Writer's Choice~ "IT WAS A NOVEMBER DAY"

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

It's hard to believe it happened 50 years ago to the day, the assassination of John F. Kennedy. My memories are spotty, but I'll never forget the emotions that surrounded this horrendous event and the days that followed.

"It was a November day" addresses those feelings from Illya's point of view. One of my readers made this succinct comment on my story:

"We follow his melancholy trail and his temporary satisfaction. The historical event is almost a mere footnote; it is too shocking to analyze its global significance yet. The study zooms in on one individual as opposed to an entire nation, and his very personal implications.The story has a gentle flow throughout and then as sudden as a bullet, Reality strikes."

I hope you enjoy this emotional story, and please let me know what you think of it on this significant anniversary...

http://section7mfu.livejournal.com/163386.html

                       

Comments

[renn.livejournal.com]

A gentle story, yet one with great impact. It's so true how everything -- what you're doing, what you just did, what you were thinking-- can change suddenly with finding out horrific news. I was only 6 weeks old when the Kennedy assassination occurred, so I have no memories of it.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

How very true. I had just turned nine, and was in the the second grade. I don't recall any announcements at school; I have vague images from television but I remember the deep feeling of sadness. I've seen so many images of the event and things that surrounded it that I'm not sure what's memory any more.

As an adult I can compare it to the shock I felt, and remember exactly where I was when the Challenger blew up, withous saying...9/11.

Thanks so much for reading and taking the time to comment on it. I really appreciate that!

[carabele.livejournal.com]

I have vivid memories of this day (was 10 at the time). Being a student in a Catholic elementary school, and JFK being the first (and still to-date the only) Catholic president, it was a really shocking thing. I remember TVs going on in all the classrooms of my school and the nuns asking us all to stand and pray a rosary for the soul of the President.

A very sad and poignant day.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

I was in Catholic school as well, but don't remember images....I just remember the overwhelming sadness. We didn't have TV's in the classrooms... It's strange, I can't really recall whether I saw things on television at home, or whether the images are ones I saw later in life.

[avery11.livejournal.com]

I was ten, just getting back on the bus after a field trip to the Syossett movie theater where my sixth grade class had gone on a field trip. We saw "How the West Was Won."

I don't think I felt a great deal initially, besides shock. Stuff like that just didn't happen in America. Beyond that naive opinion, I hadn't paid much attention to politics. What deeply affected me however, was watching the pain of the adults around me, and on TV. We had just gotten our first television, and I remember being tremendously moved by the funeral, and by the silence, broken only by the sound of hooves as the riderless horse passed by.

It was the day America lost its innocence.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

I knew that he was important, though I was still too young to understand it all and yes it was the emotions that I recall.

We had a black and white television (I think we got a color one in 1966 because I have vivid memories of seeing Star Trek in color) I do remember the funeral procession, and the riderless horse with the boots turned backwards in the stirrups... Funny how certain images pop into your head.