I was in boarding school in France. I was 12 years old and remember that during
the elections my family had voted Republican despite the fact that we were
staunch Catholics. My father really liked Nixon (something I find surprising
now but I can't ask him about it as he passed away 30 years ago). That bit of
context is important for my reaction. I (think I) remember my parents talking
with other adults about the Kennedy family being "suspicious" in making all
that money during the depression.
Anyway, so there I am in boarding school and we were washing up at night, for
bed. There was a long row of sinks where we all washed up (and goofed around
and got in trouble under the nuns' watchful eyes).
One of the nuns told me that Kennedy has been shot and killed. I remember
thinking not much about it because if my parents, who knew everything (still,
at 12 years old I thought my father, especially, knew everything!) then it must
not be too tragic. I just went on washing up.
Hmmm. The thoughts of children.
Annette
Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
University of San Diego
5998 Alcala Park
San Diego, CA 92110
619-260-4006
tay...@sandiego.edu
---- Original message ----
>Date: Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:32:28 +0000 (UTC)
>From: roig-rear...@comcast.net
>Subject: Re: [tips] Where Were You On This Date 46 Years Ago?
>To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <tips@acsun.frostburg.edu>
>
> Upon hearing of president Kennedy's assassination, I
> had a reaction similar to Mike's. I was 6 years old
> and playing with my plastic WWII toy soldiers in our
> living room/dining room floor in Cuba. My mother was
> in the kitchen and our front door was open.
> Suddenly, our next door neighbor, a member of the
> CDR ("Committee for the Defense of the Revolution",
> a neighborhood spying group) barges in, all excited
> hollering "mataron a Kennedy, mataron a Kennedy!"
> (Kennedy has been killed). I remember my
> mother reacting with her typical surprise "Noooo!".
> Like Mike I did not understand the significance of
> the event, but I guess that, based in part on the
> ensuing conversation between them and the several
> "Ay Dios mio" (oh my God!) uttered by my mother
> conveyed to me that the news was not good. Keep in
> mind that about a year and a half earlier the Bay of
> Pigs invasion had taken place and that was the basis
> for another flashbulb memory of mine. Man-o-man, it
> was early morning and we woke up to the sound of
> what we thought was thunder; my mother got up to
> close the windows and realized that the thunder was
> the sound of cannon fire and screamed something
> about being invaded. Planes had been flying nearby
> and we could hear the distant sound of machine gun
> strafing. We lived about 10 miles from a military
> air base.
>
>
>
> Of course, I have to wonder how much of the above is
> a mere reconstruction. ;-)
>
>
>
> Miguel
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mike Palij" <m...@nyu.edu>
> To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)"
> <tips@acsun.frostburg.edu>
> Cc: "Mike Palij" <m...@nyu.edu>
> Sent: Sunday, November 22, 2009 9:17:10 AM GMT
> -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> Subject: [tips] Where Were You On This Date 46 Years
> Ago?
>
> My own memory for when I heard about the Kennedy
> assasination is
> as follows:
>
> I was in the fourth grade in Catholic grade school
> and it was a sunny
> afternoon. The nun who was our teacher had been
> called away from
> class and we fidgeted, talked to each other, and
> fooled around until
> she came back. She had a very serious look on her
> face and she spoke
> in a low voice, almost a whisper. She told us that
> the president had been
> shot. I don't remember whether she said whether he
> had died or not.
> My own reaction was I didn't understand what this
> meant but I knew
> that it was not good. I don't remember much else
> from that afternoon
> nor do I remember whether I actually saw Oswald
> being shot on TV
> a couple of days later. I don't remember many
> details but I do remember
> the sadness and sense of loss that other displayed
> and which I eventually
> took on. It would take a while for me to figure out
> what this all meant.
>
> ---
> To make changes to your subscription contact:
>
> Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
---
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