Fifty Year Review

1970 — 1980 — 1990 — 2000 — 2010 – 2020(+2)

"For those of you whose memories may be going
Welcome to our first (and last?) Reunion;
A final chance to glamorize the old days,
Stumble through a song or two,
And lie about ourselves a little!
There's a band, plenty of food and drink . . .”

From Follies, Book by James Goldman

 

Isn't This How We Felt In . . .

1980     

Life couldn't have changed that much — after all, don't we all feel like we are still16, or is it just me? Is Richard Nixon and Vietnam any different than Jimmy  Carter  and Iran? 

1990 

Or maybe we feel like we're 25 — Yah,
that's   it — 25!   We've   all   had our
troubles — Ronald Reagan and Iran
Contra. Mikhail Gorbachev and Lithuania.
The budget, the environment, AIDS, drugs.
1970 is looking better and better!    

2000

Maybe it seems so long ago because
it's 2000 now — Remember thinking in
1960 that we'd be 48 in 2000 — that's
impossible! How could the 1990s
produce the Gulf War, the end of the
Soviet Union, the Rodney King riots,
the OJ trial, the World Wide Web,
Oklahoma City, the Unabomber,
Monica Lewinsky, Impeachment and
Columbine?

 

2010

We finally started to age — I guess 9/11
will do that to you. Iraq and Afghanistan
— at least one constant is that the wars
never end. But Darfur, Abu Ghraib,
Guantanamo, Terrorism, Palin, Katrina,
Oil Spills, Al Qaeda, Iran, Goldman
Sachs, AIG, LeBron, the Great
Recession, Osama, Obama — does it
ever stop? Please stop.

 

2020 (+2)

Our numbers are dwindling. There came a point where seeing the “Shaker Heights High School” line in my inbox wasn’t welcomed. Too many memorials, thoughts and prayers, departed friends. We seem to have lost our way as a society, demonizing, instead of harmonizing, views that may not align with ours. And the end doesn’t appear to be in sight. I don’t fear for us so much – we’ve had the chance to live good lives, in a country that tolerated all of us. But what about our children and grandchildren?

1970 IS LOOKING BETTER AND BETTER!!
 

THE PLAIN DEALER HEADLINES MAKE THE ESSENTIAL COMPARISONS

IN THE NEWS

April 1970	April 1980	April 1990	April 2000	April 2010	April 2020(+2)
100 Massacred in Cambodia	8 Die in Hostage Rescue Mission	Second US Hostage Freed 9 Days	Shepperd Loses	Controversial Immigration Law Enacted in Arizona	Jan 6 Hearings Underway
Carswell Rejected as Supreme Court Choice	The Brethren Tops Best Seller List	AIDS Patient Ryan white Dies	Elian’s Dad Lashes Out	Health care Bill Approved	Moderna Seeks Authorization of COVID-19 Vaccine for Kids Under 6
Apollo 13 Aborts Moon Landing	Anderson Launches Independent Campaign	Walesa Says He’ll Run for President	Mt. Sinai Medical Center Closes”	United, Continental to Merge	Ford to Invest $1.5B in Electric Vehicle Manufacturing in Lorain
Senators Void Tonkin Resolution	House Supports Carter’s Draft Registration	US Plans to Pull 10,000 Troops Out of Japan, Korea	Counsel Says Clinton Probe Remains Open	LeBron Leads Cavs to Best Record in NBA	Greater Cleveland had Highest Unemployment Rate in April
McCartney’s Differences Split Beatles	US to Boycott Moscow Games	Kremlin Begins Lithuania Blockade	Web Vandals Hit Amazon, eBay, CNN	Oil Rig Explosion Leads to Gulf Oil Spill	Clevelanders Push for Lakefront Plan
Wage-Price Curbs is Outcry	SOHIO’s Profits soar 169% in First Quarter, Inflation at 18%	New Ohio Honda Plant to Export 70,000 Cars	Wall Street Frenzy: Meltdown	SEC Accuses Goldman Sachs of Fraud	Inflation Highest in 40 Years
Dow Jones @ 792.04	Dow Jones @ 784.47	Dow Jones @ 2700.45	Dow Jones @ 10,921.92	Dow Jones @ 11,205.87	Dow Jones @ 34,701.34

 

ON THE SPORTS PAGES

April 1970	April 1980	April 1990	April 2000	April 2010	April 2022(+2)
Sam Wins 2-1, as Tribe Splits (Record 3-6)	Brewers Top Tribe on HR in 11th  (Record 2-7)	Indians Defeat Yankees, 1-0, in First Home Game (Record 3-5)	Ninth Inning Blasts Seal Finley Win, 2-1 (Record 8-4)	Tribe Ends April with 9-13 Record	Ramirez Sparks Guardians’ 9th Inning Rally for 3-2 Win over A’s” (Record 9-12)
At Mansfield Relays: Shaker Ties for 1st (Kramer, Kramer, Kilroy, Balough Win Medley Relay)	Shaker Dominates All Stars (Hockey)	Shaker Defeats Parma 15-2 (Baseball)	Browns Take Brown with First Pick	Cavs Defeat Bulls – Take on Celtics	Browns trade for QB Deshaun Watson

