When I was born, LBJ was in office but I don't remember him.
The earliest President I can remember is Nixon. Where I grew up, everyone was wearing "Impeach Nixon" buttons.
I was raised in Berkeley, California.

One of my earliest memories was going to the opening of Peoples Park.
I remember being confused that a group of people were cooking a pig for the party by burying it in the ground. I remember being perplexed over this strange new method of preparing food.
http://www.peoplespark.org/

http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2002/06/09/csp_peoples-park.jpg

The Vietnam War had an effect on everyone where I grew up.
When I was four, kids just a little older than me were watching the war protests happening on the news and across town.

I followed some boys who lived next door outside and watched them as they mimicked the frustration and emotion related to that war.
They started to pull apart a fence that was already falling apart. They took long planks of the wood and started throwing them around.
I sat and watched and just happened to look up.
One of those sticks hit me in my right eye.

I don't remember what happened immediately afterward, but I did lose the sight in my eye that day.
I do remember the boys talking about the war, and I remember the emotion that was in the air on that day.

I believe that there is a connectedness to everything, and when there is a war going on, that we are all effected in some way.
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/vietnam/index.cfm

I also remember the world before the internet, but I was lucky to have grown up with computers my entire life.
I lived just down the hill from the Lawrence Hall of Science. I took computer classes when I was just six.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Hall_of_Science

When I was in high school we took typing classes using IBM selectric typewriters. These babies had blank keys, so the only way you could figure out what you were doing was by looking at a map of the keys up on the wall. That was the day of learning how to truly type by touch.
I remember acing that class because I wanted to become a famous writer and knew that if I was going to write something as big as War and Peace, that it would be easier than pecking it out with two fingers.
http://graphic-design.tjs-labs.com/pictures/ibm-time-07-16-1962-000-a.jpg

I also remember the brand spanking new internet and the early phase of AOL (1.0) at a time before you could purchase anything online. I remember the AOL home page with a sign saying "Coming soon! FTD floral shop, soon you'll be able to actually buy flowers through the internet!"
I thought that was pretty amazing!
http://www.glossynews.com/aol/img/ebay.jpg

My memories of life at war and life before the internet are nothing new, but everyone's perspective gives these experiences a little more depth and helps to create a better understanding, and a closer connection to who we are.
Source(s):
my life...

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