Link for this Post: 1968: The Year That Changed Everything — Newsweek Magazine
The year 1968 is the favorite year among the 59 years in my life. Maybe it had something to do with young (I was 20 for most of that year). But it also had a something to do with the nature of those turbulent yet innocently ecstatic times.
<p>In the current issue of Newsweek looks at 1968 from the perspective of its influence on what our lives today. Here is how PR Web describes the theme of the magazine:</p>
<blockquote><p>The November 19 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, November 12), "1968: The Year That Made Us Who We Are" – looks at one of the defining years of the ’60s, turbulent period in American history with essays on how the era shapes us still; the legacy as a factor in the presidential race; the growth of feminism; how meditation came to the West and an excerpt from Tom Brokaw’s ‘BOOM! Voices of the Sixties.’</p>
<ul><li>Science Columnist Sharon Begley writes that in the spring of 1968 the Beatles traveled to the Maharishi’s ashram in northern India to mediate and brought Eastern worship back to the West, most markedly the practice of meditation. Now, some four decades later, meditation is widely accepted within the scientific community as a beneficial practice.</li>
<li>Senior Editor Barbara Kantrowitz explores feminism and sexual politics of 1968 when women dumped symbols of female oppression-girdles, steno pads, and stilettos-into a "freedom trash can." Bras went in, too, but none were burned, in the midst of the infamous and symbolic protest staged outside the Miss America pageant. Kantrowitz examines where the fight stands now, talks with the lead protester and Miss America 1968.</li>
<li>Senior Editor David Gates writes that although the times they were a changin’, in the arts, only music kept pace. Despite all the potentially rich tension and upheaval, 1968 didn’t produce much fiction, film or art worth remembering.</li></ul></blockquote><p>I’m not sure that I agree with Newsweek’s Senior editor about the the contribution of the Sixties to art. There is a lot more viewpoints in the magazine worth a read.</p>
I got my drivers license in July 1968 … I remember that year very well. The death of both Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy devastated me. It is hard to think of a year that did more to politicize my worldview than 1968. I didn’t like Nixon but never dreamed how much I would grow to dislike him. I can look back and see how much of who I am now was initiated in 1968.