1969 was a big year for me.  Most of all, we left Fall River and moved back to New Jersey, but this time to Bergen rather than Hudson County — Billy Joel comments.  I’ll cover Bergen County another time, here were three other developments of import in my seven-year-old life in 1969:

1. The United States landed a man on the moon.

My parents let me stay up late to watch this, thank goodness.  Of course I was very excited, and we heard all about it in school.  This event drove my later interest in science fiction, space exploration, and also travel by jet.  None of those were directions my career or writings went in, but they were early intellectual influences.  At this point in the game, how could you not watch Star Trek reruns?

Back then, we all knew something special was happening, even I knew at age seven. 

Keep reading this article on Marginal Revolution.