1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Things Younger Americans Should Know

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by wickedwritah, Jul 16, 2007.

  1. Bob Cook

    Bob Cook Active Member

    My 10-year-old son and I have matching Zero Boys/Vicious Circle T-shirts, so my work on imposing my cultural biases on a younger generation is done.
     
  2. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    I thought real hard about putting in on there, Zeke, and I only left it off because I felt like maybe I'm too close to it to say than everyone should read it. It's obviously my favorite book, because I've mentioned it 1,000 times here, and I think it should be required reading for every writer just because it's a exploration of not only emotional truth, but also storytelling. It would certainly be on my list, but I'm not sure all the academics regard it as quite the classic (yet) that we do. I think in 50 years, it will be pretty much universally praised as one of the best books ever, but again, that might just be my love of the book shining through.
     
  3. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    I've learned my lesson in linotype.
    I was six and my dad did some extra-copy editing for a typographical firm. One day he took me with him, and we went on a tour. The linotype operator asked me my name and punched it out on the keyboard. He gave me the reverse block of lead with my name on it, and flipped it to me. of course, his hands were gnarled and calloused and didn't have a problem picking it up. Mine were not and the hot metal burned my hand.
    That was my lesson.
     
  4. zeke12

    zeke12 Guest

    It's rapidly gaining status on campus. I had it (or parts of it) for three different classes in college, and you can find an awful lot of theses and dissertations on it these days.

    It's as brilliant in form as it is in language, and for that, it makes the list.
     
  5. Dedo

    Dedo Member

    DD,

    Your mention of Catch-22 reminded me of my own father-son story. For years when I was a teenager, my dad would talk about how great that book was, and how I should read it, but I always put it off because, well, what the hell did the old man know about literature?

    A few years later, I picked up a paperback copy in a bookstore and immediately fell in love with it. When I was finished, I called my dad and asked him why he never made me read it before. He laughed, and told me he wanted me to see something. The next time I was home, he took out his worn-out copy, and the inside cover was full of scribbled notes like "Page 126, 2nd paragraph." They were all of his favorite lines from the book. He didn't want to deface the pages by underlining or highlighting the text, but he wanted a record of the stuff he liked best. I spent the rest of that afternoon looking up all of the excerpts he'd noted, reading some of them aloud, and watching him crack up. Good times.

    Oh, and "The Things They Carried" absolutely belongs on that list.
     
  6. alleyallen

    alleyallen Guest

    Everyone would do well to remember that just because it's important to one generation doesn't mean it should be important to others. Elvis may be one of the defining musicians of all time, but to many in today's generation, his songs sound like cotton candy material.

    Maybe there are things we all "should" know, but I think someone got it way more accurate earlier when they say we should constantly be learning and absorbing. There should never be a limit to our desire to learn.

    That's something we should decry more than a bunch of crap from Dylan or acid-enhanced bands from the '60s and '70s.
     
  7. Sam Mills 51

    Sam Mills 51 Well-Known Member

    Come on, Lyman. You've heard of Ugly Americans. Sometimes it's because of the politics, but often it's the way some Americans tend to carry themselves.

    I'm sure some Canadiens fit your terms, as well. (None of them on here ... easy folks ... not trying to start board war) Sometimes, it's personality and sometimes it's a feeling of entitlement.

    What some feel they're entitled to is another topic altogether ...
     
  8. micropolitan guy

    micropolitan guy Well-Known Member

    Everyone should know The Gettysburg Address.

    One of the finest pieces of American literature that very concisely describes where we came from and why; the sacrifices that were made to keep us one country, and what the country should always aspire to be.

    Everyone should visit the Lincoln Memorial. For some reason, for me it was the most emotional historical place I've ever visited, except for the Vietnam Memorial.

    I'd put the copse of trees that mark the high-water mark of Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg and Little Big Horn on that list, as well. Places that talk to you more than 100 years after the fact. I haven't visited Shanksville, Pa., and the site of United 93 yet, or Omaha Beach, but I'll get there some day and I imagine I'll have that same feeling.
     
  9. imjustagirl2

    imjustagirl2 New Member

    Dedo,

    I'm sorry if you took it that way. It was more of an overarching thing that was brought to head again by that conversation. Not you in specific, but more so how I'm generally looked on as being retarded because my points of reference aren't the same as most people of my race and age. I know nothing about any 90s rock bands, really. And I'm tired of, when I say I don't know anything about it, getting jokes. So it was more a point that not everyone was raised the same, not everyone had the same interests, and sometimes just a glancing knowledge is all they'll have, or want, of a topic.

    Certainly wasn't directed to you in any way.
     
  10. FileNotFound

    FileNotFound Well-Known Member

    I watched about five minutes of prime-time television in the 1980s and '90s. I'm aware the shows existed, but I can't tell you very much about them. I know Jennifer Aniston was on "Friends," but that's about it.

    And I've never had HBO, so I've never seen The Sopranos or Six Feet Under.
     
  11. imjustagirl2

    imjustagirl2 New Member

    I've also never seen Sopranos or Six Feet Under or anything but Entourage. And now I've lost HBO again, so no more Entourage for me.
     
  12. D-3 Fan

    D-3 Fan Well-Known Member

    I know that I'm old when I still remember that Molly Ringwald was on "The Facts of Life" before starring on "The Breakfast Club" and "Sixteen Candles."  Everyone I know who is 26 or younger have never seen those two movies or know at least one character on "The Facts of Life."  Many don't know that Bob Barker used to dye his hair.  They think that Bob has had white hair all of his life. 

    Sad, just sad.  :(
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page