I have trouble seeing a 15 year spread (1945-1960) of procreation as a "generation" marker. I would think Boomer" would end in 1955 at the latest.
I was born in 1950. Socially, that meant a strong consciousness of tyrannical states, both the Nazis and Soviets; the rise of legal racial equality; the assumption that reliable (95%+ effective) birth control would be readily available; an assumption that a college education would be readily available.
My youngest son once asked me what Vietnam was about, and after I delivered a couple paragraphs of explanations, simply filed it under "Oh, so it was a Cold War thing."
Mental health professionals use 5 years as a generational marker for family placement. My 5 and 7 years of age difference to my sisters mean I am an only child with siblings as far as that kind of indicator goes. Five years means you have grown up in an entirely different family situation.
I think that is definitely the case. I have a couple of younger friends who are always surprised by the fact that I am as old as I am when re-reminded of it.
We both seem to be graced with an ability to enjoy people of great variety.
My parents were born in the early forties I believe.
I've always kind of hated the Gen X label because several negative traits have been associated with it that 1) are so not me and 2) are largely unjustified, and instead reflect the effects of a job market and economy that went splat.
Gen X is the generation that is all dressed up and has nowhere to go.
We got our degrees from our respective colleges, and emerged into a working world that looked on us with disdain when it looked on us at all.
Now we are banding together, combining incomes just to scrape by. And our parents are accusing us of being slack, lazy, and unambitious, because we are less affluent than they were at our age. We keep telling them what's really going on, and they won't hear us.
A lot of my friends are really bad off. Comparatively speaking, I'm doing really well. I do have a space heater. The electricity is on. There are rice and beans in the pantry. The cat has Science Diet. (heh, you see who comes first?)
And I could walk to work if I really had to. I'd have to allow about two hours, though. X(
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I was born in 1950. Socially, that meant a strong consciousness of tyrannical states, both the Nazis and Soviets; the rise of legal racial equality; the assumption that reliable (95%+ effective) birth control would be readily available; an assumption that a college education would be readily available.
My youngest son once asked me what Vietnam was about, and after I delivered a couple paragraphs of explanations, simply filed it under "Oh, so it was a Cold War thing."
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I think we're pretty in tune with each other, but I'm 12 years older than you. Maybe we're both young, huh?
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We both seem to be graced with an ability to enjoy people of great variety.
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I've always kind of hated the Gen X label because several negative traits have been associated with it that 1) are so not me and 2) are largely unjustified, and instead reflect the effects of a job market and economy that went splat.
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We got our degrees from our respective colleges, and emerged into a working world that looked on us with disdain when it looked on us at all.
Now we are banding together, combining incomes just to scrape by. And our parents are accusing us of being slack, lazy, and unambitious, because we are less affluent than they were at our age. We keep telling them what's really going on, and they won't hear us.
A lot of my friends are really bad off. Comparatively speaking, I'm doing really well. I do have a space heater. The electricity is on. There are rice and beans in the pantry. The cat has Science Diet. (heh, you see who comes first?)
And I could walk to work if I really had to. I'd have to allow about two hours, though. X(
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