Good morning, Monday. In what may be the longest goodbye in history, the movers are coming today to have a look see and give us a date so we can finally hightail it outta here. Trying to maintain the calm in prep for such endeavors, and go about my normal business without completely freaking the hell out. Keeping calm and moving on, if you will.
In other news, I read with great intrigue yesterday's New York Times, and in particular, a piece called "Generation Sell" in the Sunday Review section about today's youth culture and how strikingly different it is than those before it in mind and mood. I've written at length about my affinity for my own culture, Generation X, and our general apathetic and relentlessly nihilist and cynical approach to life. Though I think we turned out different than what marketers could have imagined- many of us have achieved great success, work extremely hard, own homes, and are going on child number three or four and pursuing a more "traditional" approach to life- even if that means dressing our kids in ironic rock tees and having them later than ever.
But this piece gave me pause because although well written and completely fascinating, I feel it missed the mark. The piece asks "what’s the affect of today’s youth culture? Not just the hipsters, but the Millennial Generation as a whole, people born between the late ’70s and the mid-’90s, more or less... The thing that strikes me most about them is how nice they are: polite, pleasant, moderate, earnest, friendly". And that notion has not been lost on me, because my twentysomething pals are sensible and lovely and earnest in their attempts to make their lives their own. The author takes the point that this generation although lovely, is very much a product of their own hype and a culture so obsessed with branding it hurts my generation to even watch (no such thing as a sell out anymore)- bands are no longer bands, but marketing constructs that have social media arms and legs to help them promote themselves. He makes the point that this optimism is largely a salesperson's construct- and that today's millenials know that negativity does not pay the bills. After all, and I agree with this, he says "The self today is an entrepreneurial self, a self that’s packaged to be sold." Brand me is part of every day jargon now, and used to sell everything from career skills to dating success.
The article then goes on to say that this youth culture may have some real staying power, because they're not caught up in "rebellion, rejection, or dissent". WAIT. Really?
Not sure if the author of the piece has been watching the news or the current occupation of America and beyond, or noted that student loan debt is surpassing credit card debt as this country's fiscal Achilles heel (and them some), or that colleges are being tainted by child molesters and rapists and the mere value of a four year education is being questioned more by the second. But I find it hard to believe that this article is completely accurate- the millenials, oft known as the glass is half full generation, is having a huge reality check- and I'm wondering how long the posi/groovy vibes will last amidst such a shit show. An article in New York mag a few weeks ago painted a bit of a different picture of "Generation Catalano" (coined by a Teen Vogue editor after the generation who grew up watching "My So-Called Life") as hoping to find jobs, worrying about their futures and their security during these troubled times. Will the happy hipsters prevail?
And though I take issue with the piece and find it a bit of a false prophecy, I do so hope that today's young people fight the good fight- not just against Wall Street or corruption or no job prospects, but a rebellion against unhappiness- without the youth of today, who can we turn to in terms of positive thoughts? Certainly not my generation, or the generation before that, or the boomers- whose post Woodstock wealth has created one of the largest financial divides in history between them and this rising generation ,and who do care about the world but seem to have done well for themselves in spite of it. If the millenials view negativity as not useful to them, they need to fight for their right to be happy- because there's way too much to be miserable about. Go on, youth culture. Prove to me that it's worth the fight...cause that's what's up this trying to be happy kind of Monday in the MIA. It's hard work, but our G-d given right (life, liberty, and such). XO
Here's a link to the article, a good read but missing the angst of occupation:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/13/opinion/sunday/the-entrepreneurial-generati...