Thanks for sharing your political journey, Norm. I enjoy learning more about you and your family, as well as the events of the 60s & 70s that stood out for you. 💛
Finally reading this and it's an excellent review of reality. I'm the child of the 'genteel poor' (my mom's term) and my parents preferred Eugene McCarthy (Clean for Gene is a recollection). But time marches on. I find third party candidate votes a wasted effort and I follow mom's advice--vote for the least bad.
I remember being 4 and going with mom to her League of Women Voters meeting in Havre MT. Probably the first visceral political experience. The world seemed to go to hell in a handbasket soon after. Assassinations, being sent home from school when Kennedy was killed, 1968 with Martin Luther King Jr and Bobby Kennedy. Kent State. Classmates with draft age siblings talking about their parents deciding to move to Canada.
Thinking about my future, wanting to follow in my father's path and being told 'do not become a teacher--we already gave' meant an initial career in business after college and then back to school for stuff that sounded like fun--a masters in city and regional planning. Been in water ever since.
Not rich but I love helping people. Successive roles that expanded as the entities I worked for were smaller and smaller (first for the State; now for a small town). Now I'm a jack of all trades--regulatory work for water and wastewater, permitting issues, helping folks with 911 addressing, notarizing signatures, and just plain problem-solving.
Life may be a mystery but it sure is worth living :D
Thanks for the interesting comment, tecolote42. When I reflect back on 60s and 70s, it seems like we lived in a parallel universe to the rest of America. I left rural PA when I was 21, because I knew I wanted to live a different kind of life. Now, all these years later, when I go back to visit, I have an overwhelming feeling of being in a place where I don’t belong. It’s a strange feeling.
Thanks for sharing your political journey, Norm. I enjoy learning more about you and your family, as well as the events of the 60s & 70s that stood out for you. 💛
Why, thank you very much, Sara. It’s always gratifying to know someone out there is reading this stuff. I never take it for granted.
Finally reading this and it's an excellent review of reality. I'm the child of the 'genteel poor' (my mom's term) and my parents preferred Eugene McCarthy (Clean for Gene is a recollection). But time marches on. I find third party candidate votes a wasted effort and I follow mom's advice--vote for the least bad.
I remember being 4 and going with mom to her League of Women Voters meeting in Havre MT. Probably the first visceral political experience. The world seemed to go to hell in a handbasket soon after. Assassinations, being sent home from school when Kennedy was killed, 1968 with Martin Luther King Jr and Bobby Kennedy. Kent State. Classmates with draft age siblings talking about their parents deciding to move to Canada.
Thinking about my future, wanting to follow in my father's path and being told 'do not become a teacher--we already gave' meant an initial career in business after college and then back to school for stuff that sounded like fun--a masters in city and regional planning. Been in water ever since.
Not rich but I love helping people. Successive roles that expanded as the entities I worked for were smaller and smaller (first for the State; now for a small town). Now I'm a jack of all trades--regulatory work for water and wastewater, permitting issues, helping folks with 911 addressing, notarizing signatures, and just plain problem-solving.
Life may be a mystery but it sure is worth living :D
Thanks for the interesting comment, tecolote42. When I reflect back on 60s and 70s, it seems like we lived in a parallel universe to the rest of America. I left rural PA when I was 21, because I knew I wanted to live a different kind of life. Now, all these years later, when I go back to visit, I have an overwhelming feeling of being in a place where I don’t belong. It’s a strange feeling.