Because so many people were doing double-duty and moonlighting and the "upper echolons" had become a pie crust, it was easier for foreign ranks to take a bite out of the apple.  That wasn't helping take a bite out of crime, and there were some funny later episodes of people arresting themselves, representing themselves, warbling words of what they'd like to do--how can it be a crime if it's not a war?

  In reality it was a quicksilver amount of time it wasn't anything, all of us "one world" and then it was an important seperation of national law.

  A bunch of us did skits, song and dance, in the meantime--while things were being aligned more appropriately to "east-west" and datelines, etc. TO: explain things like sharia law--not exactly the same as American (English) Law, so, no grammar school kid you can't do that here....but I'm a pharoah!  Yeah, yeah and I'm Santa Claus

  The Don't Tread On Me symbol was better than being "turkush"; some of the skits, especially about rollerskates, were all the more funny because of real world experience.  But even the older "veterans of Broadway" were limited to wearing one costume at a time.  Sulkie scarves and glittery ingots had to suffice as file folders and safe deposit "boxes" that "couldn't" say etc.

  Ticket takers and coat checkers, smacked of old world so some modernized and customized to stand out from the crowd--shared debt.

  Be unique!

  If we'd put all the legal paperwork of us all together it would make a pyramid up to the moon, so

  Some citizen legal stuff had to get expedited.  It was like a chess game when everybody had to get all legalimate.  But, alas, even presidents who aren't military commanders have to be citizen court processed.  If they were military they'd have to go through military court stuff too.  People were learning a lot about legal stuff.  And not everybody could afford lawyers and court stuff.  Kids used the "buddy system" to keep each other out of trouble!  But grown ups had to stand alone in front of judges.  A lot of relationships got re-worked because of trying to stay afloat.

  We also, as a nation, started to figure way with "secrets".  It was like turning our clothes inside out to get honest again, to feel un-quagmired in all the hard, awful, tragedy of warring.  We needed to be winners again.

  We carried on with processes, especially for like not drinking, moving past being prisoners of the past (course we had to find balance to so much "free"), doing things solid.  And some parents thought we had some good ideas.  We could put all our good ideas together!  We got permission to try.  And got scooched out of private meetings and speciality "support groups".  But then we'd come together as individuals for holidays and events.  Some of us with "art" and "craft" and "story".

  Everyone felt not "dirty" but covered in the grimes of warring.  Talk shows on TV tried to hold a "popular" sway between "reality" and...

  People were free to define self again, so there was a lot of style and personality going on.

  '77, hmmmm, seashells, souvenirs, southern charm and subtle swipes like gag gifts from Spencer's and passed along potholders.  Some people were blinded by the light, others by reading smaller and smaller print.

  In the literary world "criticism" was the cop, but line to word to punctuation mark was separated:

          FACT

          FICTION

  It was "super cool" and spaghetti, dreaming, and "dudes".  And it took courage to wear words on tees and honestly play sports.  For some it was synonymous with "plastic" and others "honest Abe" but nobody knew the numbers.  Voting was going to matter.

  Sherry's New Year's Eve tee at the end of that one was:

      I'd rather go to heaven,

      Than stay in '77