73 Keep It Beautiful
December 3, 2022 8:25 PM
Can you get nostalgia from a license plate?
My memories of being an oblivious and happy kid in early 70s Ontario which to me was about big new ideas, the concrete open-concept public school I went to and TVOntario and the Science Centre and accessible healthcare (although I didn't know it at the time) and music and fun and being cool to each other and also cool cars and radios and shiny new plastic technology. Video!
My memories of being an oblivious and happy kid in early 70s Ontario which to me was about big new ideas, the concrete open-concept public school I went to and TVOntario and the Science Centre and accessible healthcare (although I didn't know it at the time) and music and fun and being cool to each other and also cool cars and radios and shiny new plastic technology. Video!
posted by chococat (6 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
Oh man, you've captured a time and place for certain people!
The family car was, for a while, a 1975 Olds Delta 88. I think it got about 3 mpg.
The elementary school I went to had a "newer" addition to the building which I guess was added in the early 70s or so, and which was all open-concept classrooms. IIRC, it was just called "the open area," and was rife with distractions.
Woe betide the teacher who was trying to run a lesson while the class in the next "room" over (there were these rolling chalkboard divider thingies that kinda demarcated them) was watching a film, which we'd all crane our necks to watch while we were supposed to be doing something else.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 7:21 AM on December 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
The family car was, for a while, a 1975 Olds Delta 88. I think it got about 3 mpg.
The elementary school I went to had a "newer" addition to the building which I guess was added in the early 70s or so, and which was all open-concept classrooms. IIRC, it was just called "the open area," and was rife with distractions.
Woe betide the teacher who was trying to run a lesson while the class in the next "room" over (there were these rolling chalkboard divider thingies that kinda demarcated them) was watching a film, which we'd all crane our necks to watch while we were supposed to be doing something else.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 7:21 AM on December 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
Thanks so much, folks.
Yeah I've read the open classroom thing subsequently being called a "failed experiment" but I freaking loved it. The the library was the "resource centre" in the centre of all the class areas, where there were those banks of huge headphones and you and 5 of your friends could go listen to Sound Effects or Abba records or whatever.
When my daughter was in middle school a several years ago she had a field trip for which they needed parent volunteers and the trip was to my old school, the one in the song, so I jumped at the chance to see it. They'd built walls everywhere and divided it all up. I wandered around and took pictures. There was still a big patch of the old stripey 70s carpet in a closet.
posted by chococat at 8:38 AM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
Yeah I've read the open classroom thing subsequently being called a "failed experiment" but I freaking loved it. The the library was the "resource centre" in the centre of all the class areas, where there were those banks of huge headphones and you and 5 of your friends could go listen to Sound Effects or Abba records or whatever.
When my daughter was in middle school a several years ago she had a field trip for which they needed parent volunteers and the trip was to my old school, the one in the song, so I jumped at the chance to see it. They'd built walls everywhere and divided it all up. I wandered around and took pictures. There was still a big patch of the old stripey 70s carpet in a closet.
posted by chococat at 8:38 AM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
Used a bit of this for the end of this month's podcast!
posted by cortex at 2:20 PM on December 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by cortex at 2:20 PM on December 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
It feels really nice to get a dose of an optimistic time!
It makes me realize that, though nostalgia has some dangerous properties, it's almost always genuine. You never think "they're faking it" when people are remembering a happier time.
posted by ignignokt at 9:24 AM on December 12, 2022 [1 favorite]
It makes me realize that, though nostalgia has some dangerous properties, it's almost always genuine. You never think "they're faking it" when people are remembering a happier time.
posted by ignignokt at 9:24 AM on December 12, 2022 [1 favorite]
This is lovely and as a kid of the same vintage and place, it does indeed evoke the ol' nostalgia.
posted by salishsea at 12:42 AM on December 16, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by salishsea at 12:42 AM on December 16, 2022 [1 favorite]
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posted by nthdegx at 1:26 AM on December 5, 2022 [1 favorite]