Author: HarpieLyn

The 1960s are easily “the era” above all others that signifies a serious shift in social living in America and elsewhere. The tremors of these changes could be felt across an international stage, prompting one of the most radical shifts we learn about. The 1960s challenged societal norms of gender roles, war and peace, media and expressive cultures, and conservative lifestyles.

It was a time of tie-dye everything, fringed suede vests, peace protests, equality marches, integration, eliminating stereotypes of wives and women, freedom, music, and counterculture. Frankly, this decade, even in retrospect, is a challenge to keep up with for the simple reason that it is profoundly busy. I ask our readers to forgive me as I simplify and stylize the events of this decade for reader-friendliness.

The 1960’s was an era characterized by two of the greatest populist movements of its time. The buildup and further expansion of the Civil Rights Movement happened parallel with the mass social and political revolution enacted by the American youths, this time period being identified as “The Summer of Love”. The 60’s was building up to the enormous pressure that young people being shipped off to Vietnam for a way that nobody wanted to engage in, and minorities who were fighting for basic rights and social and political equality both felt. The Civil Rights Act has had elements be challenged i the last year, and we are still fighting for the preservation of these BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS.

As usual, strolling the stately property of Doris Duke has given me new inspiration to write. There is something in the air at that location that infects me with creativity. That, or I can give credit to my darling company from that afternoon. I met Kim through the Trials of Doris, and we instantly became friends. At the time, she lost her cell phone and had to get a new one, which led to quite a conversation about newfangled telephone technology and the real consequences of such devices. If you’re reading this Kim, this one is just for you!

Kim spoke of how much simpler it was when we all had to memorize phone numbers or when the only resort to maintain them was to write them down with pen and paper. So naturally, I start to pick apart the components of numerical memorization in my head and what it must have been like before texting was considered a personable method of communication. The candlestick phones, the lines at telephone boxes, and the well-loved rotary phones… Has the digital age taken away from all this? And since when can someone build up relations with others through typing on a screen. No, emojis won’t convey feelings, regardless of how candid. It was time to go retro for me.

My first step was purchasing an address book from Walgreens for $6. I spent a decent amount of time filling it out, just because of how many numbers I store in my cell phone. Starting on the week of February 1st in 2016, Kim’s honorary address book started to migrate with me wherever I went. Instead of relying on the modern conveniences of typing in an auto-fill name, I spent time trying to type in the entire number of a person to eventually remember which number belongs to whom. Upon further inspection about 10 days later, I realized the repetition of numbers came more easily to me. I wouldn’t have to reference the address book as much for area codes or the last four numbers. By suggestion, my candlestick landline was getting more exercise from this experiment too. So what exactly did it all mean?

For one thing, using a phone book and a landline is a bit less static-ridden. Even in the two minute conversations I hosted, the quality of voice is significantly different on a landline than a cellular connection. What is so appealing about sitting down and talking though? Why are people successfully selling replica vintage telephones (and even modifying originals for today’s phone jacks)? What was so minimally satisfying about remembering phone numbers?

I have a few theories. Foremost, let’s talk numbers. When numbers have relevance, like correlating them with your best friends and family, they are easily remembered. If asked to memorize arbitrary numbers in a sequence, it is hopeless! So by pairing numbers with a good reason to remember them, we are more likely to retain that information. By this cognitive logic, people who grew up using or have used address books in their lives have trained themselves to be better at number retention. Remembering someone is also one of the warmest ways we show we care. It shows that the person took interest, took effort, and that the recipient-of-recollection is valuable. Bravo, darlings!

Another piece of the puzzle is that those who have to speak in order to communicate (versus texting or other nonverbal social media) rob themselves of learning. Without excessive practice hearing others talk and reciprocating, where do we truly hone our skills to create effective dialogue? There is a natural desire for humans to be social creatures, not social media creatures. After a while, we will crave this natural, timeless method of contact. Sure, use the modern commodities, they’re fun! But don’t become dependent on them.

Finally, the charm and aesthetic appeal of telecommunications resonates throughout the 20th century. I found this absolutely chic telephone table at the forever-perfect Somerville Central Antiques store. Similar furnishings have existed to accommodate and make comfortable the telephone and its listener. Unfortunately, we don’e see enough of them!

So the moral of Kim’s address book? Pause. Don’t post all the time. Instead, grab your phone, dial your dear ones, and talk. Fill the void with beautiful chatter and the sounds of life.

