Retro Ramblings
Back When Saying No Was an Entire Program
I can still see myself sitting on that hard gym floor, the kind that always smelled faintly like floor wax and sneakers. Our whole grade was packed in there, fidgeting …
School
Retro Ramblings
When a Paper Catalog Could Change Your Whole Month
Those Scholastic book orders turned me into a tiny negotiator, proudly showing Mom the catalog and begging for just a few dollars to chase whatever paperback treasure I’d circled that month. …
Retro Ramblings
Hypercolor: The Shirt That Exposed All My Sweaty Secrets
My Hypercolor shirt changed colors, all right—mostly under the arms and across my stomach, creating a heat‑sensitive map of every place I wished people wouldn’t look. …
Retro Ramblings
Watching Artemis Return Felt Like Being Ten Years Old Again
I didn’t expect Artemis 2’s return to hit me the way it did. One moment I was watching a glowing capsule streak through the atmosphere, and the next I was back in school staring at a TV strapped to a metal cart. …
News
Mom’s Christmas Suckers
When I think of Christmas growing up, I don’t just picture department store windows, sleigh bells or the presents under the tree. I think of suckers too. Not the kind …
Retro Ramblings
Decking the Halls
I always knew Christmas was officially on its way when our teacher would stand at the front of the classroom, clap her hands for attention, and announce it was time …
Retro Ramblings
When the Radio Airwaves Were Our Social Network
Back in the early nineties, before the internet had sunk its claws into every corner of our lives, there existed a magical window of time when the radio was more …
Retro Ramblings
My Adventures With Lone Wolf
Back in the mid-’80s, Dungeons & Dragons was definitely “a thing”, but not the kind of thing you could talk about freely in my house. It had this weird reputation …
Retro Ramblings
Going to Grandmas When I Was Sick
I’ve been laid up the last few days, and let me tell you, it’s been rough. The kind of sick where your nose won’t stop running, your throat feels like …
Retro Ramblings
Heading Back to School in the ’80s
I still remember the smell of freshly sharpened pencils and the crinkle of Trapper Keeper Velcro like it was yesterday. Back-to-school season in the late 1980s wasn’t just a return …