Decades Of My Life Survey @ MindSay 
Here's an original survey created by yours truly to make you reach back into the times of your life.
Instructions: Start with the decade in which you were born, no matter how far back, and answer the questions related to each decade.
The Decade I was born in: The 1970's
What was it like to be a child during this decade?
It was a very innocent time. I was allowed to play by myself without much supervision at the local playground. Back then there were no Amber Alerts or big pedifile scares, all you had to do was tell your mother where you were going to be and as long as you got back for supper, everything was alright. Without video games or cable television or VCRs, there was more of a focus on music -- music grew to be my muse. I especially loved to go roller skating. The roller skating rink at the Northridge Mall in Milwaukee was the best place to listen to music, gather with friends, and escape from your parents. Saturday morning cartoons was the biggest privledge and an event -- it was the only reason to go to bed early and get up early for.
What do you remember most about the interiors of homes, fashions, and hair styles of this time?
I remember things being really bright and warm. The decor indoors was all in warm browns and oranges, like a call back to nature, but it was an artifical kind of outlook on nature. People today would consider this a throwback from the hippie period in the late 60's. However, I find it to be the main color scheme throughout the entire decade. Even photographs of my family and friends from this decade have a slight warm brown yellow tone to them, almost sepia. The fashions were wide collars and bell bottoms. Girls wore really tight jeans and just about everyone had very long hair, including the guys. It didn't matter if you were black or white, long hair was in. The more hair you had, the more cool you looked. I remember as a child seeing my mother tease her hair up in a very conservative bee hive where she would curl the ends outward. When she got the chance to go to a beauty parlor, the beauticians specialized in creating wigs as well as big hair-do's.
What are the five most significant conditions and things that make this decade different then compared to the now?
1. People smoked a lot more, in more places than you can imagine now. In fact there were a lot more people smoking cigarettes, period. I got addicted to the smell as a child. My mother was a smoker. No one warned any young mothers about smoking around their children. It was common place to see a cigarette dangled in the hand or on the lip. It was unheard of to go to a place where smoking wasn't allowed. Also non-smokers were a lot less pushy. Even though there was a "no smoking" ad campaign, there was no big national agenda to get people to quit or raise taxes on cigarettes. Cigarettes were very cheap, too. I remember when they were only $1.00 a pack.
2. There were more functioning stores. Shopping malls were very busy and made shopping more of a celebrated event. Old building that are now depressingly empty all along the northside of Milwaukee were once full of booming businesses.
3. People had more sex out in the open. Even as a child I was not blind to it. I figured it out. I wasn't stupid. Sex was everywhere. More so then because there were no AIDs scare. Back then the biggest thing to worry about was Herpes! And no one died from Herpes. Several times when I was being baby-sat, my babysitters would bring over boys and, yes, I did peek in on them in innocent wonder. When I told my mother what I had witnessed, I was viciously spanked and was very angry that I was punished. Sure, my mother fired the babysitter, but why did I have to get hit on the bottom for reporting it? My mother explained simply that I wasn't supposed to see something like that. Screw you!
4. People could swim in Lake Michigan. I remember fondly that sometimes it was standing room only at the eastside Milwaukee beaches. Lake Drive was lined with cars. When my family made plans to go to the beach, we sometimes had to walk a mile or two from where we parked to get to the beach. You don't see people in Milwaukee filling up the beach anymore like that. Now the only time you see a crowd there is during the fourth of July Summerfest fireworks.
5. There were more midnight movies and drive-in theatres. At the tail end of the decade, I could sneak out of the house with a babysitter or lie about sleeping over at a friends house and go to a midnight movie. My mother has no idea how many horror movies I got see that I wasn't supposed to see at my age! And the greatest thing about drive-ins was you could sneak in a lot of people to see a movie, bring your own junk food, and make your movie going experience an interactive one. Besides "Rocky Horror Picture Show" there were several other movies where people would yell at characters in the movie or get up in front of the screen and do a performance, especially when the movie was bad or missing a reel!
The Decade I was a teenager in: The 1980's
What was it like to be a teen during this decade?
