This weekend I looked back, for some reason or the other, at my college yearbooks. It is rather amusing to see how people looked and dressed in the olden days (about 25 years ago).
I saw a photo of the outside and marquis of what was the SFA Theater on North Street in Nacogdoches, Texas. It was basically located between the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University, where I attended, and what was the Crossroads, where I drank a lot of brews. Playing at that particular time at the movie was “Urban Cowboy.” I’m sad to say that I saw that dreadful movie at the SFA Theater. friends can get you to do all kinds of things you wouldn’t do under normal circumstances.
But what caught my attention in the yearbooks — even more than students dressing up like urban cowpeople or wearing ripped sweatshirts “Flashdance” style — was a student protest pictured in my 1980 yearbook. The students were protesting against the Iranians who had in 1979 taken Americans hostage at the embassy in Tehran. One particular sign held up by a rather well-dressed, young lass read: “To Hell with Iran. I’ll pay $1 a gallon!”
Here we are today and relations with Iran are worse than ever. But we are on our way to paying $3 a gallon for gasoline. I guess that’s progress, huh?