Generation X

You know, way back when, I would get so offended when someone called me a Gen Xer. I was all, "Don't label me" and whatnot. My brother, also a Gen Xer, would remind me that was one of the things that made me a Gen Xer--not wanting to be labelled. And I'd get all pissy. He was proud to be an Xer mainly because it meant he wasn't a Boomer.

A few years later, I was a book editor and the publishing company I worked for had just put out a book about Baby Boomer toys. I went off on multiple rants about how the Boomers got all the damn attention... Where the hell was the toy book for my generation? So, we began to talk about it. It never went anywhere, but we had an ongoing discussion about what we'd call it. I insisted that we not go with "The Gen X Toy Book" because Xers wouldn't buy it if it was named that. No one believed me. I told the son of a coworker about the idea. He (the son, not the coworker) was my age, and he also insisted we not call it the Gen X book for the same reasons. And we commiserated about how no one understood us and how we were always under the shadow of the Boomers..... and eventually there would be Boomer kids, god help us all.

Fast forward 10+ years: the Boomers and their spawn are still getting all the attention. The difference? I'm damn proud to be a Gen Xer. We turned out pretty fucking good.

So, when I saw Generation X is Sick of Your Bullshit over on Gizmodo? Man, my day was fucking made.

I have two favorite passages:

Generation X could use a better spokesperson. Barack Obama is just a little too senior to count among its own, and it has debts older than Mark Zuckerberg. Generation X hasn't had a real voice since Kurt Cobain blew his brains out, Tupac was murdered, Jeff Mangum went crazy, David Foster Wallace hung himself, Jeff Buckley drowned, River Phoenix overdosed, Elliott Smith stabbed himself (twice) in the heart, Axl got fat.

and

Right now, Generation X just wants a beer and to be left alone. It just wants to sit here quietly and think for a minute. Can you just do that, okay? It knows that you are so very special and so very numerous, but can you just leave it alone? Just for a little bit? Just long enough to sneak one last fucking cigarette? No? 

Whatever. It's cool.

Love. Love. Love. This actually made me proud to be an Xer. 

It can also be found over on Mat Honan's Tumblr.