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Journal Ethelred Unraed's Journal: 20 years gone 35

Journal by Ethelred Unraed
Plastic.com has an interesting story:

In 1984, Sarah Scantlin was hit by a drunk driver as she was leaving a club. Her devastated parents were told that while she would physically survive, she would never walk or speak again. Last week, Betsy Scantlin received a phone call from the Golden Plains Health Care Center in Hutchinson, Kansas and heard Sarah say "Hi, Mom" for the first time in twenty years.

Since then, Sarah's communication and recall about the past have made impressive progress. According to her excited family, she has been able to recall friends, pets (to include correctly telling her father that one bogus pet he named never existed) and recognize now-adult siblings.
While Sarah's recent progress is amazing and is further evidence that the brain is capable of regeneration, how will she deal with the 20-year interval in her life? She is essentially an 18-year old from 1984 living in a 38-year old body.

But when he asked her how old she was, Sarah guessed she was 22. When her brother gently told her she was 38 years old now, she just stared silently back at him. The nurses say she thinks it is still the 1980s.

No doubt, Sarah's progress will resurrect the fight over euthanasia, and indeed it already appears to have begun.

But how will Sarah Scantlin actually deal with her "resurrection"? To be disabled in an accident is not the same as "skipping" more than two decades. Given that she essentially views the world from a 1984 perspective, what will she find surprising? What would you find surprising? How would you go about acclimating yourself into a world twenty years ahead of you?

One of the comments is priceless: Dear God, for over 20 years this woman has had the sounds of Duran Duran and Culture Club echoing around in her head.

The obligatory putting it into perspective: in 1984, the major political issues of the day in America were the nuclear arms race and the nuclear freeze movement, Mikhail Gorbachev was still an enigma (not to mention the Soviet Union was still seemingly going on strong), we still had countries named "Yugoslavia" and "East Germany" and "Czechoslovakia" and South Africa was still in the grip of apartheid, cellphones (even cordless phones) were a rarity, the most popular PC model was a Macintosh, most people still bought vinyl records, AIDS was barely known at the time, Miami Vice was the new smash hit TV show, Saddam Hussein was on "our side", David Lynch's Dune premiered, the Space Shuttle was still shiny and new, 8-track cassettes were still widespread, people watched TV movies like Threads and The Day After and TV shows like Dynasty ("die nasty!") and Dallas, we were all so disappointed when the state of Oceania wasn't proclaimed overnight on 1 January, the Baby Bells had just been split off of AT&T, the Soviet Union boycotted the Los Angeles Olympiad, Walter Mondale got crushed by Ronald Reagan ("don't blame me! I'm from Minnesota!"), we were calling the Ghostbusters, seeing a Miss America in the nude freaked people out, and Richard Stallman last took a shower just before starting up GNU.

Karma karma karma karma chameleooooooooon...

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20 years gone

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  • in 1984 [...] 8-track cassettes were still widespread

    Really? I'm not sure in which third world country you were living at the time, but for those of us in the first world, the compact cassette had ruled supreme since the mid-70s. I can't recall seeing an 8-track any time post 1976 or so.

    • Really? I'm not sure in which third world country you were living at the time, but for those of us in the first world, the compact cassette had ruled supreme since the mid-70s. I can't recall seeing an 8-track any time post 1976 or so.

      Dunno, I distinctly remember still being able to buy some titles on 8-track and knowing people with 8-track car radios in the early-to-mid 1980s. (I moved to Minnesota in 1983 and remember seeing 8-tracks in stores up to a year after that. Obviously people didn't dump all th

    • Hell - in 1984, my family had a CD Player.

      I'm pretty damned sure the 8 track more or less died in 1982.
      • Hell - in 1984, my family had a CD Player.

        So did mine, but then again, my mum was working for a hi fi company [nad.co.uk] at the time, so we had a bit of a head start on the general public...

      • Hell - in 1984, my family had a CD Player.

        Your family might have had a cellphone at that time, or a microwave in the 1950s, or a TV in the 1930s for all I know. They still weren't widespread until many many years later.

        I'm pretty damned sure the 8 track more or less died in 1982.

        Actually, no. I did some double-checking, and the major labels stopped delivering them to stores in 1983-84. The mail-order record clubs (like Columbia House) still sold them until 1988. And as mentioned above, it's not like

        • 1991?! I was in a mid-80s Caddy with an eight track player that worked as recently as 2000. There's nothing quite like a couple of twenty year-olds cruising the roads of rural Maine listening to Barry Manilow.

          Ah, those were the days.
          • I believe my dad's still got an old Radio Shack 8-track player (originally was my brother's, bought in 1981 or 1982 IIRC). It would be interesting to see if it still works, though I don't know what happened to my brother's 8-tracks.

