70s Rec Room Time Capsule!!

This is a look inside a circa 1970s rec room that has been a very important place in my life....

When I am in this room - this time capsule - the calendar rolls back a few decades. All the sudden I feel compelled to go find every friend (and View-Master reel) I lost track of from my early childhood. All the sudden I can hear Debby Boone and Bee Gees songs echoing in my head. 

The Rec Room: In whatever form it took, Gen Xers remember a room like this from their youth where they played air hockey and/or Atari. The difference is that I didn't set foot for the first time in this room until after 2000.

This room is a serious 70s time-capsule. It is the rec room in a condo complex built in the 1970s that my friends used to live in until recently. In an average home, most things start breaking down after a certain amount of time which is why you find appliances and misc. items in a house from any and every decade. Hardly anyone ever used the room, so to enter it is to step back in time. Because this room sat mostly sat empty over the last four decades, everything original remains. 

There is almost nothing anachronistic about this room - a Hollywood set designer could not have done a better job of creating an era with props. My friends have sold and left their condo and have left this time capsule behind. But the 70s Rec Room Lives On. 

The room includes some very cool graphic pics of San Francisco - these pics remind me of an OP (Ocean Pacific) brand yellow/tan/earth tone tee shirt I had from that same era. In this room, I can feel the roughness of macramé on my hand or the warmth of avocado green afghan blanket on my lap.

A perfect rec room requires a kitchenette (or a wet bar depending on the nature of the event). I can't get enough of the trend-setting mirrors on the wall.

Why did I always find this room so strangely comforting and thought provoking? Maybe because when I was here it felt like we were back in time - like there was still time for more things to go right and less things to go wrong in the youth of Gen X. All these graphics, and textures, and patterns would cause me to think about the fabric of time. In this room, I would get this fleeting, and maybe childish, feeling that I could somehow go back and fix all that fell apart in those years. Doesn't everyone get that feeling sometimes? This is where I would be when I would get that feeling. 

There was more than one night in this room over the last years that we discussed multiverse theory. Imagine a hypothetical situation in which Gen X did not grow up during a Crisis era of history. Imagine all those memories of yellow and orange in the background, but no endless stream of crises along with it. 

Orange chairs cast shadows on the technicolor carpet and I feel a strange desire to drink some Tang.  While  in this room, I've marveled at how EVERYTHING around me was made in the 70s.

Remember when TVs were actual pieces of furniture? There's also a record player tucked away inside this monolith structure. This is the godfather of entertainment centers, with doors that close in front of the TV. This TV's glory days were when new episodes of CHiPs, Alice, and Mary Tyler Moore would air. When several of us friends got together here, this became a good surface for setting up a laptop to occupy the kids with a movie. (Ideally retro-style Gen X claymation when possible). 

The TV is still complete with a rabbit ear antenna. Adjusting these to get a clear picture would now be considered an obsolete skill...looking at this gives me a hankering for a Swanson's fried chicken TV dinner - the kind in an aluminum tray that you heat up in the oven....

And suddenly I get a flashback of sitting on the seats of a Southwest Airlines plane by myself as a six year old to fly from the city where one of my parents lived, to the city and state of the other. In those days, I didn't just hang out with latchkey kids, I hung out with boarding pass kids. 

Since my friends moved out of their condo there will be no more dinners or late night conversations in this room. Goodbye bygone era. Goodbye 70s room. We will miss you.

for KT and CT - thanks for all the 70s memories.

(c) 2013 writing and photos by Chloe - all rights reserved....if you know the artist who did the cool retro West Coast screen-print images above, send me a message or comment so I can give them credit!!  

When Innovation Creates Profound Compassion

I am fascinated by how people find creative and innovative ways to help others - the logistics of solving a problem and showing compassion. A perfect example of this is GIVETOKENS.org which is based in Portland, Oregon.

In just about any group conversation I've had about giving money to those living on the streets, there seem to be a couple of different ways of approaching the issue. The one I subscribe to is that it's good to give freely and how they will spend the money is up to that person. However, some hesitate to give to people on the streets for fear that the money will go toward funding an addiction of some kind. If this hesitation or concern is the only thing that is keeping you from giving to those who you pass by on the streets, this is the perfect solution. 

If you've never been without a home, it can be hard to imagine how much stress and crisis is involved in just trying to do everyday, ordinary things. There are many homeless people who have jobs, but worry about how they're going to wash their next load of laundry to be ready for the next work day. Many homeless people are looking for jobs, but figuring out how to get their next haircut may be yet another enormous challenge. While there are (limited) resources available, like temporary shelters, the crisis for a homeless person can be paying for the transportation to get there. 

