A New Era in Politics? It's time to give Generation X its due.

[Writer]

I'm going to rant about categories for a moment, although I think it's silly to have to justify writing about what everyone practices daily. Categories surround us: young, old, wealthy, poor, black, white, Republican, Democrat, and everything in between. I think it's the test of one's sense of security to know that while labels exist, more likely than not the label doesn't fully adhere to all people within that category. A secure person, I believe, feels comfortable with understanding that labels are only meant to classify, not to characterize one personally. (Nosce te ipsum KNOW THYSELF!)

Generational categories present a new challenge. During the 1960's, the counter-culturalists leaned on the phrase of "never trusting anyone over 30," and if there isn't a greater generational war-cry from the Twentieth Century, then I have yet to be enlightened. The Baby Boomers who designed the counter-cultural movement fought against institutional constraints to personal habits - youthful habits that they, in their teens and twenties, wanted to explore without cultural restraint: personal expression through dress, music, and (at times) drug use. They wanted that journey of self-discovery without reprisal from Mom and Dad, and forging that path they did, through protest and song.

Counter-culturalists also fought against war and for civil rights - a branch of their youthful journey that introduced positive changes to American society. While not unique in American history, the sheer size of the young generation in the 1960's caused greater waves than normal. It was hard to ignore the large, vocal Baby Boomer youth.

As Boomers aged, started businesses and families, they naturally started trusting people over 30. However, they quickly traded their youthful adage for the more protective "never trust anyone UNDER 30." The now late George Carlin, a specialist in deconstructing uncomfortable truths, summed it up best:

"These people were given everything. Everything was handed to them. And they took it all, took it all: sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. And they stayed loaded for 20 years and had a free ride. But now they're staring down the barrel of middle-age burnout and they don't like it. They don't like. So they turn self-righteous and they want to make things hard on younger people.

They tell them abstain from sex, say no to drugs. As for the rock'n'roll, they sold that for television commercials a long time ago so they could buy pasta machines and Stair Masters and soybean futures. Soybean futures!"

So who were the youth being told to "just say no" to everything the Boomers indulged in twenty years prior? Generation X. The smaller, less coddled cohort born in the 1960's and 1970's came of age just as Boomers started driving Volvo's adorned with "Baby on Board" stickers. The most aborted generation (Roe v. Wade became law in 1973), the generation of "The Exorcist," "Damian," and "Rosemary's Baby" - the "afterthoughts" following the rash of births twenty years prior - didn't garner the same "welcome to the world" wonderment of their older peers. Nor did they feel that the world was a welcoming place giving the sudden rise of AIDS, corporate layoffs, and political corruption.

The death of innocence began on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, and never seemed to resurrect itself during the lives of Generation X'ers. Vietnam, Nixon, 1970's stagflation, layoffs, Reagan's homage to the Soviet Union as "the evil empire," the Iran-Contra scandal, the 1987 stockmarket crash, more layoffs, finally culminating into the only bright spot of Generation X's youth: the dot com boom which ended in its inevitable bust at the turn of the Millennium.

To say Generation X'ers are jaded is an understatement. They've never felt that this world was theirs, and they've never felt they've had a place in it. Their collective historical experiences developed a survivalist mindset that shuns basic institutional identities. Political protest not only seemed futile but superfluous, when the goal for the twenty-something Generation X'er was merely to survive: to maintain work and to pay one's rent. The pretense of taking on identities was an exercise in banality.

At work, Generation X didn't care about climbing the corporate ladder as much as finding meaning in their daily life. Titles fell way to production, and for this reason, Generation X is likely one of the most entrepreneurial generations in American history. However work never supplanted a good personal life, and they demanded that workplaces offer them a greater work-life balance, which they still hold onto today. Would it mean that they won't get that promotion? Yes, but who cares? "Just stay out of my way, and I'll get my work done," says the Gen X worker. "Don't bother me with too many meetings, meaningless corporate slogans, and organizational BS. I'm here to work, not buy into what you're selling." Workplaces grew more casual. More companies offered flexible work schedules and time off for family events. And Gen X'ers kept working while Boomers kept climbing, acquiring more capital and raising their children. Gen X'ers are now catching up as Boomers retire, but their retirement savings are now in desperate need for attention.

