Today’s Alternative Anniversaries for Those Allergic to Boomer Nostalgia

Hate the oh-what-a-night nostalgia of
JFK assassination anniversary stories? Then read this
acidic Jack Shafer take about the coverage, wash it down with
Nick Gillespie’s
skewering of Boomer narcissism, and browse through the recent
JFK musings of our resident conspiracy-historian,
Jesse Walker.

Or, if you prefer sidestepping the whole tawdry business
altogether and making your own anniversary memories instead, choose
among these sadly neglected Nov. 22 events from years gone by. For
instance, this 1987
broadcast-hijacking by a Chicago man dressed as Max
Headroom:

Terrifying.

Prefer a more momentous conspiracy, at the highest levels,
involving murder and the mass confiscation of property? Then strap
on your Dan Brown boots and luxuriate in the 1307 Papal Bull
Pastoralis
Praeeminentiae by the Goth French Pope Clement V,
ordering Christian monarchs to persecute the
Knights of Templar. It’s more creepy with a soundtrack:

Today is the 9th anniversary of the beginning of Ukraine’s
Orange
Revolution, the 24th anniversary of all kinds of stuff relating
to the collapse of communism (such as this
massive rally on Prague’s Wenceslas Square), the 38th
anniversary of Spanish King Juan
Carlos‘s ascension to the throne (Señor Franco, he still
dead!), the 70th anniversary of Lebanon’s independence from
France, the 85th anniversary of
the premier of Ravel’s Boléro (celebrate with Bo Derek!), and
the 155th birthday of
Denver, Colorado.

As Professor Barack Obama
taught us, we are the anniversary we’ve been waiting for, so
there’s no need whatsoever to accept other people’s historical
priorities. Nominate your favorite Nov. 22 alternatives in the
comments, and I’ll update the post with good ones.