            Ah, the memories of hearing the tchhhhk-THUNK when it switched to another program on the tape. Screw electronics -- let's do it all mechanically!

            Cheers,

            Ethelred

      • :) You were priveleged. We didn't get a CD player until 1989 and even then they were ungodly expensive ($150). I didn't get my own until 1991 which was a Sony Discman and was still ungodly expensive ($220). I did see a Sony CD player in the early 1980s at a department store. I knew what they were and why they were better, but the pricetag on that Sony was $1200 (approx. 1981 I think).
        • It cost my dad an arm and a leg ($2000) and my mom wasn't really all that impressed ("It sounds just like the tape deck, just take it back.") At least it was Onkyo and a damned good CD player at that. It still runs.

          At least I got it. My first CD was the soundtrack to "La Bamba" followed by "Pump Up the Volume" CD Single.

          I remember when the CD section of the music store only had one rack.

          *sigh*
          • followed by "Pump Up the Volume" CD Single.

            Damn, and I had to buy the reissue. I assume you're talking about M|A|R|R|S, right?

            • MARRS NEEDS WOMEN....

              Yeah - I still have it in my rotation for when I wanna bump old school (yo!).

              Its in my car. I could make a 'backup' copy available since your CD is probably scratched and unusable by this point.
              • Oh no, I bought the reissue and I treat my CDs very very carefully. It was just my Kollektorskum persona lamenting not having "An Original". A backup copy wouldn't qualify. Thanks though! :-)
              • PUTV, though not many people know it, was one of the only dance songs ever constructed *entirely* from tape loops. No synths, no samplers, no MIDI. Just hand-synced tape loops. And as such it stands as a masterpiece of 20th century pop musique concrete.

                " MARRS NEEDS WOMEN...."

                That, on the other hand, was Meat Beat Manifesto. Of course they're equally as cool, especially since Jack Dangers practically invented jungle.
    • I was 14 at the time and my parents had just gotten a used 1981 Mercury Cougar. It came with an AM/FM 8-Track system. I promptly sought out 8-tracks and they were hard to find, but they still did exist. They didn't "rule" as cassettes were far more popular, but they were still being made. Interesting that I was a Duran Duran fan and they were NEVER released on 8-track. But, bands like Chicago and Air Supply were in easy abundance on 8-track.
    • Get this: I was buying music in a used store the other day and the guy had a box full of 8-tracks! I teased the crap outta him, but he said that PEOPLE STILL BUY THEM. I can't remember the last time I saw any 8-track player, much less one that worked. How freaky is that???
      • Classic cars are one place to find 8-track player that are actually used. When someone goes to that much effort restoring a vehicle, they don't want to put a piece of modern technology in. It would clash with the look and feel.
        • When someone goes to that much effort restoring a vehicle, they don't want to put a piece of modern technology in. It would clash with the look and feel.

          That depends on your definition of "classic car". Mine (from 1977) originally came with a cassette radio, so an 8-track would look out of place...

          • True enough. I had in mind the 60's era cars - such as a 1969 Pontiac GTO or a 1965 Ford Shelby Mustang. Somehow mid-1970's cars don't seem old enough ... possibly because I grew up with them around.
  • From the Yahoo article:
    Family members say Scantlin's understanding of the outside world comes mostly from news and soap operas that played on the television in her room.


    Can you really imagine what a person's worldview would be like after 20 years of that?
    • Can you really imagine what a person's worldview would be like after 20 years of that?

      Surely no worse than having Wham! songs echoing through your head for 20 years? I mean, that's the real brain damage she had to recover from.

      Cheers,

      Ethelred

      • Jitterbug
        Jitterbug
        Jitterbug
        Jitterbug
        You put the boom boom into my heart
        You send my soul sky high when your loving starts
        Jitterbug into my brain
        Goes a bang bang bang till my feet do the same
        If something's bugging you
        If something ain't right
        My best friend told me what you did last night
        Left me sleeping in my bed
        I was dreaming but I should have been with you instead

        Wake me up before you go-go
        Don't leave me hanging on like a yo-yo
        Wake me up before you go-go
        I don't want to miss it when you hit that high
        Wake me
        • You bastard. I'm suing for pain and suffering.

          (From now on I demand that any post containing anything remotely having to do with Wham! be clearly marked [WARNING! WHAM!] so that I can modbomb it without being exposed to its content.)