Barack Obama, born in 1961, was too young to remember Kennedy's assassination in 1963. He was only a child during the Vietnam War and was a preteen as Nixon resigned. He never knew the Halcyon days of post-war America. He never experienced Elvis personally or danced at Woodstock. Barack Obama is himself a Gen X'er - a product of that jaded era who clucks sardonically at the latest exposure of institutional BS. Someone who doesn't see much point in playing the standard identity politics that so defined 1960's counter-culture youth. In his book "Dreams from My Father," he reflects on his skepticism during college as he protested South African apartheid, wondering if the protest was merely another example of the "psycho-drama of the Baby Boomer era," that posits institutionals on one side and anti-institutionals on the other.

Generation X'ers seek to ignore that dichotomy, finding it useless. A person's actions mean much more than a person's party, and to Barack Obama, solving a problem will require EVERYONE, both Republicans and Democrats. Much of this mentality fuels the underpinning message of his campaign for "change." A change in strategy, of problem-solving over partisanship, and most importantly, a change of the generation in charge.

My humble appeal in this missive is to Baby Boomers: Please give Generation X its due. Barack Obama is not a Baby Boomer. If we are going to herald the day of a "new generation of leadership," at least hand the mantle over to that new generation, as uncomfortable as one might be with giving the "slackers" of the 1980's and 1990's such a title. He will not approach running the country in the manner in which you're used to; he won't act like a partisan. In fact, he's not going to give a damn about towing the party line. He simply sees problems that need solving and will act to solve them. That is the product of a Generation X'ers historical experience, and it is important and necessary to righting what's wrong with this nation.

Barack Obama will likely be our first Generation X president. And it's about time we start fixing the messes of the Twentieth Century with a Twenty-First Century attitude, fist-bumps and all.

[azmouse]

1. Feel free to disagree. I was born in 1961 and have always been and always will be a Baby Boomer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_boomer#Characteristics

Baby Boomer cohort #1 (born from 1946 to 1954)
Memorable events: assassinations of JFK, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr., political unrest, walk on the moon, Vietnam War, anti-war protests, social experimentation, sexual freedom, civil rights movement, environmental movement, women's movement, protests and riots, experimentation with various intoxicating recreational substances
Key characteristics: experimental, individualism, free spirited, social cause oriented

Baby Boomer cohort #2 (born from 1955 to 1964)
Memorable events: Watergate, Nixon resigns, the Cold War, the oil embargo, raging inflation, gasoline shortages
Key characteristics: less optimistic, distrust of government, general cynicism

[DebJ]

48. Interesting. With hubby and me, switch the characteristics.

I was born in 55, but have the characteristics of #1; hubby born in 50, has the characteristics of #2. He refused to vote his entire
life until I met him in 2003. Now he goes door to door, makes phone calls, and we just had a Unite for Change party. But then, he
spent most of the 60s and 70s stoned. I never touched the stuff; I was keyed into the optimism and hope for change, and the potential
for a better world. The memorable events are accurate though.

[SteelPenguin]

57. Generation X starts in 1965

so 1961 would indeed make him a Baby Boomer. Just a really late one.

These are all man made definitions though, because really a Generation X'er born in 1965 is going to have had a very different life than one that was born in 1979.

[Writer]

59. I don't think a date defines a person, but I do think personal experiences do.

I think Obama's life and historical perspectives on the world define him as an X'er.

It's amazing how much easier it was to classify Obama as an X'er... that is, until he started winning. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/weekinreview/21broder.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[SteelPenguin]

61. I missed them calling him an X'er there, they say 'post-boomer'

i'd agree with him not being a baby boomer. I think that Generation Jones thing works out better, because he's certainly not much like a baby born in 1946. yes he's more like those born in 1965 who actually are X'ers, but he's not quite us either I don't think.

That doesn't mean I don't appreciate him, I just think that the Generation X'ers are still an election or two away from actually having their foot in the pie.

Calling Obama the first Gen-X president, will be akin to calling Clinton the first Black president. It gets a message across, even though it's flatly inaccurate, and will eventually be trumped by an ACTUAL first black president, and first gen-x president.

I guess I'm just saying that I choose option 'c'. ;)

[Writer]

62. Here I'll carry this argument further, because it's better than arguing about some of the other

stuff in GDP right now. :P

Bill Clinton was born in 1946, just on the cusp of Boomers and Silenters, if you go strictly by birth year. I recall his being heralded as the first "Boomer president," and that was a big farkin' deal in the press and in the public at large. There wasn't an "in-between" generation, or some type of tweener classification for those folks. He was just a Boomer.

