S2E11 Surviving the Messy 70s and 80s - A Gen X Reality Check

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Remember when your parents smoked in the car with the windows up? When teachers could paddle students in front of the class? When asbestos was in our schools and lead was in our paint? Megan and Lesley strip away the nostalgia to examine the genuinely problematic aspects of growing up in the 70s and 80s that shaped our generation.

Following their catch-up on recent life changes, the hosts pay tribute to recently departed musical icons Sly Stone and Brian Wilson, then celebrate the 50th anniversaries of both Rocky Horror Picture Show and Jaws. But the heart of this episode confronts the darker realities behind Gen X childhoods—from environmental hazards we somehow survived to educational practices that would be considered abusive today.

The conversation weaves through vivid memories of corporal punishment in schools, public shaming as a teaching tool, and the complete absence of mental health awareness. They explore how these experiences shaped our generation's characteristic resilience and skepticism, while acknowledging the trauma that often accompanied it. From smoking being permitted virtually everywhere to the casual dismissal of abuse allegations, this episode serves as a reality check about the "good old days" that weren't always so good.

Rather than simply criticizing the past, Megan and Lesley emphasize why acknowledging these truths matters—without confronting history honestly, we risk repeating it. As they note while discussing current regulatory rollbacks: we've been here before, and it wasn't pretty. Join us for this unflinching look at the experiences that defined a generation and continue to influence Gen X perspectives today.

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Episode Transcript

Megan (00:00):
I'm Megan Bennett,

Lesley (00:01):
I'm Lesley Meier

Megan (00:02):
and this is Gen X Women Are Sick of this.
Shit.
Hi Lesley,

Lesley (00:11):
Hi Megan

Megan (00:12):
, I feel like I haven't seen you in a long time.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
Hello Megan, it has been a long time, I mean, it's
been two weeks.

Megan (00:20):
Yeah, but I mean like normally I text with you eleven
thousand times a week and wewould.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
We would have more interaction not interacting.

Megan (00:28):
I feel I miss you oh.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
I miss you too.
You'll think of me a lot whenyou're on vacation.

Megan (00:34):
You know, it just makes me think of the time that you
and I were in Disney together.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
The best time.

Megan (00:39):
That was so fun.
That picture pops up every oncein a while and I'm like, oh,
look at us, we did we had agreat time and your kiddos were
little and my kiddo was littleand it was just cute.
It was cute.

Lesley (00:52):
But you're doing full-time work for an outside
organization now I am Yep.

Megan (00:59):
I took a job with a nonprofit.
I just decided I was tired ofworking for myself and I don't
want clients anymore so they the.
The trade-off is a structuredyes, especially and especially
and until I feel like I am moreup to speed and then I can work

(01:20):
from home a little bit more, andthat will be nice but right now
I've got to, just change.
Got to figure out what the hellis going on.

Lesley (01:26):
Yep understood and nonprofit work is really
valuable work it is, so kudos toyou for doing it

Megan (01:32):
Not making a hefty living or anything, but it makes me
feel good and it's good to getup in the morning and go to work
and that fucking matters rightnow.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
It does right now.
That's the thing.

Megan (01:51):
And thing, and that's what I needed time, that is what
I needed.
I had a lot of people go areyou sure you want to do that and
I'm like, yeah, I really am, Idon't.
I I feel fairly useless and Idon't want to feel that way.
I think that's important andI'm in a very good spot and very
lucky to be in that spot whereI don't have to go out and make
a gajillion dollars.
I have to, you know I have towork, but you don't have to make
a gajillion.
Yeah, I understand.
If a gajillion dollars wants todrop in my lap, I'm not going

(02:11):
to say no, I won't reject thatgajillion dollars.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
No, I will take it, nor would I think anyone really
say no, I'm not a dummy, perhaps.
Perhaps no one would rejectthat.
Yeah, perhaps.
Perhaps no one would rejectthat.
Yeah, congratulations.

Lesley (02:28):
But you know, it limits casual interaction life
flexibility.

Speaker 3 (02:29):
It's just a trade-off .
Yes, uh, but that is the seasonthat you are in.
In this moment it is, and howhave you been?
Uh, pretty good.
I mean, you know, busy, busy,busy, just working, though I
mean like work is work is work,um, and trying to like I feel

(02:50):
some urgency just around, likedoing things in my home, like I
just want to take care of myspace yeah so we've been like
working on some outside projectsand we've got other stuff kind
of lined up and it just feelsimportant and useful.

Megan (03:07):
Yeah, it is the season too, the weather's nice, it's
like you can be outside, you cando stuff.
You can.
Yeah, so I get it.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
So that feels good.
It's daylight late, so I kindof just want to enjoy all of
that.

Megan (03:19):
Isn't that the best?
Really nice, like when the sundoesn't go down until like 9.30
and you're like oh yes, I lovethat.

Speaker 3 (03:27):
Me too, and my body's like oh, you can just keep
doing things.
Yeah, so the workday doesn'tend in like darkness and misery.

Megan (03:34):
Right, oh, my God though, but I go to bed, and I go to
bed, do you?
I'm just like I.

Lesley (03:41):
That's the truth um.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
So yeah, cool well that's awesome.

Megan (03:46):
I'm glad you are getting your shit done around the house.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
We're slowly but surely I get.
This could be my full-time joband it would probably still take
me five years, but we'reprioritizing things and that's
exciting.
Yes, I feel like we had someother things to talk about and
my brain kind of went blank.
We were going to talk aboutshit that we're sick of what are
we sick of?

(04:09):
Start with that what are wesick of?
What are you sick of today?
Uh well, we both talked earlier.

Megan (04:16):
We're sick of war and the threat of war and the never
ending threat posturing aboutwar.

Speaker 3 (04:25):
Are we going to war?

Megan (04:26):
Maybe We'll let you know in two weeks.

Speaker 3 (04:28):
As kids growing up in the 80s, we surely thought that
we got that thermonuclear warthreat wrapped up.
I really thought we were donewith it With Red Dawn and war
games.
Didn't we learn?
What was the other one, thelast pilot, last starfighter
You're trained to like?
Was that last Starfighter?
I love that movie.

(04:51):
You were trained in a videogame and you had to go through
things.
It was all this like.
I don't even know if that'sconnected, but it was like
futuristic war related films.

Lesley (04:59):
We're going to say that yes.

Speaker 3 (05:01):
Yeah, we thought we sorted that out, but evidently
it's still just a fine thing todo to swing your dick around and
talk about bombing people.
Shall we play a game.

Megan (05:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (05:11):
I'll show you a game.

Megan (05:13):
I'm just.
I don't know why, why it's 2025and this is still a thing.
But you're right, it is.
It's a bunch of dicks swinging.

Speaker 3 (05:22):
Yeah, and I'm sorry, none of us are impressed.

Megan (05:27):
We haven't been ever.
Nope, we're busy doing othershit.
We really don't need that.

Speaker 3 (05:31):
It's not impressive and thank goodness you know we
have more access to informationnow, so we know things faster.

Megan (05:39):
Yeah, and then you wonder like is that a good thing?
Like, maybe it's better to nothave the 24-hour.
We've talked about this before.

Speaker 3 (05:46):
Yes.

Lesley (05:47):
The 24-hour news cycle.

Megan (05:52):
So you like wake up at 3 o'clock in the morning, you pick
up your phone and you're likeholy fuck.
Well, I'll never go back tosleep now.

Speaker 3 (05:58):
Excuse me, I was just spraying water up my nose.
At the same time I was thirsty,thirsty.
It took a big old swig and Iwas like fuck, let me just like
suffocate myself.
So yeah, we're fucking sick ofthat yeah, I agree that's fair.
That can be it for today.
That's good that's good.

Megan (06:16):
Yeah, I yeah.
Yeah, um self-medicating.
I'm just, you know, whatever ittakes, just get through it
there is some kind of cool 70s,80s.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
Cool and sad because bullshit and hot goss has news
in it, but it also features whodied this week.
Yeah, we lost a few people,didn't we?
Let's start with who died thisweek, last week, and then move
into the like kind of littlenews niblets that we liked, that
we thought were pretty okay,pretty funny.

