Social Media Circa 1953

 

Wow! Newspapers would post the most trivial things! Mr. & Mrs. Clyde Strait (my grandparents) go away for the weekend with another couple - AND IT'S IN THE PAPER!

I mean, I know Hanover, Michigan, is a small town, but does everybody know what everyone else is doing on the weekend? And do we really care?

Would I want my travels broadcast to the world (well, the world of Hanover), or would I want that kept private?

This was a common thing for local papers to do back then. They had a lot of space to fill, and there was only so much happening that was real news. How often does Farmer Jim report he has a record-breaking pig? How many traffic accidents? How many meetings are there with the township council or the school board?

All that was needed was to get down and personal with other people's lives. Who is going out of town? Who had a party or reunion? Who took whom to the dance?

Of course, all the juicy details are implied rather than explicit. Exactly what were my Grandparents and the Leggets doing on this trip? I would get anything too wild out of your head - these are my Grandparents, after all - the wildest I knew they got was an intense game of Euchre.

I have a vast trove of stuff I have unearthed from my father's ancestral research, so maybe someday I will find what this weekend's quest was all about. Most likely, though, it's simply lost to the mists of time. 

As intrusive as we might think this is, remember this - this was the social media of the day. My Grandparents probably wrote it up for the paper themselves or let an intrepid reporter know. And it was significant enough to them that it clipped and preserved for me to stumble across 71 years later!

Think of our flood of social media today. Not only would we know about their trip, we would have pictures of every meal they ordered. Oh, look! It's a pasty and some Mackinaw fudge, with a fresh root beer to wash it down!

We have the urge to share. We are social creatures. Even us introverts. What is this blog but a bizarre attempt to share facets of my personality and life?

Still, I'm glad all my outings aren't posted in The Blackshear Times.