Obama is... 46? 47? I don't remember, but he's also on the cusp.

Therefore, I'll herald Barack Obama as the first Gen X president. :thumbsup:

And if you need further proof, check out this article from CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/20/opinion/main3528584.shtml Again, from 2007 before he started winning.

[SteelPenguin]

70. Generations are marked by Seminal Events

I would argue that if you were old enough to vote in 1980 for Reagan or Carter you're not part of Generation X.

>.>

[Writer]

72. That's interesting, because I've read that the conservative nature of Gen X'ers...

is what lead to the Reagan takeover in 1980... as the earliest Gen X'ers turned 18.

But a more profound event that I believe demarcates the Boomer era from the Gen X'er era is the assassination of Kennedy. In fact Strauss said that because Obama was too young to remember the event, he certainly would not have had the proper experiences to fall under the Boomer category.

However, ultimately I think it's up to Obama as far as what he identifies with.

[LisaM]

2. I think Obama is more like a "Tweener"

Late Baby Boom, but just before GenX. Technically, he's a Boomer, at least by some definitions, which is why his efforts to distance himself from the Boomers rankles so many.

On the other hand, I also think that generations bleed into each other in many different ways. I think labelling people too much leads to more divisions. I guess I consider myself a Tweener also. I remember the protests of the 60s and still identify with many of those ideals, even though I wasn't old enough to participate. But just because I do still share these identities, and even though I'm getting increasingly sick of being surrounded by people who are constantly jabbering on a cell phone, listening to an iPod, or scrolling through email on the elevator, it doesn't mean that I am pure Boomer. I'm on the tail end of it too. I certainly never had everything handed to me, though, and I think that personally, it seems that GenXers coddle their kids a lot more than Boomer parents ever did.

[DangerousRhythm]

13. Generation Jones :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Jones

[SteelPenguin]

58. Wow

I'd never even heard of that, but it makes sense.

[frickaline]

3. I have never before categorized myself as GenX but this describes me to a T

I don't want BS from anyone I just want someone to get the job done. That holds for much more than just a president, pretty much everyone surrounding me.

[Liquorice]

4. I remember when Obama used to talk a lot about

Boomers and how it was time for Generation X to take over and change things. That was early in his candidacy. I thought it was an interesting take on things because I had just finished reading The Fourth Turning (a book about generational cycles), and wondered whether Obama had read it too. I was born in the middle of gen X, and can see how Obama would identify with Gen X over the Boomers.

Obama used to be pretty critical of the boomers, but I haven't heard any criticism of them from him lately.

"In the back-and-forth between Clinton and Gingrich, and in the elections of 2000 and 2004, I sometimes felt as if I were watching the psychodrama of the baby boom generation -- a tale rooted in old grudges and revenge plots hatched on a handful of college campuses long ago -- played out on the national stage," writes Obama. It's a theme he's returned to with increasing frequency lately. "There's no doubt that we represent the kind of change Senator Clinton can't deliver on. And part of it's generational," Obama told Fox News in early November."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/20/opinion/main3528584.shtml

As for your appeal for Boomers to give Gen X its due, I doubt it will happen. If historical patterns hold up, Gen X will probably not be recognized and celebrated for its accomplishments--unfortunately.

[Writer]

5. I think it's an aberration for any Gen X'er to ask for recognition.

As I'm doing.

I think most people in our generation could care less as to whether or not they actually achieve recognition. If you read back in older articles about Obama from 2007, you'll see Obama referred to as a Gen X'er more often than not. When he took the lead earlier this year, more writers referred to him as a late Boomer. I find that interesting.

[Liquorice]

9. LOL that is interesting about Obama becoming a Boomer

as he became more powerful. I hadn't thought of it, but could it be any other way? Although I should add that Obama seemed to have stopped talking about being part of Gen X and also stopped mentioning taking power from the Boomers after he gained popularity, so that is another explanation. But I am going to go with the more obvious assumption.

When I first came to the realization that our generation had been ignored and belittled as children and would almost certainly continue to be throughout our generation's lifespan, I was saddened and angry. But since then, perhaps in typical Gen X fashion, I've come to accept it with the appropriate cynicism.

I agree it is an aberration to ask for recognition in our generation, and I do hope it will make a difference. The responses you have gotten, however, make me think Obama will be a Boomer or a "tween" if he succeeds. Of course if he somehow doesn't succeed (which I can't even fathom at this point), he will definitely be a Gen X'er. ;)

[Writer]

11. ...

