1976

Margaret Nelson

>>>>>>>>>>> The Year in Review: 1976 The last 366 days, because of it being a leap year, were packed full of conflict, resolution, musical beginnings, and the odds and ends that make up any year. Looking over my notes, idea log and pieces for the paper, I'm amazed we all made it through, and yet, it was like any other year; everything changes, and everything stays the same. Less than two weeks into the year, I had to fill-in for our sports guy on the Philadelphia Flyers and the Soviet Red Army hockey game. I don't know much about hockey but boy were those Soviets shaken in their boots, leaving the ice and whining about the violence. Those Flyers showed them who was boss, blowing them off the ice, 4-1 and now they know how things are done over here and they better watch out! It wasn't my last run in with sports for the year, but at least with the Olympics there was a little more variety in the events. It's too bad that all those Eastern European athletes showed up to win though, with that young Nadia from Romania winning three gold medals and scoring seven perfects tens! Soviet Union beat us out with 125 medals, and 49 that were just gold, maybe next time USA. Speaking of the good ol' US of A, this year my biggest story was the coverage of the Bicentennial. It's crazy to think that we've been around 200 years, and even crazier to think how long it's not, compared to everybody else out there. But the Fourth of July this year was parties from coast to coast, parades, museum's making all kinds of special exhibits, it was the national togetherness this country needed. And it brought so many kids into the world of history, and I've seen that those who don't know their past are doomed to repeat it, so their curiosity can only lead to good things. Now, I'd like to tell you all about the trips I've taken this past year on the hottest international stories, but unfortunately, my research couldn't all be first-hand. The craziest thing was, with all that time and effort put into the Vietnam War and all our boys out their fighting over there, now we have the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The good news on the communist front, for us at least, came with the death of Mao Zedong; that memorial would have been some sight. The other leadership I'm a little worried about lately is that Videla in Argentina. I know Mr. Kissinger wants us to have him on our side since he's anti-Communist, but with the way I heard he's been treating his people down there, I'm not so sure. But I think our biggest trouble might be coming from a country that's only a stone's throw away. The new constitution that Cuba adopted, sounds like bad news; starting with centralized control of the government and then brainwashing all the children into believing in the Socialist values. Well, I guess we'll just have to see what comes next with all our endeavors overseas, but it's starting to get me worried. There's been a lot of way out technology going on too, here and “out there”. Did you hear about that new Apple Computer Company? I thought it was an April Fool's joke, I'm not so sure how they'll do with all this new computer stuff, I just don't know how long it'll be around. And what kind of name is Apple anyway? But the bigger news was the landing of the Viking 1 on Mars. Mars!? Can you believe it? And then a few weeks after that we got to see the pictures taken by the Viking. The future's coming and it's coming quickly. As the year comes to a close, I gotta wonder what's coming next. We got ourselves a good Southern boy in the White House now, first one since the Civil War. Carter's got a lot on his plate, and I wouldn't want to be in his shoes, but I wish him the best of luck. Well, the ball's about to drop, and I think I'll go back to the party now...I can hear my new Ramones playing, I think they have some real talent, but I guess that's just one more thing we'll have to wait and see. Happy New Year!