Megan (06:47):
So I we had two musicians that we were um that were
pretty sad to lose.
You want to do that one I'll domine, yeah, the one well I mean,
he's not mine, but sly stonefrom sly and the family stone.
So, uh, he passed away on june9th.
His real name really isSylvester Stewart.

(07:09):
He was born March 15th 1943.
Sylvester, sylvester, I guessSly, you know?
Yeah, that works, I got you.
But yeah, soul, rock,psychedelic music, you know
super good, I loved Sly and theFamily Stone.
There were just so many amazingsongs that came out of that

(07:30):
band and Everyday People and youknow anyway.

Speaker 3 (07:36):
It's a thing you don't want me to sing, do it.
Family Affair.

Lesley (07:39):
No, you really don't.

Megan (07:39):
She's not going to sing, she won't do it.

Speaker 3 (07:41):
You really don't want me to sing, so Sly passed away
on june 9th and then on june11th, one of my favorites, brian
wilson, died.
Uh, pet sounds is one of thegreatest albums ever, and I
think it's ranked number two byrolling stone what's number one?
As a.
I knew you were gonna ask thatand I don't remember, but it was

(08:02):
part of the article.

Lesley (08:03):
And I went.

Megan (08:04):
Oh no, absolutely not.

Speaker 3 (08:06):
No, you have to look it up.
But I will think about it for asecond, but it's ranked number
two.
Um, and as a Midwesterner who,like fashioned herself, just
like geographically deprived ofbeing a surfer because of my
love for the water, um, beingable to see the beach boys at

(08:27):
the indiana state fair was likeI was just like see, like it was
like the closest I could get tobeing able to be a surfer girl,
you were gonna be a betty, mytrips to um florida were.
know, you kind of get that andyou could kind of hang out
because there are a bunch ofMidwestern kids like being

(08:49):
pseudo surfers then, but youknow, being in the middle of the
corn you don't get a lot ofchance to like surf.

Megan (08:56):
So nowadays you can get on a cruise ship and some of the
ships have like those surf,surf rider, like wave things.
That's cool on the ship youcould like yes, hop on and, and
and wipe out, you know, in aglorious fashion yes, so I could
see you doing that.

Speaker 3 (09:13):
Oh, you know if you ever wanted to give it a shot,
sure, I was a decent skimboarder yeah, I mean for a
midwestern girl right.
Right for a midwestern girl, mycousin about.
Right For a Midwestern girl, mycousin.
That was about it.

Megan (09:26):
My cousin who is older than I am, I guess, second
cousin older than I am.
He grew up in SouthernCalifornia, kind of in the beach
boy sort of era.
Oh yes, as a little kid likethe beach boys were a thing.

Speaker 3 (09:40):
Yes, of course.

Megan (09:41):
I love that, and he was a surfer, so he would absolutely
skip school if the weather wasproper for going.
Oh you know, and surfing heck,and so he got in trouble many
times, for you know just goingand hanging 10 oh wow and

(10:01):
listening to the beat if youcould like.

Speaker 3 (10:03):
I think that was probably from a movie
perspective, the coolest fuckingthing ever when I was young is
like they just skipped schooland like went surfing Gnarly, we
would skip school and go tobagel fair in Nora.

Megan (10:19):
We would skip school, and I didn't skip school.

Speaker 3 (10:21):
It was practically the same thing, and by skipping
I mean we would just leaveschool during our study hall
period.

Megan (10:30):
Right, I didn't skip.
I just had a theater teacherwho was super kind to me and I
got to go.

Speaker 3 (10:36):
Yes, yes, we had those opportunities as well.
I fucking love that.
I am still actually digging forthat.
Uh, okay, number two, rightbehind marvin gaye's.
What's going on?

Megan (10:50):
oh, okay, that was the number one uh greatest album of
all time.

Speaker 3 (10:55):
There we go okay, cool, that makes me feel better
on the inside I'm sorry to putyou on the spot.

Megan (11:02):
You know, and you just I should have just left it up.

Speaker 3 (11:05):
Why don't I have my ADHD tabs open?
I have 500 of them on my phone.

Megan (11:10):
You clearly you only have how many tabs open.
Now Three, this is really onlythree.
She's got four tabs in the deckand my Google deck.

Speaker 3 (11:17):
This is how we have notes on this.
I've got two tabs.

Lesley (11:20):
Pretty much failed.

Speaker 3 (11:23):
We should talk about the little film-related news
tidbits that we have, though.
Yeah, what you got, I think youshould share yours first,
because yours is awesome and Ididn't know about it.

Megan (11:35):
So we are recording this on what is this?
The 20th?

Speaker 3 (11:40):
Yes, June 20th.

Lesley (11:41):
Yes, so June 20th.

Megan (11:42):
On June 19th 1973, rocky Horror opened in its very first
show in the Royal Court Theaterin London and we had the Tim
help, tim, tim Curry.
Oh my God, fucking brain fart.

Speaker 3 (12:07):
I was like wait, are you having a stroke?
No, I'm just dumb.

Megan (12:12):
Tim Tim help.

Lesley (12:12):
Tim you know Tim.

Megan (12:15):
Not that Tim, the other Tim, tim Curry Jesus.

Lesley (12:20):
Anyway, he played Frankenfurter.
Yes.

Megan (12:23):
In that production.
Super hot and was apparently soawesome that they said when the
movie rolled around hey you.
You are a Frankenfurter, Getyour ass in your fishnets and
get up here on the big screen.

Speaker 3 (12:37):
Yes, oh, I should have said stage and screen,
because you were talking aboutthe theater and not the movie,
the altar.
The altar, my Little Movie,tidbit, is one of my favorite
films to watch on the 4th ofJuly 50 years ago today Steven
Spielberg's Jaws was released.
I saw this little slideshow.
I fucking love this movie somuch.

Megan (12:59):
Okay, so we're learning a lot about you.
You like surfing and sharks.

Speaker 3 (13:05):
I am okay with all of it.
Danger because is her middlename.
If you're out there, I meanit's their, it's their land okay
, so you're out there, you're,you know you're just paddling
along waiting for the big one.
It's a risk that you're gonnatake and that shark comes and
hope for the.

Megan (13:24):
I mean, I hope it's quick .

Speaker 3 (13:26):
Yeah, hope for the best.
You hope they just aren't toointerested.
That's fair.
So some tidbits that I readtoday.
As many of us have heard, theshark didn't work very well and
that made it quite scary becauseit would move sometimes and not
others, it was erratic.
Kept breaking the line movesometimes and not others.

(13:48):
It was erratic.
Kept kept breaking.
Uh, the line you're gonna needa bigger boat was improvised,
not in the script, it was almostcut.
Um, of course, the iconicsoundtrack.
Everybody can play that on theirpiano and evidently spielberg
didn't go to the premierebecause he thought it was going
to be a flop and tank his career.
Little did he know.

(14:08):
Wow, I know that was all fromthe internet that was steven.

Megan (14:13):
Even when you suck, you're real good spielberg, I
just.

Speaker 3 (14:18):
We showed that movie to our son and a bunch of his
friends, I think, think on a 4thof July during COVID.
I mean, it may have been eventhat summer 2020 or 20,.
None of them had seen it andthey were all teenagers at the
time.
They were mesmerized.

Megan (14:34):
Well, I think that I think there's a whole I mean
there's generations of kidswho've never seen it now, and I,
I, I think I have seen it agrand total of one time.

Speaker 3 (14:43):
Oh my God, it's so fucking good.
It scared the fuck out of meUnderstood Fair.

Megan (14:49):
So I'm not a big horror person and I'm certainly not
like the jump scare kind ofperson.
Maybe my bladder's just not upto speed and I can't handle it.

Speaker 3 (15:01):
Oh, I love that.

Megan (15:03):
The jump scare kind of thing scares me too much.
And you know like I'm thinking,I've seen the shining maybe
once or maybe twice.

Speaker 3 (15:12):
Oh, that's a good one , yeah, that one.
So those two are those are.
Those kinds of films areseparate for me from like um,
like the texas chainsaw massacre, friday the 13th, I don't
really love those movies,although when I was a young
teenager.
I thought they were great.

