Somehow I had missed seeing this 2006 New York magazine article on the way that a certain sub-section of Generation X (which is to say my generation) has managed to avoid the generation gap with their younger cohorts and both the up and down sides that this leveling implies. Because I resemble a lot of myself in the class that is being depicted I am inclined to be charitable toward this epi-phenomenon (I still listen to [good] new music! I dress casually! I know contemporary cultural references!] but there is a lot of room for Portlandia-level self-parody in this particular version of the Peter Pan complex.
Did you know that the comments on that article indicate it was published at least 4 years ago? (I still can't figure out the exact date of publication). The internet truly does have a way of making things timeless, which likely reinforces the very phenomenon described.
ReplyDeleteWow - it was actually published 7 years ago. I never saw it either. Thanks for sharing, Derek.
ReplyDeleteI actually had intended to highlight that this seemingly timely article was from 2006, so thanks to both of you for pointing it out. WI don't have kids, so I cannot speak to that part of the article, but the rest of it was pretty eerie in terms of how it spoke to me.
ReplyDeletedcat