Growing up 90's Style

Very Much So! 

Internet killed the fun! Growing up in the 90s was mind blowing. There were no iPhones, Facebook, and you didn’t have to worry about someone posting a video of you online. They (whoever they are) said that 80s babies were the last generation to have fun before technology made its growth spurt. I was born in 1987, but raised in the 90s. My childhood memories involved me running around with the neighborhood kids, and fond memories of my mother telling me to take a shower because I smell like outside. 

Oh how I miss being a kid! Not because I have to pay bills and be responsible, (ok I lied) but also because I lived a carefree life. Take a moment and come down memory lane with me as I reminisce on being a kid...this should be fun.

While searching the internet I was able to come up with these memories with helpful links from

Puckermob.com

Game System

Super Nintendo 

When my brother received Nintendo for Christmas he’d sneak on it all the time on school nights. I would get envious because he rarely got caught. When coming home from school my mom played it hogging up our playtime. We all wanted to play on the game system and it was evident the Nintendo was taking over our lives, well except for my dad’s because he was working. My brother would be player 1 and I followed behind as player 2. We played Mario’s World and sat up for hours trying to beat one level. The different boards were fascinating and we went through a lot just to rescue a princess. Who would of thought a small man with red overalls could have so much superpowers?

Sega Genesis also became popular in the 90s, which brought some competition to Nintendo (I guess). Sonic was the face of Sega Genesis and kids would compare which one was better. I loved playing Sega Genesis and having Tails as my player. Mortal Kombat was also another popular game and people would get into serious arguments over who was going to be who...oh yea, it was serious! 

Television

90s television shows kept houses contained. However, there’s nothing like Saturday morning cartoons. I would eat my bowl of cereal with my pajamas on watching cartoons until noon. Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network seemed to be at a battle, but I was a Nickelodeon kid, Cartoon Network never had a chance after I watched reruns of Doug, Hey Arnold, and the infamously Rugrats. Family shows were also a 90s favorite. The Prince of Bel-Air, Martin, In Living Color, and Living Single caught my attention during the week nights. Conversations at the school lunch table was at its all time high when talking about these shows.

Cassette Tape

Music

Cassette tapes were famous and people were known to have a boom box in close distance. If the tape became messed up sticking a number 2 pencil inside the circle and rewinding it, was the way to put it back in its place. They were fun to have and easy to record over. Side A was mostly popular than side B, but before CD’s and iTunes cassette tapes were an importance in the 90s!

Free and AJ from 106&Park

Music videos became famous and as a preteen watching 106 & Park was a must. It was something about guessing who was going to be number one that was exciting. Some days it was obvious while other times it was hard to tell. Free and AJ were the host that made 106 & Park come alive. Celebrities that were at the peak of their career stopped by to talk about their album, and a performance from a celeb was a bonus. Every teen in the 90s ran home to watch the show at 6:00pm. It seemed as if watching it was a bundle of fun and a remarkable memory.

AOL

Growing up in the 90s was pretty simple. AOL landed its stomping grounds into many homes. My cousins would argue all the time about who was getting on. We didn’t care how long dial up would take, getting in the chatrooms was exciting. But, if someone was on the computer you better not pick up the phone or the computer would mess up. A person spent hours online chatting with a complete stranger and for some reason that was okay. The more chat rooms the better the conversations appeared to be. There's something about hitting those keys behind a keyboard that made people fell powerful. 

America Online 

Ch, Ch, Ch, Changes through the Ages

Nancy Tabor

From the Heart

I come from an error where James Taylor and Carly Simon ruled the roost. One of my favorites of hers was on the flip side call “Hotcakes” which went something like this: “Hotcakes, round and round. Sizzle. Round and Round. Sizzle. Round and Round. Now Stop. Now Flip ‘em. Then the music would swell and you would get this very syncopated riff of “Do, Dah, Doo, Doo, Dah, Dah, Doo, Doo, Doo, Dah.” Well you get the drift.

What does this have to do with anything? Well two days ago David Bowie died and he was hot cakes to me. When you take a look at his “top 10 hits” both critically and commercially (Watchmojo.com), many trends appear that really pop.

There are 10 songs I could touch on here but I am only going to stay with five. I’m choosing them in order but picking the ones I think have the most to say about this very interesting singer.

On the golden countdown comes Number 10, “Golden Years,” this being one of the older songs on the list. He is at his most tame. His usually auburn hair is muted and while there’s no doubt you want to shake it to this one, it’s less raucous and more steeped in funk and soul.

Next, at Number 8. “Young Americans” rolls in with a classic 1970s Samba tune. Here the light is brighter, swirling in yellows and reds and the music picks up faster as you can’t help but move to the beat. Here Bowie makes magic with a group of rockin’ backup singers and band that in some ways upstage his performance but not quite because he still delivers.

At Number 7 is somewhat of a turning point for the singer, his song “Heroes” which comes out of the shadows and is painfully subdued for this playful singer. His outfit: all black. The set: all pale. The sound and movement: agonizingly comatose.

At Number 5, his most iconic tune hits the charts, “Changes.” The man who changes outfits and poses more times than he can count creates an upbeat but fiery persona, with his face and body blanketed in blood red flanked by a flashing electric bolt. This is to be remembered in his vault of breakout tunes. It should be remembered because it is very danceable with a pulse.