(15:32):
Let's watch them all in a row.
There's something aboutunderdeveloped frontal lobe that
you're just like what?
So we would watch them all.
We're like, ah, but now I'm notinto that.
So much.

Megan (15:44):
Yeah, I never did the slasher thing.
Would watch them all.
They're like, ah, but now Idon't.
I'm not into that.
Yeah, I didn't.
I never did the slasher thing.

Speaker 3 (15:46):
I think I saw a sleepaway camp one time with
friends somewhere and I hated itlike it was freaky it was scary
it was scary, I was scared Ijust never connected it to like
well, this isn't, wouldn't everhappen well, I guess I thought
it did.

Megan (16:03):
I was like oh shit, you had a really active imagination,
I guess, which is fair on point, I don't know but scary.

Speaker 3 (16:11):
Well, I won't make you watch this, okay.

Megan (16:13):
So I can't do that.
I can't do the shark movie.
You don't have to do that.

Speaker 3 (16:16):
The shark movie's scary too.
But the other thing is, both ofthese pieces of art, let's say
cinematic and stage, are 50years old.
I think is what we want to sayyeah, 50 plus, and both of these
pieces of art define ageneration.

Megan (16:35):
I mean, there are just things about each performance,
production that are, it's justlike in the water of references
that you would make in yourbrain yeah, if you were, if you
had seen jaws, or if you were arocky horror kid like well, and
I love like lexicon when you saythings like you're gonna need a

(16:57):
bigger boat and and we peopleour age, yes could easily like
go like outboating somewhere andmake that dumb reference you
know like and and everybodyyounger than us would stare at
us like we grew a second head.
For the most part right, unlessthey've seen the movie right.

Speaker 3 (17:15):
Some phrases have become like part of just how we
talk, like they don't even knowwhy.
We'll say stuff sometimes infront of younger generations.
They know the phrase, theydon't know why, they don't know
where it came from, it'srelevant or why we're laughing,
it's just like, yeah, that'sjust the thing you say.

Megan (17:30):
We need a master list of those things, don't you think
it'd be fun to have like?

Speaker 3 (17:35):
just as we yeah.

Megan (17:36):
Just as you like, start thinking of things that you say
that, like younger generationsmay have heard Right, but they
can't connect the dots as towhere the heck it came from.

Speaker 3 (17:45):
I think that's brilliant.
That'd be really fun.
Maybe that's what linguists dolike trace the evolution of
language and vernacular andphrases over time.

Megan (17:57):
I'm sure I'm not using all of those words correctly.
I think you used all of themexactly the way you should, I'm
sure.

Speaker 3 (18:00):
I did.
That's what you get going toCoralage they were perfect Coral
.
But that's all right.
That's okay.
We know that.
You don't have to pronouncethings properly.
We'll give you a parade for itA poo-raid, a parade, a parade.
Oh my gosh, my theaterprofessor would have died.

(18:21):
I just the things that we wouldget coached on Parade
Articulating accurately, andthat was certainly one of those
words.

Megan (18:31):
Gen X Women Are Sick of the Shit is supported by Lilas
Love you like a sis, a Gen XWomen's social club.
What's Lilas Megan?
Lilas is our off platform, offthe books of faces, off all of
the other traditional socialmedia.
It is our space and place forGen X Women to come together,

(18:52):
have conversations, meet eachother.
It's a social club.

Speaker 3 (18:55):
It is a social club.
It's a membership-based club.
Memberships are $10 a month.
That does help support us ingrowing the platform.
We purchased a platform thatwould host a network of women so
that you could come togetherand meet each other in real time
.

Megan (19:15):
In a safer space than a traditional social media
platform and a much morepersonal space.
So what do we do there, Leslie?

Speaker 3 (19:25):
We host movie nights where we live stream some of our
favorites as they are availableto us, favorites as they are
available to us for groupwatches of films from the 70s,
80s and 90s.
We host a space for a monthlybook club.
We host trivia nights once amonth.

(19:45):
We have a live text chat Fourprizes even.
Four prizes.
That's true.
The space is able to host likeweekly text chats so that you
can kind of check in in realtime with people.
I would say the criticaldifference between kind of what
this space is and any othersocial media space that I've

(20:07):
experienced is that it is active.
You will have to engage in itor be engaged in it by other
people, so it's not like apassive consumption thing.

Megan (20:18):
It's like making connections, yep, and if that's
what you're looking for theopportunity to meet other people
, to find people who are maybein the same similar spaces as
you are like-minded same time,phase of life, navigating all of
those transitions, then thismight be the right place for you
.
So check out, lylas.
You can learn more about it atGenXWomenPodcom.

(20:46):
Nothing brings joy to my lifelike Reaganomics.
We're back, we're talking aboutReaganomics hey, leslie, how
you doing with the trickle down.
Is it trickling down yet?

Speaker 3 (21:02):
I mean my leg, along with my incontinence.
That's not true so far, so goodso far, so good, but I know
there are procedures if thatdoes happen, if you start
trickling down your leg, that Ican have done and I'm grateful
that those exist, we're going tosay.
That's what, as long as I, as awoman, am able to access health
care, which is, you know,truthfully, a toss up.

(21:24):
You don't know, I have no ideaMaybe not, we don't know, but if
I there, I'm going to go thereand get some vaccines.
I think that's why you canstill get some vaccines right
now.
For now, yeah, but yes,absolutely, we will go there and

(21:46):
get back a little road trip.
I did read I was reading alittle update on how quickly we
go off topic.
I was reading a little update onour vaccine and I was watching
this update with a scientistthat I enjoy listening to Can't
remember her name and she wastalking about how, because the

(22:09):
immune cells that COVID impactsand like repeatedly affects with
repeated infections, that forus people in our generation it
can overall lower the efficacyof vaccines that we had in
childhood.
So I know it's already beenadvised, like I think it's over
50, over 60.
If you would like to, if you'reborn certain years, go ahead

(22:31):
and get your mmr updated becausevaccines are just more
effective now.
But that was an interesting newpiece of information because
the science is currently beingpublished and I was like, oh
okay, you know, don't believe me, I'm not a scientist google
that shit and actually look atactual studies, not things that
ai makes that scientificjournals are a good thing to

(22:53):
look at and not yes.
Don't take my recommendation,but I was just like, oh, good to
know.

Megan (22:58):
I and I did.
I went and got my, I did getmine updated and I didn't grow a
second head and I'm no more orless dumb than I was before.

Speaker 3 (23:12):
And yeah, because I don't want the measles.
No, thank you, but it isspreading rapidly on flights
right now.
So when you're in the air, youmight consider masking up again.
Indiana, we're spreading themeasles like crazy right now.
Measles.

Lesley (23:29):
The measles.

Speaker 3 (23:29):
Yummy, this is not what's on the list.
This stays contagious in a roomwhere someone has been infected
for four hours.

Megan (23:37):
Four hours, so you sneeze where somebody else sneezes and
they leave.
And three hours and 58 minuteslater your ass walks through
there.
You got the measles A littlemeasles shower.

Speaker 3 (23:49):
That's exciting.
This is what we wanted to talkabout today exciting.

Megan (23:57):
This is what we wanted to talk about today.
You know, when we think aboutit like the previous generations
, before gen x.

Speaker 3 (24:00):
Was there anything before gen x?
Supposedly we try not to talkabout them.

Megan (24:04):
I don't know.
They're never going to retire,so who knows um but the, the
previous generations?
Yes have things like you know,measles vaccinations.

Speaker 3 (24:13):
Nope.

Megan (24:14):
And smallpox vaccinations .

Speaker 3 (24:16):
Died from the measles .
They just died from it.
Or smallpox.
Okay, hey, watch out.
Dysentery, yippee-ki-yay.
That's an interesting segueinto not so great things about
the 70s and 80s.
Yes, let's take off therose-colored glasses for a
little bit.

Megan (24:35):
Get some cynicalness going here.
Let's get cynical, yep, let'sget cynical.
Oh, I can feel it.

