Gunnar Almgren by Maddie H, Steven P, Tiffany G.
Gunnar Almgren (1967-1970)
Forty-one years after attending Cascade, Gunnar is a professor at the University of Washington in the field of social work. He has been in higher education for several decades. Gunnar is happily married to his wife, Linda, and has two children, Garth and Anders.
Life in High School
When I was in high school, there were two main tracts. One was a college preparation tract, and the other one was more vocational. At this time, I wasn’t a stellar student – my primary interest was maintaining my 1957 Chevy with a Corvette engine. That and working took up most of my time.
Cascade was comprised of two different worlds: students from essentially blue collar families, where there was not an expectation that they would pursue a college degree, and kids from mostly middle class, college educated families. The sub cast of this trend at Cascade was to either go to college, or go into the military. That is speaking primarily about the boys, not the girls. So, in mostly my English and history classes, which were for the most part comprised of students in the college prep tract, there was a lot of dissention towards, and critique of the Vietnam War.
Cascade had some wonderful, outstanding teachers – there was a teaching culture there, a real investment that was apparent. Even as an indifferent student I recognized that.
High school life was really busy if you were taking your classes, had a job, and participated in athletics. In these situations you don’t have very much extra time. I think that’s still true; my son was in the marching band and it was the same story. What I did with friends outside of school mostly revolved around cars. We hung around Herfy’s Drive-In on Evergreen Way. It was a lot like the movie American Graffiti, where a lot of the boys with the muscle cars were popular. All my activities revolved around cars, and because I lived in Mukilteo, boats as well. I had a few jobs while in high school. I was a box boy at the Safeway at 41st and Rucker, which was a brand new store then, and worked part time at the sawmill.
My favorite part about high school was the teachers and the classes. I also enjoyed being a member of the swim team, and the activities that were associated with it. I made some good friends. Conversely, my least favorite part of high school was all the tests and homework: being held accountable for something in which I didn’t like investing my time. It wasn’t until college that I became a serious student.
A lot of my most memorable experiences had to do with the forestry class I took. We had two teachers. One used to be a logger, and the other was a biologist, who was much more of an environmentalist. There was a lot of tension between the two. One was teaching us how to preserve trees and the other was teaching us how to cut them down to making a living! So, I guess my most memorable experience was just being out in the woods with the forestry teachers and recognizing that daily negotiation that was going on between them.
Events of the Day
Nixon was president during the latter of my high school years. My peers were divided about how they felt about his presidency. There were those kids who were politically conscious and quite critical of Nixon and his policies, and a lot of kids who later became critical, but weren’t at that point of their lives. There were also those who would’ve been more pro-Nixon, feeling that the war was a fight against Communism, and that Nixon represented protecting America’s interests and freedoms.
Again, I’m speaking about the guys. I knew a lot less about what girls thought. My son attended high school in the 90’s, and it was interesting to see how his network was more equally comprised of boys and girls. They understood each other. But my memory of high school was that your friends were boys, and girls were there to be pursued. You didn’t have such a good understanding of the opposite sex.
There were a few important events during my high school years. One was Apollo 13. Just picture a kid in high school, where trips to the moon were getting more and more routine, and all of a sudden, our astronauts were in trouble. It was not known whether or not they would make it home. Everybody was riveted by the drama.
The other seminal event was again during the spring of 1970. When Nixon was elected, he promised to get American out of Vietnam, but would do so in a way that would allow us to not “lose the war.” We would deescalate our involvement, and turn the war over to the South Vietnamese government and army. This probably sounds close to what we’re hearing now about Afghanistan and Iraq. On May 1st of 1970, Nixon announced that we were going to invade Cambodia. The rationale behind it was that Cambodia was a refuge for Vietnamese troops and their allies, who were attacking our troops. He said that this invasion would limit the threat to our troops. As a result of this decision, there were demonstrations on college campuses nationwide, including the demonstration at Kent State, which resulted in National Guard troops firing sixty seven rounds into the crowd of protesting students, killing four of them and wounding nine others. The shock and the horror that resulted raised the political consciousness of all the students.
Keep in mind that in 1970, there was still a military draft. The kids in the vocational tract, even if they didn’t enlist in the army, had a high chance of being drafted. On the other hand were the privileged kids, with which I identified because my parents were middle class.
