
• I remember using a cranked wringer on the washing machine to squeeze out the water.
• I remember hanging clothes on the line, even in bitter winter, when the wet sheets would freeze as you were hanging them, and your fingers would turn white from the cold, then flame red when they warmed up. But it had to be done, because there were no home clothes dryers.
• I remember having to iron sheets. And bras. And everything else made of cotton or linen.
• Women did not wear slacks to school, the office, or socially beyond an intimate circle of friends. (Well, some did, but they were considered "loose".) I'd been out of college three years before it was acceptable for women to wear slacks in the office, and even then they had to be part of a matched suit with a hip-length jacket.
• I remember the pre-Eisenhower highway-building days, when all roads were back roads, and trips took twice as long as now, even if you didn't get stuck behind a military convoy. But they weren't boring, because we had the Burma-Shave signs.
• The odor of fresh cow manure was everywhere in the spring, and a man whose boots smelled of it was respected as a hard-working fellow.
• Scranton had huge burning culm dumps (tailings from the coal mines) that burned day and night for decades. They were beautiful at night.

There are times when I feel much younger than my years, and times when I feel older. There are some items on the list I'd like to go back to, but I guess we'll never go back.
.