Well said Joy! And I agree with your sentiments 100%. Being a little bit older, those losses you mentioned as well as some of the other "Culture loses" makes me Thankful for what I have and seen and Thankful for my own "Forrest Gump" life. Just coming from my 50 Year Yale College Reunion and seeing the number of my "Black Yalie" classmates still Kicking gives me great Joy.
Watching and Following you over the past 10+ years adds to that Gratitude.. I do "Mourn the Dead" but I also "Fight Like Hell for the Living" Thank you, Kevin Allen/Seattle. WA.
Wow, what a walk down memory lane. I grew up during the 50's, 60's, and 70's. All the folks you mentioned were part of my DNA and then some. I keep watching all my heroes leave and then reality hits me like a ton of bricks. I've lived most of my life and it's only a matter of time before I leave, too. Most of my family is gone, and celebrities as well. My father was one of them. Thanks for that walk.
This is such a powerful piece. You’ve so eloquently and clearly captured all that I’ve been feeling over the past several years/past decade. We DID live in an age of innocence! To the point where, just a few years ago I actually apologized to my 20-sum yo son for my thinking that the world was a different place. Flawed? Yes. Historically fraught? Definitely. I taught him about who we are, were, what I knew of the world. And I taught him to define himself despite what the world would have him believe. So, why did I apologize to him, you ask? Because I did not realize the existence of the very real, calculated, subterranean long game underway that would see my people cast back to a time where we were considered nothing more than chattel. I was so radically minded that by the time I had come of age in the 80s I believed we were understood to be Human Beings and that society was, for the most part, advancing together forward, with just a few misguided and crotchety folks clawing to hang onto the “good ole days.” (You know the ones…“Just some good ole boys🎵 never meaning no harm…” Come to find out, they mean MUCH harm) I wished I’d seen it coming. I wish my son and the gens after us could have known some of the care free times that we Xers enjoyed. All I can do now is talk, share what I’m seeing, reading, hearing, thinking. And to that end, I’ll definitely start my day by sharing this iconic post by our Joy-Ann Reid. Thank you sis. 🙏🏽 💯
OMG Joy you never disappoint this is the best writing yet growing during the eighties and nineties was truly breakout time .You are such a smart and cultured woman and truly keeping your writing real and unhinged I’m glad you haven’t stayed silent since leaving MSNBC now you and your team can just soar to the highest I am excited that we have so many writers putting it in books and your definitely a around the way girl and politically strong and this writing is so many of us and a million plus just like wildfire this one is catching!
Thank you Joy for that excellent read you bring back great memories and sad ones some i wish we can go back to and some we want to erase thanks for giving us the truth every week
I literally cannot comprehend how anyone can vote for Trump and the "loss of innocence" does not explain it! When I see Trump, I see a serial rapist, a continual conman and liar, a sociopath who cares only about himself, and an insurrectionist who tried to stay in power through violence. To think that some of the people I grew up with (over half apparently) see him and think he could be the answer to anything but the complete destruction of our country just does. not. make. sense! Perhaps 100 years from now, some historian will be able to better see the larger picture and the forces that led people to lose their minds?? As for a loss of innocence, I *loved* the Cosby Show growing up. They were the smart, accomplished, idealized family that I wished that I belonged to (I was much older when I realized that I already WON the parent's lottery). Absolutely gutted to find out that Cosby was a serial rapist who hurt so many women. There is no doubt in my mind he is guilty, just like there is no doubt in my mind that Trump is a serial rapist and likely child rapist. Michael Jackson is a closer question. I remember when Thriller was HUGE! It was all anyone was talking about. I still have many of his songs on my phone and have no idea what to do with them. Rich men should NEVER get away with abusing women and children even if they created so many classic songs.
It's crazy how growing up in the 60's and 70's, like you said about growing up in the 80's and 90's, felt safe, and we never knew the financial struggles of our parents, either. And looking back, seeing the truth of so much we loved of our culture and country revealed as just a facade covering up corruption, and protecting the powerful.
As Robert Reich pointed out - money is the dysfunction in our politics, to which I added, to our society.
This is such a powerful piece. You’ve so eloquently and clearly captured all that I’ve been feeling over the past several years/past decade. We DID live in an age of innocence! To the point where, just a few years ago I actually apologized to my 20-sum yo son for my thinking that the world was a different place. Flawed? Yes. Historically fraught? Definitely. I taught him about who we are, were, what I knew of the world. And I taught him to define himself despite what the world would have him believe. So, why did I apologize to him, you ask? Because I did not realize the existence of the very real, calculated, subterranean long game underway that would see my people cast back to a time where we were considered nothing more than chattel. I was so radically minded that by the time I had Chinese of age in the 80s I believed we were understood to be Human Beings and that society was, for the most part, advancing together forward, with just a few misguided and crotchety folks clawing to hang onto the “good ole days.” (You know the ones…“Just some good ole boys🎵 never meaning no harm…” Come to find out, they mean MUCH harm) I wished I’d seen it coming. I wish my son and the gens after us could have known some of the care free times that we Xers enjoyed. All I can do now is talk, share what I’m seeing, reading, hearing, thinking. And to that end, I’ll definitely start my day by sharing this iconic post by our Joy-Ann Reid. Thank you sis. 🙏🏽 💯
Wow, so many memories and heartbreaks remembered. Thank you for the well researched history of America that shames us all. Maybe the hate of all those years has comed to the fruition of a felon in the White House. May God have mercy on us.
Beautifully written ode to an “ age of innocence “. I’m not young enuf to be an Xer, but I remember those years, stars and cultural icons fondly as well. Their music was the sound track of my 20’s and 30’s. I may be a bit older than u Joy but we share the same innocent memories.
