It made me a little sad when a recent article about Woodstock in the New York Times was pelted with negative comments from Gen X and Gen Y. "Get over it, Boomers!" was the gist of the stone throwing. I didn't go to Woodstock. I was in grade school at the time. But the spirit of the event was not lost on me. It's a remarkable thing when large numbers of people can gather, somewhat spontaneously and peaceably, to share an experience.
So why all the negativity about Woodstock? I suspect it has something to do with the oppressive influence Boomers have over younger generations. Boomers just don't seem to be going away any time soon. They stay in charge. They keep calling the shots. And they vaunt their cultural artifacts, like Woodstock, as if nothing else is significant. They are...the establishment. And the younger generations have every right to trample the snow fences surrounding Boomers. Live by the sword, die by the sword.
I only ask one thing. Could we just maintain a little humor in the process of this inevitable overthrow? Creative wiz Cameron Dilley did so in his hilarious rendering of Woodstock for an exhibition in Tampa.
LOL!
5 comments:
Interesting blog, Patricia, but it’s missing an important part of the equation: Generation Jones (born 1954-1965, between the Boomers and Generation X). Arguably, the biggest legacy of Woodstock is its huge impact on the real children of the sixties...GenJones. This USA TODAY op-ed speaks to the relevance today of the sixties counterculture impact on GenJones: http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20090127/column27_st.art.htm
Google Generation Jones, and you’ll see it’s gotten a ton of media attention, and many top commentators from many top publications and networks (Washington Post, Time magazine, NBC, Newsweek, ABC, etc.) now specifically use this term. In fact, the Associated Press' annual Trend Report chose the Rise of Generation Jones as the #1 trend of 2009.
Here's a page with a good overview of recent media interest in GenJones:
http://generationjones.com/2009latest.html
Thanks for the feedback. Are you an expert on Gen Jones? Or a GenJoneser yourself? Just curious.
Guess you had to be there.
Who knew I had a generation? As a 1964 baby, I was jonesing for one. Thanks to TR200. I'm going to read up on myself and see what I'm all about.
PM - You nailed it in this post.
Thanks, Jim. Seems I fall into the GenJones category myself. Huh. God knows my ego loves to know I'm worthy of categorization.
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