“We put a stamp on a world we never intended to get caught up in” stuck out to me, ringing of an uncertainty about our imprint on this dizzying thirty years of time. The narrator’s take feels light, surprised as if, “Gee look at the time!” that’s come and taken something of me along with it. Sigh. There’s such a careening swing in these gathered up cultural tidbits, as if you’re dashing merrily through and snatching them off counters and tables in the kitchen and diningroom, and lightly setting them down. That’s fun to watch, and you include things I’m unaware of as well, certainly TV and pop music and that one coach, my head down churning through school and a new career in teaching. This is a fun piece, and really wide ranging, so hang onto it for the sheer details. Good work!
That was an excellent and thorough historical compilation. Our level of "technology" has become so bizarre that people actually sit across from each other and text each other instead of communicating using their words like sane human beings!
P.S. I did not know there were 27 varieties of Cheerios!
I read your essay & once again, very much enjoyed how you paint a picture with words. While I was familiar with most of your 90’s subject matter, for much of that time period I was busy making a living. I didn’t quite realize how busy until I read MTV abandoned music videos. As ‘they say’ time flies. Everything else ‘they said’ — about making life easier, we’re still waiting…
That you, sir. Yes, it’s amazing how a decade (or mire!) of pop culture, politics, or outside influences can slip by when you’re soaked in the richness of family and friends and building a life. Then a picture or story will spark some piece of a memory, but it always comes back to the most important things, the lasting things.
No D'arcy. But I don't know, would they even be Smashing Pumpkins if there wasn't some serious, unrelenting fracture? The emotional turmoil alone seems baked into that cake.
Born in 1955, my teen years were the 1970s. You wouldn't believe how often I long for those relatively easy-going days of yore. I finally got a smart phone (Android) in 2014. I hate the darn thing, and I use it as little as possible, mostly for calls and texts. If I can't do what I need to do on my laptop, it's probably going to be an exercise in frustration and angst. I wouldn't touch A.I. with a 10-foot pole, as I believe it's evil in its ultimate purpose. Yep, I'm old now.
Our capacity to make our lives unlivably complicated never stops amazing me. And I completely relate to your tech aversion. I had to get a new cellphone a while ago and it took me a year to finally take it out of the box!
That's pretty funny! No kidding, though, about making our lives unlivably complicated. And all this modern technology was supposedly going to make our lives much simpler. One of the many lies we've been fed over the years.
I think the fact that some of us are "helicopter parenting" is just a realization of how screwed up some of our parents were, and how many of us paid the price for that lack of interest in what the heck we were doing all day. Five year old kids shouldn't have been watching Friday the 13th and Fast Times at Ridgemont High, or going to make-out parties in sixth grade, or being home alone (or with our girlfriends) from 14:00-18:00 every day.
And no doubt our bodies are paying for all of those non-food, boxed meals and fake sugar cereals we consumed.
Still, with the help of Red Dawn it hardened us to win this current war against our own government, so there's that.
I think there's a path between. I don't think most kids are watching horror movies at 5. And if I watched Fast Times too young, I probably wouldn't understand what was going on with the "adult" stuff anyway. My brothers and I were involved in sports and school and my parents knew our friends' parents. They trusted us until we gave them a reason to not. My mom hates to cook, we didn't have any money and she worked full time. I ate a lot of hamburger helper. the only time me or my brothers have been to the doctor is having babies (me!) or my brother getting into an accident, which I doubt is any fault of a box of Mac n Cheese or fruit loops. Don't be so scared of everything. It rots your mind. Practicing moderation, balance, personal freedom, and making the most of autonomy is a good rough outline.
It's not about being scared, its about realizing that because of the drift away from healthy lifestyles (nutritionally and mentally) we have a society plagued with three generations worth of afflictions to overcome. How many of us understand that the food pyramid was complete farce, or that sex trafficking and pedophelia (and abortion) grew exponentially during those years?
I understand your point. So, we do what we can. I don't know what else to say except stand up to the naysayers, the people normalizing insanity, and give courage and encouragement to people who otherwise would drift with the wayward current. Red Dawn is a good place to start!
Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful that we're a bit hardier than other generations, I just know we can take those lessons and apply them in the "don't do stupid s*** like weI did" coversations. My wife and I both had divorced parents (common for Gen-X) and lived rather wild so perhaps the perspective is different in different circles.
My kids (5 of 8 are over 18) understand holistic medicine, know how to cook from scratch, how to be situationally aware, and how to use a pistol and an AR. That's the kind of progress I'm speaking about.
I think that's great! And I agree with you. Society has lost many skills and self-reliance for convenience, if that's what you're getting at. But we also have the luxury of hindsight. I don't think previous generations necessarily did things with the intent of knowledge of the full spectrum of consequences, or maybe from their view the trade-off was worth the gamble. But I also know that you can know how to use a gun and cook and not have the impression that the world is full of people waiting to violate, poison, or harm you. Ever read Tim Carney's book, "Family Unfriendly?"
Not familiar with the book. That's the thing: Most people just want to be free and be left alone, and we'd likely get along with 99% of each other (even the ones with pink hair) if it wasn't for manufactured strife. But the world IS full of people who want to harm us and keep us angry and sick, Pfsier for one, the MSM for another, the and we need to recognize that in order to be truly free.
“We put a stamp on a world we never intended to get caught up in” stuck out to me, ringing of an uncertainty about our imprint on this dizzying thirty years of time. The narrator’s take feels light, surprised as if, “Gee look at the time!” that’s come and taken something of me along with it. Sigh. There’s such a careening swing in these gathered up cultural tidbits, as if you’re dashing merrily through and snatching them off counters and tables in the kitchen and diningroom, and lightly setting them down. That’s fun to watch, and you include things I’m unaware of as well, certainly TV and pop music and that one coach, my head down churning through school and a new career in teaching. This is a fun piece, and really wide ranging, so hang onto it for the sheer details. Good work!
