Disappearing Act

Disappearing Act

I guess I better hurry up and enjoy my life before everything about me is erased.  My life is everything that my generation lived through, including products we used, foods we ate, entertainment we participated in even clothes we wore.

I’ll start with the clothes we wore: Bell Bottom Pants, for ladies it was Bell Bottoms, Flair Bottoms, Mini Dresses, Maxi Dresses, Hot Pants and of course a flower in your hair was also in style, along with tied dyed t-shirts..  If history repeats itself like everything else I still have some Bell Bottoms in the attic just in case (not).

Electronics of our time that have disappeared are almost disappeared include; the original Atari games, Sega Game system, IBM micro-computer, Commodore 64 computer, (I could go on and on just with computers alone but I won’t), Ditto Duplicating Machine (Who remembers receiving purple-inked copies in school, and noticing that sometimes they were still damp with an intoxicatingly scented fluid?), Fax Machines are almost gone, Pay Telephones, Land line phones are all but gone, again I could go on forever with electronics that are gone or disappearing.  Also gone; the 4 and 8-track, the cassette music media, most recently the Sony Walkman, the floppy computer disc.

Other equally meaningful Landmarks that are vanishing are; the Auto Drive-in Theater, once upon a time it was more popular than indoor theaters.  Families embraced it as well as many young people used it for a favorite date destination.  The double feature has also gone by the wayside.  Before television networks took hold there was the news reel between features.  I used to look forward to the cartoon that accompanied all double features.  Many people born since 1990 would wonder what I am talking about. Who even remembers the carbon paper a product that was indispensable for a long period of time?  The overhead Projector, the 8mm movie projector, the list is endless.

One of the most important attributes of the human race is being able to adapt to change, the Digital technological Advances have been a real challenge to some of us, but those that adapt, and excel are destined for bigger and better things.  I’d like to think that I am amongst those leading the charge towards progress, and by design change.  The best is yet to come…..