We were watching the original episodes of Hawaii 5-0 from the 60s and 70s, and last night, an episode from 1978 featuring uniformed Nazis began. When I say "uniformed," I mean they had to wear uniforms from the episode The Longest Day . The Nazi leader wore a realistic SS officer uniform, while the "squad" that included Dann-O was dressed in complete SA brown shirt outfits.
This episode featured Nazis in these uniforms protesting against a Hawaiian political candidate with "white power" signs. Some young Hawaiians beat up the Nazis. McGarrett assigned Dann-O to infiltrate the Nazi organization because of his "Aryan" appearance. When the Nazis decided he was police, he made a statement about the death route.
When this episode first aired, I still hadn't cut my hair long. I had a crush on Vinnie Barbarino from Welcome Back Kotter.
I think some girls might have been attracted to other guys. Maybe not Horshack.
Racism, Sexism, Homophobia in the 1970s
For a semester, I attended a middle school similar to Mr. Kotter's classroom. I was even in a "Sweathog" type class, where the instructor, as cool as Kotter, would sit with his legs crossed on his desk and smoke while telling us to read Herman Hesse's Siddhartha. What I mean by "cool" is that this person didn't care about anything. Kotter was always there for his students. That was TV: I was in real life.
It was pretty harsh back then.
Returning home to my small town of Redlands, I felt much safer than at the downtown junior high school.
Maybe.
As I recently wrote, my best friend ran away from home because her father was molesting her. Other friends among my friends were already into drugs, and she was drinking heavily.