PERIODICALS : Vintage 1980 "Jack and Jill" magazine

     We're moving soon, so we're in the slow and painful process of packing up all our stuff. As I do this, I'm discovering, much to my surprise, that apparently I'm one of those people who keeps EVERYTHING. Weird. I guess I didn't realize that about myself.
     Take, for instance, this Jack and Jill magazine from 1980 with Scott Baio on the cover. (A 1980 copyright date means most of what you see is really the earth tone shag carpet ashes of the '70s) I found this in a cupboard amongst old photos and memorabilia. The mailing address on the label has my Slovak Grandma's name and address, which reminded me that she always had copies of Highlights and Jack & Jill laying around for us grandkids. I didn't like either of those magazines, but choices at Grandma's house were a little... limited. You should have seen the "toy box," with its battered selection of ancient dolls and weird crap that screamed "Old Country."
     And no, I did NOT have a crush on Scott Baio. I thought he was skanky.

"Dean uses an Exacto knife to put a groove in a side strip for the stock car he's building."

     The picture above is from a profile article about some kid whose hobby is putting models together, probably because he has asthma and no friends. (Just guessing)
     Poor Dean, with his horrible mop of wavy '70s hair, and crushingly dorky glasses. This could totally have been me. Only difference is my hair was blonder, I was fatter, and had more zits. Dean is a dreamy pin-up compared to me at that age.
     Spending too much time at Grandma's house could make you feel antsy and hopeless about ever attaining coolness.

"The Nut-T-shirt"

     T-shirts with crap printed on them were big in the '70s. It almost didn't matter what they said, just the idea that you could get a T-shirt made with just about anything printed on it was, like, "high-tech" for that time. There were whole shops devoted to custom-printed T-shirts.
     I like how triumphant that kid looks with his "Nut-T-shirt," like he's really making a stand for something. He has climbed atop that mound of shag carpeting to proclaim himself a proud Herbie the Health Nut fan, and will probably get his ass kicked at school because of it.