Now and Then

I recently sat down with my mother, and interviewed her for the completion of this quest. My mothers name is Casey Nelson, and she grew up in the 50`s and 60`s in Estherville, Iowa. Estherville was a small city with a population of around 8,500. The city was predominantly caucasian, and the main source of income for the residents was the Morrell meat packing plant and farming.

            After asking her what she thought were the top five modern pop cultures of her time back then or the in, she was quick to say her top two would have to be the Beehive hair style and Poodle Skirts. She then took a few minutes to think and stated the other three would have to be Pet Rocks, Mood Rings, and Billy Beer. I then proceeded to ask her why, was it so popular for you back then. She said that girls with long hair typically sported the Beehive hair style and it was a good excuse to hang out at the beauty shop and gossip about anything and everything they could. Far as the Poodle Skirts it was more of a high school thing, it was part of the norm, all of the girls wore some form of the skirt to fit in and not be abnormal. Pet Rocks were carried like one would carry a lucky coin, a bit on the superstitious side. Billy Beer was a novelty beer. It was a joke or gimmick she said. People would make fun of it because it was very nasty tasting.

            I decided to do the second part of this quest based on similar pop modern cultures of today from what my mother came up with from back in the 40`s, 50`s, 60`s and 70`s. In reference to the Beehive hair style, I came up with the Bieber and the Mohawk. Kids today want to be like Justin Bieber because of his fame, and the Mohawk in some cases is a sign of trying to be like dad who is in the Military. On any given day you can probably catch some female teenager wearing designer jeans with jewelry attached/embedded in them. It has gone from buying or making skirts with poodles down on the corner of the skirt with a chain/leash up to the waist line to flashy jewelry attachments. My niece, a few years ago was into these Rubber Animal Bracelets. I think they are similar to the mood rings. The girls wear these in all sorts of combinations based on how they are feeling that day. From having just a few on, lots on, solid colors, all different colors or different combinations in general. I would also like to say female toe rings as well with the comparison to mood rings as a part of this current pop culture fashion. Far as something that kids or teenagers have on them at all times, and can not leave the house with out would be a cell phone. It is not like a pet rock or lucky coin, but it is what the new parent generation uses to track and monitor their kids actions. Kind a like a parents pet rock or lucky coin. My correlation with the Billy Beer was defiantly the hardest to come up with. The first thing that comes into my mind is all these energy drinks.Red Bull for instance.

When these energy drinks first hit the market they were a huge hit. Some definitely tasted really terrible or just plain nasty like Billy Beer tasted to my mother. But, now studies show they are not really all that good for us, due to the fact they are loaded with sugar and do have health side affects.

            I really had fun with this quest. I got to compare different generation pop culture differences from my own perspective to that of my mothers. Times do change and we can not stop or keep certain pop cultures around for ever. But, its kind a cool how modern pop cultures are all not that different in a seventy year gap.