This week we’re asked to write about the events that shaped our lives, the external events that made headlines. Several come to mind, including the assassinations of President Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr. But I also think about man walking on the moon, Vietnam, the gas shortage of the early 1970s.
I ended up writing a poem, “You Say You Want a Revolution,” that combined the moon walk in 1969 with the Beatles song, “Revolution,” and the transformation of my New Jersey “Y” camp, Nah-Jee-Wah from all girls to co-ed, which I did not appreciate.
Camp Nah-Jee-Wah, Milford, PA, Google Maps, Dan Lazar. This is where we danced on Friday nights right in front of Lakeside Division’s bunks. The white buildings in the back were the theater where we put on productions and the Arts & Crafts building.
I wrote a poem years ago about JFK’s assassination. I was so concerned about an older sister’s reaction at the time, because she made it clear how much she adored President Kennedy. She was in fifth grade then.
What headlines affected you?
The Whole Megillah 