Boy, the times, they are a-changin'. And this current generation certainly is not their parents' generation. I was recently reading the Houston Chronicle when I came upon an article about the demise of that rite of high school passage, the yearbook.

Yeah, you know the one, that tome of terror, that publication we clung to during our school years, the one with all the well-wishes (and maybe some not)of our peers....well, yeah, you know. The book wherein our poor choices in fashion and hairdos stand immortalized for all the world to see, for all time. The signatures of our friends, acquaintances, and teachers across the pages and across their pictures stand forevermore as a testimony to our popularity (or not).

So what about that demise? Oh, yeah. It seems that yearbooks don't have the cachet they once enjoyed. This article in the Chronicle caught me off guard, and I had to read it more than once to believe it. I never realized that owning a yearbook would become "uncool". My generation, and likely the couple of generations before me, seemed to take for granted that every year students would buy a yearbook, have everyone sign it, take it home, and keep it on a shelf. If the spirit moved one many years after, it could be taken down, dusted off, and a little game of "I remember" (or sometimes, "I don't remember....WHO was THAT??") could commence in short order so that one may feel one's appropriate age lest one be so disillusioned as to think that one IS INDEED NOT getting older, that Duran Duran and Wham broke up just yesterday, and love is still all we need, and we are still warm and fuzzy knowing Ronald Reagan is in office, and Michael J. Fox is still young and not showing signs of Parkinson's on "Family Ties", and Alf is as weird as TV will ever get, and Bill Cosby has not yet gone off the deep end........

Yeesh, but I digress. My point is, check out the article for yourself. And try not to shed a tear when you read a teacher saying, "They would rather go buy their tennis shoes or buy a grill for their mouth or something. A book is not as significant today to a child." Whereas in years past many high schools would sell yearbooks to 80-90 percent of the student population, according to the article, that figure now stands at 10-15 percent. A few high schools and colleges have shut down production altogether.

Do you think yearbooks are an antiquated notion? Did you or your child purchase one this year? Do you think they are relics better left in the years gone by? Since this is a new concept to me, and I have no children in school to help me stay informed on this trend, I would appreciate any input of the readers. Has this happened in this area, or is it mostly in urban areas where yearbooks seem to have lost their importance? Do you agree with the article that the "Facebook" and "My Space" generation have found suitable substitutes in the world of computers to take the place of what their parents and grandparents so cherished? Gosh, I just can't fathom my life without my yearbooks, and yes, I have kept every one since junior high, and am glad I did. Will today's generation be as glad they DIDN'T?