You must remember this…or maybe not
I found a link that may help when we’re writing to be more aware of the audience we’re targeting.
My epiphany for the significance of frame of reference came one school year when I was discussing the assassination of President Kennedy. As a teacher, I know enough to realize when the eyes of everyone in my audience are so glazed over they look like caramel apples. I was dumbfounded my students were so apathetic. Finally, one brave soul raised his hand. “Mrs. Allan, we were three when that happened.” Okay, so drop the “founded”; I was just dumb.
So, if my target audience is thirty-years-old, here’s a head-up:
56 years 6 months younger than Nancy Reagan, age 87
53 years 7 months younger than George Herbert Bush, age 84
46 years 3 months younger than Barbara Walters, age 76
44 years 1 month younger than Larry King, age 74
37 years 11 months younger than Ted Koppel, age 68
34 years 6 months younger than Geraldo Rivera, age 65
31 years 6 months younger than George W. Bush, age 62
26 years 6 months younger than Jesse Ventura, age 56
22 years 2 months younger than Bill Gates, age 52
17 years 4 months younger than Cal Ripken Jr., age 47
11 years 6 months younger than Mike Tyson, age 42
7 years 5 months younger than Jennifer Lopez, age 37
2 years 0 months younger than Tiger Woods, age 32
4 years 6 months older than Prince William, age 26
and that you were:
22 years old on the first day of Y2K
19 years old when Princess Diana was killed in a car crash
17 years old at the time of Oklahoma City bombing
16 years old when O. J. Simpson was charged with murder
15 years old at the time of the 93 bombing of the World Trade Center
13 years old when Operation Desert Storm began
11 years old during the fall of the Berlin Wall
8 years old when the space shuttle Challenger exploded
6 years old when Apple introduced the Macintosh
5 years old during Sally Ride’s travel in space
3 years old when Pres. Reagan was shot by John Hinckley, Jr.
a 1 year old at the time the Iran hostage crisis began
Here’s the link: http://www.frontiernet.net/~cdm/age1.html
A window will appear asking for a birth day. Type one in, hit enter, and the information will appear.
Enjoy!
