There's a lot of people who demean the 1970s. But that was my era. Elton John, nylon scenery shirts, Jimmy Carter and the Killer Rabbit, Muskegon Catholic Central Class of '76... ahh, good memories. And one of the things that people don't give the '70s enough credit for is the excellence of the advertising. It was still causal, like the old patent medicine ads from the 1880s — "Use this, and you'll feel great!" — but with hip music and feathered haircuts.
I was brought back to this reverie a couple of days ago when Nora used the tagline to a famous 1970s commercial in reference to our workplace. So here's the commercial in question. (Our students probably think that Calgon is the planet where Buzz Lightyear came from. If you recognized the commercial from the post's header, consider yourself officially old.)
Nora will be finished with her BAC responsibilities on June 9th, less than a month from today. It's been great going to work with her every morning, driving through Boston traffic while she's knitting, talking with her about what the day will bring or about our plans for the weekend. Driving home is often less pleasant, not because the traffic is worse or because it's too dark to knit, but because we're both physically tightened up. I used to think that being "uptight" or "all wound up" were figures of speech. Now I know they're literal. We got home last night at 11:00, and both immediately turned on our computers. We didn't really need to do any more work, or to check our personal e-mail accounts; we were just too tired to do anything else. (Other stupid phrases from my youth—"too cold to snow," "too tired to sleep"—have also been borne out through my years in Boston.)
Bubble bath doesn't really do much for me, but if Calgon has those magical powers, maybe I should buy a box.
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