The Book Of Me, Prompt #12: The Year You Were Born

The Book of Me, Prompt #12: The Year You Were Born

This week, we are prompted to write about what happened the year we were born.  I was born in 1978, and, honestly, most people don't look back at that period with much positive nostalgia.  Disco was king in the pop music world, the U.S. was smack in the middle of the mediocre Carter administration, and another energy crisis was looming.  However, researching for this exercise made me realize that a lot of important things in history, sports, and pop culture DID happen in 1978, which made me feel better about this era in which I was born. (The events are not listed in chronological order, but they all occurred sometime in 1978.)

TV
- Premieres of Dallas, The Incredible Hulk, and WKRP in Cincinnati, Mork & Mindy
- Other popular TV shows: Laverne & Shirley, Three's Company, Happy Days, Taxi, and M*A*S*H

Mork & Mindy

Print
- Carl Sagan is awarded a Pulizter Prize for his 1977 book, The Dragons of Eden
- Cartoonist Jim Davis creates his Garfield comic strip

Garfield and Friends

Movies
- Grease, Superman, National Lampoon's Animal House, The Deer Hunter, The Wiz, Halloween

Music
- Popular Songs:
     - Night Fever, Stayin' Alive, and How Deep Is Your Love by The Bee Gees
     - You Light Up My Life by Debby Boone
     - Baby Come Back by Player
     - Just The Way You Are by Billy Joel
     - Lay Down Sally by Eric Clapton
     - We Will Rock You / We Are The Champions by Queen
     - Take A Chance On Me by ABBA
     - Dust In The Wind by Kansas
     - Last Dance by Donna Summer
     - Grease by Frankie Valli and You're The One That I Want by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John

Sports

- Super Bowl XII: Denver Broncos vs. Dallas Cowboys.  Dallas wins 27-10.

- PGA Master's Champion: Gary Player

- Wimbledon: Bjorn Borg defeats Jimmy Connors; Martina Navratilova defeats Chris Evert

- NBA: Washington Bullets defeat the Seattle Supersonics in seven games.

- Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens defeat Boston Bruins

- Indianapolis 500 Winner: Al Unser (his third win)

- Major League Baseball World Series: New York Yankees defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers

- FIFA World Cup: Argentina defeats the Netherlands

- U.S. Thoroughbred Racing: Affirmed wins U.S. Triple Crown, just barely beating out rival Alydar in the Belmont Stakes.  There has been no U.S. Triple Crown winner since.

International News

- Solomon Islands gain independence from the United Kingdom.

- Roman Catholic cardinal, Karol Wojtyla becomes Pope John Paul II.  He remains pope until his death in 2005.  (This was a huge deal for my Dad's side of the family, who were Polish Catholic.)

- First "test-tube" baby born in Britain.

- American followers of cult leader Jim Jones commit mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana, South America

- Isralei Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat sign the Camp David Accords at Camp David, Maryland, in the presence of U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Begin and Sadat later win the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize.

Sadat, Carter, and Begin at Camp David, Maryland (Source: Wikipedia)

U.S. News
- Margaret A. Brewer becomes the first female general in the U.S. Marine Corps.
- First legal gambling casino in the Eastern U.S. opens in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Local News

- I was born in the Cleveland, Ohio area.   At the end of January 1978, Cleveland experienced extremely bad blizzard conditions, which essential shut down Northeast Ohio and lead to 51 fatalities.  Considering that I was born in early November 1978, this weather event likely played no small part in me being here today (do the math :-)  Click HERE for a short slideshow of some incredible photos from the event.

Front Page of The Cleveland Plain Dealer, January 27, 1978

The Book Of Me, Prompt #11: Military

The Book Of Me, Prompt #11: Military

On this Veteran's Day, as on every Veteran's Day, I will take some extra time to remember my maternal grandparents, Dina Licciardi Bellan and William Bellan.  Both served during World War II.  My grandfather, a child of Croatian immigrants, was in the U.S. Army, 37th Infantry Division, 134th Field Artillery.  He fought in the Bougainville Campaign in the South Pacific during the War.

William Bellan

William Bellan with some of his fellow infantrymen, Cleveland Plain Dealer, 1944.

My grandmother was born in northern Italy and immigrated to the U.S. with her parents when she was about six years old.  Her father served in the Italian Army during World War I.  She joined the U.S. Coast Guard SPARS, which was a women's division of the Coast Guard created in 1942.  She spent most of her time working and training in Florida.

Dina Licciardi Bellan

My grandmother kept a wonderful photo album documenting her time in the Coast Guard.  There are photos of her and many of her fellow SPARS and visiting servicemen, as well as photos of their training drills and facilities in Florida.  Many of the photos in the album are labeled with individuals' names and where they were from.  I tell myself that someday, if I ever get the time, I am going to use my "awesome" genealogy skills to track down the descendants of her friends pictured.  I do know that she kept in touch with a few of her Coast Guard friends until she passed away in 1997.

Page from Dina's Coast Guard Photo Album.

After the war, they both returned to live with their parents in their hometown of Cleveland, Ohio.  They met each other at a local USO event and were married in 1947.  Here is their engagement announcement from the local Catholic War Veterans newsletter dated 2 Feb 1947:

The Book Of Me, Prompt #10: Unexplained Memories

The Book of Me, Prompt #10: Unexplained Memories

In this week's prompt, we are encouraged to discuss any memories of our past that we have that either don't make sense in a certain context or ones that we fully don't understand, etc.  This prompt is difficult for me, because I have a *very* good memory.  I remember people and places and events from when I was as young as 3-4 years old, and it's not because older people have told me about them.  My memory was my greatest asset in school, and it is undoubtedly the main reason I always did so well in school.  My memory is very spatially-oriented.  I would be taking a test at school, and I could actually picture where in my study notebook or textbook that particular fact or information was located.  I think this spatial memory, if that's what you want to call it, is also why I love reading and looking at maps.

So, the answer to this prompt, is no, I don't have any unexplained memories but I have a TON of other memories, so watch out if you cross me, because I WILL remember.  :-)