Every night this week from 9-11, VH-1 is showing “I Love the 90s”, a celebration of pop cultural events throughout the decade. I completely enjoyed “I Love the 80s” as that decade comprised my childhood. My brother even taped the show onto DVDs and I’ve watched it over and over for the past year and a half. VH-1’s “I Love the 70s” program didn’t thrill me as much since I was barely alive in that decade and don’t remember much from the 2 years and three months that I did see of the 70s. But the 90s was quite the decade for me as it covered junior high, high school, college and the working world. I can’t wait to see how VH-1 depicts it. Tonight they will be covering 1990 and 1991, tomorrow will be 1992 and 1993, and so on. So what I thought I’d do with this blog is to take two years per day and summarize what happened in MY life during those years. My own personalized version of “I Love the 90s.”
1990
1990 can be summarized by two words. Bar Mitzvah. Having never gone to Hebrew School, I was tutored at home every Monday night by Rabbi Eli Orgel. He taught me how to read Hebrew and about Jewish culture. It culminated in a perfect reading of my haftorah that completely impressed the synagogue’s resident rabbi, the congregation, and my family and friends. To this day it might be one of the proudest moments of my life. And the reception on the next day was so much fun, held in the same reception hall where my parents were married. The weekend lived on throughout the decade through the wonders of Paris Video. I also spent the year attending the bar mitzvahs of my friends – Joel, Andrew, Ryan, Howie, David, Eric, Eli, and I’m sure there were others. 1990 was also notable for the junior high school experience. What an awkward, peer pressure environment that was. Basically, if you didn’t wear Champion sweatshirts and Nike Air sneakers, then you just weren’t considered “cool.” I spent much of the year struggling to conform so that I too could be part of the cool crowd. My crushes that year included Jaime, Stacy and Debbie. The end of the year class trip was to Boston. And oh yeah, I wore my hair completely spiked.
1991
In 1991, I ditched the spiked hair and decided to comb it normally. And in my last six months of junior high, I succeeded in becoming part of the cool crowd. Naturally it would only last for a few months until graduation, officially ending the ridiculous junior high social structure. That year I became very globally aware as the Persian Gulf War broke out. Although Gulf War I ended in a month, it was the first war for my generation and we were worried that it would expand into something much worse. We also went on a great class trip to Montreal and Quebec City. But unfortunately, my Grandpa Murray died that year. Our junior high graduation was held at Brooklyn College where I gave a speech, thus beginning my affinity for public speaking. That summer was my last completely free summer of my childhood where I didn’t have to work. The family vacationed to Los Angeles, visiting my aunt and uncle who lived there at the time. In the fall, I began Murrow High School! I remember being physically exhausted after the first day and asking “Do I have to go back tomorrow?” But I loved Murrow and did indeed go back.
