August 23, 2011

  • 2008 Mindset List

    Each August, Beloit College puts out a list to help college professors get into the mindset of the incoming class. I always read it, because I find it fascinating.

    Below is the list for the class of 2008--those who graduated high school with me...

    (Comments by me in red)

     

    1. Most students entering college this fall were born in 1986. Check!
    2. Desi Arnaz, Orson Welles, Roy Orbison, Ted Bundy, Ayatollah Khomeini and Cary Grant have always been dead. So have Lucille Ball and Ted Knight. I discovered the other day that Ted passed away on August 26, 1986. Lucy didn't pass away 'til 1989, but she died early enough that we wouldn't remember her being alive.
    3. "Here's Johnny!" is a scary greeting from Jack Nicholson, not a warm welcome from Ed McMahon. No, it's always been the latter for me. I've never seen The Shining.
    4. The Energizer bunny has always been going, and going, and going. Yes. Yes, he has.
    5. Large fine-print ads for prescription drugs have always appeared in magazines. I don't remember.
    6. Photographs have always been processed in an hour or less. Actually, I don't remember the drug store downtown having one or processing until I was partway through elementary school.
    7. They never got a chance to drink 7-Up Gold, Crystal Pepsi, or Apple Slice. I've only ever heard of Crystal Pepsi.
    8. Baby Jessica could be a classmate. I don't even know who "Baby Jessica" is.
    9. Parents may have been reading The Bourne Supremacy or It as they rocked them in their cradles.
    10. Alan Greenspan has always been setting the nation's financial direction. Check two.
    11. The U.S. has always been a Prozac nation.
    12. They have always enjoyed the comfort of pleather.
    13. Harry has always known Sally.
    14. They never saw Roseanne Rosannadanna live on Saturday Night Live. I didn't even know who that was until I was an adult.
    15. There has always been a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
    16. They never ate a McSub at McD's. There was a McSub? Awesome.
    17. There has always been a Comedy Channel.
    18. Bill and Ted have always been on an excellent adventure.
    19. They were never tempted by smokeless cigarettes.
    20. Robert Downey, Jr. has always been in trouble.
    21. Martha Stewart has always been cooking up something with someone.
    22. They have always been comfortable with gay characters on television.
    23. Mike Tyson has always been a contender.
    24. The government has always been proposing we go to Mars, and it has always been deemed too expensive.
    25. There have never been any Playboy Clubs. I didn't know there were any in the first place, 'til they started advertising the show...
    26. There have always been night games at Wrigley Field.
    27. Rogaine has always been available for the follicularly challenged.
    28. They never saw USA Today or the Christian Science Monitor as a TV news program. Really? That's pretty crazy.
    29. Computers have always suffered from viruses.
    30. We have always been mapping the human genome.
    31. Politicians have always used rock music for theme songs.
    32. Network television has always struggled to keep up with cable.
    33. O'Hare has always been the most delay-plagued airport in the U.S.
    34. Ivan Boesky has never sold stock.
    35. Toll-free 800 phone numbers have always spelled out catchy phrases.
    36. Bethlehem has never been a place of peace at Christmas.
    37. Episcopal women bishops have always threatened the foundation of the Anglican Church.
    38. Svelte Oprah has always dominated afternoon television; who was Phil Donahue anyway?
    39. They never flew on People Express. Never heard of that airline. (That's what that is, right?)
    40. AZT has always been used to treat AIDS.
    41. The international community has always been installing or removing the leader of Haiti.
    42. Oliver North has always been a talk show host and news commentator. Who's Oliver North?
    43. They have suffered through airport security systems since they were in strollers.
    44. They have done most of their search for the right college online. I went with whatever schools I knew of. I didn't know a third of the schools in Michigan existed until I'd already tried Western.
    45. Aspirin has always been used to reduce the risk of a heart attack.
    46. They were spared the TV ads for Zamfir and his panpipes. Who was that?
    47. Castro has always been an aging politician in a suit.
    48. There have always been non-stop flights around the world without refueling.
    49. Cher hasn't aged a day.
    50. M.A.S.H. was a game: Mansion, Apartment, Shelter, House. No, I'm afraid MASH was a show for me, first.

     

    Interesting, hmm?

    I've been thinking of looking up a list of stuff that happened the year I was born...that might be a future blog.