I just want to go home

[blues90]

I don't know if I can handle anymore changes .

Sure I am a white male born in the USA in Chicago in 1949 in a middle class family as the black sheep of the 4 children . I was the one dem and I am the only one who never was goal oriented of driven by money .

The son of a carpenter who began working at 7 between the days at school . And there was my lifelong interest in music and guitar , this may have been where I went wrong , everyone dreamed of being a rock star .

I like the internet and cell phones used as a phone is nice at times . Hell just having a walkman so I could listen to my own music was a thrill but this is as far as I go with the high tech world we now seem to live in .

Now the world has changed so very much there is now place I seem to fit in so with this I miss the past , as bad as it was it was nothing like what we face now living as I do in a strange land still called america .

My heros were musicians , not politicians by definition , most are all gone now .

I like many thought we would never be in this war situation ever again , all our efforts went unheeded . I see the music we took serious now used to promote commercials selling underware and high tech gadgets .

So you can have this altered universe war on terror we now are held captive in . The box super stores and the plastic molded multitude of new space age looking cars . What ever happened to industrial art ?

I have read all the rants about a draft and I have to wonder if this is such a bad idea , perhaps it will wake this country up to a reality of horror that seems to be a hidden fate experienced only by the few who were taken away from their home against what they joined for in the first place .

The youth had better wake up soon people .

[otherlander]

1. The youth? As I recall, it wasn't the youth who elected Bush.

Twice.

Or voted for a red Congress in '02...

[blues90]

4. I'm not sure to be honest

I don't know how many old or young voted for this dictator precentage wise . Do you have any statistics because I would like to know .

[durtee librul]

7. I think what he is saying

is that it will take a draft of America's youth to wake them up to the real horrors of the war when they HAVE to go and leave all their walkmans, vid games, and other techie and luxury lives. Then and only then, will they WAKE up to what is really going on in Iraq and not some sophmoric version MSM has been feeding us all.

And all the soccer neocon mommas and daddees who think this will never happen are just plain deluded. We have a crazy man who has his finger on the red button and is all too willing to tap it to see what happens and if it makes a big bang like the July 4th fireworks and all the 'pretty' explosions over Baghdad did.

The Gramas and the Grampas will remember the 60's and the early 70's only too well.

Being a proud member of the class of '69, I can relay only too well the horrors of war and how we all had to sit thru the 6 pm news showing bodies....and may my classmates who returned home in a box RIP.

I don't want that for our kids today and the 'me' generation has to understand what we all went thru....amend that, * partied. I did too, but still did my duty.

I know hubby and I talk about the 'good ole days' as well...but we both remember the horror of getting the 'letter' from the draft in the mail....

[blues90]

9. That's right

WE had the constant reminder of the evening news showing the true horrors of war and for those who were not about to be able to kill , we had the daily wait and worry of the letter arriving with greetings on the envelope . I recall right after I got home from the draft physical which in itself was a real eye opener , the sudden flow of letters from the navy and airforce requesting I sign up before I found myself drafted .

This was a time or real terror for the youth and there was no way you could ignore this .

[tabasco]

14. The evening news was horrific. They actually showed some reality of war.

But you had the scoreboard every evening with hundreds of the bad guys killed and maybe a dozen Americans KIA. At least it looks like we will be able to stop this baldfaced corporate oil grab before we hit 5,000 KIA. If the republican criminals had their way, it would be many thousands more to die for nothing.

[otherlander]

11. Ooh, walkmen and video games.

The "me" generation. Those kids today... :eyes:

A lot of the kids back in the 60's weren't really activists, they were just going along with the hippy trend or save their own asses. Then it went out of fasion and they went on to become corporate shills. The real hippies, who really wanted to change the world, they were a relativley small group of truly dedicated, compassionate people. And this generation has that too.

[dave_p]

19. Kids today!

I reckon they're great. Yes, it's not like 1968, becuse the war's not like 1968. But even the majority are a lot less gung-ho about it than their predecessors in the mid-60s. New voters are reported to have been substantially more anti-GOP than their elders, so that's another good sign. I blame the oldies myself.

[Rex]

2. We as a species better wake up...

and...ah fergitaboutit. Humans, just keep consuming and crapping. It will be over soon.

[grasswire]

dupe

[grasswire]

3. you're not alone

It must be true that a normal and comforting function of growing older is the wish for the familiarity of the past. It's still possible to have a lot of that past with you, in the music you listen to, in shaping the activities of your daily life and your environment. It's still possible to hang out with musicians, and find interesting and compatible likeminded people. Make your world, and let the artificial new one pass by.

[blues90]

6. I would have to move from here

I wish I knew if there was a town or city where I could find anything close to the past that has not been ruined by this so called progress because southern calif is not the place to be these days .

[grasswire]

15. no wonder you're blue, friend....

...Southern California is SO VASTLY different from what it was in its golden years. Has any place changed more since you were a child and the developers started tearing down communities? I'm sure that a small town somewhere else would feel more like home. Do you live in a small town? The orange trees are gone even there, I think. The mom-and-pop main streets are overrun by cookie cutter stores, I'll bet.

But in some small towns in Northern California, a hometown feeling still exists. And in other areas of the country, it's definitely there. Even if you don't have the benefit of selling a home in SoCal, you could still live more cheaply somewhere else, probably.

I hope you can find some community.