The tokens from GIVETOKENS.org are specifically redeemable for food, clothing, shelter, haircuts, transportation, and other practical necessities. I got this at Poppa's Coffee Haven, where they make the coins available for purchase, and also accept them as payment so someone can get in from the cold for a cup of coffee or hot chocolate to warm up their hands and heart.

The concept is that you give the card with the coin attached so that the recipient can read the list of places on the back where it can be redeemed. While this is Portland-based, I am excited to find out if this is, or will be, available in other cities as well. Individual businesses can decide on what the value of the token will be when used at their business. The back of the card lists some of the businesses that accept the tokens, and if you go online, you will see even more. 

GIVETOKENS.org

Travis Vanstaaveren, a Gen Xer, is the creator of Sanctity of Hope and the branch of the organization called GIVETOKENS.org. His studies in business at OSU, as well as his studies in philosophy and theology at Marylhurst University, were the perfect combination of bringing together logistical business solutions for a pressing ethical issue in our society.  

This is innovation and compassion coming together in a profound way.

 Every time I turn around, I see yet another Gen Xer doing extraordinary things for the world.

Sanctity of Hope

When Your Art and Your Heart Go Out into the World

When I was in high school, I would sometimes attach a black and white photo I'd taken to a sheet of paper in a spiral notebook with some words written below it and pass it around to friends between classes for their comments. It was a sort of 20th century form of pre-blogging. It involved the potent-smelling chemicals I used in the dark room, the dark blue ink I used to write the words, the glue I used to attach the photo and bits of spiral notebook paper pieces that would fall to the floor like snowflakes when I would rip a page out of the notebook. The whole process was all very un-digital.

I spent many of my high school days in the dark room. As an introvert, I loved the safe, dark space. I loved the comforting ritual of developing a picture and then attaching it to a piece of string like a clothes line over the sink so the chemicals could drip off. I spent many of my high school days in art classes - creating collages or paintings, but ultimately there was no place for my art to really go except maybe on a shelf to collect dust. And it is difficult to put hours of work and heart into a piece and know that it will probably never really be appreciated. 

In those days, when I would get up the nerve to submit a piece of my writing to a magazine, it was usually ignored or denied.  I wasn't really sure what potential my photography or other art had either - a lot of it was mediocre and I wasn't sure how to truly improve. 

But people knew me as a storyteller, and they were always asking me to tell stories. So I would tell my stories.

And I waited. Sometimes I would share my writing ideas with people and they would tell me I wasn't good enough. Other people told me I had talent. So I lived my life, and went to school, and worked, and all the while I was punching my timecards into time clocks, the internet changed the world and bloggers started launching their words and art from their digital platforms. People began making waves in the world in ways that were not previously possible, and finally I realized I could possibly do the same. And while I waited, digital photography became available to the masses which meant there was a way for me to finally, gradually become the photographer I had always wanted to be.    

As I began to blog and to be a storyteller to a larger audience, I would always think back to the place where I first remember hearing stories - a church where the preschool teachers would tell us stories on a flannel graph in the quiet space of the church sanctuary with most of the lights off and sun streaming through stained glass - that sanctuary was peaceful to me in my childhood years like the darkroom was peaceful to me in my adolescence. And this is part of why I bring this all together for others - to help others find a peaceful place of their own or a peaceful moment of resonance, and that is why you will see a sort of flannel graph style background in a lot of my photography. It's interesting how in that sanctuary that was mostly dark and how in the dark room I felt such a closeness to God and it is interesting how His light comes to us in the darkest of places. 

If the art is in you, if the truth is in you, if some unrecognized talent is in you, hold on just a little longer, because if the form of media or platform does not yet exist for you to create on, it will probably be here soon. Of all the millions of apps that exist now and all the ways we can connect with each other it is astounding to think of what is and will be possible. We no longer have to create something only to have it placed up on a shelf. 

We are now in an age where the Pope leans over and takes a blessing first from the people, we are in an age where the gatekeepers no longer have all the power and we are not longer at the mercy of the denial letters in our mailboxes. We are in an age where we can create art or write, and with the push of a button, we are published. And because of the voice of the masses, truth can become manifest in a way that it never was before, and countries and regions can organize revolutions based on social media. Now nothing, and no one can stop your art and your heart from going out into the world. 

If you have not yet found that thing that truly inspires you and that truly allows you to create and to be truly you - just wait a little longer, we are in a time and place where new things become possible every day that did not exist the day before - hold on a little longer because there will be a platform for you and the gifts you were born with.  That thing, your thing, will come. 

