Michael

I was born, double taurus with sagittarius rising, to loving parents at St. Joseph’s hospital in Tucson, AZ, in the Spring of the eventful year, 1968.

The few months before I was born, Johnny Cash recorded “Live at Folsom Prison;” the Vietnam War saw the beginning of the Battle of Khe Sanh, the launch of the Tet Offensive, and the My Lai massacre; Bobby Kennedy threw his hat into the ring for the Democratic nomination for president; the first episode of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” was released; “2001: A Space Odyssey” premiered in Washington, D.C.; Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot dead in Memphis; and Lyndon B. Johns signed the Civil Rights act of 1968.

Three days after my mother gave birth to me, the musical “Hair” debuts on Broadway. Two-and-a-half weeks after my birth, The Beatles announce the creation of Apple Records. Six-and-a-half weeks after I was born, in L.A., Sirhan Sirhan shoots Bobby Kennedy, who dies the next day from his wounds. By the end of that year, Jacqueline Kennedy had become Kennedy-Onasis, the Beatles had released their White Album, and the dark side of the moon had first been seen by human eyes.

Titles from retrospectives on that year are telling:

• TIME Magazine, 40th Anniversary Special (2008). “1968: The Year That Changed the World.”
• NEWSWEEK Magazine. “1968: The Year That Made Us Who We Are.” November 19, 2007.
• TIME Magazine. “1968: The Year That Shaped a Generation.” January 11, 1988.
• Kurlansky, Mark. (2004). 1968: The Year that Rocked the World. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 978-0-224-06251-0

Perhaps the conflicts of this tumultuous time are implicit and inherent in my being; perhaps in some way I embody those conflicts…