You're one of the first people who's never lived in a world without G.I. Joe action figures.
In December 2015, Nolen Gertz wrote about adults' identities and the action figures they grew up with.
Around the time you were born, Gemini 3—the first manned mission in NASA's Gemini space program—was launched.
In April 2012, Alan Taylor published a photo essay on Project Gemini.
You were born in March of 1965. This year, The Atlantic celebrates its 160th birthday, making it 3 times as old as you.
The year you were born, Robert Manning wrote about his 1954 visit with the Nobel Prize–winning author Ernest Hemingway in Havana, Cuba.
Bettmann / Getty
This is what Hollywood thought teenagers looked like the year you became one.
Grease was released in 1978.
Around your 18th birthday, Ronald Reagan made his "Evil Empire" speech, warning of the dangers posed by the U.S.S.R.
In February 2015, Fiona Hill and Clifford Gaddy wrote about this moment in the context of Vladimir Putin's views of the U.S.
Patrick Hertzog / AFP / Getty Images
At 24 years old, you saw the collapse of the Berlin Wall.
“It was thought that all borders between men had similarly disintegrated, and we were all destined to be free and empowered individuals in a global meeting place,” wrote Robert Kaplan 20 years later.
Your life can be divided into two halves: before and after the World Wide Web.
In October 2015, Adrienne LaFrance wrote about the disappearance of published content—including a Pulitzer finalist's 34-part investigative series—from the internet.
Carlo Allegri / Reuters
In 1997, J.K. Rowling, who was born the same year as you, released her first book in the Harry Potter series, launching her career as an author.
In July 2007, Melissa Giaimo wrote about Harry Potter becoming a classic of children's literature.
Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
When you turned 45, you saw the rise of the Arab Spring.
People across the world rediscovered the power and peril of revolutions, as Laura Kasinof found in Yemen.
By the time you turn 55, scientists estimate it will no longer be possible to keep global temperatures from rising at least 1.5 degrees Celsius.
In December 2015, Robinson Meyer wrote about why scientists had accepted this fact.
History is happening all around you, every day.
The Atlantic is here to help you process it, in stories like these:
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