Speaker 3 (24:43):
I want to get cynical .
Let's get into cynical.

Megan (24:49):
Thank you, let me hear your sarcasm talk, uh-huh, no,
like Tim's shaking his head atme.
He's like no, that's it, you'redone.
We need to be done.
Now he's going to turn off mymic.

Speaker 3 (25:00):
Not so great things about the 70s and 80s.
This just popped into my headbecause we were talking about it
Lead paint.

Megan (25:05):
Oh yeah yeah, you could not safely lick the windows.
Even though we did anywayprobably great lead paint, not
so tasty, yum yum.
Uh, yeah, you could.
What's on your list?
Uh, so I have a well in thatsame vein leaded gasoline oh
yeah, other thing that you canstill.

(25:26):
You know, at least in the backof my nasal cavities I feel like
I could still smell leaded gas.

Speaker 3 (25:34):
So I'm gonna ask the question that everybody's
thinking, which is remind mewhat the fuck lead does to us
well, it?

Megan (25:42):
it makes you not very smart, doesn't it?

Speaker 3 (25:45):
it impacts your brain functioning right, okay, that's
what I could not remember.
Like, there are things thathave just been bad for so long
where you're just like nope,this is really bad, so stay away
from it.
We all know that, right yeah.

Megan (25:58):
Lead poisoning super duper bad and you know in the US
we took some EPA precautionsand we don't have the what you
know the what you know, thatthing, we used to have the.
Epa.

Speaker 3 (26:12):
Environmental Protection.

Megan (26:13):
Agency.
Before we cut that to shreds,we had protections in place that
made it so that you couldn'thave lead in your paint and you
couldn't have lead in your gasand you couldn't have lead in,
you know, pencils or whateverbecause, they're graphite right
For sure.

Speaker 3 (26:29):
Do you remember when it used to be like really
terrifying if you got stabbed inthe hand with a pencil?
Never knew, Like as a kid, itwas just perpetually scary and I
didn't really know when theystopped using lead in lead
pencils.

Lesley (26:43):
Because it's always pencil lead.
Was it an old?

Speaker 3 (26:46):
pencil Could be, but, like literally, your classmates
could slowly poison you todeath.

Megan (26:52):
Watch out Kindergarten.
You just got a little dumberand dumber and dumber.

Speaker 3 (26:56):
Your test scores went down Beyond the.

Megan (26:58):
Thunderdome Year after year, just because you got
stabbed one time.

Speaker 3 (27:01):
My God.

Megan (27:02):
But, we did things in the US at one time, back when
science was a thing that webelieved in, where we got rid of
lead, and other countries, youknow, still are playing catch up
to that and and it's you knowin third world countries like
lead issues are still a huge,huge problem.
Yeah, so, you know, hopefullywe won't slide all the way back.

Speaker 3 (27:27):
I mean, I would say we're who knows, now we could be
considered a developing nationbecause that's probably true
development that we arewillingly letting go of.

Megan (27:36):
Well, and alongside of that, I mean speaking about the
EPA, rip, epa.
Asbestos is another thing,right Back in the news.
Shockingly enough, shockingly,we thought we got rid of it.
Shockingly enough, shockingly,we thought we got rid of it.
We thought we could, you know,maybe rehab some houses
carefully and pull asbestos offand get rid of it.

(27:59):
And no, no, yeah, you have towear suits and stuff.

Speaker 3 (28:04):
It's fine now, is it?
Sure, my golly, whateverInsulation just got a lot
cheaper, let's put it back?

Megan (28:14):
So here's the question.
This is something my husbandand I were talking about with
this whole story about asbestos.
Okay, who lobbied for that?
Who's the asshole who said, youknow what?
Nobody, we would like asbestosback, please.

Speaker 3 (28:24):
They're just like.
That shouldn't be a rule.
You should be able to make yourown decisions.
We're going to own the libs.

Megan (28:33):
This is just going to be a bitch fest by bringing
asbestos back baby.

Lesley (28:38):
My golly.

Speaker 3 (28:39):
Elementary schools everywhere.
Breathe a sigh of relief Deeply.
Breathe it deeply.
There's no more remediation.
That has to happen.
Breathe that in baby.
So asbestos sucked in the 70sand 80s.

Lesley (28:51):
It did, at least we thought.

Speaker 3 (28:52):
We thought it did.
Yes, I do remember mygrandmother's house.
She lived there for 50 yearsand it had asbestos shingles on
the outside and she had to haveit painted so that they could be
encapsulated Like they did nottouch them.
And I think that they're stillon the outside of the house.
They've just continued to likepaint the house.

Megan (29:18):
Because to have that all taken apart would cost an insane
amount of money.
There's a house around thecorner from where I live that
they've been working on removingand remediation of that house
for I don't know three years andthey've got oh my goodness,
they got three of the four sidesdown, hey, hey.
But you know there's still awhole side of asbestos.
It it's nasty, it's gross, itwill kill you and you know it's
back baby.

Speaker 3 (29:39):
Exciting.
What else was not so great inthe 70s and 80s?
Oh, I had a really specificmemory about school Corporal
punishment.
Not so great, not so great andjust lack of educational
resources and shaming being usedas like an educational ideology

(29:59):
for teaching.
If you just publicly shame kids,of course they're going to do
better.
Ruralish school, my likekindergarten, first grade year
and years, and they still hadpaddles with the holes, wooden

(30:19):
paddles hanging in eachclassroom and there was public
paddling.
I do think the principal camein to paddle the child in front
of the class.
Did he draw the short straw?
Or was that a good thing sowell, because to do it, I mean
that's fucking gross.
I remember the guy's name, ourprincipal, mr brainan.

(30:42):
Yeah, and he would have a reallylike strong right arm I I just
remember my mom telling me thatlike I was evidently quite
terrified and like, came home,of course, incredibly upset
because I just watched an adult,who's supposed to be keeping us
safe, hit another child with abaseball bat, basically, um, she

(31:04):
and she didn't know what to do.
She ended up taking me to apsychiatrist or psychologist,
because she was, and that was 70I mean good for your mom.

Megan (31:13):
That's awesome.

Speaker 3 (31:14):
I'm so proud of your mom because she couldn't
understand why I was so upsetwhich we know, right now.
It's like fucking vicarioustrauma, and when we're children,
anything that's happening tosomeone else is happening to us
like it's in our nervous systems.
It happens to us as adults, too, right if we observe an
accident or something like that.
So, anyway, that sucked.
And the other specific thingthat I remember is we would do

(31:37):
these.
Did you ever do timed testslike for math facts or?
something like that, like theraces, oh yeah so if you were
the slowest, they would do shitlike pin, like snails on you so
that you were no I don'tremember that.
And if you were good, you werelike fast good you got a bunny
rabbit or something like ajackrabbit and the slow kids

(31:58):
with the snails were like put onbleachers.

Lesley (32:01):
It was public.

Speaker 3 (32:02):
I mean, this was like the thing, so it was born in 73
and I know I went to have tokindergarten um when I was five
half day yeah olden days youonly went to kindergarten half
day, so whatever god that'sawful.

Megan (32:16):
Yeah, so that kind of falls into the whole like the
mental health thing absolutelybecause I was thinking about uh,
you know, got ADD, adhd, yeah,and didn't know that at the time
.
Um, and now know that myteachers saying things to me and
writing things on my reportcard like distracting talks all

(32:42):
the time, blah, blah, blah, andthen hearing the words over and
over and over again.
You can do so much better.
You're smarter than this.
You can do better than this.

Speaker 3 (32:53):
You can get than this , you can do better than this,
you can get better grades.
And being isolated, Like wereyou ever like?
Sat at a desk further away?

Lesley (32:59):
from the kids so you wouldn't interrupt.

Speaker 3 (33:01):
Like being segregated isolated set aside, made to sit
by the teacher in the front ofthe room.
All of those like publiclyhumiliating things Yep.
Publicly humiliating things,yep.
No talking about childhoodanxiety or depression, or that
for adults, for that matter.

Megan (33:20):
We just pretended like none of that existed.