An outtake from Duffy’s photo shoot for the album cover of David Bowie’s “Aladdin Sane” in 1973.

http://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/01/12/arts/12BOWIEREACTSUB/12BOWIEREACTSUB-blog427.jpg

And finally, last but not least at Number 1, Bowie’s strange but otherworldly number “Space Oddity” which was launched in 1969 with the Apollo 11 and a darling of both critics and audiences alike. Watchmojo.com calls this first hit “a mind blower”—his skeletal cheeks bathed in hot red light singing in a deadpan fashion about a macabre and compelling accidental occurrence which lives on today.

As the critic who compiled these tunes takes pains to point out that Bowie created some hits that were “to die for” and tempered them with punctuated guitar riffs, I quite agree that he was never to be matched in his hardened talents. Such is the incredibly sad and regretable  truth.

No Place Like Home

Me with my brothers and sisters in 2014.

     My name is Karen Benecewicz and I was born in August of 1973, in New London, Connecticut, while my father was enlisted in the Navy.  A week after my mother got her driver's license.  Running joke is they gave her the license because they saw how pregnant she was. I am the oldest of six, I have 2 brothers and 3 sisters.  There is an 18-year age difference between me and the youngest. 

    

      My favorite childhood memory is traveling to Brooklyn in the summer and visiting my grandparents and cousins. It was like a second home, a familiar place to go to, in between all our moves.  As a military brat, we moved around a lot. While in the Navy, my father was also stationed in Norfolk, Virginia.  In 1979-80 my father was commissioned as an officer in the Army.  His first duty assignment was Edgewood, Maryland - just up the road in Harford County.  From there he was stationed in Landstuhl, Germany.   My trip to Germany was a very unforgettable event. 

     My father left a few months before to report and find us a house.   So, in the winter of 1982, my mother, traveling alone with 4 children ranging in age from 9 years to 3 months arranged our flight to Germany.   We left on a cold snowy November morning, out of JFK and flew to Philadelphia.  A snow storm delayed our plane and we missed our connecting flight.  After a few phone calls, we were loaded on to a bus and went to McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey.   It felt as if we waited there a whole day. Actually it was late in the evening when we finally were told we had a flight. 

     

     We were loaded on to a C-141 cargo plane. It was dark, cold and barely any seats and NO windows.   My sisters and I found a spot along the wall in the drop down jump seats. We were buckled in, issued ear plugs and given a boxed dinner for the long plane ride.  Several hours past and when we landed. Do you know what I saw? (Remember there were no windows.)  Palm trees, sunshine and it was a balmy 70 something degrees.   At 9 years old, I knew this was NOT Germany!  Apparently we stopped in the Azores to refuel.  To say the least, after sitting on the jump seats and being up all night, I was NOT getting back on that plane.  I wanted to stay, it was paradise.  After some persuasion, I was finally coxed back on to the plane and apparently forced some high ranking official to give me his seat. Needless to say, we finally arrived in Germany where we were greeted by my father.  

     The flight to the United States three years later was more of what I had in mind.  Window seats, peanuts on the plane and a movie.   My experience in Europe as a young child inspired my passion for travel and history.  The year we returned was the summer of 1986, I had just finished 5th grade and we moved to San Antonio, Texas for 3 whole months.  In December of that year we moved to Indianapolis, Indiana.

     I considered Indiana my home for the longest time.  I was able to finish middle school and started high school.  It was in Indiana where I learned to drive and got my first job.  My first job was a record store, back when cds were a new thing. I was one of those cool kids with a great job.  I think it was during my time at the record store I acquired my taste for alternative music. I love concert, live bands and try to keep up with the new artist.   At the end of my junior year my father retired and was offered a job back at Edgewood, Maryland.   So, the summer of 1990 was a miserable one.  I left my best friend,  moved to a town where I knew no one and had to start my senior year at a brand new school.

      After high school, I attended Immaculata University and majored in History and International Relations. I spent the first 5 months after graduation traveling between Supreme Headquarter Allied Powers Europe (S.H.A.P.E.), in Belgium and Amsterdam /Hague area of Holland.  One of the greatest weeks of my life was spent in London exploring Westminster Abby, seeing Cats, Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserable.

My children - Josh, 13 Caroline, 19 and Geoff, 12

      Upon returning I settled in to working. I had a few random temp jobs.  In 1997 I meet the love of my life, we married in 2000.  It was also in 1997 when I took a job as a declassification analyst where I read some pretty interesting papers.  In 2001, I left the position, I was five months pregnant at the time and the commute between Baltimore, MD and Springfield, VA was becoming too much.  I took time off to raise my kids.  I have 3 beautiful children - Caroline, 19; Joshua, 13 and Geoffrey, 12.  In 2002 my husband and I bought our home in Parkville, Maryland.  All three of my children have gone to the same elementary and middle school. They have the life I have always considered to be normal.

     In 2007, I went back to work, picking up part-time jobs here and there.  In 2012, I was hired as a temp work at the Anne Arundel County (AA Co.) Board of Elections. They were ramping up for the Presidential Election.  I had always had a passion for politics, my maternal grandfather once ran for office in New York, so it was in the blood.   I felt I had finally found a home as far as my career was concerned. It was interesting to see the election from the side no one sees until election day.  Due to funding issues, I was released after the election.  

      In 2014 after being in between jobs again and out of school for 20 years, I decided it was a good time to start my Master’s program in Contemporary Communications.  The same week I was called back to work at the AA Co. Board of Elections.   So here I am today, daughter, sister, mother, wife, student with an anticipated graduation of May 2017 and employee in the Election Workers Department of the AA Co. Board of Elections.