There was a great inequality not only along social class lines, but also along racial lines. The invasion of Cambodia galvanized consciousness around a lot of those different streams. I remember an announcement over the public address system from a group of students who had gone into the principal’s office, and essentially petitioned to acknowledge the four students who had been killed, and said that we should pray for them and their families. A few minutes later, another group of students hijacked the school’s announcement system, and said that we should pray for the National Guard troops who were involved in the incident. This whole event reflected that divide. There was a sequel to that twenty years later in my life: I was called to Washington D.C. for a conference. I hadn’t been to the Vietnam War Memorial, so I went with my family, and saw Dan Meyers on that wall… It caused me to think about my life, my path of privilege, and about his life, which ended prematurely.
I was still contemplating this when I returned to my job. I was at the University of Chicago at this point, and attended a dinner party on the tail of the trip with a couple of faculty colleagues. One of them was Larry, who was a great professor, scholar, and colleague of mine. He was an advisor to Henry Kissinger, and was actually at the table when the decision was made to invade Cambodia. I was still thinking of Dan Meyers – the student I had attended metal shop with. I sat in my chair, having been looking at my fellow student’s name on that wall, and listened to them talk about making the decision led to his death.
I should also mention the generational divide. Among my generation, the baby boomers, opposition to the war was becoming very strong. Among our parents, it was much more mixed. There were parents who were very opposed of going into Cambodia and wanted to get out of Vietnam, but wanted to do it with dignity. Then, there were those who were saying, “We just need to get out, we need to get our troops home, and we need to stop our children from being drafted.” The guys I worked with at the sawmill were World War II veterans. They had been part of the ‘Good War’, and had a hard time understanding why their generation fought evil while our generation was unwilling. Some of them even said the National Guard troops did the right thing shooting the students and wondered why they didn’t do so previously. These were pretty hard-core, reactionary guys.
It is interesting to drive past different places, and to think back on how they used to look, in the 70’s. I remember when this church was being built, [interview was held in the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church] actually – I could see the different stages of its construction as I drove by in my 1957 Chevy with a Corvette engine.
Forty-one years after attending Cascade, Gunnar is a professor at the University of Washington in the field of social work. He has been in higher education for several decades. Gunnar is happily married to his wife, Linda, and has two children, Garth and Anders.
Life in High School
When I was in high school, there were two main tracts. One was a college preparation tract, and the other one was more vocational. At this time, I wasn’t a stellar student – my primary interest was maintaining my 1957 Chevy with a Corvette engine. That and working took up most of my time.
Cascade was comprised of two different worlds: students from essentially blue collar families, where there was not an expectation that they would pursue a college degree, and kids from mostly middle class, college educated families. The sub cast of this trend at Cascade was to either go to college, or go into the military. That is speaking primarily about the boys, not the girls. So, in mostly my English and history classes, which were for the most part comprised of students in the college prep tract, there was a lot of dissention towards, and critique of the Vietnam War.
Cascade had some wonderful, outstanding teachers – there was a teaching culture there, a real investment that was apparent. Even as an indifferent student I recognized that.
High school life was really busy if you were taking your classes, had a job, and participated in athletics. In these situations you don’t have very much extra time. I think that’s still true; my son was in the marching band and it was the same story. What I did with friends outside of school mostly revolved around cars. We hung around Herfy’s Drive-In on Evergreen Way. It was a lot like the movie American Graffiti, where a lot of the boys with the muscle cars were popular. All my activities revolved around cars, and because I lived in Mukilteo, boats as well. I had a few jobs while in high school. I was a box boy at the Safeway at 41st and Rucker, which was a brand new store then, and worked part time at the sawmill.
My favorite part about high school was the teachers and the classes. I also enjoyed being a member of the swim team, and the activities that were associated with it. I made some good friends. Conversely, my least favorite part of high school was all the tests and homework: being held accountable for something in which I didn’t like investing my time. It wasn’t until college that I became a serious student.
