With the testimony of Dr. Blasey Ford before Congress, I'm sure many folks are trying to remember some of the high school parties they attended. This is all the more difficult depending on the type and amount of beverages present. I suspect social class plays a significant role too.
Some indisputable evidence that has come out of these hearings and their aftermath is that alcohol was a huge part of the equation back in the 1980s, the setting for this particular situation.
Frat parties and exclusive private boys schools clubs have always been about getting drunk. The degree to which one imbibes seems to be the significant factor here. But, inebriation is not the topic here, high school parties are.
Do you remember many high school parties you attended? I do...at least a few. They seem to revolve around events rather than what we drank. Growing up in Southern California, many of those I recall revolved around a swimming pool.
As a high school junior, the memorable party was all about the Beatles. It coincided with their "invasion" both into the country and the Top 40 list. As I recall there was a time when they had a few songs in the top ten concurrently. I remember the girls in my class knowing all the words and singing along as they danced with us boys. They had their favorite Beatle too and through in the head shakes and falsetto parts as well. There was also a party shortly before my mid-year February graduation that revolved around the UCLA Varsity basketball team playing the Freshman team in their traditional first home game of the season. In those days (1965) we had an A semester and a B semester. Baby Boomers entered the postwar school systems in such numbers that there were two graduations a year for decades afterward. Anyway, in 1965 one particular Frosh player on the UCLA squad turned out to be legendary. That was Lew Alcindor who later became Kareem Abdul Jabbar. His presence and budding ability were so profound that the Freshman team beat the Varsity. That information filled the room at one high school party. One group of guys went into a bedroom and watched the game on a small black and white portable TV instead of eating dips/chips or flirting with the girls present.
And then there was the Dylan party. "Bob Dylan is the greatest poet in this country right now," I recall saying something like that with as much arrogance as I could muster. My mind was turning about Vietnam and some of the guys present on that evening had their lives either ended or permanently changed by that war. There were other parties, but none stood out. Most of us had a few close friends and we double-dated a lot. Our parties were rather small get-togethers. We weren't driven by alcohol, in fact drinking wasn't a priority in any way. Simpler time? Nerdier time? No just a different time.
Some indisputable evidence that has come out of these hearings and their aftermath is that alcohol was a huge part of the equation back in the 1980s, the setting for this particular situation.
Frat parties and exclusive private boys schools clubs have always been about getting drunk. The degree to which one imbibes seems to be the significant factor here. But, inebriation is not the topic here, high school parties are.
Do you remember many high school parties you attended? I do...at least a few. They seem to revolve around events rather than what we drank. Growing up in Southern California, many of those I recall revolved around a swimming pool.
As a high school junior, the memorable party was all about the Beatles. It coincided with their "invasion" both into the country and the Top 40 list. As I recall there was a time when they had a few songs in the top ten concurrently. I remember the girls in my class knowing all the words and singing along as they danced with us boys. They had their favorite Beatle too and through in the head shakes and falsetto parts as well. There was also a party shortly before my mid-year February graduation that revolved around the UCLA Varsity basketball team playing the Freshman team in their traditional first home game of the season. In those days (1965) we had an A semester and a B semester. Baby Boomers entered the postwar school systems in such numbers that there were two graduations a year for decades afterward. Anyway, in 1965 one particular Frosh player on the UCLA squad turned out to be legendary. That was Lew Alcindor who later became Kareem Abdul Jabbar. His presence and budding ability were so profound that the Freshman team beat the Varsity. That information filled the room at one high school party. One group of guys went into a bedroom and watched the game on a small black and white portable TV instead of eating dips/chips or flirting with the girls present.
And then there was the Dylan party. "Bob Dylan is the greatest poet in this country right now," I recall saying something like that with as much arrogance as I could muster. My mind was turning about Vietnam and some of the guys present on that evening had their lives either ended or permanently changed by that war. There were other parties, but none stood out. Most of us had a few close friends and we double-dated a lot. Our parties were rather small get-togethers. We weren't driven by alcohol, in fact drinking wasn't a priority in any way. Simpler time? Nerdier time? No just a different time.
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