The end of 2009 approaches, and while many are engaging in year-in-review pieces, I’d like you to go back further and answer the following question for me: what is your first political memory?
Follow me for the story of mine.
When I was very young, my mother and I lived with my godmother and her daughter Donna while Mom looked for a new apartment. A trip on Google tells me this would have been 1986-1988.
My godmother and Donna had cable television, and like many young people of 1986, Mom would stay up late watching MTV or playing Pac-Man on the Atari. Feel free to substitute YouTube videos and Wii in the previous sentence for your ‘the more things change’ moment for today. Mom was a musician, so music was always a part of my life in an active way from an early point.
The apartment was a bit cramped and so I slept on the floor near the couch in the living room. On occasion I would wake up in the middle of the night and hear music from the television. Donna and Mom would be up watching MTV. One video I remember seeing was REM’s Stand and today I still love hearing Michael Stipe sing. I have memories of vivid dreams from this period as well. Maybe it’s a little kid thing?
The first politically conscious memory I have also stems from a music video, in this case Land of Confusion.
I did not know much about Ronald Reagan, but I knew he was the president. I knew very little about the political process or understand anything about his authority, but I did know Mom, Donna, and my godmother would listen when he appeared on television. I did not know much about nuclear weapons beyond the useless genuflection of duck and cover I practiced in school for both earthquakes and attacks. I thought it strange that he should appear as a puppet, and such a silly one at that! But, my childhood was filled with Neverending Story, Dark Crystal, and the Muppets, so I loved the video Spitting Image put together, even though it would be years before I understood its nuances.
I knew enough to know at eight years old that Ronald Reagan was being made fun of, and I enjoyed it.
My second politically conscious memory is of many people standing on top of a wall that seemed to stretch forever. The wall is covered in graffiti and in the places it is broken, people on either side are holding hands through bars and plaster. But, that is for another diary.
What is your first politically conscious memory?
Update: Wow, did not expect this to make the rec list. The power of memory is an incredible and personal thing, thank you for sharing these.