A lot of my most memorable experiences had to do with the forestry class I took. We had two teachers. One used to be a logger, and the other was a biologist, who was much more of an environmentalist. There was a lot of tension between the two. One was teaching us how to preserve trees and the other was teaching us how to cut them down to making a living! So, I guess my most memorable experience was just being out in the woods with the forestry teachers and recognizing that daily negotiation that was going on between them.
Events of the Day
Nixon was president during the latter of my high school years. My peers were divided about how they felt about his presidency. There were those kids who were politically conscious and quite critical of Nixon and his policies, and a lot of kids who later became critical, but weren’t at that point of their lives. There were also those who would’ve been more pro-Nixon, feeling that the war was a fight against Communism, and that Nixon represented protecting America’s interests and freedoms.
Again, I’m speaking about the guys. I knew a lot less about what girls thought. My son attended high school in the 90’s, and it was interesting to see how his network was more equally comprised of boys and girls. They understood each other. But my memory of high school was that your friends were boys, and girls were there to be pursued. You didn’t have such a good understanding of the opposite sex.
There were a few important events during my high school years. One was Apollo 13. Just picture a kid in high school, where trips to the moon were getting more and more routine, and all of a sudden, our astronauts were in trouble. It was not known whether or not they would make it home. Everybody was riveted by the drama.
The other seminal event was again during the spring of 1970. When Nixon was elected, he promised to get American out of Vietnam, but would do so in a way that would allow us to not “lose the war.” We would deescalate our involvement, and turn the war over to the South Vietnamese government and army. This probably sounds close to what we’re hearing now about Afghanistan and Iraq. On May 1st of 1970, Nixon announced that we were going to invade Cambodia. The rationale behind it was that Cambodia was a refuge for Vietnamese troops and their allies, who were attacking our troops. He said that this invasion would limit the threat to our troops. As a result of this decision, there were demonstrations on college campuses nationwide, including the demonstration at Kent State, which resulted in National Guard troops firing sixty seven rounds into the crowd of protesting students, killing four of them and wounding nine others. The shock and the horror that resulted raised the political consciousness of all the students.
Keep in mind that in 1970, there was still a military draft. The kids in the vocational tract, even if they didn’t enlist in the army, had a high chance of being drafted. On the other hand were the privileged kids, with which I identified because my parents were middle class.
There was a great inequality not only along social class lines, but also along racial lines. The invasion of Cambodia galvanized consciousness around a lot of those different streams. I remember an announcement over the public address system from a group of students who had gone into the principal’s office, and essentially petitioned to acknowledge the four students who had been killed, and said that we should pray for them and their families. A few minutes later, another group of students hijacked the school’s announcement system, and said that we should pray for the National Guard troops who were involved in the incident. This whole event reflected that divide. There was a sequel to that twenty years later in my life: I was called to Washington D.C. for a conference. I hadn’t been to the Vietnam War Memorial, so I went with my family, and saw Dan Meyers on that wall… It caused me to think about my life, my path of privilege, and about his life, which ended prematurely.
I was still contemplating this when I returned to my job. I was at the University of Chicago at this point, and attended a dinner party on the tail of the trip with a couple of faculty colleagues. One of them was Larry, who was a great professor, scholar, and colleague of mine. He was an advisor to Henry Kissinger, and was actually at the table when the decision was made to invade Cambodia. I was still thinking of Dan Meyers – the student I had attended metal shop with. I sat in my chair, having been looking at my fellow student’s name on that wall, and listened to them talk about making the decision led to his death.
I should also mention the generational divide. Among my generation, the baby boomers, opposition to the war was becoming very strong. Among our parents, it was much more mixed. There were parents who were very opposed of going into Cambodia and wanted to get out of Vietnam, but wanted to do it with dignity. Then, there were those who were saying, “We just need to get out, we need to get our troops home, and we need to stop our children from being drafted.” The guys I worked with at the sawmill were World War II veterans. They had been part of the ‘Good War’, and had a hard time understanding why their generation fought evil while our generation was unwilling. Some of them even said the National Guard troops did the right thing shooting the students and wondered why they didn’t do so previously. These were pretty hard-core, reactionary guys.
It is interesting to drive past different places, and to think back on how they used to look, in the 70’s. I remember when this church was being built, [interview was held in the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church] actually – I could see the different stages of its construction as I drove by in my 1957 Chevy with a Corvette engine.