R for...

RAINBOWS:  

I am of a time when kids could wear stuff like this without fearing a consequence like this. I thought about this after reading that article. No social media then, and from what I could see, not many people were of aware of the pride flag at that time, even though it has been around since the late 1970s. I had at least one rainbow shirt, as did many other kids at the time, and not one remark against it was made.

I also collected things with rainbows, like notebooks and stickers (more on stickers tomorrow) without any consequences. I never had the rainbow flip flops, as far I can recall. I did have a rainbow plush wall hanging, kind of like the one below.

And most will remember Rainbow Brite, though that was another toy that came out when I outgrew toys. And the current Rainbow High line.

RAMONA BOOKS:

After Judy Blume, another childhood favorite author was Beverly Cleary. I read her Ramona book series the most . It was spun off an earlier series by Cleary, Henry Huggins. Ramona proved even more popular. The last book in the series was published in 1999. Before then, a Canadian TV series had been made, with Sarah Polley as Ramona (Yes, that Sarah Polley). In 2010, came the film Ramona and Beezus, largely on the last two books in the series, Ramona Forever and Ramona's World.

One moment in Ramona the Pest (the second book in the series) that has stuck in my mind is when her kindergarten teacher tells her to "Sit here for the present." Ramona not surprisingly misunderstands what that means and refuses to budge from her seat and until the teacher finally questions why and Ramona asks why she hasn't gotten a present. She feels cheated when she learns "for the present" means "for now." And she's late for school one day when her mom tells her to leave at "quarter after 8," thinking it means 8:25, since a quarter is 25 cents.

RUBIK'S CUBE:

A 3-D combination puzzle developed by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik, Rubik's Cube took the world by storm. People struggled to solve the cube, but many could ones solve one or two of the sides. It was typical to see a cube mixed up like this:

I never got the actual Cube, and wasn't all that eager to have one. However,  Chex Cereal got in on the craze with a mail-in offer for a Chex and Fruit Cube and I could not resist sending away for it. It too, was hard to solve. One side had Chex Cereal bits (with the Chex logo in the center square) and different fruits on the other sides.

Rubik's Cube inspired a Saturday morning cartoon, with Ron Palillo (formerly of Welcome Back, Kotter) as the voice of the cube. And there was this rather awful costume. I'd prefer this more realistic one, even if it might be hard to move around in.

None of Rubik's other inventions proved as popular as the cube. 

RECORD STORES:

Kids today don't know the fun of looking around for the newest music and posters and other music-related items in record store. Displays and scenes typically looked like this:

Now that vinyl is making a comeback, displays like this have emerged in stores such as Barnes and Noble and Target. So at least some people today can see what flipping trough these displays was like in the days of yore. Though it doesn't compare to actual record stores.

I was more of a cassette person, but I did get them at these stores whenever I could get to one. I always had to go out of town to find a record store. If I could get them at drugstores in town, I would do so. When I transitioned to CDs, Kmart had already been in my town a year, so that was where I got most of my first CDs.

ROMPERS:

Anyone remember wearing one of these? I now I had some that I wore over the summer. Some were made of terrycloth. No doubt they were very comfortable. I certainly would like to have one now. The closest things today are these.

ROLLING STONE:

It's been years since I have read this magazine, but I subscribed throughout the 1980s. I wanted to get it after seeing it a family friend's house. They had been subscribing to RS since it began in 1967. I still have most of the ones I got then, packed in plastic storage tubs in the garage. How much could they be worth now? The previously shown Live Aid from 1985 cover is among those I have. I am missing the Mark Knopfler cover also from 1985, because I let my mom's friend have it as she really likes Dire Straits.

Though I rarely read it now, the cover and design are much smaller and just don't compare to those of the old days. I certainly would not have wanted to keep the issue that had Trump on the cover!

I felt like the only one my age who got this magazine. Others called it a bunch of crap. They seemingly knew nothing and were believing the crap they read in The National Enquirer. This was before the Internet, of course.

RERUNS IN SUMMER:

When TV shows went on hiatus for the summer, reruns of the previous season would appear during the summer. It was a chance to see an episode you really liked again, or one you may have missed the first time around. Or if you could stay away from the TV, do something else. Some parents probably tried to persuade their children to do that by saying, "You already saw that episode."

RICK RACK:

This seemed to be everywhere when I grew up. But now it seems rare.

I had this  on many hand-made clothes.

RADIO: 

If you did not have a tape that contained a current song you liked, you had to wait to hear the song on the radio and record it on a blank tape. But doing so was much like the scenarios in these pictures:

And I rarely listen to the radio these days. Not into the satellite radio stations and the classic rock station I listened to for so many years is now less about the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Elton John, Led Zeppelin, etc, and more about Alice in Chains, Nirvana, and Collective Soul. And songs not likely to be played on the radio anymore now get played at grocery stores. 

RAGGEDY ANN:

Other than the dolls, I'm not sure what merchandise I had from this beloved character.  I could not have imagined my childhood without at least the dolls.

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RIGHT now I have to go. SEE more tomorrow.