UpAboutMore


No Bar Mitzvah Yet!

Voice Card  -  Volume 27  -  Stuart Card Number 3  -  Sat, Jan 23, 1993 8:53 PM







This is a response to VC 26 John 4 ("Boomers, Tweeners, MTVers")...

I think I agree with you, John, but going through the voice cards on this topic, I found something startling in VC 24 John 15. In the December, 1992 issue of THE ATLANTIC, the lead article covers just this issue that we've been debating - the "new" generation gap between the baby boomers and those who have come after, a generation who the authors of this article call "The Thirteeners." Why? I can't remember.

Apparently, the Thirteeners are angry at the boomers for what seem the exact same reasons that John is in his voice card. Those damn boomers are so preachy on values, they've hogged the good jobs and left the Thirteeners to work as temps and at fast food places. Since the Thirteeners cannot live up to the expectations of these self righteous, finger pointing boomers, they've stopped trying to compete in that value system. Hence the MTV, mall shopping, hip hopping, Beverly Hills 90210 values that Larry documents in his voice card on this subject in VC 24 Larry 1, the card where he talks about "generation X."

According to the perspective of the article in THE ATLANTIC, many of the problems that good Archipelagoans like Janine, John, and Yumi have at getting jobs that fit their skills and talents relate to this Thirteener/ Boomer split. Except it's not as neat as that. According to the article, John, you are a dreaded boomer. So am I and so is Janine. But what are we really, we old thirteeners, who don't quite fit the boomer stereotype, we who feel uneasy wearing baseball caps backwards, bandanas like pirates, earrings, and short hair that we would associate more with the fifties? We don't fit in at the boomer health clubs or at the dance clubs that kids ten-fifteen years younger than us frequent. Are we still waiting for our Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, so we can finally become adults? Oi Vey!




UpAboutMore