Walking up to the podium was a grotesquely obese female figure. Her dumpy clothes and preternatural blond hair generated a nimbus that lacked all class and authenticity. Her topic proved to be just as insubstantial as her appearance: 1969, the year. And while the last thing I wanted to do at the moment was to listen to some college kid talk about the year 1969, the circumstances rendered it necessary for me to listen and provide some feedback.
Apart from her lamentable appearance and over-reliance on notes, her presentation wasn't terrible. The actual information given, on the other hand, bordered on the self-parody. But because I was there to critique the presentation, not content, I refrained from jotting down the obvious stupidity riddled in the info. And now I know why I started a blog.
She starts off by voicing the oft-quote, "one small step for man, one giant leap for Mankind." Strangely, she neglects to talk about either Neil Armstrong or NASA, but instead uses the quote to characterize the entire year.
She supports her assertion that the year 1969 was "a giant leap for Mankind" by adducing three points. The first was that the gay activists in some bar stood up to the local policemen. The second was that the ladies started wearing some clothes that my mind prohibits me from remembering. And the third was the rising phenomenon of married divorcees; to paraphrase her, "for the first time, it was now a common occurrence that a man with three children will get divorced and marry a women who also has three children and is divorced."
I looked around the room to see if anyone had the same reaction I had. If the audience was flabbergasted, then they didn't show it. But I was comforted by the low volume applause she received once it was over.
But after having some time to think about it, I guess she really wasn't so wrong after all. Gay activism and increased divorce rates really were a great leap for mankind. Just not in the direction she hinted at.
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