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Period: to
The 1967-1968 school year
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Mr. Bigio dies in VIetnam
Mrs. Bigio became very bitter and especially twords Mai Thi. For example, in line she yelled at Mai Thi for the war and then one of the eighth graders made fun of her and said, "Maybe she'll give you a rat dinner!" But Mrs. Bigio felt really bad for Mai Thi and in june, their camping trip announces that she is adopting Mai Thi. -
President Johnson declares cease fire two weeks before Christmas
This would have affected many people but it especialy affected Mrs. Baker. Even though her Husband was MIA, she knew if he was still alive he wouldn't be shot at because there was a cease fire. (But the cease fire was broken by the Tet Offensive) -
Schools didn't allow choice of style
Guys: Hair couldn't be too long
Girls: Hair couldn't be too short, neither could their skirts
This made Heather very upset because she and her friends couldn't express herself and was a contributing factor for her running away attempt to San Fransico where they had a lot of hippies. -
Mr. Baker, MIA
Mrs. Baker became nicer to Holling, but became more worried. I think she became closer to Holling because she thought she might lose a person that was close to her, so she might've realized how she was mean to him and wanted to be nicer to people. -
5000 soldiers trapped in a city in vietnam
The soldiers in Khe Sahn made Mr. Hoodhood very angry because it made no sense at the time. This also created more tension in the family because nobody likes it when the dad gets angry which may have been a factor when Heather left. -
MLK's Assasination
This had a diverse affect within the family. Heather was sad because she admired MLK very much. But her dad didn't really like MLK but he wasn't racist so he didn't really care that deeply that MLK died. Again, this created controversy and tension within the family. -
May: Atomic Bomb awareness month
During the cold war, we were in a deep fear of an atomic war with the soviet union. So in preperation for a potential war they had drills were they would go under their seats and This wouldn't really help. But it made Holling and the rest of the kids feel like we were closer to a war. -
RFK's assassination
For Heather and Holling, this deeply disturbed them. Heather pratically veiwed him as an idol. She saw him as this man who would peacefully end the war, which was one of her main political "wishes." But as to how deeply this affected Holling is a question. I don't think that he was really involved in politics, so once that RFK was assassinated and he saw his sister crying, he tried to comfort her. They take a long walk to clear their minds and mourn the loss of an idol.
