They Voted for Nixon
Graham's parents, Jenny and John, are in town and I just had lunch with them--BY MYSELF. Later this evening, I will be meeting them for a drink at the Algonquin--BY MYSELF. Graham is in the mad throws of finishing up the semester, and also getting WILDLY SICK. Poor guy, he has something that is worse than what I had. Last night his voice sounded like Marlene Detreich's, which is usually pretty hot. The only thing is, it doesn't seem to fit on a 6' 4" philosophy major, as it does to a 5' 2" German entertainer. Go figure, right?
Jenny and John are the same age as my parents, but they were the first of their generation to teach me that not everyone got SWEPT UP IN FLOWER POWER. Thinking back, when I got into high school, I am sure there were parents that I met that had never raised their fists at an anti-war rally in their lives, much less ate tofu or even knew the benefits of Berkenstocks. Yet, it took me 33 years to meet Jenny and John and understand that there were people born in the baby boom generation that voted for Nixon--TWICE. I almost passed out when Jenny and John told me this information. It literally ROCKED MY WHOLE WORLD. I called my folks, Pam and Gary and it was like I was having a fit. I just kept saying over and over again: THEY VOTED FOR NIXON THEY VOTED FOR NIXON THEY VOTED FOR NIXON THEY VOTED FOR NIXON. I grew up in households that were still feeling the effects of Watergate and Vietnam ten or fifteen years later. Every political discussion seemed to be an echo of that period. While Graham's dad proudly framed a picture of Ronald Reagan and put it on his desk, President Reagan was pretty much the anti-Christ at my dinner table. Graham's dad SIGNED UP for Vietnam, while I have family member who dodged the draft. John went to UC Berkeley, but thought the radicalism spawned on that campus was WEIRD. I can tell you that the radical thoughts spawned in my head at the receipt of this information was VERY WEIRD INDEED.
As a result, they were shockingly ignorant of all the cultural paraphernalia of the times, that my folks so deeply entrenched themselves. To them, Graham Parsons was their youngest son, while to my folks, Gram Parsons was a tragic rockstar, who died too young.
Needless to say, my first visit to their home was DIZZYING. The mouse in my head was running faster than ever at the wheel, causing sparks at the gears. In a way, I still don't know what to do with this information. Yet, the cool thing about Jenny and John is that they are both so very open to discussion. Jenny is a therapist, and therefore they have a very open household to feelings and expressing, something that isn't necessarily as clear an option in all the homes I grew up in. If I needed to process anything, like my shock that they had voted for Nixon, I could say: I am shocked by this, and it wouldn't have been an issue for them. We would have discussed it at length. Also, they are very open to all my questions: So what was there TO DO in the late sixties and early seventies, if you weren't attending a Jefferson Airplane concert or getting ENLIGHTENED by LSD? Seriously, I want to know. Turns out, it's of course not much different. They had kids, did their job, and hung out with friends.
So, today it's me and Graham's parents, all the way, baby. This isn't so bad, as I kind of like them, and they are of the type of parents that embrace older, hippie-raised girlfriends of their sons, despie the differences. These are my favorite type of parents, indeed.
Jenny and John are the same age as my parents, but they were the first of their generation to teach me that not everyone got SWEPT UP IN FLOWER POWER. Thinking back, when I got into high school, I am sure there were parents that I met that had never raised their fists at an anti-war rally in their lives, much less ate tofu or even knew the benefits of Berkenstocks. Yet, it took me 33 years to meet Jenny and John and understand that there were people born in the baby boom generation that voted for Nixon--TWICE. I almost passed out when Jenny and John told me this information. It literally ROCKED MY WHOLE WORLD. I called my folks, Pam and Gary and it was like I was having a fit. I just kept saying over and over again: THEY VOTED FOR NIXON THEY VOTED FOR NIXON THEY VOTED FOR NIXON THEY VOTED FOR NIXON. I grew up in households that were still feeling the effects of Watergate and Vietnam ten or fifteen years later. Every political discussion seemed to be an echo of that period. While Graham's dad proudly framed a picture of Ronald Reagan and put it on his desk, President Reagan was pretty much the anti-Christ at my dinner table. Graham's dad SIGNED UP for Vietnam, while I have family member who dodged the draft. John went to UC Berkeley, but thought the radicalism spawned on that campus was WEIRD. I can tell you that the radical thoughts spawned in my head at the receipt of this information was VERY WEIRD INDEED.
As a result, they were shockingly ignorant of all the cultural paraphernalia of the times, that my folks so deeply entrenched themselves. To them, Graham Parsons was their youngest son, while to my folks, Gram Parsons was a tragic rockstar, who died too young.
Needless to say, my first visit to their home was DIZZYING. The mouse in my head was running faster than ever at the wheel, causing sparks at the gears. In a way, I still don't know what to do with this information. Yet, the cool thing about Jenny and John is that they are both so very open to discussion. Jenny is a therapist, and therefore they have a very open household to feelings and expressing, something that isn't necessarily as clear an option in all the homes I grew up in. If I needed to process anything, like my shock that they had voted for Nixon, I could say: I am shocked by this, and it wouldn't have been an issue for them. We would have discussed it at length. Also, they are very open to all my questions: So what was there TO DO in the late sixties and early seventies, if you weren't attending a Jefferson Airplane concert or getting ENLIGHTENED by LSD? Seriously, I want to know. Turns out, it's of course not much different. They had kids, did their job, and hung out with friends.
So, today it's me and Graham's parents, all the way, baby. This isn't so bad, as I kind of like them, and they are of the type of parents that embrace older, hippie-raised girlfriends of their sons, despie the differences. These are my favorite type of parents, indeed.
posted by Summer Pierre at
2:58 PM
3 Comments:
Thanks for the insight! I am madly interested too, in what non-hippies did in the 60's. I am also interested in GRAHAM's parents in general, never having met them.
Yep, just normal people. As a historian, it's always a challenge to get folks to believe that the majority of people in the 60s just did...life. On the other hand, the whole voting-Republican thing is... well... kind of creepy.
So what do they think of the current regime?
to answer your question: I don't like the current regime. I am among the 71% that is UNSATISFIED. Frankly, even if I was a Republican, I don't think I could stand by the policies Bush et al. are doing in their stead. I usually stay away from political statements on this blog, but I believe that we are under a very scary time, that I hope will be looked back upon as a cautionary tale.
Post a Comment
<< Home