Four Years Later...A Virtual Lifetime...And, Revamping a Blog

Pop Goes Our Culture sat dormant, though somewhere in the back of my mind, for the last four years. It is hard to believe the amazing changes the world has gone through in that time. Same for me and my family.

Some things, however, do not seem all that different. Even seemingly earth-shattering events are swallowed into the relentless churn. This idea seems at the heart of American popular culture. Almost everyone has a shot at glory and on the rise and fall charts, if one crashes down, they too get more opportunities to regain their status. Many of our most cherished icons have made careers of riding this roller-coaster (even after death), such as Elvis, Madonna, Marilyn Monroe, and Bob Dylan.

Let's jump on the way-back train and revisit some popular culture highlights of 2007 when I last posted to Pop Goes Our Culture:

• On July 21, 2007, the final book in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, came out, selling some 8.3 million copies in its first 24 hours in the United States. Potter-mania swept the nation with countless children and adults dressing like Harry, standing in line to get the book, and then staying up all night in an effort to reach the end.

• Just a few days before that last post, on August 7, 2007, Barry Bonds passed Hammerin’ Hank Aaron as baseball’s all-time home run king.

• Perhaps one of the oddest bits of news to emerge from the summer of 2007 was when Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick drew indefinite suspension after he admitted to several atrocities related to dogfighting. After facing an incredible fall from grace, Vick ended up in jail. 

Here we are four years later, and many of these distant blips on the pop culture radar are still with us in one form or another.

For example, Vick has transformed from dog-killer and criminal to starting quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles. The more wins Vick chalks up, the faster he regains his former status among pro football's elite and as a celebrity pitchman. The film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 2 -- as everyone with a pulse knows -- is poised to become one of the rare blockbusters to reach the $1 billion revenue mark worldwide. All these years later, the Bonds saga continues with some end in sight, but after millions of dollars were wasted in pursuing perjury charges against the San Francisco Giants.

Teachers often lament that their lives speed by via the school calendar. I am no different with each piece bitten off in semester chunks and four-year spans. It has been a traditional college degree time frame since I last posted here, but now I'm back. Hopefully, better (and wiser) than ever.