Where were you when you heard of President Kennedy's assasination?

[32aa]

I was in eighth grade. It was lunch time and the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders were all in the lunch room just being rowdy and noise kids. Suddenly the lunch room moderator stepped up the microphone and told the whole room the news. For the rest of the day all of the classrooms had news broadcast in the class rooms.

Some kids could have cared less. Others were somber. I remember a few girls with teary faces.

I'll never forget that day. All of our innocence taken away.

 

[AG31]

Heading into German class in college and hearing it had been cancelled.

 

[SeraphNocturne]

In my grandmother, probably. My mother wasn't born until 1969.

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

Not even a twinkle in my daddy's eyes.

 

[12oclocktales]

Seventh grade science, fortunately the last period of the day. School was dismissed early, teachers in the hallways making sure no one took this news lightly. I remember being told to remain silent until we got outside.

 

[Levorotatory]

It has been a long time since I could answer a "where were you" question with "not yet born". Thanks for making me feel a little less old, even though I probably have more days behind me than ahead of me.

 

[samhasstories]

I guess I was probably in social studies class, 20-odd years later.

 

[Blind_Justice]

In either of my dad's balls. It would take another twelve years for me to be born.

 

[Zootonius]

So, trying to find out who the old fogies are! (raises hand)
When I came home for lunch from second grade.

 

[intim8]

I just missed it. Got born in time to watch the moon landing live on TV though.


Nowadays, it's where were you when 9-11 happened.
And I remember where I was when John Lennon was murdered, when the missiles started hitting Baghdad in green night-vision live on TV, and when the Berlin Wall fell.

 

[alohadave]

My parents were 9 years old...

 

[intim8]

In either of my dad's balls. It would take another twelve years for me to be born.

That's almost creepily specific, but I should talk, I have a story working where an 18 year old girl has seen video of herself being conceived.

 

[MrPixel]

I just missed it. Got born in time to watch the moon landing live on TV though.

I’m old enough to recall Neil Armstrong playing poker at our kitchen table with Dad’s game-night buds. Well before he was a household name.

Answering: Mr. Whytal’s 4th grade class, third desk back in the rightmost row, next to the cabinets. School was dismissed for the day to send us all home. This was before busing; it was a neighborhood school.

 

[Pabiporffor]

I was shooting cans on a grassy knoll.

 

[Voboy]

Nowadays, it's where were you when 9-11 happened.

Decreasingly. I work with adolescents, and it's been MANY years now since any of them could remember 9/11.

Modern adolescents don't really have moments like that. We had 9/11, or the Challenger, or whatever; they've got nothing, really. My earliest flashbulb memory was when when Reagan got shot, though the release of the hostages from Iran is something I dimly remember seeing on TV as well.

 

[intim8]

or the Challenger

Oh, yeah, how could I forget that? I woke up to my roommates' poker game still going on from the night before. I was following the shuttles then, and I knew the launch was that morning, and that I had overslept seeing it.

Me: "How did the shuttle launch go?"
Rommate: "It blew up." Without even looking up from his cards.
Me: "Haha." Turned on the TV....

 

[la_ruche]

Dad was 13 so I was far from a glint in his eye.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Not even a twinkle in my daddy's eyes.

Same here. And as I'm 55, I don't get to say that too often.

 

[32aa]

So, trying to find out who the old fogies are! (raises hand)

My hand is up.

 

[djrip]

Modern adolescents don't really have moments like that. We had 9/11, or the Challenger, or whatever; they've got nothing, really.

They've got the pandemic.
It's not a visual moment on TV, but I was struck in the first weeks by how it was literally all anyone, anywhere, was talking about. Standing in line for lunch, the people in front of me were talking about it. Walking down the street. Commentators on the golf game on the TV at the DMV. Nothing else in my experience was so widely impactful to everyone, even 9/11 was a thing that happened to other people or on TV for most of us.

 

[la_ruche]

They've got the pandemic.

But it was a slow start, not a big bang.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

They've got the pandemic.

I'm sure that's something none of us will ever forget.

 

[bobb_sledd]

I was five weeks short of 3-years old.

 

[R. Richard]

Working in a computer lab.

 

[Omenainen]

In my mom’s ovaries. Well, not when I heard about it, but when it happened.