[blues90]

16. I live in the heart of Hollywood

I moved here in 1981 at that time it was fine , much of the old look still existed and the traffic was no worse than other states I've lived .

Now all of the old shops and stores are gone and in their place are massive malls lining both sides of the main blvd's . The traffic has increased fifteen times and the drivers are much worse . Areas are now separate , there are areas dedicated to Koreans , Armenians , Russians and many others .

There are some areas that look somewhat familiar but you have to look for then burried bewteen the madness .

The schools are over crowded and no one walks at all anylonger .

I can't stand it here anymore . I still have friends back in Illinois and family there but I hear the same issues from them .

I guess you could say I have become lost and saddened by all the rapid changes . There are three McD's within a few blocks of eachother and building are there one day and gone the next with a pile of fenced in dirt with a sign of coming soon , the next abomination .

I really can't afford to move now , we should have 10 years ago like many here did . But these people moved to Seattle or further north .

My wife and I used to walk alot but now with all the traffic it is almost impossible with all the exhaust fumes and heat from the cars and no one seems to care how bad this is .

I miss the independant shops and knowing the owners by name . I can't find a decent job here to save my life and things have become so low pay and for the young as this is probably this way in many parts of the country now days .

I should have planned better and saw this coming but I felt my line of work was secure , well nothing is secure anymore .

[grasswire]

17. a relative told me that in western Illinois...

...you can rent a nice two-bedroom apartment for $325. That's in Moline, which is a fairly decent town. Here in the Pacific Northwest there's little under $700 for a modest 2BR. I suspect it's double that in Hollywood.

Get out. (Easy for me to say, I know.)

[Skidmore]

5. *Sigh* I understand what you mean.

I've found myself thinking that the Brave New World is running over me. That the amount of change is too fast and so much of it unhealthy. So much of it seems to occur not because it is essential but because there are so many people in this high tech nation that we need to keep producing so that we can support the populuation. But then WE don't really make things any more. We support our eateries and malls and, if we can't do retail, we do customer service. Too many cutesy words and slogans and too little content. I feel very tired, sometimes just physically exhausted even though I too am choosing to remain a Luddite. No cell phone, no iPod, no broadband, won't bank over the internet.... Still remember the smell of the earth, the soreness of aching muscles, and the ache of trying and not succeeding.

People are too preoccupied with their gadgetry and how to get more gadgetry to pay attention to real problems, and if something can't be resolved by creating a gadget or some software for a gadget, they don't have a clue about how to fix it. Insulated and isolated in a videogame world where enemies go "poof" to jingly little tunes when you push a button.

Yes, I understand what you are saying.

[sandnsea]

8. A different take

From someone born in '57. Maybe music and art is more appropriate in the commercial venue, as entertainment that occasionally provokes thought. Maybe civilization will be better when politicians are heroes again, as they are the ones who have the responsibility to actually implement the changes musicians can only sing about. Maybe the kids know something we don't.

[blues90]

12. The music was a reaction to the times

The protest music is what voiced the reality of the times as a revolt and helped bring us together .

We are always at the mercy of the politicians and lies , what we need now if a force to energize and join forces but it will have to come from the youth . I have had my days of rebel now it's the time for the youth . It's time to view the world as a living thing and not a product of mans whim .

Things are sped up and way out of control in any sense of reality . What we have now is not any form of reality it is delusion and hype .

I look at these tv adds when I can tolerate tv at all and see flashing bright banners and wonder about all the talk years ago of flash images that are designed to hypnotize the masses , subliminal messages .

Remember the graphics when the attack on Iraq began ? Tv is a powerful mind altering device and what you don't see or hear can hurt you .

[sandnsea]

13. They know that

They've known that for quite a whle. The graphics, music, scroll, is designed to hypnotize. They get it. They also aren't a radio generation, they're a visual generation. Their protest voice is the internet, think of Ava. YouTube. MySpace. DU!! It's different is all. Those of us of a certain age, we ALL miss the music. But we can't dismiss the voices of our kids just because it comes in a different package.

[Bluerthanblue]

10. Me too Blu- but

i also feel like I owe it to the 'youth'- (I've got sons 13-23) to not let people who should know better - do this to those who don't understand what is really happening.

I've seen enough suffering for 2 lifetimes.- And that leaves me feeling a .... ?.... 'Responsibility'? ? personal obligation?... those aren't the words I want- but all I have right now,- to do everything I can to stop this....

but I'm tired, and I want to go to bed, and I, like you, just want to go home.

Hang in there- please.
We need each other.

peace, and comfort

blu

[YvonneCa]

18. 1950 Baby, here...

...and I understand what you are saying. I like some of the newer technology, but it's not my strength, and it's quickly leaving me behind. :) The 'kids', though, the 19-20 year olds in Iraq or here were born since 1985...they have never known what it's like without all these gadgets. As far as they are concerned, life has always been like this. They don't know that it CAN be different and better.

We 'older folks' :) have an important task now, before we give up: We MUST teach them the lessons we learned in the 60's and 70's...about war, about government, about civil rights, etc. WE have to wake them up...or real life will (AL Gore calls it "A false belief runs into a solid reality, usually on a battlefield.") That's what Iraq is.

I'm tired, too. But home is not a place you live, it's what you create with people you care about.

By the way, I'm in California,too...Temecula. :hi: