Timeline of the 20th Century

In my Craft of Poetry class, we were asked to make a timeline of the 20th century, without referring to any resources other than our memories.

I keep track of history in relation to things that have happened to me. This may be egocentric but it’s really just because my world is a lot smaller than the world I'm in. What follows is my list of Twentieth-Century memories.


1. The start of WWII--no idea regarding the date (40s for certain)--but in 10th grade I reported on Weisel’s Night and developed a mini-obsession with learning the novel’s historical context.

2. If I'm going to mention WWII, I should make a note of Pearl Harbor, as well. Leave it to Hollywood to compress the tragedy into a three-hour film. I won't even touch Titanic, mostly because my parents wouldn't let me watch it. DiCaprio was the sole cause of my fifth grade social demise.

3. Y2K. I journalled it. & packed a huge suitcase of my most prized possessions in case our house computer decided to implode.

4. The 1994 earthquake in Northridge, CA. The first journal entry I ever wrote was from the day after the earthquake: "I thought Daddy was dead but he walked in the door today. I guess he is not”). That was before cell phones and television. Not for the world—just my family.

5. Years previous, there was an earthquake in San Francisco. Twice. I just learned about it last semester.

6. Wizard of Oz in Technicolor.

7. The Bay of Pigs. I know nothing about this incident, except that my dad was on the runway to take off for it and the President called the troops back. It exists because it touched my world.


8. Sidenote: I taught Social Studies for a semester to a bunch of jr/high school students and all I remember is Ellis Island. We learned about Pablo Neruda and Frida Kahlo, and Heinrich Himmler and the assassination of Kennedy. But if I get to pick and choose what goes on my time-line, only Ellis Island will make it.

9. “Man” landed on the moon. My mom remembers the word “astronaut" on her spelling list for the week.

10. We also discovered the world-wide-web without having to leave our desks. Now we can virtually tour the moon at a penny of the price.

11. Big Bang was silenced. So was Martin Luther King Jr — but not his Dream, because they still post it on the walls of elementary classrooms.

12. There was the Great Depression, and a mother was photographed in black-and-white with her children. I remember this event because Disney put the photograph in the California Adventure theme park.

13. The Pope died. Nine times.

14. Tom Cruise discovered Scientology. So did the rest of Hollywood.

15. The Berlin Wall rose and fell, along with women's bangs and disco balls.

16. The general world survived 1984 sans-Big Brother. London did not

17. Pink leggings and blue leg warmers.

18. My rabbit got eaten by an owl and my dad told me the Easter bunny took him on as hired help. This was two days after the Oklahoma City Bombing in ‘95.

19. Princess Diana died (‘97?). I distinctly remember: A. Not knowing who she was, B. Watching the funeral on television at my aunt’s, and C. Thinking they meant Shirley Temple.

20. By the end of the 20th century, I could fit a whole computer in my pocket.


It’s not that these things are only relevant as they're linked to me. They just make sense, when I put them in the context of me. The history of the world is too large to fit in the small space of my life; my existence barely wedges into a quarter of the history of the 20th century. What do you do with history that isn't yours? And what history/History is yours?

I am interested in WWII because it happened in 10th grade.