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the past few pages have shown us the changes
of the
in this year's
chang
these young folks people
S Seniors. Here is a look at
in the world around us since
were brought into it.
m
The vast majority of the 2006 South Central High School
graduates were bom "way back" in 1987 and 1988. A lot of
things, have changed since then, in addition to our seniors
growingup.
l irst, the things that don't seemto have changed--there was
fighting between Israel and Palestine, the U.S. was being
attacked in the Mediterranean (by Iraq and by accident they
claimed), and the United States was fighting terrorists in the
middle east.
One of the biggest world-changing events of 1987 was when
United States President Ronald Reagan met with Soviet Union
Premier Mikhail Gorbachev in Washington, D.C where the
two signed the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty,
marking the beginning of the end of the Cold War. I.N.F. was
the first treaty to eliminate a complete class of weapons. It was
also the first treaty to include an in-depth verification program.
The I.N.F. treaty convinced many that it was possible to
achieve a new set of agreements with the Soviets. As a result,
Soviets were able to quicken the pace of what was known as
"glasnost" (openness and reform). Glasnost would ultimately
cause the end of the Soviet empire.
In 1988 the Soviets agreed to remove their troops from
Afghanistan. There was a total of 120,000 troops in Afghani-
stan at the time. Also in 1988 an Iranian passenger jet was shot
down by the US, in another case of mistaken identity
Tunnel Opens A railroad tunnel The longest underseas
tunnel, called "Seikan," was 33.44 miles long and was as deep
as 787 feet below water at one point. It was opened in 1988
opened between Aomori on the Honshu Island and Hakidate
in Hokkaido, Japan.
Free elections were held for Soviet Congress of Deputies in
the Soviet Union in 1988 -- for the first time in the country's
history.
The Sports Champions in the US in 1987 were the Los
Angeles Lakers winning the NBA championship over the
Boston Celtics with a 4-2 series, Miami-Florida winning the
NCAA championship with a 12-0-and-0 record, Tim Brown of
Notre Dame winning the Heisman Trophy the New York Giants
winning Super Bowl XXI with a 39-20 win over the Denver
Broncos, Scott Simpson winning the US Open Golf Tourna-
ment with 277 strokes, and the Minnesota Twins beating
winning the World Series in a 4-game series over the St. Louis
Cardinals Series.
In the entertainment field, the top song of the year was So
Emotionalby Whitney Houston, followed by GotMy MindSet
on You by George Harrison, and The Way You Make Me Feel
by Michael Jackson
Beetlejuice was the best movie of the year, followed by Big,
Bull Durham, Cocktail, Colors, Coming to America, Croco-
dile Dundee II, Die Hard, A Fish Called Wanda, and Good
Morning, Vietnam.
Most popular fiction book of 1988 was The Tommyknockers
by Stephen King, followed by Patriot Games by Tom Clancy,
and Kaleidoscope by Danielle Steele.
The Cosby Show was the number one television show of
1988, followed by A Different World, Cheers, The Golden
Girls, Growing Pains, Who's the Boss?, Night Court, 60
Minutes, Murder, She Wrote, and Alf.
The movie Rain Man won the Academy Award for best
picture of 1988, and Barry Levinson won best director, and
Dustin Hoffrnan best actor for the same movie
Winning the Grammy award for best album and best song
was Don't Worry, Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin who also
won the top male vocalist of 1988 for the same song.
Different names, movies, and country names, but not all that different from the headlines today!