(c) 2013 photography and writing by Chloe - all rights reserved 


 

Project 1979

Project1979 is about giving a generation of 30-somethings a voice - to allow us to tell our story. Those currently in their 30s are either from Generation X (younger, second wave Gen Xers) or from Generation Y.

From the Project1979 web site: 

"This project is an evolving collaborative storytelling project, designing an occasion for people to belong to something greater than themselves. It is developing a collective experience which focuses on what 30-somethings have in common, what inspires us, what has influenced our differences, what brings us together and how we belong to a generation that is neither X nor Y. The goal is to connect a generation, to focus on what we are doing right." 

Her line above about us being neither X nor Y really strikes me. As a 37-year-old, I am in the same decade of life as Gen Y people who are in their earlier 30s which means we have a lot in common. While being Gen X defines me in many ways, it is a good reminder that there are always ways for us to reach out to and connect to those around us regardless of their generation. 

Alice Venessa Bever is the creator of Project1979. She is a performer, director and educator, but that would probably only begin to describe her. I'll also add that I think she is about 79 different kinds of amazing. As a 30-something, she encourages you to tell your story as "you probably have something quite awesome to add." 

This is a project I hope to be a part of sooner or later. 

Between social media, music, performance and even nostalgic wonders, this project is building bridges - connecting people all over the world. In one of the Project1979 YouTube videos, Alice describes the project as "a totally rad experiment on the human experience."

And what could be better than that?  

www.project1979.com



Me at age 3...

Out on the back porch of a stucco house where orange marigolds grew and dotted the background of my early childhood memories. 

Gen X Valentines

This month I noticed some Gen X themed valentines floating around, so I had to share them with you....

Star Wars valentine candy boxes: I couldn't resist snapping a shot of these at the store.

I'm pretty sure I won't be taking any tips from Darth Vader on love since the kind he gave was pretty adversarial....R2D2 gives a much better kind of love - he's like the trusty friend who is ready at a moment's notice to go on any kind of adventure with you. And because he's always nice and makes cute little noises, you're always glad you brought him along. 


Below are two Valentines my daughter got from classmates at her class Valentines Day party:

The sound of tearing apart perforated Valentines really takes me back...

Batman would like to remind you that even on Valentine's Day, he is busy out there fighting for justice (although with abs like that, there wouldn't be much time left over after his workouts for much else). 
 
The 1960s was when the first wave of Gen Xers was in their earliest years, so some Gen Xers remember watching Batman on TV when the show first aired. I happened to catch a few minutes the other day of an interview with Adam West who played Batman in those days. He mentioned that those who talk about the largest pop culture influences of the 1960s will mention The Three Bs: The Beatles, James Bond, and Batman.  

 I can still hear their sound effects in my memory as the
boys at school would play Transformers on the playground.

While I didn't watch Transformers, the boys in my elementary school classes did. There were different generations of Tranformers characters. Generation 1 was from 1984-1993 which would have been the one that was the most influential on Gen Xers. This valentine came with the Transformers symbol eraser as a bonus.... 

May all your Valentine's Days be filled with retro characters from your Gen X youth. 

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(c) 2013 photography and writing by Chloe - all rights reserved

Ramona Quimby's Owl

My little one came rushing out of her classroom a few weeks ago to proudly show me the adorable snow owl she made in class - a pine cone covered in cotton with a crooked beak and asymmetrical eyes. I thought immediately of Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary. There is a scene where Ramona creates a particularly cool looking owl during art time at school only to have another girl copy it and selfishly take the credit for it. The story takes the anger we sometimes feel when things like this happen. We've all been in situations in life when other people take credit for our work. When that has happened in my life, it was good to think back to that story of Ramona's owl.  

 

 

This little guy has sat perched up on our mantle, like he has been waiting for some sort of special attention. Today, on Facebook, Beverly Cleary asked her fans to send in a photo of an animal like one Ramona and her sister painted in art class. I am sending this picture to her, along with my thanks for her endearing influence on my generation. I really loved the Ramona Quimby books - Ramona helped me to sort out a lot of my own thoughts in childhood, she sparked my imagination (I would also pretend my closet was an elevator that would make an imaginary descent) and she is a character that has been a part of me and many others my age ever since.

Thank you, Beverly Cleary, for your writing - you've  had a huge influence on Generation X. 

 

  

 

 

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Beverly Cleary has been given a very long list of awards, including  the Newberry Medal, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award.  She has been named a "Living Legend" by the Library of Congress.

Pinecone Owl copyright 2013 by Chloe's daughter