We started here, fell back ten years, and now we explore the wild transitional period that was the shift of the 1970s to the 1980s, the next great shift in interest on our retrogressive timeline (There’s a lot of love for the 90s, but relatively speaking, this was a calmer decade).

Where do we start? Punk was in full swing to compete with the disco fever that the world was experiencing. Classic rock was reaching another peak. Empowerment and Pride were still the tools to use for previously suppressed groups (like the stereotype of mid-century housewives and the injustices toward people of color) to ensure they felt comfortable in their skin, not beneath others. People began swapping their wildly colorful, bell-bottomed garb for shoulder pads and teased hair.  It was during this period that is characterized by a backlash against liberal movements in public policy. This is the origin of far-right movements that introduced the rhetoric of “the people against big government.”

At the same time, environmental concerns were being brought to light, including the first celebration of Earth Day in 1970. In regards to women’s right “They began to build feminist communities and organizations of their own: art galleries and bookstores, consciousness-raising groups, daycare and women’s health collectives (such as the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, which published “Our Bodies, Ourselves” in 1973), rape crisis centers and abortion clinics” (History.com). We cannot ignore the elephant in the room for this decade, war protests against American involvement in Vietnam. With a draft, and massive losses on both sides as a result of America entanglement, the protests were part of a mass social movement against a war that put the most vulnerable populations at risk of dying overseas.

http://www.history.com/topics/1970s

Welcome to our second installment of Social Changes! Just as a recap, the only way we experience revival in trends and traditions is after social changes motivate us to reflect on our lives. So, in honor of all the changes that bring us to our lives today, we decided to write about all the major eras of mass movements in 20th century America.

This week, we will be focusing on Y2K! There were technology advances and smooth lines, energy efficiency and even a new subculture-gaining-momentum. How can you possibly come up with so much new stuff without somehow having a retro counterpart? In fact, while iPods and shiny new cars all seem like brand-new concepts, the actual technology boom itself already happened in the same fashion once before. Subcultures like Steampunk and Grunge (yes, even grunge) emerge the same way that flappers and beatniks once did to challenge the mainstream culture of each respective era.

So regarding Y2K: Lots of things were bubbling over. The internet itself was becoming more and more popular and less and less dial-up. Technology and media were entering a surplus situation where users experienced mass web accessibility. Anyone could get online and use a search engine to find information on almost anything. Ironically, while the internet itself was a new commodity for the public, the idea of mass media distribution was also a plagiarized idea from the moment in history where the printing press was made for commercial use.

The idea of countercultures or subcultures within a larger society wasn’t new either. In fact, for every mainstream group, there will be individuals who prefer unique living. Countless comparisons exist throughout the greater part of history broadly. For the earlier segment of the 1900s, this included the beatniks (predecessors of the hippies), flappers that challenged conservative views, hippies that challenged pretty much every aspect of traditional lifestyles in America, and so forth. But, we will get there. Steampunk and Grunge countercultures were just the popular nonconformist trends of the 2000 decade. Their overall tastes were in dark, rock n’ roll styles and later-emerging Steampunk features Victorian derivations and intricate designs in a punk-rock fusion.

The 2000 decade was also known for change in that the protests continued for environmental protection, saving whales, and the drive began building for a later Occupy Wall Street as the minimum wage began to rise by minimum increments. Protests also evolved to include members through invitations on social media platforms, making the turnout for these events exponentially larger. Take, for instance, the women’s march on Washington as being one of the recent examples of this evolution. The showing of people for such the event outnumbered those who attended the presidential inauguration of 2017. The effect of mass media onto protests also made their efforts (the earliest of their kind being in the early to mid-2000s) more available to potential supporters.

Tune in next week for another installment of the Series of Social Change, brought to you by the Retro Revival Blog. Stay curious, darlings!

The Retro Revival always acknowledges and often emphasizes the many aesthetics of years gone by, and it sometimes seems like we don’t reference the changes that took place over time that molded the society we live in. It is easy to forget why we are reviving concepts of the retro culture in the first place, so we decided to start a mini-series of monthly publications about eras of social change that helped fuel major transitions in American culture. Where better to start our journey than talking about today?

In today’s society, we can observe vehicles of change about nearly everything. In macrocosmic levels, look at the protests that have taken place in the US regarding remaining unrest for the political elections this year for an example of what fuels social change. Persuasion can be identified everywhere to support the needs and wants of the greater majority. But let’s take into perspective a microcosmic, less-political experience: in Harpie’s town, there are debates currently ongoing about the use of local emergency services versus outsourcing. People have actively come out to argue their positions to try and keep local services local, indeed. Another grassroots movement earlier that we all recognize from the site, DORIS, sought after preserving a one-of-a-kind landmark. These are all acting as agents of change. Regardless of context, however; one theme remains constant: these activists want to change the minds of those in charge. They fuel others to think critically about their lives, what programs affect them, and the communities they live in. Collectively, this is what drives changes to our environments.

