this is how old I am

Isn't it amazing how well we remember the horrors and tragedies in life? I just realized how many tragedies mark this list in particular. Anyway....

I am the same age as Leonardo diCaprio, Drew Barrymore, the Beckhams, Tobey Maguire, Joaquin Phoenix, and Angelina Jolie.

I was born on the day of a major plane crash that killed 92 people out of Dulles. I was born during the Ford Administration, just fewer than four months after Nixon resigned, two weeks after the murders in what became the Amityville Horror house, the same year in which Blazing Saddles and Monty Python and the Holy Grail premiered, and when disco was really starting to take off. (Yeah, yeah, the world was having problems in 1974, much like it is now.)

I was alive when "Saturday Night Live" premiered and when "Monty Python's Flying Circus" ended.

I distinctly remember when John Lennon was shot. It was exactly a week after my sixth birthday. I was not only aware of the importance of the event; I knew who John Lennon was and the Beatles were the only rock group my father ever listened to.

I also distinctly remember when Ronald Reagan was shot, as well as Anwar el Sadat.

I watched Charles and Diana's wedding on television, and I also watched Andrew and Fergie's wedding.

I remember when Prince William was born and all the dolls that commemorated the event.

I was old enough to be a Madonna Wannabe, and I was one, complete with stockings tied in my hair, lace mitts, and everything except the Boy Toy necklace (circa 1983).

I was in love with Michael Jackson when "Thriller" came out and we used to watch the "Making of Thriller" at Girl Scout parties. Thriller also happened to be my first LP album. This was before audio tapes were really popular, though. I am also old enough to remember people having eight-tracks in their cars.

I was completely obsessed with Cyndi Lauper and my first audio tape was She's So Unusual.

I am old enough to remember what it was like when people smoked everywhere, especially in airports.

I remember when Boulder's Downtown Mall was built (1978).

When I was little, we watched "The Muppet Show," "M*A*S*H," and "Sha Na Na" every week.

I remember when Princess Grace was killed in a car accident (September 1982).

I watched the 1984 Summer Olympics televised from Los Angeles and remember how obsessed everyone was with Mary Lou Retton and Carl Lewis. According to Wikipedia, that Olympics marked the premiere of John Williams's Olympic Fanfare and Theme, so I guess I'm not crazy when I consider that I have always heard that theme whenever the Olympics is on.

We happened to have cable television one summer only. These were the things we watched: MTV, HBO's Video Jukebox, "You Can't Do That on Television," and the premiere of "Fraggle Rock." We were so mad that my parents yanked the cable right when THAT came out. That summer, we watched Poltergeist on HBO about one hundred times. We saw the videos for "Every Step You Take," "Hold Me" (Thompson Twins), "Hey Mickey," and "Like a Virgin" over and over.

I think the summer of 1983 was also the summer when we got our first VCR. We were the first ones of all the kids we knew to have one. We rented Annie, Airplane! (which we weren't allowed to watch right then), and Bedknobs and Broomsticks to christen it. 1983 was also the year we got our first compact disc player, I believe. My father's friend had loaned him Handel's Water Music and this weird iridescent thing was sitting around on our dentist's cabinet in the front hallway for, like months.

I wore a Mondale/Ferraro campaign button to school for several weeks in the fall of 1984. Reagan won again, of course. The first Presidential election of which I was conscious was in 1980, when my mother voted for Anderson over Carter and Reagan. I turned eighteen three weeks after the election in 1992, so I couldn't vote until 1996, when I was a senior in college, and voted for Clinton.

I saw the three canonic Star Wars movies in the theater when they came out, as well as E.T., Ghostbusters, Amadeus, and Back to the Future. I was E.T. for Halloween the fall it was still in the theaters--my mother made the costume and QUILTED it. My parents were really strict about audience regulations and age, so we didn't see nearly as many films as other kids our age did. Movies about my generation that came out when their characters were my age: Goonies, Heathers, Reality Bites, Before Sunset, Clerks, Chasing Amy, and Mallrats, and Office Space. I saw Heathers again recently with some friends of mine who are about eight years younger than I am, and I couldn't believe how dated it looked. When it came out, it looked so brand-spanking new and I was jealous of the clothes and hairstyles.

Our family's first home computer was a PC Jr. We had Apple IIs at school and used great programs like Basic and Logo. My first computer game was King's Quest (circa 1983 and 1984).

My brother had a Nintendo II (we personally didn't have an Atari) and we played lots of Super Mario Bros. 1, 2, and 3. To this date, those are the only video games I will play (circa 1988 and 1989).

My cousins, brother and I were all at Flatirons Elementary School when the Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986. My cousin and brother saw it live. I was in fifth grade.

I was involved in a demonstration against Operation Desert Storm in 1991, when I was a sophomore in high school.

I participated in a massive school demonstration and walk-out during the Rodney King riots in April 1992. I got a terrible sunburn. I was a junior in high school.

That same spring, I watched the last week of "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson.

I was a sophomore in college when the Oklahoma City bombing occurred on April 19, 1995.

I had graduated from college on August 31, 1997, the night Princess Diana was killed in a car accident.

I was living in New York City when Matthew Shepard was murdered in October 1998. I was in a peaceful demonstration that quickly became out of control in its numbers and was nearly seriously injured by police several times. They brought in mounted police and beat the crap out of innocent bystanders. To this day I hate and detest the NYPD and I resent seeing people who were obviously tourists in New York wearing NYPD shirts, hats, etc.

I had moved out of NYC by the time the WTC was bombed in 2001. I watched both towers collapse on television and was acquainted with a few people who died in them. Anyone who has ever lived in New York has an organic connection to the city in a way that one doesn't with other places. Walking everywhere makes one much more familiar with a city and all its blocks and buildings than driving everywhere. I could see WTC from my bedroom window in Park Slope. I was 26 when September 11 occurred.

On March 20, 2003, I was involved in a massive anti-war demonstration in Chicago that grew rapidly in numbers. We took over Lake Shore Drive. The cops wouldn't let anyone leave at that point and they wouldn't let people move. My friend and I managed to escape before the block points where they were just randomly arresting people, even though anyone who was there didn't really have any control over leaving the demonstration before that point--there were just too many people flooding the expressway.

Maybe I'm a little young to be writing my memoirs. But in this town, I'm constantly told how old I am--everyone says "You look SO good for your age," and "Oh my God you are so old--what have you been DOING wasting your life away for so long before grad school?" (SERIOUSLY I have been told this more than once). But this town is a vacuum of space in terms of age, whereas 31 is considered pretty young anywhere else you go. :) If any of my readers think I'm old, check out the top of this post again and see if you think any of my comrade celebs are old. Anyway, happy spring!