It was both a blast and very annoying. I rebelled a lot because I lived in such a strict household. My mother moved us south to Springfield, Missouri so she could attend Bible College to become a missionary. In a decade where there was increasing experimentation in music, art, and culture, I was stuck in a place where no radio stations or stores were open on Sundays. Besides being a rebel, I learned to lie a lot to get away with things more. Not that my mother was gulliable, on the contrary, living with her was like dealing with homeland security -- I had no privacy, and even when I thought she wasn't on to me, she was and what little privacy I tried to create for myself was gone! I think the main things I enjoyed during the '80s was my exploration with my hair. Pop music really moved me during this time, too. It was in everything I did. My mother would buy me only clothes she felt were "no sexy" of which I would rip the shoulders and collars out, painted them with spray paint and drew on them with Sharpie magic markers. I wrecked a lot of clothes from the Goodwill, too. I would everything in power to get out of the house. I wanted to do all the things my friends were having fun doing that I wasn't allowed to do because my mother wanted to keep everything Christian -- this meant simple things like listening to the radio, watching MTV, and staying out late. I did what I could to spend as much time at my friends' homes each weekend. I was a teenager and I wanted to LIVE!
What do you remember most about the interiors of homes, fashions, and hair styles of this time?
I remember brighter colors with splashes of metallic tones. Designs were more bold yet cold -- sort of like Patrick Nagel paintings with triangle shapes and stripes contrasted with a kind of comic book/pop art influence. There were more puffy sleeves and shoulder pads in dresses that made you feel like a football player at times, like women were supposed to have this square boy-like shape to the top of their figure. Lycra and spandex were the stuff of my shorts and leggings, over which I'd wear overly large T-shirts with the collar cut out of them so I could slide them off the shoulder. Instead of just having long hair, the thing to do with your hair now was to buy as much Aqua Net as possible and style your hair upwards, but the effect was not to achieve a beehive like my mother had in the '70s, the goal was to have hair that reached new hieghts of extravagance. Girls "ratted" their hair up into big puffs of curls. One popular style I adopted was to put mousse on the sides of my hair til it was almost flat, then bring up the hair higher like the look Winona Ryder had in Heathers.
What are the five most significant conditions and things that make this decade different then compared to the now?
1. There were no cell phones! When you heard someone talking to their self you knew it was because they were crazy, not because they were talking into a phone. The very few cell phones that people had were HUGE and so clumsy to carry that only important business people or drug dealers had them.
2. Music videos made the news. Whenever one was made, they'd show a preview clip on Entertainment Tonight or on a national news show. I'm serious! Music videos were like new movies. Turning on MTV was a trip! There were no shows other than interviews being played on MTV. Nothing but music. And if you didn't get MTV, there was FRIDAY NIGHT VIDEOS! Every Friday night after midnight this show came on to showcase the most popular videos of the week. Sometimes they would air this show several times late at night, just after ELVIRA, MISTRESS OF THE DARK (another show I miss).
3. Russia was supposed to bomb us, but they never did. The end of the world could come at any moment. Russia was greatly feared to be the next world power and I remember this pressure put on me at church to "make sure Jesus was in my heart" so I wouldn't die and go to hell in case we got hit with the bomb. What made it worse were the "what if" television movies and series that played on everyone's fear of the bomb. We'd all watch the skies for "signs of the end times" to the point of hysteria. I'll never forget those old fears. Later I realized that my mother's church was exploiting the national fear of a Russian bomb as a means to scare us into buying into the Penecostal Christian religion. Christianity is supposed to be a religion of love, not fear. That really frustrated me. I learned to hate and be skeptical towards church because of this.
4. You couldn't go anywhere without hearing music fueled by synthesizers. Pop music was especially over produced with electronic means of sound during the 80's -- to the point where it has become the signature sound known as New Wave. This new style of music was a lot of fun -- there was this feeling that we'd all be living in a Bladerunner kind of future while listening to this music. However, the synthesizers got overblown towards the end of the decade. Techno and Electro would soon take the New Wave over to later become Dark Wave in the 90's.
