Regional
(2009-08-03)
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GREELEY, CO
(KUNC) -
We're all too familiar with the old saying the more things change the more they stay the same. KUNC commentator Laura Bridgwater says it's true - from wannabe rock stars to nuclear weapons.
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In middle school, I was in a rock band. There were four of us, two guys and two girls. A drummer, a bassist, a lead singer who played guitar and me. I rotated between piano and playing backup twelve-string guitar.
This was in Houston, when white girls wore blue eyeliner and had big hair as long as they stayed in the air conditioning.
We performed live once at an eighth grade dance in the school cafeteria. It was bad, but we didn't know it. I'm just thankful camera phones hadn't been invented yet.
We only had two original songs. One was called "Stardust and Memories." It was about stardust. And memories. The other was called "Armageddon." Can you feel the teen angst?
We sang about Armageddon because it was the early 80s. We were coming of age during the Cold War. Ronald Reagan was in his first term as president, and the United States had the largest peacetime defense buildup in its history. The Evil Empire and Star Wars no longer referred to just George Lucas films.
We were passionate about nuclear disarmament. We were taking a stand by taking the stage with our music. We were ahead of our time with Nuke Aid.
That passion carried over to other parts of our lives. We wrote term papers about the arms race, as did many students, including a young Barack Obama. When he was a student at Columbia, now President Obama wrote an article supporting the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. I bet he would have liked our Armageddon song.
Like many bands, we broke up. I don't remember why. Most likely it was because our parents were tired of listening to us practice in their living rooms. We weren't even together long enough to have a name.
So here I am, almost 30 years later, having survived mutual assured destruction and middle school. And here we are as a nation with nukes making headlines and facing that fact that, according to The New York Times, "many experts fear the beginning of a second nuclear age."
Truth be told, I haven't thought about nuclear arms in years. I've been too busy raising children. Most days I worry about finding lost library books, how to pay for college, and what's for dinner.
But recently I picked up the guitar again, so naturally I tried to remember the melody to "Armageddon." Searching for "Armageddon" made me pay attention when Mr. Obama visited Russia in July to set an agenda to reduce nukes.
Even though our president is advocating for a nuclear free world, North Korea continues to test fire short range missiles. The Taliban and Al Qaeda have announced goals to get nuclear arsenals. Iran is circling nuclear capability, too. It is a new nuclear club.
I found myself thinking that at least during the Cold War the situation with the Soviets felt more like a staring match or a game of chicken. Now the global nuclear situation feels like playing board games with preschoolers. When they don't get their way, they make up their own rules or cheat, like moving ahead in Candy Land with sloppy counting, hoping nobody is paying attention.
I realize that I still find nuclear issues as disturbing today as I did in junior high. Frankly, I still find junior high as disturbing today as I did in junior high.
So what can I do about nukes?
Our old band can't make a comeback, so I might form a new one. We'll be group of mothers. We'll write protest songs in favor of organic lunch food, financial education, and, still, lamentably, nuclear disarmament. Instead of performing in the school cafeteria, we'll play at politcal fundraisers.
This time I'll make sure the band has a name. I'm thinking about calling it The Cockroaches, because cockroaches are supposed to survive nuclear war, and probably middle school, too.
Or maybe I'll call it "A Peace That Is No Peace," after a line in George Orwell's 1945 essay titled "You and the Atomic Bomb."
Or maybe I'll call it The Atomic Moms.
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