The responses you have gotten, however, make me think Obama will be a Boomer or a "tween" if he succeeds. Of course if he somehow doesn't succeed (which I can't even fathom at this point), he will definitely be a Gen X'er. ;)

:rofl:

Everyone needs to associate themselves with the winner. :P

Edit to add: Bill Clinton was born in August, 1946 - barely a year after the beginning of the "baby boom." Why wasn't he considered a "tweener" or a late member of the Silent generation?

Why? Because it's not about years but about historical experiences.

[Skidmore]

6. This Boomer wholeheartedly agrees with your analysis

and doesn't pretend that we ever had all the answers or were in any way superior in our experiences. I want a better world for all who follow my generation including the two younger generations in our family. All generations have their day in the sun. It is time for my generation to let others step up and to do it with grace.

[Writer]

64. I think it's time, too.

Out with the Stones. In with the Ramones.

;)

[mtnester]

7. Mr. Obama is at the very least a Tweener

and by all definitions that exist and have existed to date, he is actually, like myself, classified as a Baby Boomer. I do not remember Kennedy's assassination (I was 3).

That said, I simply do not consider myself to be of the same generation my parents are, and I would bet Mr. Obama feels that way as well.. We are simply too different, our parents and we early 60's babies....they came of age in the 50's, we came of age on the 70's. I was 15 when Vietnam ended, I remember sitting around watching numbers being pulled out of a machine for the draft, and the absolute relief in our house as my father and uncle apparently made it to the bottom of the list, however, the entire neighborhood was out and about for this...there was food and tears and love and relief..all at the same time.

Boomer? Officially yes...tweener? Definitely.

[LisaM]

8. But his problem here is going to be late Boomers (people of his approximate age)

He shouldn't go around lecturing people to stand aside and hand over the reins to GenX, when in some cases he's telling that to people who are his age or only slightly older. I don't think people between 44 and 54 are quite ready to start eating 4:00 dinners at the senior center yet (particularly with the expected retirement age going up from 65 to 68). He's got to find a way to build bridges, not shove people off one end of the dock. It's one of the things about him I find most difficult to deal with. I don't like how he dismisses 60s idealism - the BEST part of the 60s - and I don't like feeling that I'm being aged out before I've actually accomplished anything myself. I'm far away from retirement age, and I certainly don't want to spend the rest of my working life feeling marginalized.

[QC]

10. Very nice, except that Obama is not Gen X.

He's a Boomer by any accepted definition.

[Writer]

12. What might these "accepted definitions" be?

[QC]

14. Normally it's 1946-1964. n/t

[Writer]

15. But I argue that generations are not defined by precise years but by historical experiences. n/t

[QC]

18. I can argue that an umbrella is a large animal with a trunk,

but that doesn't make it so.

Besides, Obama's experiences are not the same as those of someone born in the late 60s or 70s. He really is somewhere in between.

[sakura]

22. Wow! I agree with *everything* you've written! (a first!)

It's ridiculous to think that all members of a demographic bulge have the same experiences-- but that is the basic premise of the whole baby boom idea-- defining a group solely on the fact that our population bulged for 20 years after the war. My mom was born in 1942, and she has a whole lot more in common with people born in 1946 (the start of the boom) than someone born in 1964. She has overlapping experiences with the early baby boomers, but certainly not with the late boomers, or even the 1950 boomers. My husband was born in 1960 and I was born in 1966. We see things similarly, because we have the same historical experiences, and we have experienced them through the same lens of age, position on the education/career ladder, etc. I can be labelled Gen X due to my date of birth, but according to the population bulge, my husband can't. Yet his major life experiences have been similar to mine. We've been shaped by the same history.

Boomers are going to want to call Obama a boomer, because they seem to feel the need to claim everything as their own. They invented sex, drugs and rock and roll, after all (we'll ignore the fact that the Beatles, Stones, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, etc., are actually silent generation folk, that the creators and apostles of the popular sixties drugs were born in the teens and twenties, and that the ideas of free love, birth control, etc., existed long before the sixties), just as they are now discovering old age and proclaiming it the next best thing. (I am so very, very tired of Viagra commercials).

If they want to claim Obama for their own, let them. As a proud Gen X'er, I recognize my own, and that's enough for me.

