Center High School - Yellow Jacket Yearbook (Kansas City, MO)

Page 15 text:

Political changes rock world —v s the world entered the first year of A a new decade, many people watched and waited to see what would hap- pen next. Again, this year, all eyes were turned toward the Middleast as Iran held the American Embassy hostages for over a year and then turned to battle neighboring Iraq when a border dispute errupted into a full scale war. just north of this hotspot, Jordan massed its armies on the Syrian border to, as Jordan put it, protect Jordanian in- terests from Syrians trying to take advantage of the war. In Southern Europe, Turkey's military set up a new government to bolster their faltering econo- my. Russia invaded Afghanistan and installed a dictator even though tribespeople in the moun- tains continued to inflict heavy casualties on Rus- sian troops. The United States along with fifty other coun- tries boycotted the summer Olympics in Mos- cow to protest the Afghanistanian invasion. And finally, the world saw the passing of three men who left their mark on history. These men were Peter Sellers, the exiled Shah of Iran and ex-Beatle John Lennon. What did most people feel about the unre- lenting daily changes? I just hoped that things would slow down, maybe if they had we would have been better off, summed up James Can- dler, 12. Student Life 11

Page 14 text:

RIGHT Protesting the summer Olympics Boycott. Jim Mosby, Scott Kennedy. Todd Swartz, and Andy VanSlyke wear their teeshirts. BELOW: In the wake ol John Lennon's death, Joe Allen and Andy Miller. 12. look over some Beatles' albums ABOVE: Boning up on world affairs, |eff layroe, 9, looks over the paper RIGHT Kathy Willard. II. pins up the address for the Iranian hostages tor the people to send cards 10 Student Life

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Bartle Hall hosted a ear show on November 15 Royals stir fans emotions TV blizzard of paper swirled through the downtown canyons. Business people threw masses of it from top floor windows and city workers in cherry pickers dumped it over the streets. Hundreds of thousands of cheering people stood in the drifts of confetti. All the commotion came as a result of the Royals winning the American League Pen- nant. The Royals rode victoriously through the streets in a precedent-setting parade. The parade came after the Royals lost the World Series, but that didn't seem to bother the fans. Everyone's hero was the American League's most valuable player, George Brett, who flirted with a .400 batting average. Other events in the area stood out. Many school closings, including those in the Center dis- trict, marked an era of declining enrollment. Star- light Theater, battered by low attendance be- cause of the heatwave, held rock concerts to keep its doors open. The Philharmonic went on strike for higher wages. Bannister Mall opened up, giving students jobs as well as a new place to shop. President Carter held a town meeting in Independence to stir voters. 12 Student Life