AT THE MOVIES
 

April 1970	April 1980	April 1990	April 2000	April 2010	April 2020(+2)
M*A*S*H	Being There	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	American Beauty	Avatar	Top Gun: Maverick
Midnight Cowboy	Kramer v. Kramer	The Hunt for Red October	Cider House Rules	The Karate Kid	Lucy and Desi
Z	All That Jazz	Born on the Fourth of July	Rules of Engagement	Sex and the City 2	Downton Abbey: A New Era
Woodstock	Breaking Away	Driving Miss Daisy	Sixth Sense	The Twilight Saga: Eclipse	Spiderhead
Alice’s Restaurant	Norma Rae	Pretty Woman	Erin	Alice in Wonderland	Go Large

IN THE ADS
 

April 1970       ----->     ----->     April 2020(+2)

Campbell’s Soup          6 cans/$1.00                            1 can/$1.59

Lettuce                        15¢/Head                                 $3.99/Head

Orange Juice                29¢/Qt                                     $6.99/Qt

Rib Steak                     $1.08/lb                                    $14.99/lb

Pork Chops                  79¢/lb                                      $6.50/lb

Bacon                          59¢/lb                                      $8.99/lb

Buick Skylark                $2,726                                     Buick Lucerne $33,070

Chevy Impala               $2,388                                     $29,415

Lincoln Continental       $5,099                                     Navigator $85,710

4 bd Sussex Brick         $31,000                                   $200,000

4 bd Fernway Tudor      $38,500                                   $425,000

4 bd Onaway Colonial   $31,500                                   $299,000

                                                                  

IN 50 (+2) YEARS WE MADE IT THROUGH

1970: Cambodia and Kent State
1971: William Calley and Daniel Ellsberg
1972: Watergate and George McGovern
1973: Middle East and Alaska Pipeline 
1974: Nixon Resignation and Pardon
1975: Mayaguez and Saigon's fall
1976: Bicentennial and Entebbe
1977: Star Wars and Close Encounters
1978: Camp David and Guyana
1979: John Paul Il and Ayatolla
1980: Hostages and Ronald Reagan
1981: John Hinckley and Solidarity
1982: Unemployment and the Homeless
1983: Beirut and Grenada
1984: Bhopal and Geraldine Ferraro
1985: Mikhail Gorbachev and Michael Milken
1986: Iran Contra and the Challenger
1987: Stock Market Crash and INF Treaty
1988: Afghanistan and George Bush 
1989: Tiananmen Square and the Berlin Wall
1990: AIDS and Nelson Mandela
1991: Gulf War and Clarence Thomas
1992: Rodney King and Bill Clinton
1993: Waco and Somalia
1994: The Internet and Whitewater
1995: Oklahoma City and OJ 
1996: Art Modell and the Unabomber 
1997: Princess Di and Titanic
1998: Monica Lewinsky and Impeachment
1999: Columbine and JFK, Jr.
2000: Microsoft and Y2K
2001: September 11 and Osama bin Laden
2002: Terrorism and Guantanamo
2003: Mission Accomplished and Racial Profiling
2004: Abu Ghraib and Darfur
2005: London Bombings and Hurricane Katrina
2006: Saddam Hussein and North Korea Missiles
2007: Afghanistan and George Bush 
2008: Barack Obama and Sarah Palin
2009: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Rod Blagojevich
2010: Haitian Earthquake and Gulf Oil Spill
2011: Osama Killed and Same-Sex Marriage
2012:  Sandy Hook and Mitt Romney
2013: Boston Marathon and Government Shutdown 
2014: Crimea and Affordable Care Act 
2015: Charleston Church and Paris Terrorists  
2016: Trump and WS Game 7 Indians-Cubs
2017: Las Vegas Shootings and Charlottesville Marches
2018: Wildfires and Brett Kavanaugh
2019: Impeachment 1 and Mueller Report 
2020: COVID-19 Pandemic and Joe Biden 
2021: Insurrection and Impeachment 2 
2022: Ukraine and January 6 Hearings and Uvalde

 

WE’RE STILL HERE

"I see it all.
It's like a movie in my head that plays and plays.
It isn't just the bad things I remember. 
It's the whole damn show."

From Follies, Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
 

With my warmest personal regards and friendship,

Alan Kopit

April 25, 1980
April 25, 1990
April 25, 2000
April 25, 2010
April 25, 2022