[Writer]

24. I recognize my own, too.

Heck, if one just reads what he's said and written prior to this campaign, one can completely recognize his world view... and it's not all Kum-bay-ya.

[sakura]

46. A bit cynical, but on balance pragmatic?

[Writer]

55. Pragmatic, yes.

I think he has the potential to be a straight-forward problem solver, no BS attached... but I could be wrong.

[Carrieyazel]

16. Obama's not a GEN-X er. He was born too early: 1961

Gen-Xers were born after 1964.

[TriMetFan]

17. Dude your post is so right on.

[Writer]

20. Dudette.

:P

[KoKo]

19. The clue to Obama is probably more to do with his Activist Mother and his

WWII era Grandparents. Both had a profound influence on his life...and also his "superstar" father. He must have some incredible threads in his life to deal with. Lots of conflicts. Raised by two very different generations that he was so dependent on...and that "starry-eyed" father who had so many marriages and other children from a far off land. There have to be feelings of rejection from the father...and perhaps not quite acceptance from the Grandparents who did seem to love him...and were responsible for raising him when his mother was doing her doctoral work. What a complicated childhood he had. I don't think a "generational time frame" would fit the influences at play in his life.

But, I thought your piece was interesting in how you feel as a Gen X'er.

[newmajority]

21. I just got a great idea.... BILLY IDOL for VP: The Generation X ticket!!!

And yes, Billy is eligible. He was born in the US (to British parents)

Generation X ROCKS!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kImF9E2LNGE

[Writer]

23. BaROCK and ROLL!

:headbang::headbang::headbang:

[newmajority]

25. VP candidate Idol adresses the "PUMA" crowd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osTb6L9raBs :evilgrin:

[Writer]

26. Wow... you can almost understand what he's saying.

Sort of.

:P

((BTW: Should I mention that he was born in 1955?))

[newmajority]

27. Yeah I figured he was around that age.

Billy used to hang with the Sex Pistols before he formed Chelsea and then Generation X, so I knew he had to be 50 something by now, because those guys are.

I never understood these generational categories anyway. I've seen the "baby boomer" generation described as ending anywhere from 1961 to 1965. How the Hell does a post war "baby boom" last 20 years after the fact?

[Writer]

30. For that very reason the need to categorize based on year is useless.

It's a matter of phenomenological experience - especially that experienced through historical events.

[Radical Activist]

32. Please no. Give me Dave Groehl.

I'm at the tail end of Gen X. I hate the 80's.

[Writer]

38. You just made me feel like a fogue.

I had to look him up.

The Foo Fighters? Series???11/?

[Radical Activist]

39. And Nirvana's drummer.

Better than Billy Idol, imo.

[Writer]

40. Okay, I'll give you Nirvana's drummer,

if you give me Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

[Radical Activist]

43. I saw RHCP and Foo Fighters in concert together.

I'm a bigger foo fan but RHCP put on a better live show.

[Writer]

45. They rocked, but I think they got a little stale after a while.

I grew up with The Talking Heads and REM... they're more my speed.

[Skittles]

28. your entire post is a bunch of sterotypes

and a writer should freaking know BARACK OBAMA IS A BOOMER

[Writer]

29. Actually all of us writers got together in a room the other day and decided that he was a Gen X'er.

[Skittles]

31. gee, wow

that explains it all

[anigbrowl]

34. You wish. I think Writer has really hit the nail on the head with this OP.

It does encapsulate the differing attitudes of the generations very well indeed.

One of the really sad things about Generation X is that everything they've ever been emotionally involved in (especially politically) has been compared disparagingly to the 60s at some point. I exaggerate for rhetorical effect, of course, but it's galling to be repeatedly told that __________ was so much better in the 60s, whether it was LSD or the quality of the music or involvement in political issues.

[Writer]

35. Thanks, and I agree with what you're saying. n/t

[Radical Activist]

33. Interesting post.

Although its odd that more people who write about Gen X don't mention Bill Clinton. Just when we had a hero, he turned his back on our issues and disappointed us with that idiotic scandal.

[Writer]

65. What does Bill Clinton have to do with this?

[GihrenZabi]

36. But...

Obama isn't a Gen-X'er. I don't know why people are saying Gen X'ers were born after 1964 - culturally, Gen-X'ers were born in the late 1970's and grew up in the Reagan 80's.

Gen-X'ers are too nihilistic to give a damn about politics. Most of them, anyway.

[Writer]

37. They also grew up during the Brady Bunch '70's.

And were the first to play D&D as kids.