Well said Joy! And I agree with your sentiments 100%. Being a little bit older, those losses you mentioned as well as some of the other "Culture loses" makes me Thankful for what I have and seen and Thankful for my own "Forrest Gump" life. Just coming from my 50 Year Yale College Reunion and seeing the number of my "Black Yalie" classmates still Kicking gives me great Joy.
Watching and Following you over the past 10+ years adds to that Gratitude.. I do "Mourn the Dead" but I also "Fight Like Hell for the Living" Thank you, Kevin Allen/Seattle. WA.
Wow, what a walk down memory lane. I grew up during the 50's, 60's, and 70's. All the folks you mentioned were part of my DNA and then some. I keep watching all my heroes leave and then reality hits me like a ton of bricks. I've lived most of my life and it's only a matter of time before I leave, too. Most of my family is gone, and celebrities as well. My father was one of them. Thanks for that walk.
This is such a powerful piece. You’ve so eloquently and clearly captured all that I’ve been feeling over the past several years/past decade. We DID live in an age of innocence! To the point where, just a few years ago I actually apologized to my 20-sum yo son for my thinking that the world was a different place. Flawed? Yes. Historically fraught? Definitely. I taught him about who we are, were, what I knew of the world. And I taught him to define himself despite what the world would have him believe. So, why did I apologize to him, you ask? Because I did not realize the existence of the very real, calculated, subterranean long game underway that would see my people cast back to a time where we were considered nothing more than chattel. I was so radically minded that by the time I had come of age in the 80s I believed we were understood to be Human Beings and that society was, for the most part, advancing together forward, with just a few misguided and crotchety folks clawing to hang onto the “good ole days.” (You know the ones…“Just some good ole boys🎵 never meaning no harm…” Come to find out, they mean MUCH harm) I wished I’d seen it coming. I wish my son and the gens after us could have known some of the care free times that we Xers enjoyed. All I can do now is talk, share what I’m seeing, reading, hearing, thinking. And to that end, I’ll definitely start my day by sharing this iconic post by our Joy-Ann Reid. Thank you sis. 🙏🏽 💯
Left out Tina Turner, the Queen of Rock and Roll. She did not disappoint us. Lived fully as a caring person until age 83.
OMG Joy you never disappoint this is the best writing yet growing during the eighties and nineties was truly breakout time .You are such a smart and cultured woman and truly keeping your writing real and unhinged I’m glad you haven’t stayed silent since leaving MSNBC now you and your team can just soar to the highest I am excited that we have so many writers putting it in books and your definitely a around the way girl and politically strong and this writing is so many of us and a million plus just like wildfire this one is catching!
Thank you Joy for that excellent read you bring back great memories and sad ones some i wish we can go back to and some we want to erase thanks for giving us the truth every week
I literally cannot comprehend how anyone can vote for Trump and the "loss of innocence" does not explain it! When I see Trump, I see a serial rapist, a continual conman and liar, a sociopath who cares only about himself, and an insurrectionist who tried to stay in power through violence. To think that some of the people I grew up with (over half apparently) see him and think he could be the answer to anything but the complete destruction of our country just does. not. make. sense! Perhaps 100 years from now, some historian will be able to better see the larger picture and the forces that led people to lose their minds?? As for a loss of innocence, I *loved* the Cosby Show growing up. They were the smart, accomplished, idealized family that I wished that I belonged to (I was much older when I realized that I already WON the parent's lottery). Absolutely gutted to find out that Cosby was a serial rapist who hurt so many women. There is no doubt in my mind he is guilty, just like there is no doubt in my mind that Trump is a serial rapist and likely child rapist. Michael Jackson is a closer question. I remember when Thriller was HUGE! It was all anyone was talking about. I still have many of his songs on my phone and have no idea what to do with them. Rich men should NEVER get away with abusing women and children even if they created so many classic songs.
It's crazy how growing up in the 60's and 70's, like you said about growing up in the 80's and 90's, felt safe, and we never knew the financial struggles of our parents, either. And looking back, seeing the truth of so much we loved of our culture and country revealed as just a facade covering up corruption, and protecting the powerful.
As Robert Reich pointed out - money is the dysfunction in our politics, to which I added, to our society.
This is such a powerful piece. You’ve so eloquently and clearly captured all that I’ve been feeling over the past several years/past decade. We DID live in an age of innocence! To the point where, just a few years ago I actually apologized to my 20-sum yo son for my thinking that the world was a different place. Flawed? Yes. Historically fraught? Definitely. I taught him about who we are, were, what I knew of the world. And I taught him to define himself despite what the world would have him believe. So, why did I apologize to him, you ask? Because I did not realize the existence of the very real, calculated, subterranean long game underway that would see my people cast back to a time where we were considered nothing more than chattel. I was so radically minded that by the time I had Chinese of age in the 80s I believed we were understood to be Human Beings and that society was, for the most part, advancing together forward, with just a few misguided and crotchety folks clawing to hang onto the “good ole days.” (You know the ones…“Just some good ole boys🎵 never meaning no harm…” Come to find out, they mean MUCH harm) I wished I’d seen it coming. I wish my son and the gens after us could have known some of the care free times that we Xers enjoyed. All I can do now is talk, share what I’m seeing, reading, hearing, thinking. And to that end, I’ll definitely start my day by sharing this iconic post by our Joy-Ann Reid. Thank you sis. 🙏🏽 💯
Wow, so many memories and heartbreaks remembered. Thank you for the well researched history of America that shames us all. Maybe the hate of all those years has comed to the fruition of a felon in the White House. May God have mercy on us.
Beautifully written ode to an “ age of innocence “. I’m not young enuf to be an Xer, but I remember those years, stars and cultural icons fondly as well. Their music was the sound track of my 20’s and 30’s. I may be a bit older than u Joy but we share the same innocent memories.
You are a gifted writer. Thank you