Ancient artifact
Yesterday (August 27, 2006) Denny ripped up some carpet in the gross room in our basement. The goal is to put down some nice flooring (possibly bamboo, if he gets his dearest wish) and turn it into a usable office, instead of a gross storage room.
Under the carpet, he found a copy of the Iowa City Press Citizen from—get this—August 27, 1968. It’s pretty weird that it was the same date as yesterday. In the news: people were all hopped up about the Democratic National Convention, women were interested in supporting Bobby Kennedy, and several Iowans died in Vietnam.
Also, Penney’s had ladies’ underwear on sale, and tape recorders cost more than they do now.
Once Denny lays down the flooring, he plans to replace the old newspaper and put down one of the current date, unless that would make the flooring not stick or something.
That’s cool. When my brother and I tore down the old plaster-and-lathe walls in our place on Linn St., there was a postcard in there from the 1908 Poultry Exposition. It depicted a very pretty golden pheasant. When we put up the drywall, we replaced the card with an edition of The Wall Street Journal.
Ahh…Aughust 27, 1968…I was just about to start my senior year of high school. Bobby Kennedy was the cutest thing since paisley blouses, the Rolling Stones were the finest rock ‘n rollers to ever scream from my transistor radio, and I would soon be reading the prologue to _The Canterbury Tales_ which would give me the name of my first-born daughter.
“Whan that Aprille, with hise shoures soote,
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote.”