5. Everyone suspected that there was a national Satanic epidemic. Seriously. Oprah, Geraldo, and Donohue all did talk shows about it. I think it all started with the advent of regressive therapy, where people underwent hypnosis to unlock secret childhood memories and were led to believe that they were previously abused by Satanists. It was believed that Satanists sacrificed babies and animals and they could be living next door. Look out! It was such an hysteria in my predominantly conservative Missouri neighborhood that people were hosting bonfires -- in a Nazi-like euphoria -- where they'd burn anything they suspected was Satanic. A lot of Heavy Metal albums were burned that you could smell the melting vinyl miles away. It was like a modern day witch hunt. My mother suspected I was a Satanist for simply wearing black and sneaking out at night. Her neighbors led her to believe I was part of a cult and so I was put through a weekend of "cult deprogramming" of which I will never forget. The only abuse I saw happening was the abuse given me by the church Youth Pastor! He'd slam Bibles in my face and scream out scripture with a chorus of men who had tied me to a chair and left me in an empty room, refusing to give me water or food until I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Personal Savior and denounce Satan and all his demons. Every time I laughed at the ridiculousness of my situation, the more they preached and screamed at me. I was simply a rebelous teenager, not a demon-possessed wench. But I played up to it. Learned to lie to them. And began to lead a life of deceit just to please my mother who was way too influenced by this hysteria. When later the Satanic Hysteria turned out to be a hoax, people still believed in it so much it was like some Christians were more focused on the Devil than they ever were over Jesus. What a bleeding shame!
The Decade I became an adult: The 1990's
What was it like to be a young adult during this decade?
Refreshing! I was finally free from the clutches of my family and ready to make my mark on the world. 1990 was a year of sexual exploration for me as well as one of extreme drama. Musically, the 90's still felt like part of the 80's until 1994 when Kurt Cobain died. College was more of a social thing, like a glorified high school for me, but even though I felt like an adult, I still wasn't ready for responsibility. I certainly recklessly dated bad men during this decade, too. With new advents of technology, communication was being made easier, but with that also came a lot of miscommunication between people. This was also the decade I became more aware of social issues and war. I learned how to speak out more, that my voice had power, and my opinion mattered.
What do you remember most about the interiors of homes, fashions, and hair styles of this time?
Things got boring for me. The 90's were a kind of gray period for me, like it was a decade that couldn't decide what to be. There were a lot of revivals in styles harkening back to previous decades. I do remember glittery sweaters and sequin dresses being popular for a time in the early 90's. Since I was in college, I became more educated about art and it seemed like the most exciting thing happening in the art world then was a rebellion against conformity which only served to become conforming! I also remember that club hopping was more fun and that people tended to dress outrageously just for the occasion of going out, however in the small city I was in the thing to do was to "dress up" for Raves -- most of which were outlawed as soon as someone started talking about it. We partied in a lot of abandoned barns... not the most glamourous place for the kind of party we wished could attend in the big cities. As far as hair styles went, anything goes! Especially with grunge -- you could get away with wearing wrinkled clothes and unwashed hair, mix-matched socks and patches. My favorite piece of clothing was a pair of purple velvet leggings and a large paisley top with chiffon and lace bell sleeves ripped into shreds on the ends that I wore underneath a worn out sweater with holes in it. I also remember more women wearing big boots with wedge heels like combat boots gone frilly.
What are the five most significant conditions and things that make this decade different then compared to the now?
1. More gay people were coming out of the closet. There seemed to be a national observance of gaiety going on and more and more of my friends were pressured to proudly be OUT. As more and more people were coming out, the more society was pressured to accept them. The goal wasn't just for tolerance but for equality. Coming out was a stand against hypocricy and injustice. In the previous two decades there was a lot of gay activism going on, but it seemed to be reaching a peak in the 1990's.
2. Pop music became recycled and the only alternative was to start listening to alternative music. It was like Kurt Cobain's death was killing the metal and grunge for awhile, at least only in music videos, that is. MTV started to play more hip hop music and R&B videos. Rap music styles even infilitrated metal music, too. It was really kind of strange. Gone was your typical classic rock styles, too. Every singer was adapting to a more soul music style of singing. There seemed to be a homogenization of culture in the music world, like everything started to sound the same. Even music videos were getting to be looking alike. The videos were becoming cliche -- with bikini clad women surrounding Rap stars and Rock stars like harems of bubble butt whores!
3. People began to recycle more. You could now be fined for not recycling your garbage. My university campus became more "green" as there was more of an emphasis on saving the planet.