God rest ye, Gary Gygax.

[Withywindle]

47. No, the archetypal Gen X'er as I remember hearing it

(as a teenager in the 80s) was born in the late 60s when not many folks were having babies relative to the 40s and 50s. We're the generation that was supposedly raised on TV while our parents were off at swingers' parties and getting divorced and finding themselves and doing whatever people stereotypically did in the 70s.

I was born in 1969, btw - to young Boomer parents. I'm as cynical about generational astrology as I am about most other things, being an X'er, but I could definitely relate to a lot of what the OP said.

[Writer]

63. Yup, that sounds correct.

:)

My uncle and aunt were partner swapping in the 70's, btw.

[Withywindle]

68. For what it's worth...

...my parents never did. They're an evangelical wet dream except for the fact that they're atheists and hate all organized religion. (married at 19 and 24, never cheated). As a kid, I always thought my mom was so deprived and felt sorry for both my folks. 0nly one sex partner for life? That's like eating pizza every day until you're born until you die.

I vowed to take up their slack in the 80s and have mostly done so. I really do respect 70s sexual ethics way more than those of any conservative administrations'.

[Writer]

69. Hehe. Yeah, I can see your point there.

My aunt and uncle "divorced" themselves from the other couple and found Jay-sus.

[RadiationTherapy]

41. Don't care if Obama is this or that, but you nailed how this G-Xer feels about work and life.

[ieoeja]

42. I see Obama (and myself) as a Tweener.

Maybe you had to be there, and observant. The high school graduating classes my brother and sister, 3 to 5 years older than me, were indistinguishable. Lots of partying and anti-establishment. The two classes between my brother and me were MUCH more like my brother's class than like mine.

My graduating class was downright boring by comparison. We didn't block roads with downed timbers to keep the police away from all weekend parties. Heck, that year they never even had to get any livestock off the school roof.

In college the change was even more obvious. We seniors would pop out the door in our shorts and T-shirts, while all the freshman ran around in their business suits. The juniors and sophomores were pretty much mixed between the two styles.

[Writer]

44. In what years did you all graduate?

[TriMetFan]

49. Mrs. or Ms. Duette

I graduated in 1980. (highschool) One year early. How about you? :)

[Writer]

50. 1993.

:7

[eilen]

51. 1983 was my HS graduation

then I goofed off for awhile, we didn't have money for school, so I worked and partied. Watched Ray-gun win reelection, I took off across the country and had adventures. It was punk rock. Some were called slackers, we were called freaks, if we cared about anything, bfd, everyone else way yuppifying (Boomers first). Wearing a Dead Kennedy's t-shirt was certain to shock and piss off Boomers, sacred cow stomping was a fun side effect of DIY. An inherent distrust and cynicism towards the government, corporations, and the military precludes me (and my husband) from making any kind of long term commitments in any work for them. We do time limited stuff (my limit for a corporate and/or government hospital is 2 years at a time, after that I feel smothered and claustrophobic). Dh does very short jobs for various entities through his union hall but must go on the road periodically. Right now he is working on a government owned hospital, however the company with the contract is privately owned. I think it is important to know who you are working for and it is always better to work for yourself.

My dh is 3 years younger than I am, we met at school. He graduated into the worst economy since.... now. There were no jobs for English majors. That doesn't sound like news now, but back then (or just before then) new grads could get jobs with publishing houses, newspapers, advertising companies etc. as copywriters, researchers, assistants, clerks and work their way up learning the business. That all ended, everyone downsized and only people with 5 years experience could crack into that and they hired temps for the clerical stuff. So he apprenticed and became an electrician. Now the unions are, well, you know, losing power and capitulating. His union has sacrificed sick time, holiday, vacation pay, and some health benefits to preserve the pension benefits its boomers are enjoying. I worked as a legal secretary and then trained and became a nurse, which I became burnt out on. We really hate group projects and team meetings as well as stupid rules

Our son, even though he is considered (1992) a Gen Y, I think, is also not a group person and is very individual. The school authorities have noticed and while they tried to stick some labels on him in efforts to get us to drug him at an early age, they still are distrustful so I have turned their theories on them and now discuss his "artist's temperment" rather than allowing them to try an profile him as some loner- shooter type. They are idiots. They don't look at the person, just at tests. They don't use any common sense, instead use metrics and decision trees. No wonder home schooling is so popular.

