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Iowahawk's tapped into Barack Obama's memoirs, unearthing a past that was all too real for disaffected youths of the '70's and '80's. Chess King jackets? Mrs. Pacman? Blacklights, bongwater and one-hitters?

Memoirs of...disaffected...youts...

"They were cool and disaffected radicals, with hairstyles to match: politically active black students in dreadlocks, shaved-headed Chicanos, ponytailed Marxist professors, crewcut structural feminists, goth emo punk rock performance poets with liberty spikes. We discussed neocolonialism, Frantz Fanon, hair gels, how to get through level 6 on Ms. Pacman. We smoked clove cigarettes and wore Chess King jackets. And when we arrived at Alladin's Castle at the Galleria the high school nerds parted like the Red Sea, because they knew the Cool Disaffected college gang was in the house, and we owned high score on Asteroids."

No mention of any Commodore 64's. But the foosball references managed to bring back some personal '70's memories. I had a wicked single-goalie shot, all the way from my primary defender to the opposite goal, a nearly-invisible blur that invariably left my opponent shaken. Another beer for the 'winner'. Eventually foosball became foolsboring, and I graduated to the pool tables.

Thank God my disaffection was a temporary distraction. Or I could run for President...

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