4. Less and less people could smoke. More public places were ruled non-smoking areas making it difficult for people to light up.
5. More of my guy friends were sent off to war. Whether it was the Gulf War or Bosnia, if you happened to pay your way through college by joining the armed forces, you could now expect to actually be in a war. It was the first time I ever had to deal with my friends facing unknown dangers. It really left me wondering whether or not I'd ever see them again.
The Decade that is NOW: The 2000's
What was it like to be alive in this decade?
Sort of surreal. It was like the year 2000 was such a milestone of a turning of the century that I expected it to be much more futuristic, but in a negative way. In the 1980's it was like I was led to believe that we'd all be living in bomb shelters or wearing gas masks due to pollution. I didn't expect the 21st century to be normal, average even. I also keep expecting this new decade to have its own distinctive look or culture, not so homogenized or conservative. It's like the world has taken a few steps backward culturally.
What is most distinctive about the interiors of homes, fashions, and hair styles of the current era?
Things seem to be suburbanized. Homes and cars aren't as interesting looking, more like boxes. Most cars are silver or black, looking like enlarged electric shavers. In fashion there is still a revival of looks from the 70's but more stylized. Odd color scheme pairings like teal green with brown. Glitter has made a comeback and having shiney lip gloss is all the rage. I've noticed that more black women have the taller and bigger hair styles now. Piercings and tatoos are mainstream now. The Gothic look has lasted longer than anyone predicted. Women's earrings have gotten larger again, but now the look is more ethnic in origin, with dangles like the styles of Indian women.
What are the five most significant conditions and things that make this decade different compared to the past, in your opinion?
1. Cell phones are so common place that they've made public pay phones obsolete. It's cheaper to have a cell phone than it is to have a ground phone. Also, never before has talking on the phone been so annoying! People talk on their cell phones and hold private conversations about personal issues that they are oblivious to anyone nearby who are forced to listen. When someone out of the blue seems to start talking to them self, they are actually wearing a small cell phone with headphones while they are doing ordinary things like shopping or walking down the street. It's also now more difficult to make a call using a public pay phone. Public pay phones have become more expensive than cell phones. Businesses are forced to let their pay phones go with little to no notice for their customers who may need them in case of emergency or if their cell phone is down. Cell phones have made communicating with other people more accessible, but they've also made it difficult for anyone to have any peace.
2. There are more computers. In the previous decades computers weren't as necessary, now they are everywhere. Wireless lap tops has freed the user from being confined to a computer at home. Computers have made most cash registers obsolete as well. Computers have become even more compact. It seems like the smaller and more handheld they get, the more they are common place to use. Gone are the big, crappy computers of previous decades.
3. There are more reality TV shows. But the reality shown on camera is rarely believeable or that entertaining. MTV's Real World was a fun show to watch for the first three seasons, but then it got old as it became all the rage. Survivor, American Idol, The Anna Nicole Show, Breaking Bonaduce... How far will these phenomenon go on until we're finally fed up and long for a good old fashioned fictional drama where celebrities are real actors again?
4. You can't swim along the shores of Lake Michigan anymore in Milwaukee. Sewage leaks and ecoli scares have made swimming at the beach intolerable. Gone are the crowds that used to gather there to swim and soak up the sun. Now the shoreline is more stinky than ever. The algae and seagulls are obnoxious. You can't go anywhere without stepping in poop or crap. It's really sad.
5. It's harder to tell if you're actually "going out" with someone or just having a "friendship with benefits" now. It used to be if you went "all the way" that it meant your relationship with someone is now officially exclusive. Dating is more confusing now. Men have gotten more ambiguous with women. Having sex isn't that big of a deal. If you have sex, it could be just sex now, not a sign that you are indeed dating someone. If someone cuddles with you or holds your hand, they are just seeking attention not necessarily expressing a desire to become your boyfriend. Even when I've asked for confirmation of the relationship, men hedge and don't give clear answers. Giving head has become more common place because it's considered a "safe" form of fornification. It's all bullshit. If you give someone a blow job it is oral sex and you can still catch AIDs from that, too. As a result of my experiences of sex in the 21st century, I've become very jaded!