Lesley (33:23):
It was all fine, we were great Everything was great.

Megan (33:31):
So when we hear about that whole kind of Gen X, just
putting your nose down and justget it done, and all that Sure,
sure, sure, right, like, andmaybe it's a good thing that we
are able to bounce back, butalso, are we Did, we, can we?
Maybe we didn't do as great aswe thought we did.

Speaker 3 (33:48):
Maybe we just had to cut off our empathy because we
were being abused.

Megan (33:55):
Ah, the 70s.

Speaker 3 (33:57):
The 80s.
As with any situation like, ofcourse there's some like
resilience, that we have.
Sure, but if we have resiliencenot connected to empathy, then
we're just assholes.
So there's a fine line that wecan walk in there and when the
adults in our lives who aresupposed to be keeping us safe
are torturing us Not great, wedon't have a lot of choice.

Megan (34:20):
That was a big thing in the 70s, right there, and the
80s.
Absolutely so.
One that I immediately went towhen I thought about things that
were not so great that maybewe've forgotten, thankfully, is
the fact that there was smokingliterally fucking everywhere.

Speaker 3 (34:41):
Yep Restaurants, every restaurant.

Megan (34:44):
Your house.
Every, yeah, every restaurantAirplanes.

Speaker 3 (34:48):
Oh God yeah.

Megan (34:49):
You know buses.
I forgot about that.

Speaker 3 (34:52):
Yep School bus.
I was like 10.
Just kidding.

Megan (34:56):
But that was not a place Whipping out the Marlboro.

Speaker 3 (34:58):
Reds when we smacking them.
But it wouldn't have been a bigthing for, like you know,
teachers took smoke breaks onthe playground of high schools,
had smoking areas at least myhigh school did.
Yep, um oh, I saw a great slideshow.
Everywhere you made ashtrays asart projects for your family,
which was super fucked up as akid with a mom who died of lung

(35:20):
cancer Thanks day camp, you knowand cigarettes and things that
were alcohol related to werealso like, frequently shot
glasses, shit like that.
I saw this slideshow of photosfrom the 70s, because the Pacers
Pacers are doing really greatright now and they were showing
some old photos of Marcus SquareArena arena I'm gonna say that

(35:42):
that's probably true, and theywere talking about like the
coloring and the haze, becauseyou could smoke inside the arena
and how it gives a particulareffect to photographs from that
time, because everybody's justthey're fucking smoking lighten
it up.

Megan (35:57):
Some of it was cigarettes some of it was not.
Yeah, I always felt like I hadto get as low as possible.
Yeah, I, I absolutely abhor thesmell of cigarette smoke.
Yeah, so much.
I'm not a big pot smoking.
I can't like.
The smell of it bothers mesometimes too.
I'm sorry, sue, um, but that isa very specific call out for

(36:20):
one very specific person.
I love you.
The but the like the smell ofcigarette smoke, and my mom
smoked my grandmother smoked mydad smoked.
I like every fucking personsmoked and being in a car with
the car windows rolled up, andyou're like sitting there just

(36:40):
breathing that shit in and I, tothis day, if I am in a car, and
a car three cars away from meis smoking, I can smell it.

Speaker 3 (36:51):
Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Megan (36:52):
Like a hundred and I could.
I mean exactly.
Oh you got the menthols out, doyou?

Speaker 3 (36:57):
Yep, it's such a specific thing.
You got the menthols out do you?
Yep, it's such a specific thingand just like the whole big
tobacco trials of the 80s andhow they all stood up there and
testified and said there is noconnection whatsoever.

Megan (37:10):
Right Come on.

Speaker 3 (37:11):
You don't want to trust a motherfucker?
Don't trust corporations, yeah.

Megan (37:17):
Gaslighting at its absolute best.

Lesley (37:18):
I'm going to describe to you my childhood pizza place.
Okay, it was called Udell'sPizza.
It was in a house.

Megan (37:27):
Oh gosh.

Lesley (37:29):
Ashtrays on every table, the little tin like foil metal
ones.
Shag carpet everywhere.

Megan (37:35):
Oh, my God.

Lesley (37:36):
Just imagine.

Megan (37:37):
Wait, a restaurant with shag carpet Because it was a
house A.
A restaurant with shag carpetBecause it was a house.
A pizza restaurant with shagcarpet.

Lesley (37:44):
Well, and the whole thing was it was a house, right
yeah, so the house had carpetand they didn't.
I mean, this is the 80s and 70s.

Megan (37:52):
Yeah, I don't think the health department would approve
that at this point, right.

Lesley (37:55):
No Like.

Megan (37:56):
I feel like that's, you can't do that now.

Lesley (38:06):
Probably point right.
No, like I feel like that's youcan't do that, probably not
right now.
No, probably not.
But I'm just saying like Ican't even, I can't even pull to
my mind what that must havesmelled like.

Speaker 3 (38:11):
Oh, just imagine like the residue.
Yeah, so anyway it's.
I've been in uh.

Megan (38:13):
Homes like that have been renovated, but you can tell
like a smoker oh absolutely 50years or something, and it's
like in the plaster or thedrywall, I mean it's just a
whole thing there's a full-onreason why, if you buy something
off of ebay like you want tolook for, the words comes from a
smoke-free home because, likethat smell.
Is it's?
Hard to get into something andmy hair has always been one like

(38:34):
.
I don't know if it's a thingabout my particular texture of
my hair, but like I it gets inthere if I go to a bar or I go
to a concert?

Speaker 3 (38:41):
yeah, and there's smoke.

Megan (38:42):
I'm like I will wear that .
You know I've got to go homeimmediately and shower soak
everything um, along with otherpublic health things, seatbelt
laws oh yeah, you know, having aseatbelt a bad thing.

Speaker 3 (38:58):
Seatbelt laws weren't in effect in Indiana until 1985
.
Jesus, we survived 12 yearswithout seatbelt laws.
I do remember wearing seatbeltsLike my folks did, I think, and
I remember wearing seatbeltslike in the back of my
grandmother's car.
So I think we kind of alwaysdid, but they were certainly

(39:20):
different.
Like were no straps and I as akid definitely rode in the front
seat, like as a little kid youjust didn't have that shoulder
strap on.
No Buckle in like five it wascool.

Megan (39:31):
And if you got hit you'd get cut right in half Totally
fine, so good.

Speaker 3 (39:36):
You go out that window, you tiny little, skinny
fucker flying down the road I Idon't know when they finally
became law, like across thecountry, but I know indiana yeah
, well, like car seats weren't athing, for I mean they.

Megan (39:51):
So my husband and I were talking about this like there.
He remembers that he had a carseat and it was like like a
little metal cage that he sat inoh yes, I've seen those.

Speaker 3 (40:01):
Yeah, oh my gosh he remembers that.

Megan (40:04):
But then he also, and he he's got a younger brother and a
younger sister, so he'sprobably also remembering, like
their, the evolution of theircar seats.
But he did say he rememberedriding on his mom's lap while
she was driving.

Speaker 3 (40:18):
Oh, how about that Amazing?

Megan (40:21):
Yes, 70s, 80s.

Speaker 3 (40:24):
Yeah, crazy, as you're saying that out loud,
there are definitely pictures ofmy mom and dad coming home from
the hospital after having meand my mom getting out of the
car holding me my grandmothertook some photos.
It just like popped in my brain.

Megan (40:37):
There was no pumpkin seeds, nothing.
Oh yeah, you just carried thebaby home, good luck.
Took some photos.
It just like popped in my brain.

Speaker 3 (40:39):
There was no pumpkin seed, nothing.
Oh yeah, you just carried thebaby home.
Good luck, drive slow, hope youmake it home.
I mean to be fair, cars wereactually made out of like steel
then.

Megan (40:49):
So maybe we had a little buffer.

Speaker 3 (40:51):
Car accidents and car deaths were much higher than
they are now, yeah, and youcould like drink and drive more,
oh God goodness, much higherthan they are now.
Yeah, and you could like drinkand drive more, oh God, so it
was.
It was great, yeah, because wedidn't really even police that
did we Not terribly?
Oh, there it is.
Oh, there's the cage, the babycage, baby cage.

