I was 1 when the sixties started and 11 when they ended. I wouldn' t call the decade "crap". But there's plenty of things I remember about the 60's that I was grateful to see changed by the end of the 70's - most particularly the laws/norms surrounding women and children.

By the end of the 70's, kids could no longer be beaten by their parents/teachers (at least in public), women were finally recognized legally as "persons", and men could no longer rape an unattached (ie single and 'unowned') woman without sanction (as long as he claimed her skirt was "too short" or something similar).

My Grade 6 teacher, mother of three sons, was deserted by her husband in the early 60's. Though the church and community rallied to support the family, the poor woman could not remarry. She needed her husband's "permission" to file for divorce, and he'd just plain vanished. I watched her struggle miserably for years. How idiotic.

If it was the counter-culture of the 60's that helped to generate these changes - along with the changes re civil rights and awareness/concern for the environment that began in the 60's - then my heartfelt gratitude goes out to the hippies!

What's disconcerting is to observe that the girls of today seem to have no idea how fortunate they are. "Feminism" has become almost a dirty word, and the young women of the 21st Century take their hard-won freedoms, educational/occupational opportunities, "rights" and autonomy and legal status for granted.    :-O   This is amazing to me; it feels like I've been living in two completely different 'epochs' or 'worlds' during only one lifetime.

Now what I can't figure out is if I'm a "Baby Boomer" or a member of "Generation X". Generation X is supposed to refer to the children of the baby-boomers, born in the 60's and 70's (approx 1961-1981) Yet I see that sometimes, people born between 1958-1964 are included as "Baby Boomers" - and yesterday I found a reference to Alanis Morrisette, born in 1958 (the same year as me) as a premiere member of "Generation X"! IF that's the case, then I'm the same generation as my oldest son, born in 1977. How can that be? ARRGGHHHH I'm confused!!! Maybe I need a musical interlude ... Whooooo am I ... who who ... who who ... Whooooo am I .... tell me who the **** am I!   

;-) daylia