Where Were You During the Reagan Years?

[Plaid Adder]

[Feanorcurufinwe]

1. On Dead tour

[VelmaD]

2. I was an angry teenager...

who LOATHED Reagan.

[supernova]

3. 20-something

In college and young married.

I hated Reagan and marched against him at every opportunity. I lived in the Washington area after I left college.

[gpandas]

4. i'm oldest so far,dammit

[livetohike]

5. Thirty something and wondering

how in the world my generation of baby boomers could have allowed Reagan eight years in office.

[woofless]

14. You read my mind

word for word. Same here.

[greatauntoftriplets]

26. Same with me.

Still shake my head at that one.

[Magrittes Pipe]

6. Hey!

What about us (I was born in '75) who were no longer infants; but (until the very end of the administration, anyway) not yet adolescents?

I demand to be counted, dammit!!!

[TheDebbieDee]

7. Twenty-something...........

and in the military because there weren't any good jobs. The economy sucked and prime lending rates were somewhere in the neighborhood of 18%, IIRC.

[Misunderestimator]

10. Which reminds me....

of a house I bought that was built in 1820. We tore down a wall that was added in the master bedroom built by someone who had owned the house in the 80's. In it he had placed a piece of paper with some tidbits of information on the time, including the fact that his mortgage had an interest rate of 18%. Ah, yes, those were the days.

[trogdor]

24. Me too.

Army 1982-1997. Don't ask me why I stayed.

[TheDebbieDee]

37. Why....I was Army, too, from 82 - 91.

Stationed at Ft. Jackson, Ft. Sam Houston, Ft. Bragg, 3rd Infantry Division in Wuerzburg, Germany, Ft. Sill, Ft. Leavenworth, 86th Evac in Saudi Arabia.

Did I hit on any of your duty stations?

[Misunderestimator]

8. 18 - 26

[demnan]

9. 20 something

Just out of college and working at a sucky administrative job because the economy was a mess.

[David__77]

11. 5-13

My formative political moment was in early 1986, at age 11. The contras, and iwcked apartheid, awakened me to the world. Otherwise, I might have ended up a rightist like my father.

[jeff30997]

12. Back then i was more interested in having sex...

(You know,teen full of hormone and so on)But i was watching politic a little bit and i really hated Raygun.In those days it was only a gut feeling but after growing up a little and analysing his presidency,it confirmed what i initially thought:This man was a catastrophe not only to the US but for the rest of the world as well.

[Susang]

13. 15 to 23

High school through college. The original Generation X (as defined by Douglas Coupland). Post boomer, and the first generation to do worse than our parents.

[Lestat]

15. I was born in 1982...

so...I was a baby/small child. :)

[russian33]

16. Behind the Wall, the Iron Curtain...

..in the Evil Empire...thinking of nothing but destruction of USA....but as soon as I heard Ronald Reagan say 'Gorby, tear down this wall!', and even though I didn't understand any English at the time, I said 'My God, USSR is bad, Communism sucks and God Bless America and it's Presidents Bush and George Dubya (I'm also psychic)....

:P :9 :7 B-)

[supernova]

18. LOL! Welcome to the West

you evil eastern villian you! :D B-)

[KinkyDem]

22. I was digging a fallout shelter

in my back yard. I had plans, a gieger counter, air purifiers and water pumps, electric lights the whole 9 yards.

I was sure that crazy bastitch was gonna get us all killed.

I was 10 when he took office.

[MissMillie]

17. 16 when he was inaugurated

24 when he left office, so I was an adolescent at first and twenty-something later in his term.

[noonwitch]

20. Same here-16 in 1980, 24 in 1988.

I started being a social worker in 1987, under his watch. It was rough to be a children's services worker in Detroit in the 80s. Not enough resources, not enough staff, and a falling apart city. When Clinton was president, there was a lot more money available and standards were laid down at a federal level that states had to adhere to in order to get federal money. Caseloads went down from my 1988 all time high of 65 to the average 20 we have now. Thank you Bill Clinton for making this country a better place for abused and neglected kids!

[Susang]

21. Are you originally from Detroit?

Just curious, as I was born and raised there & apparently we're only a year apart in age. Wonder if we ran in the same circles.

[ronnykmarshall]

19. Twenty something

and in GOP-Reagan loving country (Bakersfield, CA) for the bulk of his term (81-86).

Moved to SF in 1986 and spent the rest of his and Poopies term with fellow liberals.

[pink-o]

23. 26 in 1980, 34 when he left office

So I lived thru Nixon and Watergate as well when I was adolescent.

Got a social conscience at the age of 13 (1968) after assassinations of MLK, RFK and the escalation of the Vietnam war. Hated LBJ. Hated Nixon and Kissinger worse after the illegal invasion of Cambodia and Laos. Hated Raygun with a passion for creating homelessness in America, ignoring the AIDS crisis, and validating the Christian fundies' power base.

When Clinton won the election in 92, I falsely believed we were finally moving forward. Now I'm right back where I was in 1968, fighting the system, and incredulous that each repig in the Oval Office is f**king worse than the last!!!!

Man, I'm gonna be 50 in December! (Sagittarius, thru and thru. Aren't we all born sociologists?) I'm getting WAAAAAAY to old for this shit! At the rate of de-volution, WTF is this country gonna be like when I hit 100??????

[Crewleader]

33. Join the club Arielle

50 in April! :hi:

[m-jean03]

25. I was a giant Bunnyrabbit named Frank

I had a friend named Donnie D.

[elfwitch]

27. 9-21 (If you count Bush I)

9-17 if you only count Reagan.

I am squarely in the demographic of the first MTv generation. I wore Jellies. I had a members Only jacket. I listened to the Cure.

[skippysmom]

28. 8 when he was elected; 16 when he left

My first political memory was of the hostages in Iran and hearing Walter Cronkite telling us every night was the "xth day of captivity." I still think Reagan's campaign worked with Iran to release the hostages after the election.

Ugly years...and not just because of the clothes.

[amandae]

29. 4-12

Just a kid ... honestly, I didn't pay attention to too much outside of my own crazy (extended) family at those ages and trying to survive the insanity without too much damage ...

[ThoughtCriminal]

30. Unemployed

many times as the companies I worked for went under.

[Emboldened Chimp]

31. 8-16

Thanks for the memories.

[Crewleader]

32. 26-34

Having my son Sarge at 32.

[tilsammans]

34. 28-36

I mourned for Reagan once before -- wore all black to work the day after the 1980 election.

Was unemployed twice during those years due to downsizing and corporate bankruptcy.

Bought a car at 13+% interest.

I couldn't imagine anything worse than Reagan -- until Shrub came along.

:mad:

[jonnyblitz]

35. late teens thru twenties...I was in the navy from 84 on.....n/t

[ulysses]

36. that'd be adolescence.

1980 was just a banner year. Reagan, John Lennon, I was diagnosed with cancer...I remember a quote from Yoko Ono about how "John believed that the 80s would be a great time and they still will be." Mmm-hmm.

[geniph]

38. Had just turned twenty on Election Day 1980

Bastard ruined my 20s. But he also made a political activist out of me.

[bicentennial_baby]

39. Other: Ages 5-13