I appreciate this. You make me wish I was the writer you see. Ramblings. Fluff. Here on out I suppose.
Great piece of writing!
Thank you, Michael. I appreciate such kind words!
That was an excellent and thorough historical compilation. Our level of "technology" has become so bizarre that people actually sit across from each other and text each other instead of communicating using their words like sane human beings!
P.S. I did not know there were 27 varieties of Cheerios!
Oh yes I've seen that in restaurants. Whole families sit together, staring at their own devices.
Jenna,
I read your essay & once again, very much enjoyed how you paint a picture with words. While I was familiar with most of your 90’s subject matter, for much of that time period I was busy making a living. I didn’t quite realize how busy until I read MTV abandoned music videos. As ‘they say’ time flies. Everything else ‘they said’ — about making life easier, we’re still waiting…
Keep up your great work & thank you.
That you, sir. Yes, it’s amazing how a decade (or mire!) of pop culture, politics, or outside influences can slip by when you’re soaked in the richness of family and friends and building a life. Then a picture or story will spark some piece of a memory, but it always comes back to the most important things, the lasting things.
I love this. I feel about the 80s and 90s like Joni Mitchell did about Woodstock, it’s the garden and we’ve got to get ourselves back there.
We paved paradise and put up a Starbucks. Thanks, John.
Wait, Smashing Pumpkins is back? Must be without Wretzke still, which is kinda like Journey without Steve Perry. Boo.
No D'arcy. But I don't know, would they even be Smashing Pumpkins if there wasn't some serious, unrelenting fracture? The emotional turmoil alone seems baked into that cake.
True. Have you ever watched any documentaries or YouTube videos about them? And we thought the Beatles had drama.
I haven't, but I can imagine any "Behind the Music"-style Smashing Pumpkins doc will leave me happy that I'm not a rock star.
I crave authenticity.
I completely understand
Born in 1955, my teen years were the 1970s. You wouldn't believe how often I long for those relatively easy-going days of yore. I finally got a smart phone (Android) in 2014. I hate the darn thing, and I use it as little as possible, mostly for calls and texts. If I can't do what I need to do on my laptop, it's probably going to be an exercise in frustration and angst. I wouldn't touch A.I. with a 10-foot pole, as I believe it's evil in its ultimate purpose. Yep, I'm old now.
Our capacity to make our lives unlivably complicated never stops amazing me. And I completely relate to your tech aversion. I had to get a new cellphone a while ago and it took me a year to finally take it out of the box!
That's pretty funny! No kidding, though, about making our lives unlivably complicated. And all this modern technology was supposedly going to make our lives much simpler. One of the many lies we've been fed over the years.
The ever-changing, different charging cables for every single device under the sun. That's all we need to know!
LOL! YES!!!
I think the fact that some of us are "helicopter parenting" is just a realization of how screwed up some of our parents were, and how many of us paid the price for that lack of interest in what the heck we were doing all day. Five year old kids shouldn't have been watching Friday the 13th and Fast Times at Ridgemont High, or going to make-out parties in sixth grade, or being home alone (or with our girlfriends) from 14:00-18:00 every day.
And no doubt our bodies are paying for all of those non-food, boxed meals and fake sugar cereals we consumed.
Still, with the help of Red Dawn it hardened us to win this current war against our own government, so there's that.
I think there's a path between. I don't think most kids are watching horror movies at 5. And if I watched Fast Times too young, I probably wouldn't understand what was going on with the "adult" stuff anyway. My brothers and I were involved in sports and school and my parents knew our friends' parents. They trusted us until we gave them a reason to not. My mom hates to cook, we didn't have any money and she worked full time. I ate a lot of hamburger helper. the only time me or my brothers have been to the doctor is having babies (me!) or my brother getting into an accident, which I doubt is any fault of a box of Mac n Cheese or fruit loops. Don't be so scared of everything. It rots your mind. Practicing moderation, balance, personal freedom, and making the most of autonomy is a good rough outline.
It's not about being scared, its about realizing that because of the drift away from healthy lifestyles (nutritionally and mentally) we have a society plagued with three generations worth of afflictions to overcome. How many of us understand that the food pyramid was complete farce, or that sex trafficking and pedophelia (and abortion) grew exponentially during those years?
I understand your point. So, we do what we can. I don't know what else to say except stand up to the naysayers, the people normalizing insanity, and give courage and encouragement to people who otherwise would drift with the wayward current. Red Dawn is a good place to start!
Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful that we're a bit hardier than other generations, I just know we can take those lessons and apply them in the "don't do stupid s*** like weI did" coversations. My wife and I both had divorced parents (common for Gen-X) and lived rather wild so perhaps the perspective is different in different circles.
My kids (5 of 8 are over 18) understand holistic medicine, know how to cook from scratch, how to be situationally aware, and how to use a pistol and an AR. That's the kind of progress I'm speaking about.
I think that's great! And I agree with you. Society has lost many skills and self-reliance for convenience, if that's what you're getting at. But we also have the luxury of hindsight. I don't think previous generations necessarily did things with the intent of knowledge of the full spectrum of consequences, or maybe from their view the trade-off was worth the gamble. But I also know that you can know how to use a gun and cook and not have the impression that the world is full of people waiting to violate, poison, or harm you. Ever read Tim Carney's book, "Family Unfriendly?"
Not familiar with the book. That's the thing: Most people just want to be free and be left alone, and we'd likely get along with 99% of each other (even the ones with pink hair) if it wasn't for manufactured strife. But the world IS full of people who want to harm us and keep us angry and sick, Pfsier for one, the MSM for another, the and we need to recognize that in order to be truly free.