Remember when you first read Generation X by Douglas Coupland and laughed at the definitions in the margins? My friend Stuart had suggested the book to me . . . or it was lying around in his apartment. That was before "Generation X" as a social nametag started. There were just Baby Boomers all around.
Imagine my surprise when the headline in the Free Press today claimed "Gen X turns 40" with a little MTV logo next to it. It then listed Gen X's "defining moment" as Kurt Cobain dying. ACK! First off, I'm no where near 40 in my head . . . that's six years away. But then reading the article caused me to have this little tiny panic attack in my head -- oh my god, that's only six years away, actually five years and a half years away, what if I'm not married by then? My parents had already had all their kids by now. I'm going to be the old aunt that you have to come visit because she has no one that HAS to take care of her . . . Crap, I have to get my life together --
And then, there is no way that my defining moment is Kurt Cobain dying. Yes, I remember where I was . . . in the basement Montie House phone booth returning a page . . . but I also remember where I was when the Challenger blew up and when 9/11 happened and when the Berlin wall came down. I think the Berlin Wall is a much better defining moment . . . heroin addicted rock star (though very talented, don't get me wrong) dying seems so . . . slacker, to use their term.
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I read that article too. I really didn't feel much of a connection. My only thought of the Kurt Cobain years was oversized flannel shirts (which I really would like to forget, except for the fact that it hid extra weight.)
Don't get me wrong, I felt badly about his death. However, keep in mind that whole Generation X story is really just what I would call a "filler" article. They could just have easily talked about the upcoming fall fashions (something I could appreciate). Wasn't this the Way we Live Section?
I know it was bad journalism . . . kind of my point. But it was in the News section, Section B wasn't it?
Sorry about the fall fashion part . . . Nordstrom sent me a catalog. Seems everything is olive green or eggplant and "peasant" or "poet".
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