(41:13):
Be still, you fucking baby.

Megan (41:17):
In the backseat the baby is like I'm getting out of this
fucking baby in the back seat.

Speaker 3 (41:22):
That baby is like I'm getting out of this, you
toddler, slide right out of this.
It's like bigger than a grocerycart, like there is no problem
climbing out of that, that babyis like it is not in any way,
shape or form, actually hookedto the seat.

Megan (41:32):
It's just hooked over it hung over.

Speaker 3 (41:34):
You're just like a bike basket.

Megan (41:36):
Essentially is what that is you just put some plastic
daisies on that, it's gonna begreat that baby's like watch me,
ninja, this motherfucker, I'mgetting out, going out that
window.

Speaker 3 (41:49):
Uh so the alcohol laws, drinking and driving, like
I was reading and actuallythere were laws against
operating a motor vehicle almostas soon as there were motor
vehicles available, but theblood alcohol level didn't drop
until like 0.08 until the 80s Iremember, I remember.

Megan (42:09):
Do you remember that when the announcement came that that
was going?

Speaker 3 (42:11):
down.
I kind of do like it was a bigdeal like people lost their
minds, that it was like becauseyou know what it was before
originally.
I don't point one five.
You could be good and fuckingdrunk and not like go to jail
jesus super blotto.

Megan (42:27):
Yeah.
So I'm sure when thatannouncement was made people
weren't thinking, well, this isin my best interest.
They were probably like goddamn it you mean I?
Can't go to the bars anymoreand drive home with my kids.
It's so funny.
There was an episode like Jeffand I love to watch old episodes
of Rockford Files.
Oh yes, it's what we do.

(42:49):
Okay so we get old, because Idon't like new things,
apparently, but we were watchinglike old episodes of Rockford
Files and old episodes of MagnumPI.

Speaker 3 (42:58):
Yeah, tom Selleck was fucking hot.
Lots of chest hair, anyway, bigmustache, he was so pretty.
Anyway, ride that handlebar.

Megan (43:07):
God.
So, but Rockford Files, likethere was an episode that I was
watching where Jim Rockford wastrying to solve he was serving
on a jury.

Lesley (43:19):
Oh, okay to solve.

Megan (43:25):
He was, he was on a, he was serving on a jury and the
guy was um uh, accused of ofkilling a woman.
He had been at a bar andapparently, like regularly, like
every night, would go to thisbar, get completely shit-faced
and then drive home.
And he was set up because thepeople knew that he drove home
shit-faced, drunk, every singlenight so they were able to like

(43:46):
set him up oh, okay, but thisdepiction of this dude at the
bar drinking and drinking anddrinking, and then staggering
out to the car dropping his carkeys oh yeah, you know you know,
getting in the car thedramatization the camera moving
around and showing him all sorbyand everything.

(44:07):
And then he hits a woman whowas already dead and they tossed
her out of a car.
But he would never know becausehe was fucking drunk.

Speaker 3 (44:17):
So he got him out of the accusation of killing the
woman.

Megan (44:22):
Yeah, but then did he get arrested for drunk driving.
No, no, it was fine, he'stotally fine, that was fine, but
that was killing the woman whowas already dead was the problem
, but not the drinking.
The drinking was.

Speaker 3 (44:37):
I remember being in a truck with my father with a can
of beer, Like you know.
That was just like a thingwhich makes me think of
something that you put on thelist, which was littering,
Because I'm also rememberingtossing beer cans out of the
vehicle.

Megan (44:57):
Yeah, the 70s were I don't know.
People just didn't have trashcans or what, but it was a
problem where it was trash,everywhere, everywhere, and if
you look at like old photos of.
Well, if you look at old photosof like la from the 70s, before
the epa, rip epa uh, before theepa like put all of their uh air

(45:21):
um like policies in place right, yes, it is hazy and gross and
terrible.
And then, like you can actuallysee a a timeline as it gets, as
the epa puts those uh things inplace and the air gets better
and cleaner.
I mean, we still littered likemotherfuckers but uh, but yeah,

(45:42):
look at that, the smog the smogbut that's all like because of
how shitty we were with.
You know, our environmentalprotections, uh-huh anyway,
which protect us.
People threw shit out of theircars everywhere.
I rage about it now to thepoint where we had to have an uh
, a rule, a commercial.
Yes, do you remember the oh,the and I'm using quotation

(46:04):
fingers the native american withthe tear?

Speaker 3 (46:07):
yes, yeah, yeah, quotation fingers the keep
america beautiful guy.
I do remember that campaign.
Why do you?
Why quotation figures?

Megan (46:16):
because he was a native american.
No, no, he was italian.
What the fuck?
Yeah, he was totally his name,and again, quotation figures was
ironized, cody, but it wasn'treally his name.
Uh, and he was not a nativeamerican, he was italian
italians are important too yes,but cultural appropriation,

(46:38):
cultural appropriation forcommercials is also a thing.

Speaker 3 (46:44):
Also not a great thing about the 70s and 80s.
Oh yeah, Cultural appropriationand the 90s and the early 2000s
.

Megan (46:50):
I may have mentioned this on this podcast before, but I
watched an episode of Bonanza.
Did not age well, by the way.

Speaker 3 (46:58):
No, no, no.

Megan (46:59):
With Ricardo Montalban playing a native american.
It was real bad.
No, I was like wait a minute,that's khan.

Speaker 3 (47:07):
Yes, he also that's mr rourke had rich corinthian
leather and khan and fantasyisland, that's right two of he's
not an indian favorite places,not a native american absolutely
not there he is they surepainted him up, look at that.

(47:28):
And he was white as fuck.
I mean, when you see him on therathacon, he's a fair man yeah,
they, they colorized him oh,cultural appropriation there was
a lot of that in the 70s and80s.
We have lots of things on our.
I don't think we're going toget to all of the not so great
things um, but there we havelots of things that were not so

(47:52):
great.
But you also kind of put acouple questions out into the
gen x.
Women are sick of this shitgroup.
I did.

Megan (48:00):
I did.
I'm going to let me rollthrough just a couple more here,
real quick.

Speaker 3 (48:03):
Oh yeah, for sure.

Megan (48:04):
So television channels we had a limited number of
television channels right yes.
So here in.
Indie, we had Channel 13,Channel 8, Channel 6,.

Speaker 3 (48:16):
Channel 4, which came later.
I feel like Channel 4 wasalways around.

Megan (48:22):
We're four was always around.
We're making shit up.
We're making shit up.
This is where we sound smart.
Which were the other channel,were the other dial, 20 and 40.

Speaker 3 (48:28):
40 felt like am radio .
I think it was sort ofreligious.
I don't really totallyunderstand daniel tiger up in
there, yeah I remember that Imean, was that where cowboy bob
was too?
And like I think so, and Janie,yes, I think that's right.
I think that's right.
The only story I remember aboutJanie is that she drank a lot.

Megan (48:46):
This is when I turn to Tim and I say, Tim, what the
dials?
It was UHS and U or UF.
Are we going to step down.

Lesley (48:58):
It was.
Uhf and VHF.

Speaker 3 (49:01):
Thank you, thank you, what does that mean?
What do those letters mean?
I'm so curious.

Megan (49:07):
They were the two different dials that we had.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (49:11):
You know you're going to tell me something and I'm
going to be like Two differentbands.
I'm going to say they were twobands.

Megan (49:17):
I love this.

Speaker 3 (49:18):
Tell me all about it.
I'm going to say they were twoband.
Like I love this.
Tell me all about it, just likeAM and.

Megan (49:22):
FM radio?
Yes, is that?

Speaker 3 (49:23):
what it was, but on the TV Ultra high frequency
62.4%.

Megan (49:32):
Sure I'm, right.

Speaker 3 (49:33):
Yes, I'll take that math.
And then it was UVF.
And then wasn't there a WeirdAl?

Megan (49:40):
show.

Speaker 3 (49:42):
Weird Al did a project that is based on one of
these things.
Yeah, UHF, I think.

