Alan’s TTIM Stories #20

I know I’m old. How can I tell? By watching Jeopardy.

Loving trivia puts me in front of a television every weekday at 7pm. There is a sickness involved when I yell the answer at the screen believing it will have an effect. One particular question/answer, can’t recall the actual clue, but the obvious response was : “Who is Marilyn Monroe?” There was a deer-in-the-highlights look and silence from all three contestants. Unbelievable.

Marilyn Monroe is an entertainment icon of historic significance. It’s the Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, James Brown, and Glenn Miller.*

*Forget the Glenn Miller reference – I’m not that old.

It didn’t stop. On February 5^th, no one knew Garth Brooks. Really?

Baffled by what I know and what the contestants don’t know is when I realized I lived through many years of news on the radio, television, and the internet; traveled around the country and a couple foreign countries; and have a fascination for more knowledge. I don’t claim to be a Jeopardy genius. Many categories stump me, for example: ballet, math, and an ever-increasing ignorance of pop culture.

Boomers will remember Beatlemania, Woodstock, Howdy Doody, Pepsodent, TV Dinners, Hula hoops, View Master, rotary telephones, and The Supremes.

Other age indicators:

• Watching the Grammy Awards and not recognizing one nominated song
• Remembering trips to a shopping mall
• Rolling down a car window manually
• Three television networks (only 3!)
• Boiling hotdogs and corn in water on a stove top (before microwaves)
• Milk delivered to an insulated box on the front porch

I will never use the phrase “Good Old Days.” Times were different. We learn to adapt. “Good” in any era is judged by kindness, opportunity, fairness, equality, peace, and good will. How are we doing today?

Travel in a driverless car – I don’t think so.

P.S. I still going to yell at the television. I can’t help it.

Recommended: “Wild Mushrooms: Memoirs of the 60’s” by Eva Pasco

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Announcements about Alan’s TTIM Stories are found at Facebook.com/alan.vandervort, Instagram and Threads (vandervoort_author). All Stories are available at www.alanvandervoort.com. Novels by the author include Sandhills – A Novel and Key Largo Summer – available at Booklocker.com and other online booksellers.