The Clinton years were at time of struggle for us, as is now. I can't remember when it hasn't been. My parents (version A.2) did better in the late eighties as rates came down for mortgages but they ended up divorcing anyway d/t step-dad's adultery. The other parents (version B.3) seemed to always have to struggle, somewhat due to financial obligations of the .3 previous marriage, version B.2 flew by so past that .2 is now the trivia question on B's side of the family (Who knows the name of Dad's second wife?). Well, B is now gone, and A.2 ended and A is now making up for lost time with the grandchildren. By the way, we are still on version 1; so is my younger sister, born 1972. My brother would still be married if his wife wasn't a narcissistic borderline personality. My parents were Silent Gen.

I like Obama, I think he probably had more Gen X experiences than classic Boomers due to his family separating when he was so young and his mother being very busy with work and school. Also, his experience being biracial in this society has given him a gift of empathy. His decision not to go for the big corporate money but for meaningful work in the community also seems to fit.

[mtnester]

52. Livestock!

A classic of suburban schools across America in the 1974 - 1979 era

if you did not drive a herd of sheep into the school and let them run wild, you did not grow up during that decade.

And if you did not REEK of pot smoke walking into home room in the morning, well, then you were part of the 5% that did not smoke pot. You could get a contact buzz sitting in home room from the smell of 25 out of 30 kids sitting there. AND the teacher.

Parties were always held outdoors, and there were definitely obstacles to getting there.

And the roof of the school was the most coveted place for mayhem. We painted our roof (it was a flat roof, due to be resurfaced that summer so it was going to be asphalted over) and then had a guy fly over and take a picture of it. We signed it and framed it and gave ot to the principal and the police chief.

Proud member of the Class of 78, due to have a 30 year reunion in a few weeks! (GAWD No I am getting old)

[ieoeja]

53. My brother graduated a year before you.

My sister and brother graduated high school in 75 and 77 respectively. I graduated in 1980. Your recollections are exactly what I recall about the classes before mine.

It is like someone flipped a switch when my class came along. We were so much more conservative than the class just one year above us.

We sucked.


FYI: we were not suburban, however. We were rural and country. My hometown (pop. 2500) was the largest in that southern Indiana county. Yes, in the 1970s south-central Indiana was quite Liberal.

[Writer]

56. I graduated in '93 but some seniors a few years before me...

brought a cow onto the roof of the school. At least that's the story, because the person who told me is a little unreliable.

[TwilightGardener]

54. Well-said--you summed up how I feel about my generation (I was born in 1969)--

we didn't internalize the Boomers' struggles and ideals and values, because they're not as relevant to the world WE grew up in. Many of us grew up in broken homes (not me personally, but I had many friends see their parents divorce and remarry), or grew up in homes where mom wasn't there to greet us after school because she was at work (um, that was me)--we learned to deal with things ourselves, we learned that the things you think you can depend on aren't always there when you need them--not family, not the government, not institutions, not heroes. Baby Boomers had the luxury of having grown up with the comfort (and restrictions) of these traditions and mainstays of society, and then rebelling against them--we never really had them. They were all corrupted and tarnished by the time we came along--the "innocence" was over, as you say. The Boomer generation is fortunately getting less relevant as time goes on, because it's not their world to shape anymore--that's what makes Obama's candidacy possible. His life and experiences mirror that of Generation X, and so do his attitudes and his pragmatic approach to problem-solving, even if he's not technically an X-er by birth year.

[Writer]

60. Those are very similar to my experiences...

both of my parents have been married and divorced three times, and I grew up as a latchkey kid who now, as an adult, craves any mentorship or wisdom she can acquire.

On this birth year thing: I'm going to make a petty point, but given that the Boomer generation typically covers 20 years - from 1945 to 1965 (according to some) - why does Gen X only cover 15 years (from 1965 to 1980)? This is why I think performing generational analysis based on birth year is really quite silly, and why I believe history tells more about the nature of an age cohort than birth year. Here I refer back to my OP: Obama doesn't share in the same experiences as Boomers, which is why he said in Jan. of 2007 that it's time for Boomers to step aside. Obama is a member of Generation X.

[demokatgurrl]

66. I'm not dead yet.

Just sayin'.


50-something tail-end boomer.

[Writer]

67. Okay... I'm glad to hear that.

I think if you were dead many of us would be sad.

;)

[PVnRT]

71. Very well written

:kick:

[Writer]

73. Thanks, man.

:)