Megan (49:47):
There we go.
Okay, sweet, that's real, itexists.
Yeah, you didn't make that up,that was 1989.
I did not.

Speaker 3 (49:53):
Proud.
That was just like we're goingto go left and then right and
then left and then a quick sortof like whip.
All things come back to WeirdAl.
It's okay, Do you think?
I think so.
This is like a six degrees ofseparation.

Megan (50:09):
Everything comes back to.

Lesley (50:10):
Weird Al, okay, okay.

Megan (50:11):
So TV channels pre-cable we just had a few TV channels.

Speaker 3 (50:15):
Yes.

Megan (50:20):
And while maybe less is more and that would be not a bad
thing.

Speaker 3 (50:23):
The the picture quality was terrible truth,
antennas, trying to like dial itin although it did make you
feel like you could do something, you were like, actually like
you could turn it.

Megan (50:30):
I can make this better.
This happen.

Speaker 3 (50:32):
I can put some aluminum foil on here and it'll
make it better you could likerun a long cable and put it out
on your porch if you need, andI'm gonna make this better.

Megan (50:41):
I'm gonna be able to watch this show in black and
white on a 12 inch televisionma'am yes, so the quality was
poor.

Speaker 3 (50:49):
If you missed it, you missed it.
It was just over.
Yep, you couldn't re-watch it.
There was no binge watching,you know, there was just which.
There's also some good sides tothat, all of that.
Sure, just less tv for us toconsume, um, but I do remember
that.
And you couldn't get allstations everywhere.
No, in the city.

Megan (51:08):
We were kind of out yeah out in the country.

Speaker 3 (51:10):
Yeah, you were probably very lucky to get.
Oh, I think we had three orfour.
The most important one was theone that had star trek on it I
don't really care about anythingelse and the bloodhhound Gang
321.

Megan (51:20):
Contact, I probably just watched Channel 20, honestly.
There's nothing wrong with that.

Speaker 3 (51:24):
I don't think Star Trek was on Channel 20.

Megan (51:26):
That's how we learned about Sesame Street and all that
.

Speaker 3 (51:28):
Mr Rogers the Electric.

Megan (51:29):
Company.
All the good stuff Scared meand then we had.
Later we had our Fox stationcame on sometime in the 80s Do
you remember when that came on?

Speaker 3 (51:40):
Do you remember the tagline?

Megan (51:41):
I don't.

Lesley (51:41):
I will never forget it.

Speaker 3 (51:43):
Okay, it was Indianapolis P-D-S.
Uh-huh, because it wasI-N-D-P-L-S is like how we write
Indianapolis.

Lesley (51:52):
It's how we shorten it.

Speaker 3 (51:54):
So it was like Indianapolis, like they were
trying to make it funny, tryingto be cute uh-huh, uh-huh, and I
remember that that worked outfor you fox, clearly I'm 52 and
I remember I mean I guess itworked, but it was in fox 59,
but it was just 59 I don't knowwhat it was, channel 11
originally okay, that's rightindiana, there we go uh, another

(52:17):
thing that I personallyviscerally and this is how I
realized that I'm probably alittle neuro spicy.

Megan (52:29):
Do you remember the pajamas that we used to have?
That was the fire retardantmaterial that was really rough
and felt.
Yes that was really rough andfelt, yes, I hated those so much
like fun, fun pajamas, and theywould get caught on like
cuticles.

Speaker 3 (52:48):
Yeah, oh yeah, oh my gosh, I remember that that was a
real problem for me.
So that was a real problem.

Megan (52:55):
That was the 70s and early 80s for me in those
fucking pajamas.
The next thing my brain went towas the fact that and early 80s
for me in those fucking pajamas.
The next thing my brain went towas the fact that I'm I didn't
sleep naked.
I should have just stripped offmy clothes right.

Speaker 3 (53:05):
Maybe that's why so many of us were like clothing
resistant.
As children, we're like thisfeels bad.
This feels bad.
How did they figure out that wewould catch on fire?

Megan (53:15):
is was it really that big of a problem?
That's what I want to know.

Speaker 3 (53:18):
Like who was patient zero in this that led to
children immolating fire,retardant pajamas.
Sadly, I'm sure somethingreally happened like I don't, I
don't want to like, probably saycruel, unkind things because
someone probably had childrenharmed, but was it?

Megan (53:33):
a.
Was it a solution in search ofa problem like truly?

Lesley (53:38):
like who knows how many children?

Megan (53:40):
really fair question.
We didn't have car seats, ifyou recall.
I feel like that was a biggerproblem than children bursting
into flames probably so.

Speaker 3 (53:51):
I mean valid, valid point.
But to all those children whodid yes, I'm sorry the necessity
of that RIP, rip.

Megan (54:02):
Dial up internet, but that was much later.
That was in the 90s, we cantalk about that later.

Speaker 3 (54:08):
Oh, there was one other thing in the media world.
You brought up just the yellowpages and phone books in general
and I remembered specificallylike okay, we just had a house
phone with a long extension cord.
So, there was no fuckingprivacy and if you wanted to
call for somebody from school,like your friend Annie, you had

(54:29):
to know Annie's dad's name.
For the most part, If you had atraditional, whatever
traditional, be able to findtraditional, whatever
traditional.
If there was a man in yourhouse, that man was the only one
who had their name on all thefucking utilities in the
mortgage and the bank account,honestly, yeah, uh, well into
the 70s.
And so you would have to knowand do you know how many fucking

(54:52):
like joe wilson's there are?
So then you'd have to know,like their middle initial right
their address where they sort oflived.

Megan (54:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (55:00):
To be able to track people down.
Now, sometimes it was superprogressive and both the male
and female spouse would belisted.
Yeah, if maybe, but then youhad to know a parent's name,
right, if you could pay for it Ido remember this you could have
your children's names listed,really, but you had to pay for
the extra lines in the phonebook.
Oh, I didn't know that I had afriend in high school and the

(55:23):
children's names were listed intheir private phone line.

Megan (55:27):
They were rich.
Oh, they had a private phoneline In my brain.
They were rich.

Speaker 3 (55:31):
I'm sure like comparatively it was probably
like $5.

Megan (55:35):
However, nobody else yeah , but that's $5.
That yeah.
However, nobody else yeah, butthat's $5 that most people
didn't have, but you could payfor extra lines to get different
people listed.
Well, and I guess if you were aparent who was like Jesus,
these kids are on the phone allthe time.
Just make sure you're onfucking line, yeah for sure.

Speaker 3 (55:50):
I mean, if I'd had that absolutely, I did not
experience that.
No same, Neither.
There we go.

Megan (55:56):
So things, other things, that in looking at the Facebook
group, some things that peoplehad mentioned Not being believed
when reporting abuse Yep,absolutely that 100% Like, did
not?

Speaker 3 (56:11):
Nope, you probably deserved it.
Yep, what were you wearing?
If you weren't behaving, it'syour fault, you should probably
just keep your legs closed.

Megan (56:20):
Stranger danger yes, that whole like fear of God being
put into you because somebodywas going to pull up in the
white van and offer candy andsnatch you.

Speaker 3 (56:29):
Right, and it was always a stranger.
Always we weren't educatedabout the fact that most abuse
happens in family.
Of course not.

Megan (56:36):
No, no, no we don't want to talk about that.
No, not at all.
It's strangers.
Uh, so that was, that was one.
Um.
Somebody says, uh, one namesays so much wrong was wrong
about the 80s, ronald reagan.
Yep, so we did kind of alreadytalk about economics.

Speaker 3 (56:55):
Down like the mimics.
Just 80s is the me generation.

Megan (56:59):
Yep uh careless attitude of being bullied oh gosh, yes,
boys bullying girls it was onlybecause they liked you.

Speaker 3 (57:07):
Just ignore it.

Megan (57:08):
Yeah, he pulls your pigtails, because he thinks
you're cute, uh-huh if youweren't bothered by it, it
wouldn't be a problem.

Speaker 3 (57:13):
They would stop doing it.
So they're not gonna interveneon your behalf yep yeah I mean
when it's part of, like schoolpractice, bullying and shaming.
Why would kids do it anydifferently?

