This year's college freshmen...

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

have always had GPS, only seen Leno host The Tonight Show, and always had caller ID among other thing that make me feel old.

[magenta321]

This list does not make me feel old. Some are true for someone who is 30 years old today, such as:


3. They have always been looking for Carmen Sandiego. [I began playing in 2nd grade. I think it was available before that, but I wasn't old enough to play it]

6. Shampoo and conditioner have always been available in the same bottle. [I had Pert Plus as a kid]


9. Electronic filing of tax returns has always been an option. [for as long as I've been able to file]

10. Girls in head scarves have always been part of the school fashion scene. [What generation didn't have girls in head scarves?]

11. All have had a relative — or known about a friend's relative - who died comfortably at home with hospice. [This is new?]

17. Club Med resorts have always been places to take the whole family. [Although I HATED when I had to go to the Club Med Kid's Club]

23. Schools have always been concerned about multiculturalism.

35. They never tasted Benefit Cereal with psyllium. [wth?]

40. Balsamic vinegar has always been available in the U.S. [this is new?]

47. They never heard an attendant ask "Want me to check under the hood?" [Why would they?]

Today Kevin's extended family and I had lunch at a restaurant. The menus were pieces of paper taped onto record albums. The thing that made me feel old was that the 18 and 19 yr olds across from me said "Oh, these are record albums" when I asked them what record their menu was on.

I also felt old when I asked one of them if the Supertramp album in his hand had "Breakfast in America" on it and he had no idea what I meant. Now mind you, I don't remember that song coming out (I doubt I was alive) but I still hear that on the radio on AT LEAST a weekly basis. Which means... I listen to OLDIES in their eyes! That was harder for me to swallow than this list. I was never attached to the color "burnt umber" anyway.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

magenta321 said

This list does not make me feel old.

Well bully for you. Check the list they issue in another 10 years.

[emeleel]

47. They never heard an attendant ask "Want me to check under the hood?" [Why would they?]

Because gas stations *used* to be gas stations/mechanics places, and the gas attendants used to actually know something about cars other than where to stick the gas pump. Think Goober on The Andy Griffith Show. They would offer to check under the hood to make sure everything looked right, and check your fluids for you if you asked.

[theworm[$]]

magenta321 said

23. Schools have always been concerned about multiculturalism.

no - they haven't.

[taurusmoon]

10. Girls in head scarves have always been part of the school fashion scene. [What generation didn't have girls in head scarves?]

That would be mine. I was between head scarf eras.


11. All have had a relative — or known about a friend's relative - who died comfortably at home with hospice. [This is new?]

Yep. Humanism in medicine is a relatively new concept.


40. Balsamic vinegar has always been available in the U.S. [this is new?]

Uh huh.

[frazzledspice]

GPS has been around for 18 years? Really?

Well, no one in our family has GPS yet, although we've had it in rental cars on occasion.

We are relatively low-tech/mapquest people.

[thinkerlady[$]]

Speaking of girls in headscarves, my neighbor just told me that her son went to a wedding recently and the girl he took wore a headscarf. She had a formal black dress on, heels, and a black bandanna. It was very odd.

[magenta321]

theworm said

no - they haven't.

In my experience, they have. We had black history, native american history, celebrated chinese new year and learned their traditions, etc. We had lessons where we each brought in dress, food, traditions of our respective cultures and shared them with the class. We had assignments where we had to do the same for cultures that were not our own (I did South Korea). We were in an almost all white town, but we still had lessons on appreciating other cultures. We even did an exchange with a predominantly black high school with confidence building exercises to build trust and unity when we took sociology. They were definately concerned with multiculturalism throughout my schooling.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Yup, the multiculturalism movement was a more recent development than you might think.

[Leslie2k]

I think they are referring to the middle eastern head scarves, not bandanas or other types of scarves.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

"fashion scene" doesn't sound like middle eastern head scarves

Thinking back, my best friend in 3rd grade was Korean and we had one Jewish kid in the class and one Greek kid. The rest of the students were all white, European descent, either WASP or Catholic. We never talked about Korea, or Greece, or anything about Judaism or Israel. The closest we got to studying anything "multicultural" was the unit on Hawaii, where we had a "luau" (complete with palm tree cake with the trunk made of Tootsie Rolls) and talked about the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor.

[Leslie2k]

Eh, I take it as they were using the term "fashion scene" loosely, to refer to the clothing worn in school, rather than what would be on the runway...

[Prepoia[$]]

About 10 years ago we had to "ban" head scarves from our girls because the boys called it discrimination to ban their hats but let girls cover their heads. Those scarves were the kind that are smaller sized squares with string ties that the girls would tie under the back of their hair. Worn sort of like this one.

[thinkerlady[$]]

Doo-rags I believe they are called here on the Philly scene. WE had to ban them also in school.

MJ--I have to agree with you--Hawaii was about as multicultural as we got in grade school.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Around NYC, do-rags are often gang symbols.

[Prepoia[$]]

Here too if tied around a leg.

[magenta321]

This is a doo-rag in my neck of the woods:



And this is a curl-cap:



And this is what I thought they were referencing with the head scarves on the fashion-scene:



or this:



All of these styles seem old fashioned to me. Don't get me wrong, I'll wear a scarf in my hair from time to time, but I thought that every one of us grew up with those styles or something similar. I think my grandma had "curl caps" in the 1940s -- only they were called stocking caps back then. Doo rags may be a newer thing, I'm not sure.

[Prepoia[$]]

You're getting older Margaret to remember so many things

[jgibson2[$]]

magenta321 said

They were definitely concerned with multiculturalism throughout my schooling.

You're younger than some of the rest of us, so I believe those who say they didn't have multicultural experiences. I did, but they didn't call it multiculturalism where I went to school. OTOH, I knew my school was exceptional. In the 1960's in southeastern NC, we had a whole rainbow of teachers. We had nuns from Ireland, the Philippines, other parts of Southeast Asia, as well as African-American teachers. The school was integrated long before the public schools in our area were. The teachers loved to share with us from their cultures.

In high school, I also had teachers from other countries who shared their culture with us as well. Foreign language teachers nearly always share the culture of the countries where that language is spoken.

[thinkerlady[$]]

The only teacher I can remember with a "different" culture was in high school. My civics teacher was from Israel. That was the extent of different cultures way back then.

[slick4591[$]]

emeleel said

Because gas stations *used* to be gas stations/mechanics places, and the gas attendants used to actually know something about cars other than where to stick the gas pump. Think Goober on The Andy Griffith Show. They would offer to check under the hood to make sure everything looked right, and check your fluids for you if you asked.

And they didn't expect to be tipped for it.