37 years ago this week

For the week of June 4-10, 1983, I attended American Legion Texas Boys State with a few of my classmates and 1000 other 17-year-old males from around the state.

The local paper announcing our selection for Boys State.
Your humble blogger is the knucklehead on the far right.

The event, basically a summer camp about politics, teaches government from the municipal to the state level, culminating in a visit to the state capitol building. We were housed at Jester dorm on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin and trained to become model civic leaders of the 1950's following a dated right-wing curriculum designed in 1935 to counter the socialism-inspired Young Pioneer Camps. My random memories of that week follow:

• if you can imagine four 17-year-olds in a late '70s Ford LTD land yacht who had no business being on the nation's interstate highway system (and no real navigational skills to speak of), you can picture the transportation to and from Austin that week. Did I mention the car had an old CB radio which provided hours of entertainment?
• my friend Scott, once selected for the camp, read the description of the ideal Boy's State attendee sent to the school counselor to help with the selection process, tossed it aside, looked at me and snarked, "Congratulations, we're average."
• we were grouped alphabetically by last name. Of the 1000 attendees, I was #751 - reduced to a number in the political process from the get-go.
• there was a wind band and a talent show; I participated in neither, although I probably should have played in the band as rehearsals would have been preferable to citizenship meetings.
• we were required to write three letters to our parents during the week. My mother saved every letter I ever wrote her and eventually passed those on to me so I have those three letters, postmarked June 4, 8, & 9. It's normal "camp sucks" stuff: the food stinks, I have to climb 11 flights of stairs to get to my room, 18 hour days, but I found this note at the end of my first letter, written Saturday June 4, the very first day of camp:
  
  
  
  I'm sure I thought that was a hilarious aside at the time, but now that I'm a parent, I realize what a heartbreaking sight that must have been for my mother.
• the 18 hour days, coupled with a "no naps" policy, really took its toll on this lightweight and I would often spend our daily "activity" time looking for a dark, quiet, isolated corner in which I could catch 40 winks. I rarely succeeded. On a totally unrelated note, I've read that many cults use a sleep deprivation technique.
• in one of my letters, I mention that we went to some sort of church service on Sunday morning, but I have no memory of that.
• over the course of the week, I was elected to the state House of Representatives and passed the Boys State bar exam which means I can practice law at Boys State, so I got that going for me, which is nice.
• we were on the football field of Memorial Stadium for calisthenics at 6 AM
• we were required to wear Boy's State t-shirts during most all activities; we were each given two. Even though we did our best to hand-wash in the bathroom sink, the group was smelling a bit ripe by Friday dismissal. On a totally unrelated note, I've since read several articles describing how uniforms are a method of dehumanization.
• there's a Boy's State song, sung to the tune of "Giant" by Dimitri Tiomkin (1956). This video was recorded in 2014 and not much had changed in 31 years - same song, same uniform, same location, different generation:
  
  We sang this at least twice a day and even now I remember. every. word. On a totally unrelated note, I've since read several articles describing how rote memorization/recitation can be a potential foothold for indoctrination.
• I ran into two other boys who had attended the same small elementary school with me in Odessa 5-10 years prior.  Two of us had since left Odessa and that summer the three of us were representing three different cities. 
• unfortunately, Boys State is where I spent my 17th birthday. I would have rather spent it in Houston at the Music Hall where The B-52's were playing with The Blasters as the opening act
  
   
• I wouldn't do it again and I certainly didn't raise any Boys State interest or possibilities with my sons when they were in high school. Maybe I'm too much the contrarian to go along with the mentality required for politics. (Spoiler alert: I am indeed). I didn't return home with a fire for politics, but it was that summer I finally made a decision to study music in college (previous careers considered: pediatrician, architect, psychiatrist, Broadway star).

I've read that a documentary film about Texas Boys State was premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, where it was awarded the U.S. Grand Jury Prize for documentary film. I'll look for it once it hits a streaming service - more out of curiosity than nostalgia.

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The song I always associate with that week in Austin is Duran Duran's "Is There Something I Should Know?" which had just entered the Hot 100 at #57.

Let's take a look at what was topping the Billboard charts on June 4, 1983.

	Top LP Thriller Michael Jackson
	Hot 100 "Flashdance...What a Feeling" Irene Cara
	Rock Album Cargo Men at Work
	Rock Single "Rock of Ages" Def Leppard
	Soul Album Thriller Michael Jackson
	Soul Single "Juicy Fruit" Mtume
	Dance/Disco Single "Let's Dance" (12") David Bowie
	Country Album The Closer You Get Alabama
	Country Single "Lucille (You Won't Do Your Daddy's Will)" Waylon Jennings
	Adult Contemporary  "My Love" Lionel Richie

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Here's the top albums from Rolling Stone magazine, June 9, 1983.

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