Worlds Fair

I was four years old in this photo and the Worlds Fair of 1964 in New York's Flushing Meadows Park is one of my earliest memories. The theme of the fair was "Peace Through Understanding," dedicated to "Man's Achievement on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe." All I remember was that I wanted to go on the rides but my parents only wanted to see the exhibits.  On the television commercials, it promised all of the spectacle of Disneyland but delivered none of the fun. The jury is still out on whether our universe will continue to expand or if it will someday reverse direction and collapse in upon itself. While it's hard to imagine myself at four, it's even harder to imagine my parents, in the photo below, standing there, at about half the age than I am now.  I wouldn't recognize them walking down the street and when I first saw this photo, I wasn't even certain that the woman standing with us was my mother.  The obtuse meanings are in the details.  One of my hands is partially clenched and I don't look particularly happy.  I was being posed, probably to say "cheese" and that "go over there and stand so I can take a photo of you" theme is repeated in the photo with my parents, who carry a neutral posture and indifferent gaze. The woman at the right border of the photo appears to have been caught off guard and by the time she realized she was going to become part of our family album, it was too late.