So let’s examine some classic tactics for instigating change that has been utilized for nearly 200 years. Sit-ins, protests, walks and congregations, petitions, and even legal battles have been waged to help people modify their situations. Take a look at DORIS and their use of almost every method aforementioned, Stand with Standing Rock and their weeks-long sit-ins that captured international attention, Occupy Wall Street in a similar fashion, or even the Justice Democrat Movement which focuses on regulating the party’s standards of conduct. When an activist or group of activists disputes a suggestion or challenges the status quo, using tactics helps gain media attention and the hope for recruiting more like-minded thinkers.

During these arguments, influential figures (most often) try to maintain the simplest, most subjectively compelling circumstances they can. They act in such a way regardless of if it compromises the integrity of sacred land (Standing Rock), public interest (Occupy Wall Street), or even the necessities of life, like water (Standing Rock, most pipelines).

Every single one of these change directives has roots and derivations from past experiences. Standing Rock, for example, has themes back as far as the Battle of Wounded Knee. As baffling as it sounds that in 2017 we are still having fights erupt over land demarcation, it is all the same. Not only does Standing Rock suffer the damages to their land, but we also run a high risk of potential water contamination. Sound familiar? It should: think about Flint, Michigan or the constant problems that the Levittowns experienced in tap water becoming contaminated with domestic washing machine wastes. All these things have some historical counterparts.

Occupy Wall Street is probably an estranged twin of the Tammany Hall corruption ring except in the finance world. The people in lower classes got sick of hearing about higher values of companies that they shared stocks in while their wages and stock values did not see any of the increases that others in the upper echelons bragged about. How are the average people supposed to feed their families when the richest rich don’t feel like sharing? The lack of trickle-down, much like the withheld wealth from Tammany Hall from 1954-1934, serves as a reminder of why these protests are, in fact timeless.

Democrat Justice Movement seems to be instigated as a result of people trying preventative measures against another LBJ tactic. (Author’s note, LBJ [Lyndon B. Johnson] had a reputation for using intimidation against individuals who he felt would challenge his opinions. He would use his imposing figure to stand over other people as they spoke to him while in office). While this seems petty, it has more to do with ensuring that no representative abuses power or oppresses another person or group. In order to prevent acts of bullying or intimidation within the political party, the Democrat Justice Movement seeks to impose higher standards of conduct on the entire party.

Where does the change end? Well that’s easy: changes never end if we continue to strive toward a classic vision of a happy community. Stay curious, darlings.

Chunky cable-knit sweaters, itchy scarves, and pom-pom adorned hats are all things that come to mind when we think of vintage knitting. Winter (and autumn) is the time of year when the knitting needles reappear out of nowhere and suddenly the entire family has the same pair of heavy wool socks from the household knit addict. Cold weather has always been a time of creating new things from a good ball of yarn, but the revival of blissfully warm sweaters and cozy shawls has commenced!

Knitting has a sort of second life these days. What was once the craft of choice for grandmothers and Amish women alike has become a booming industry for whomever is brave enough to pick up a pair of needles. It has been around for generations, and although there was a lull in the craft’s popularity, it has only grown into an empire in the last ten years, roughly.

Especially in the preparation for the two major World Wars, knitting became a way for women to engage in the efforts to support troops overseas. From there, the interest and addiction to knit stayed rather constant. Sometimes, there were declines in the overall numbers of knitters, but in the grand scheme of things, the craft has stayed alive. In the most recent years, (approx. 2009-), knitting has gained serious praise and popularity across the nation once again. Although not fueled by necessity or war efforts, knitting became a stylish method of hobby uptake.

For those who have stigmatized knitting into the ‘chunky, itchy sweaters that great-grandmother used to force on the kids in December’, this classic craft has many different displays of elegance, for both beginners and experts alike. Look at the wares of Forever 21, Macy’s, J.C.Penney’s and other name brand carriers for the rapid marketing of all things knit and nuzzle-worthy. Pair a sweater or capelet with your favorite skirt, long wool socks, or toasty mittens. For the gentlemen, warm socks and felt hats match marvelously for a timeless, shamelessly snug wintry-welcoming outing. Bundle up, darlings!