Thursday, November 30, 2017

Nostalgia Revisited

Things seem to get more horrible each day.  Wars, refugees, terrorism.

There's North Korea looming in the distance for us.  For the people of South Korea and Japan, it's on their doorstep.  I grew up in the "duck and cover" times.  Now, those times are back.

Famine.  Refugee camps.

Climate change.  Floods.  Fires. 

So nostalgia is starting to look really good.

Pining for the misty "good old days" is probably as old as humanity is.  But today, we have electronic ways of expressing it.  Just go on Facebook.  Oh, those good old days, when.....

Yeah, right.  And that is because there is no such thing as the 'good old days".  Never has been.

If you, dear reader, are in your 20's and 30's, just wait.  In about 20 or so years that nostalgia mosquito is going to bite you.  One day you'll find yourself frustrated with technology that your 10 year old child uses effortlessly.  Or you'll suddenly realize that TV shows (if they even have TV in 20 years) just aren't made the way they used to be.

That "my childhood is a museum" feeling that I used to get talking to my son will be your feeling, too.

And the thing is:  "those days" weren't ideal.   Not everything was great.  Not everything has gone downhill.

So exactly what it is about the "good old days" that I don't miss? . For my younger readers: you get one point for every item where you actually knew what I was talking about without using the link.  Ready?  Let's go!

1.  Coke-bottle eyeglasses.  If you wear glasses and have poor vision (like me) I am thankful daily for ultra light lenses that don't leave permanent sores on your nose and your ears.  And glass lenses which don't break.

2. Typewriters.  I learned to type on a manual typewriter in Mrs. Gottlieb's 7th grade typing class.  Mrs. Gottlieb was the most feared teacher in my junior high school (an archaic term, by the way).  She put tape on all the keys so you couldn't cheat and find the correct key by glancing down.  

Typewriters?  Well, if you didn't have one, you'd have to pay someone to type your term papers.  It was a complex process:  inserting paper into a roller, rolling it into position, setting the margins, typing, and when you heard a bell, you knew you were about 5 spaces from the end.  Time to hyphenate, then return the carriage to where it started, and type your next sentence.

3.  Carbon Paper.   And  onionskin.
If you needed copies, you just didn't tell your word processing software to print multiple copies.  You took special paper, and inserted carbon paper between each sheet - and heaven help you if you made a typo and had to correct all of those pages.  That was an art form in itself.

4.  Old fashioned medicine.  I'm probably going to get an earful about this.  But, let's put it this way.  I have a medical condition, easily treated today for many people with diet, exercise and medication.  My grandmother died from the same condition in 1937 because there was no treatment.  Things wouldn't have been much better in the 1950's, when I was young.  And there was the time I broke my leg, and they never took X Rays, which resulted in a night of incredible agony I can still remember (especially the part where they wanted me to walk on said leg because "it was only sprained".  No, it was broken in three places.)  Could you see that happening now?  (On the other hand, I miss house calls.  A lot. )

Modern medicine has a lot of problems, no doubt about it.  But enough of us are walking around right now who may not be on this earth if we hadn't expanded on the medical knowledge of the 1950's.

5.  Old style hiking, swimming, and land exercise clothing.  So heavy.  So sweat trapping.  Enough said.

You'll notice I am talking about technology and not culture, not people's attitudes.  There's enough material there for another blog post.

But nostalgia calls.  So let's revisit it today.

Do you feel nostalgic for your childhood or teenage years?   What do you miss about it? What don't you miss about it?

16 comments:

  1. And I also remember the old mimeo machines for when you needed multiple copies. Ugh!

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    1. I didn't have much to do with mimeo machines but I do remember some of the old time Xerox copiers. And my late childhood best friend, who was a teacher -they were using mimeographs in the elementary school where she taught until perhaps 15 years ago.

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  2. On the medical side - boy was I grateful for modern medicine when I had my mastectomy. That they can now tailor your mastectomy to what they actually find when they go in is fantastic - they took 7 lymph nodes adjacent to my tumor and left me the rest. Recovery went so much faster.

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    1. When I think of what my mother in law (two breast cancers in the mid 1970's, unrelated) went through - yes. So many advances in that cancer to be thankful for.

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  3. I was the professional typist. I *loved* typewriters! I still have a room full of mostly Royal Standard, a few portables, one Corona from before they merged with Smith.

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    1. I had a Royal portable typewriter, and it was so sturdy - unlike some of the real junky typewriters. So you have some high quality ones in your collection, sounds like. I also learned to type on a manual.

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  4. I was just thinking last night about how my teen self would not know what to do with a cell phone. And how we would have loved them then. I guess one of the good things about getting older is remembering that we had it just like these kids today, only with different scenery.

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    1. Teachers do have to know what their students are up to. I don't know anything about what children are doing nowadays, as my child is grown and no grandchildren (at this point).

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  5. I'm always good for a trip down memory lane. For me, it's more of a stroll. Things I don't miss: Having to rewind the VHS tape before you could return it. Having to return the VHS tape. Having to manually change the TV channel (that's why I had kids!). Reheating on the stove or in the oven, rather than the microwave. Having to get out of the car to open the garage door. Oh, man. I could go on and on . .

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    1. Interesting choices. I so remember my Dad fiddling with TV rabbit ears. Every time the elevator in our apartment went up or down (we lived next door to it) the picture would roll. I don't miss adjusting the TV so the picture wouldn't roll, either.

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  6. i don't miss that awkward feeling--about myself, about how I fit in, about how to make friends. I'm not a super-confident person now but back then--phew. I was a mess.

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    1. Although I would love to have a young body, I wouldn't want to ever go through the angst of youth and young adulthood.

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  7. Ah yes technology sure has changed things and for the better for loads of stuff. I know things are much better than when it was in my parents times!! Great post idea Alana! Enjoyed reading about the typewriter bit!

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  8. Good post. And imagine what life was like during the Great Depression or one of the world wars!

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  9. Oh, I so remember learning to type on the typewriter and then feeling like a pro typing without glancing at the keys! And, the carbon paper that transferred its blue ink onto your fingers when you used it.
    From my teenage years, I miss the simplicity, as in lesser toys in the shops to attract our attention when in the said shops. Easier studies in school and lesser number of books to carry. Less traffic on the roads and less number of people on the streets (in spite of which people used to say that Bombay was bursting at the seams!!). And, I miss those landline phones and phone calls.
    Simplicity of life is a thing of the past!
    Sigh.

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  10. I knew all but one on your list! Although there are things I miss, some of them I can get back. For instance, people don't talk on the phone, they mostly text, but I wrote a post this week about making old fashioned phone calls and the good that came from it.

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