From Woodstock to woodstoves to the World Wide Web From Say kids, what time is it? to Up against the wall, NOW From fall-out shelters to Internet service providers From Cant Buy Me Love to IRAs and 401ks…. The nations population increased 19 million in the 1940s and by 30 million in the 1950s. This was known as the baby boom and continued until the mid 1960s. During the 1950s, school enrolments increased 13 million. Sales of music instruments went from $86 million in 1950 to $149 million in 1950. Keep up with he Joneses was the slogan back then.
Whatever my neighbours have.. I shall Lou Phillips, born in June 1950, the typical baby boom child who was showered in toys, music lessons, Girl Scouts and could have whatever her hearts desire… Or was she? Lou grew up without a father. Her original father had died in the Guatacanal war and her step father died of a heart attack when she was only 7 years old. In this day and age, she would have been considered poor. She moved around alot with her brother Bill, who was only one year older than she was, and her mother, Marguerite who was a school teacher, trying to provide a decent life for her two children.
The largest house theyve ever lived in was a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom house. She lived mostly in Tyler, Texas, a small town at the time. It was middle America and traditional. Most of her mothers friends stayed home and the fathers went to work. The girls were not allowed to wear pants. They could only wear skirts and the boys wore In 1962, she began middle school and started to notice the changing begin. She feels that the influence of the music changed.
The Dissertation on Music School Drop Outs
Three of the four highest rated possible reasons for student dropout essentially support findings of previous research; "loss of interest," "scheduling conflicts," and "lack of parental support" apparently are perceived as continuing problems with respect to loss of students in instrumental music programs. However, the reason perceived by directors as the major contributor to student dropout, ...
Everyone use to wear the bobby socks and the big petty coat skirts and then the Beatles music came over. The boys immediately got the Beatles haircuts and the girls began to wear mini skirts and lots of Things began to change evev more once she reached high school in 1965-1968. The Vietnam war was the cause of this such change, she believes. She says she would hear about kids that had graduated a few years ahead of her, theyd get shot and died and the boys would go to college to try and avoid getting drafted. The war was By the time she got into college, it had changed even more. She began to see the long haired hippies and all the dope smoking and drinking.
She was scared because her and these kids didnt know what they wanted to be. It was a terrible time. Nobody had any goals anymore. This is when she witnessed many riots first hand. They would egg the president of the colleges house, demanding more The war had affected them more than the news or history would ever say. They had a fraidy hole in their house because of the Cuban threat in 1962 when she was in 7th grade. In her generation, they always had that cloud hanging above them.
Oh well, were gonna Television in the evenings was a time were the family could get together and spend quality time since there was one parent and she worked. They watched such shows as Laugh-In. She states that this show was one of her favorites in high school. They enjoyed The Waltons and All in the Family with Archie Bunker. Fancy dresses, 10 pairs of shoes, many pairs of clothes? Not in this girls life. Once again, 2 children and one working parent, Lou had to make her own clothes and dresses. When she was a child she only had one dress per day of the week and made her own clothes.
She grew up hard.. not your average baby boomer, is it? What a long, strange trip its been…
