Matthew E over at Legion Abstract just turned me on to a great blog written by a Gen X’er: XTCIAN. Written by Ian Williams a screenwriter and director, it is mainly his own personal blog, but has some great posts about generations (he was a contributing writer on 13th Gen: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail with Howe and Strauss).
This post from last week is a great example. Williams is asking whether Generation X (born 1961-1981) is going to produce any monumentally great writers like earlier generations. His take on our position in the generational scheme is hilarious. For example, when it comes to our Silent Generation parents (born 1925-1942) he has this to say:
Every generation has a fatal flaw. The Silent Generation had one of the worst ever: they went through the “sexual revolution” at the same time as the Boomers – except the Boomers were doing it at 18, and the Silents were doing it at 38 with their spouse and kids at home. It was just bad luck for the Silent Generation; awesome sideburns, finding your G-spot, and having sex with your neighbors just came around too late for them to partake without fucking up us li’l Gen Xers.
That hits painfully close to home for me.
And how he sums up our problem:
Here’s Gen X’s problem in a nutshell: the internet appeared in the world at EXACTLY the right time to ensure we would never dive into our Masterpieces. As we were winding up to slap the world upside the ass with our lusty, groundbreaking works, we were fucking sidetracked by that “I KISS YOU!!!” guy from Turkey.
Is this the reason that my table on “Defending the Honor of Generation X” never got filled up?
I highly recommend reading his posts on generations. Here are few more (titles changed to make the topic clear):
- How Gen X and Gen Y are different
- Another Post asking where the great Gen X Artist are
- Predictions about Gen X’ers as Parents
- Ian’s Gen X vs. Boomer Battle on Oprah
- On Baby Boomer Hypocrisy
Great stuff, all. I am officially a fanboy.
thanks for the introduction to his material. his stuff is great. i'll be a regular follower.
Dave,
I think the table not got filled up b/c we aren't thinking hard enough. Our heroes are unlikely people. They defy traditional stereotypes. I still think the best is yet to be.
@Jen – agreed
On Wed, Jun 10, 2009 at 9:13 AM, Dave Sohigian <dsohigian@gmail.com> wrote:
approve
In the "Valley Girl" coloring book (yes, that one, by Moon and Frank Zappa) there is one page featuring a UFO like balloon (or perhaps a UFO) with a lit up sign, high over The Valley, stating: "Wife Swap Wednesday."
Yes indeed, the sexual revolution at home with the kids.
We bought my dad one of those Bill Griffith "The 40 Year Old Hippie" comics from some place in North Beach for his 40th – it was very close to reality. The sad scene of a real Silent Gen eclipsing Hawkeye Pierce in terms of wanna be radical-ness.
Just wanted to say that the year 1982 is made up or your using the baby act of 83 as a line in history, but thats the boomers. If you want to know when the new gen began, it was when I was born, Aug 1981. Why this date? Look at it like this, if multimedia and tech, global awareness, and music greed are a crutch of my gen, it began then why? That year MTV was launched and culture to me and to anyone since, the world was always global.