          Cheers,

          Ethelred

          • I know a guy who's tough but sweet
            He's so fine, he can't be beat
            He's got everything that I desire
            Sets the summer sun on fire

            I want candy, I want candy

            Go to see him when the sun goes down
            Ain't no finer boy in town
            You're my guy, just what the doctor ordered
            So sweet, you make my mouth water

            I want candy, I want candy

            Candy on the beach, there's nothing better
            But I like candy when it's wrapped in a sweater
            Some day soon I'll make you mine,
            Then I'll have candy all the time

            I want candy, I want candy
            I want candy

            • What is this, flamewar by '80s pop?

              That does it. No mercy for you.

              Somehow I made it through
              I'm just an intern
              I still make a mistake or two

              I was last in my class
              Barely passsed at the institute
              Now I'm trying to avoid, yeah I'm trying to avoid
              A malpractice suit

              Hey, like a surgeon
              Cuttin' for the very first time
              Like a surgeon
              Organ transplants are my line

              Better give me all your gauze, nurse
              This patient's fading fast
              Complications have set in
              Don't know how long he'll last

              Let me see, that I.V.
              Here we go - tim

              • At least I warned you :\

                Don't make me whip out my Weird Al collection. (two snaps up in Z formation).
                • At least I warned you :\

                  Ah, so you did. Very well then, you get one chance to do your worst to me. Free shot. Come on, don't be a pansy! I bet you're not man enough to quote the worst of '80s pop!

                  Don't make me whip out my Weird Al collection. (two snaps up in Z formation).

                  I'll see your Weird Al and raise you a Ray Stevens.

                  Cheers,

                  Ethelred

                  • Heh - I'll see your Ray Stevens and raise you a Chuck Jones.

                    Okay - I fail it I know. I should have saved ammo. All of my 80's knowledge is limited to mostly rock-n-roll. I didn't have MTV, so I was limited to rock and country.

                    I'm going to have to cut to the nineties, and just deliver possibly the most devistaing blow (you won't get this damned song out of your head for weeks).

                    Yo listen up here's a story
                    About a little guy that lives in a blue world
                    And all day and all night and everything he sees
                    Is just

                    • Okay - I fail it I know. I should have saved ammo. All of my 80's knowledge is limited to mostly rock-n-roll. I didn't have MTV, so I was limited to rock and country.

                      Unter glieben glauben globen.

                      I always preferred rock, hard rock, metal, whatever -- Def Leppard, Mellencamp, Metallica, Queensrÿche, and so on. Growing up with my big brother (who had albums from Boston, Kansas, Van Halen, Eagles, etc.), I couldn't help that. But my junior high school in Minnesota was completely pop mad. So was the boa

                    • Damn - I really thought I won too. Good show!

                      Until next round.

                      PS - using old VH lyrics doesn't work, because even today - they rock!

                      Jump back, what's that sound ?
                      Here she comes, full blast and top down.
                      Hot shoe, burnin' down the avenue.
                      Model citizen zero discipline
                      Don't you know she's coming home with me?
                      You'l lose her in the turn.
                      I'll get her!
                      Panama, Panama
                      Panama, Panama
                      Ain't nothin' like it, her shiny machine.
                      Got the feel for the wheel, keep the moving parts clean.
                      Hot shoe, burnin' down the avenue,
                      Got

                    • PS - using old VH lyrics doesn't work, because even today - they rock!

                      I'll say. They're one of the few bands from that period whose stuff has stood the test of time. Though I never cared much for them after Roth left them, and Roth on his own sucked the wad, but oh well. ;-)

                      I mean, Styx's Kilroy Was Here was hugely popular at the time, but it's painful today. Most of the glam-metal from those days is crap.

                      But stuff like Atomic Punk is just awesome...

                      I am a victim of the science age
                      A child of the stor

        • Wake me up before you go-go

          That's really mean to sing to someone stuck in bed for 20 years.
    • I'm sure there is a very big dose of culture shock coming her way. But it really all depends on her and what kind of 18 year old she was. It has to be a nightmare from her perspective. Probably a lot of denial at first and then when she accepts it probably some level of depression followed by complete resignation.
  • she is in a perfect position to write a book about what's changed and what hasn't. i think it would ahve more impact if she treated the accident and recovery as a gap, focusing on the culture shock instead.
  • Indeed, in 1984, I was having three weeks of sleepless nights as a 12 year old who had suddenly realised what nuclear war meant - after watching Threads. (I now actually have a copy on my computer).
    • Kinda the same for me. I actually never saw all of Threads -- only the first part -- but I did see all of The Day After, which is supposedly nowhere near as graphic as Threads but...well, let's say it was bad enough.

      After that, I started getting panicky about the slightest unusual thing in the night sky. Lights moving in odd ways and so on -- anything that might look like the glow of an incoming warhead.

      I remember once when I was delivering newspapers -- this was not long after a JAL flight had been sho

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