Secretariat, Joe Namath and Me

I just heard a review of the new movie about the famous racehorse, Secretariat.  Now that’s a show I’d go to see in the theaters, if I could afford it.  Am I a racing fan?  No.  But neither am I much of a football fan.   How do these two relate?  For me they represent my childhood during the early 70's, when Secretariat won the Triple Crown, Joe Namath led the New York Jets to glory, and I graduated high school.

My youth.  I’m actually at the tail end of the Baby Boomers, but I’ve always been very proud and protective of that fact.  Dontcha dare call me a Generation Jonesy!   My sister’s from the thick of it; an East Coast Flower Child, she was in high school in the mid to late 60’s, a time of changes which today’s Generation Whatever can’t possibly fathom. 
Hillary had a poster of Trotsky in her room, which was wallpapered in a very cool black and white print.  (My parents, bless their hearts, must have been shaking their heads but they encouraged our creativity.)   She had lots of friends with long hair, girls and boys, who wore the wildest clothes.  I was five years younger and fascinated with her world, but I was too young and nerdy to be of any consequence.  She loved me, of course, as an older sister should, but 16 versus 11 was a wider stretch of years than it is to us today.

Dad loved to play
with a camera

I was still playing with my Troll Dolls.  They came out when I was in grade school and all my friends had one.  Mom thought they looked too scary and for the longest time refused to let me own one, but I finally wore her down while they were still in style.   My first had white hair.  Funny, the things you remember.  Sis borrowed my collection to decorate a friend’s party; attaching them to the curtains.  Well, one of her cool friends took them home and I didn’t forgive her until she sent me a 5” reproduction for Christmas when I was 34.  

As a junior (11^th grade, just in case), I was a Nixonette during his 72 campaign against McGovern.  I knew nothing about policies; I wanted to be involved in the presidential election and my parents were lifelong Republicans, so…  That was the thing about the 60’s and early 70’s…everyone was involved in SOMETHING, so I went to a rally or two and went door to door handing out publications.  One man barked at me and called me a Nazi.  Nixon resigned in disgrace in 1974, and my enthusiasm for politics pretty much died at that time.   Nowadays he’d probably have gotten his own talk show, or at the very least a spot on Dancing with the Stars.  I realize voting is a privilege but I don’t see the point, unless they’ve changed the electoral system and I missed it while living on the boat.  I sent in one absentee ballot while stationed in Germany in the 80’s.  I can’t remember who the lucky recipient was, but he didn’t win.  I don’t play the lottery for the same reason.

Joe Willie Namath led those Jets to a Super Bowl III win over Don Shula’s Baltimore Colts, and he made my young heart go pitter-patter.  I wanted to be Farrah Fawcett when she gave that Noxema shave to my hero, and to this day I’d give anything to meet Broadway Joe.

We’ve grown older; Hillary’s become the responsible one with a family and all, and I’m the one in a 16’ travel trailer, still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.  This year I will be the same age as the year I was born, but I guess I never stopped wanting to be like Sis and her friends in the 60's.  Love you, Hill.