Class Of 2000 Essay, Research Paper
We were born in 1981/1982. People were still getting over Vietnam and Disco
had swept the
country. Dolly Parton had a song called Jolene,
and Diana Ross had
records,
yes those big black Frisbees that were five
times the size of a CD,as
big
as her hair.
The Muppets were our heros, and Atari was the
game of choice. Pac Man
invaded our heads and our parents pockets. We had
those bouncy balls that
had the handle on the top and you could sit
on and
bounce all over the place.
The Reagan administration came around, but
all we
cared about were our mini-wheels. Snack time
in
Kindergarten was cool and the opposite sex
still
had cooties. We liked to play Candyland and
Chutes
and Ladders. Tic-tac-toe was still
fashionable to
us. Star Wars and their cheap knock-off, the
Ewoks, were imitated all over the nation, ET
made
us afraid to go into the bathroom. Girls
fought
over My Little Ponies, Barbies, and Cabbage
Patch
Kids. Boys were more into Transformers,
He-Man,
and GI Joe, not to mention their prized b-b
guns
with those little rubber pellets – yeah, they
hurt, too. Pretend was always fun too. In
second
grade we watched as the Challenger lept from
the
earth only to float back unexpectedly,
devastating
the nation, and plunging them into a state of
mourning. Cuba was the enemy, drugs were
becoming
big and Iran got on our bad side, as did
Oliver
North. TV rotted our brains with “Different
Strokes,” “Silver Spoons,” and “The Cosby Show”.
Leg warmers, bandanas, and spiked hair,
consumed
us as we listened to Boy George and his
Culture
Club, Bruce Springstein, Rolling Stones,
Madonna,
George Michael, Cyndi Lauper, and Michael
Jackson.
Pretty soon, hair stopped being spiked and
started
getting BIG. Chains, and spikes, and jelly
bracelets were the rage, and everything was
“awesome” or even “rad.” People started
getting
computers like the Apple 2E. Bubble dresses
were
cool and the youth were following the path of
rebellion. Drugs and guns were becoming more
and
more common, and we watched as the world
discovered HIV and AIDS, and an 18 year
oldboy
from Indiana died from a transfusion. We also
lived through the Bush administration. Our
generation watched the Gulf War, our own
small-scale version of Vietnam, come into our
living rooms at night with the green night
images
and the blazing dots across the screen. We
watched
older brothers and sisters go off to a war
that we
never thought we’d see, but we made up songs
about
Saddam Hussein to the tune of “Ice Ice Baby”
by
Vanilla Ice. Bill Clinton became the
President
taking Al Gore as his VP. Rolling your jeans
and
wearing GUESS and ESPRIT clothes made you
popular.
Everyone was crazy for McDonalds.
We
started dating more frequently, searching for
the
love of our life. Girls in the high schools
started getting pregnant and we started
getting
our licenses. We lived through all the crazy
fashion flashbacks, the hair, and the
environmental crisis.
We have now gotten to our senior year and we
wait
for prom and most of all
graduation day. We will pick up our caps and
gowns
and all that senior stuff that’s supposed to
help
us remember the good ‘ole days, but some of
the
things that you’ll remember most, can’t be
put on
paper. That day will finally come, and you
will
sit there with all of the friends that you
have
made over the years. You will look out at
your
family and deep down you will know that this
is a
once in a lifetime moment. It will be the
last
time in your life that all these people would
be
together in one place. Yeah there will be
reunions but there is always the chance that
one
person won’t make it there. You will look
back on
your time with these people and realize that
it
was short lived and that it didn’t seem as if
there was enough time for everything that you
wanted to accomplish. Sports, activities,
SAT,ACT,
and all that good stuff. They will call your
name,
your tassle will get turned, and you will
get a
piece of paper that says you are smart. Then
you
said good-bye maybe to your town, and the
school
and your friends. You know that you can go
back to
visit, but there will be strangers in the
halls
and it won’t be the same. It will be
different,
and you’ll be different. But it won’t be the
end.
In fact, everything is just beginning.