May 1968

In May of 1968, my high school class were lucky enough to travel from our little town in Michigan to Washington D.C. for our class trip.  We didn't ride luxury buses with air conditioning or even a greyhound bus.  We were loaded unto two school buses for the 12 hour ride.  We drove though the night and arrived in time to be hustled off and out to breakfast with a full day of touring  to follow. 

During that night ride, when we stopped for gas, we would hear whispers that buses of poor people were heading for D.C. as well.  Little did I know and less did I understand, that we were in the middle of something historic. In early 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had called for a spring campaign in D.C. to ask President Johnson for jobs, homes and health care.  (Sound familiar?)  After he was assassinated on April 4, 1968, his organizers decided to go ahead with it and chose Sunday,  May 12th.

Our group of about 60 arrived in the beginning of that week.  Women (that would be us ) were not allowed to wear slacks touring.  We all wore dresses and dress shoes.  Guys wore dress pants and dress shirts.  We were able to tour in small groups, chaperoned by teachers of course. All the while we were seeing bus after bus parking to let off dozens of people, some carrying homemade signs.  I wish I could say I paid attention to all that but I didn't.  We were staying in a single story Marriott Hotel.  That I remember because it was surrounded by a brick wall with roses growing on them. 

It took a hitting a wall for me to see what was happening.  Not until we arrived at the Washington Monument and looked  down the Reflecting Pool toward the Lincoln Memorial  and saw hundreds of makeshift, cardboard housing structures, did I fully understand "this is something big".   I climbed every one of those 897 steps of the Washington Monument, up to the tiny windows in the point, to take pictures of  "Resurrection City".   And..... I don't know where they are.  I've seen them through the years, tucked away in a "safe" spot. Of course...But if you saw Forest Gump and his search for Jenny at the Memorial, that's how it looked.  Mobs of people and structures.  That was out last "tour" day.

Our trip was not affected at all, by the arriving people.  We left toward the end of that week.  Our small neighboring town arrived on Friday, at the same hotel and were immediately put on lock down and could not go out at all.  The "Poor People's March" was in full force and I think the thousands of  participants unnerved the school officials in charge. The rumor was that the students tore the Marriott apart.  Tore the roses off the walls and destroyed the rooms.  I don't know what really took place, but I do know that was the last year of Senior Trips for that school.  One of my LARC friends was a Freshman in that H.S. then and confirms it.   I hope it wasn't as bad as all that.  I hope we heard exaggerated tales of teenagers

I had already experienced the assassination of John F. Kennedy and then the same thing with of Martin Luther King Jr.  I witnessed  the Poor People's Campaign and Resurrection City.  I was 17.  Boys I had dated were getting drafted and going to Vietnam.  But summer was coming and the Rolling Stones were singing  Jumpin Jack Flash and Steppenwolf was telling us we were Born to be Wild.   I was going to college in the fall and I had a boyfriend and a summer job.  Priorities.

Love and My Transister Radio

I woke up this morning with a migraine.  Actually, this was the first time that I had a dream in which, I had a migraine. Weird. So I downed my prescription meds and went back to sleep.  After the headache is gone, my brain still feels kind of bruised, so I usually lay on the couch with the curtains closed and listen to Pandora radio Motown,  on my computer, eyes closed, ....very low.

Today that brought to mind lying in bed when I was 12 -13 years old with the transistor radio I had gotten for Christmas.  That radio came in a brown leather case and never left my side through my high school years.  I have been a music lover since Elvis kissed  his hound dog on Ed Sullivan.

Of course, back then, there was only AM Radio.  Being from Michigan we could pick up some Canadian radio.  CKLW, out of Windsor,  became "the" station to tune in.  WTRX (trix to us) or WTAC (pronounced wee tac) then.  I'm sure everyone has their own memories of how important the sound track to our lives was.  Like your boyfriend's British Sterling or Dad's Old Spice can conjure an instant image, so can hearing  "Louie Louie" by The Kingsmen or "A Whiter Shade of Pale by Procul Harum".

My best friend lived across the street from me so all summer long, we were at one or the other's house for dinner and to spend the night.  That radio was always on.  How we wanted to call in dedications to one or another loves of our lives.  Of course, those boys didn't know that.  It was love from afar.  Those calls were long distance and that was nothing to take lightly.  You had to have permission to call long distance.  Only once did we ever do that.  I still remember the song.  It was "Are you Lonesome Tonight" by Elvis from all the Montrose girls to all the Montrose boys.  There!  That should show them!  They'll wish they had asked us out now.  I think we were about 14.

At 14 I started High School and dating.  The sleepovers with her became less and less.  She was 2 years older than me and was not allowed to go to dances and movies due to her family's faith.  We stayed close friends but I grew away from the idea of those radio requests.  The music then became background for dates, dances, parties, and young love and breakups.  It filled summertime cars that were cruising, and rushing to work to  serve ice cream and hot dogs to classmates that lined up at the service window, on Saturday nights.  Those transistor radios were still on,  in the background.

My sister will still call me when she hears on her radio, "We'll Sing In the Sunshine" by Gale Garnett.  It was the breakup song from my first love as a High School Freshman.  We laugh every time.  Actually, maybe she's laughing at me about it.It was a breakup song about my Freshman boyfriend.  After dating all football season, ( wore the varsity jacket and sprayed Ambush on it. ) he broke up with me to date my best friend. ( No not the neighbor) She and I remained friends and they later married.  Weren't  we mature?  I did the typical thing of sending her to talk to him for me.  That was the last time I made that mistake. We remained friends through graduation. ( She's the one with the T-Bird from another post.)  It just occurred to me that if I was 14, my sister was 11. Why does she remember this? hmmm? I think there is a sadistic joy there somewhere.  Kidding....

I love those little trips down memory lane when I'm listening to the radio or my ipod.  They can trigger anything.  "Sweet Child of Mine"  by Guns & Roses reminds me of the tanner when I was going for a Vegas trip.  It can be anything.  You never know when you'll  get to go on a little time travel journey.