Are You In My Photo?

Okay, we had this as the topic of the day a couple of months ago but that was before we really had the site up and running, so we wanted to pose this question again now that we’re getting more site visitors. Which generation has it the best–kids today with their iPods, instant messaging, TiVo, and other gadgets, or earlier generations with their freedom to play outside, less structured lives, and greater innocence?

Okay, I just have to come out and say it. Last night’s season ending episode of “Lost” was just the worst cliffhanger ever. I mean, it didn’t make me feel intrigued at all, just angry and depressed. I won’t go on about it, since there are (I am sure) forums a’plenty for that purpose, but it did get me to thinking about some of the classic cliffhangers from the last 5 decades. The famous “Who shot J.R.” is, of course, a classic example, but there were others that were pretty great. Like, does anyone remember that season-ending episode of “Cheers” where Sam proposes to someone over the phone — but we don’t know WHO? Or the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” cliffhanger where she ends up sacrificing her life to save the world (again)? I would like to know what season (or series) endings you remember as being really good — or just dreadful?

It seems to me that every generation tends to wish, at some point, that they had been born into a different era. For instance, the children of the 60’s (like me), romanticized the 1950’s to a ridiculous extent, imagining a ficticious “simpler” time of leather jackets, car hops on roller skates, dances at the gym and wholesome, “happy days”. Of course, this ignored the reality of oppressive racism, sexism, McCarthyism, the Korean War, the Cold War and backyard bomb shelters, but what the heck — I mean, roller skating car hops! So I’ve been wondering — do any of today’s youth wish they had been teenagers in the 60’s or 70’s? Will future generations long for the golden days of the double zeroes? What about you? Do you ever wish you were born into a different era — and if so, which one?