Megan (57:24):
yep yep, so we talked about, uh, cultural
appropriation, but uh otherthings that were casually tossed
around, like different slursabout gay people and, oh yeah,
all the homophobia, all thetimeogyny racism.
Part of that was due to theAIDS crisis, right which?
Again thanks, Ronald Reagan.

Speaker 3 (57:45):
Yes, Things that sucked about the 80s the AIDS
crisis was a massive one,massive.

Megan (57:52):
Yeah, Some, you know some folks said some things like
tangled cassette tapes, oh yeah.
Or waiting patiently for yourradio station to actually play
the song that you wanted to tape.

Speaker 3 (58:05):
Yes, these were minor inconveniences that still
sucked.

Megan (58:09):
Yeah, but if you look back on it you're like God, that
wasn't that great.

Speaker 3 (58:13):
You spent a lot of time.

Megan (58:15):
I can open Spotify and listen to any song I want to
right now, whenever you wouldlike, even Eddie Grant, because
now he's actually on Spotify andhe wasn't.
So if you want to rock down toElectric Avenue, you can do that
and take it higher.
Yes, gosh, I mean, there's somuch.

Speaker 3 (58:34):
So so much, oh, we talked about this.
Oh yeah, we were talking aboutwounds.

Megan (58:47):
So if you fell down and you scraped your knees, what?

Speaker 3 (58:49):
color goo.
Did you get put on your kneesand did it sting like a
motherfucker?
That shit was red.

Megan (58:53):
Yes, and it hurt, it made me scream.
What?

Lesley (58:54):
was it called Mercurochrome.

Speaker 3 (58:56):
Mercurochrome we were like crossing that with iodide.

Megan (59:00):
Which I feel like it was iodine, but it was definitely
mercurochrome.

Speaker 3 (59:05):
Okay, and it was evil .
I remember my grandma, my dad'sside of the family.
I associate the pain of thatwith her.
Now she was not a kind woman,so there could be just some
other associations.
And I feel like it was briefbecause Bactine came out later,

(59:28):
I mean.
But in that era, yeah, and Isaid oh, that shit hurt.
And you were like no, it didn't, bactine was not painful In my
brain If my daughter islistening to this.

Megan (59:38):
She would say it is painful.
It is painful and that I'm fullof shit yes, because I would
put it on her and she'd be thatdoesn't hurt you and I'd say
things like at least it's notthe orange shit that I had to
wear.
Uh-huh, and she's like what?

Speaker 3 (59:48):
do you mean?
I don't know what you'retalking about?

Megan (59:50):
um, oh hey, we talked about in when we were, before we
started recording.

Speaker 3 (59:57):
We talked about cults oh, fuck yeah 70s and 80s were
big on cults yes, I mean, Idon't know that it's a lot
different.
It's just a lot more expensiveto belong to them nowadays.

Megan (01:00:09):
Right, right, well however, they had a lot more
secrecy, then and and likepeople like jim jones and stuff
doing like really crazy, weirdshit.
Yep, absolutely and the guythat tried to kill Gerald Ford.

Speaker 3 (01:00:25):
Wasn't a cult.
Yeah, was a cult in and ofhimself Was a cult.

Megan (01:00:29):
Squeaky fromy Fromy, squeaky fromy your brain is
magnificent Dude, not really.

Speaker 3 (01:00:34):
I'm wearing it.
It's like it's the things thatget pulled up.

Megan (01:00:40):
I'm like, yeah, believe, every once in a while, but most
of the time it's it's because Iate too much blood, paint that's
amazing.

Speaker 3 (01:00:45):
I love that.
Uh, oh, I know you mentioned inthe group people.
Somebody mentioned crappy sexed just like oh no, sex
education.

Megan (01:00:52):
Yeah, we didn't really have that.
I'm not sure it's any better,is it better?

Speaker 3 (01:00:56):
uh, I don't know.
I mean, obviously I'm 52, it'sbeen a minute, since I've been
in elementary school.
I think at one point it wasimproving.
I don't know what the state ofit is right now, like in this
moment.
Plus, there's also just likemore access to resources yeah,
for, it's true, adolescents.

(01:01:17):
So there are some pretty goodwebsites that you can use, and I
think the access for parentaleducation is better.
I bought my daughter a book.

Megan (01:01:28):
What was it called A squeaky fromy?
I think it was.
See, that's all I have.
I think it was like what'shappening to my body or
something like that.

Lesley (01:01:42):
There was a girl's version, did they write one?

Megan (01:01:44):
of those for menopause?
I know they should, what'shappening to my body?
But I there's a girl versionand a boy version because she
was asking me some questions andI was like, look, I'm happy to
talk to you about it.
But also, you are a big timereader, yes, and you absorb

(01:02:06):
things better by reading.
So she, yeah, she really likedit, do you?

Speaker 3 (01:02:13):
remember this book.

Megan (01:02:14):
Where did I come from?

Speaker 3 (01:02:17):
It's adorable.
I do remember this book.
I don't have a copy of it.
If I did I would be so happyand somehow I remember we should
just do a whole episode on justlike sex out of the 80s,
because there's some other booksthat are popping up, which is
just like okay, how did you cometo like our bodies ourselves?
Yes, yes, that was a big one.

(01:02:38):
Uh, yeah, that this wouldactually be kind of a great
conversation to have separately.
It would be kind of interestingto get someone who was like
who's the sex educator?
Who we kind of talk about, likeabsolutely the evolution, but I
, I do remember, oh god, and Iremember this book.
Too free to be you and me.
Okay, yeah, this is yeah.
We'll just pick this up laterbecause this could go on for

(01:03:00):
another hour, but I do rememberthat that's so so shitty sex
education minimal to none.

Megan (01:03:07):
Basically, yeah, we didn't really have a whole lot
of that shit going on.
Uh yeah, I mean, this list isextensive.
We could go on and on and onabout all of the just all the
things that we oh yeah, we makethe past seem so shiny and uh

(01:03:28):
happy, and I think it's smartand healthy for us to look back
maybe a little.

Speaker 3 (01:03:35):
Take those rose-colored glasses off and
have a look and go.
You know, it doesn't help toidealize.
We've got to acknowledge thehard stuff, yeah, and pay
attention to it, Otherwise we'llend up back there.
My my, what do you mean?
I think you know what I mean.
You have been listening to GenX.

(01:03:55):
Women Are Sick of this Shit.
Hey Megan, hey Leslie.
What do people do if they wantto find us?

Megan (01:04:02):
Well, we have a website that people can find us on, and
that is genxwomenpodcom.
We also have a Facebook page.
We have an Instagram account aswell.
We have a YouTube account wherewe put YouTube shorts and other
little tidbits up there.
We have a TikTok account.

(01:04:23):
I don't talk the dick or TikTok.
You don't TikTok.
I barely talk the dick, but Idid put a TikTok up.
We're explaining the internetto people.

Speaker 3 (01:04:34):
That's okay, though it's great.
We need to know how theinternet works can people buy
merch.

Megan (01:04:39):
They absolutely can.
We have a merch store on thewebsite itself, and we also have
an etsy store too, so they'rejust pretty easy to find you.

Speaker 3 (01:04:47):
It's just gen x women on etsy and if you are
listening to this podcast,presumably you found it
somewhere.
And while you're there, give usa review, let us know what you
think.

Megan (01:05:01):
Throw some stars at us, That'd be great.
We'll take one, two, three,four or five, Ooh five.
And also make sure that you arehitting subscribe so that
you're notified whenever a newepisode drops.

Lesley (01:05:14):
Most important.

Megan (01:05:15):
We also have a five minutes of fame that I think we
should tell people about too.

Speaker 3 (01:05:18):
Hell, yes, we want to know your stories, your five
minutes of fame stories.
You can send those stories inon the website or you can call
1-888-GEN-X-POD and leave yourstory for us and we will play it
live in our next episode.
Yep.

Megan (01:05:36):
We'll listen to it on a little red phone, just like
Batman.
That'd be cool.

Speaker 3 (01:05:42):
Let's get a bat phone , a bat phone.
I think that's it.
I think you're right.