The year was 1990...but then 2013 arrived...@NWPDigital_Is

Bryan, age 18 in his freshmen dorm

and I am thinking about comparison and contrasts.

Yesterday. I did an activity with freshmen writers about making lists and observations, while extrapolating meaning from what the juxtapositions provide. I did this by reflecting on my freshman year at Binghamton University and asking students to think about their first year at Fairfield.

Reality check:

• In 1990, Saddam Hussein was the focus of the first Gulf War (equipped with live footage of SCUD missiles).

• In 1990, students gathered in lounges to watch Beverly Hills 90210, Seinfeld, The Golden Girls, 30-Something, Cheers, and The Wonder Years.

• In 1990, boys boxed their hairs, girls teased their bangs, overalls were the rage, and some still rolled their pants.

• In 1990, "I've fallen and I can't get up" was the joke for everyone.

• In 1990, the www and http were introduced as a possibility and answering machines became ubiquitous in every home (including dorms where there were still phone jacks).

• In 1990, you stood in line for hours to register for classes.

• In 1990, work was handwritten. Some had word processors and a few had computers.

• In 1990, socializing meant getting together with friends to talk: texting was not even in the social imagination.

• In 1990, we took out books to do research.

• In 1990, Vanilla Ice's "Ice, Ice Baby" was #1 in November.

Now, it's 2013. The students pointed to government shut downs, HULU, online television, The Khardashians, cell phones, and more athletic-awareness. They argued that communication has changed and accessibility of information is everywhere and the hierarchy for knowledge (and who has privilege to it) has changed drastically. Twenty-three years, and I noted the item that floors me, immensely, is SKYPE and FaceTime. I never thought I'd see the day for video communication. We all left the class feeling odd (perhaps older) - we recognized that 23 years from now a post like this will be completely old-school and a thing of the past, perhaps like Facebook, AOL chats, and even YouTube. The one constant is change...and our (in)ability to accept it.