Before we kick off the first Blue Plate Special of the year (the week’s top stories about Generation X), I want to share with you the Daily Photo. It’s Kirsten Major‘s Preppy Secrets Diary from 1984. This is such a rarity. I have not been able to locate a copy on Amazon, Etsy, eBay or a number of rare book seller sites. Read ahead to learn more about this 1980s treasure.
Daily Photo: Official Preppy Secrets Diary
Digital Parenting
Gen X: Pioneers of Digital Parenting: What I’ve Learned so Far, and What You Need to Know by Robyn Shulman, M.Ed, LinkedIn
Social media has become so influential in young lives; we can now assure it is a source of addiction for many (kids and adults). Smartphones are dopamine devices.”
Menendez Brothers
A documentary about brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez aired this week. You may recall the story that rocked Generation X. The brothers, who were in 1968 and 1970, respectively, killed their parents in 1989. They’d grown up as the privileged set in Princeton, New Jersey, and were living in Beverly Hills at the time. Both men (consistently referred to “the boys”) were convicted of first degree murder after their second trial. The first jury could not reach a verdict, primarily persuaded by testimony that their father, Jose Menendez, sexually abused them. The men are serving life sentences and are expected to die in prison. Journalist Terry Moran who covered the case stated in the documentary that if the Menendez Brothers had been the Menendez Sisters the jury would not have convicted them. You can learn more about the documentary in an article in USA Today, Silence broken: A Menendez brother speaks.
Ageism
Why Gen X Is So Pi**ed At Millennials by John McDermott, Mel Blogzine.
Too often generations appear to blame one another for their respective plights,” says Mike North, an assistant professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business. “Older workers blame younger generations for being able to work longer hours, at a fraction of the cost, and without so many family obligations. Meanwhile, younger generations blame older workers for delaying retirement, remaining in the workforce longer than ever, and clogging up the jobs pipeline for younger generations to get their turn.”
Trainspotting Sequel
Twenty years later, Trainspotting explains much about the world by Simon Castles, The Age
In an interview with Dazed & Confused magazine last year, about a month before Trump won the presidency, Welsh said Trainspotting still resonated because it wasn’t a book about drugs, it was a book about people being pushed out of work and losing meaning and hope. “These characters are all from the industrial working-class, being made redundant, being made socially irrelevant in Britain,” he said. “Twenty, 30 years later it’s happening to the middle classes. We’re rationing out the dregs of capitalism to people.”
The Gaslighting of the Millennial Generation
The Gaslighting of the Millennial Generation is a post on the blog The Born Again Minimalist.
Most millennials I know struggle with mental illness to some degree. Anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and more. I wonder how much of that anxiety comes from being told that wanting a living wage, affordable college, or adequate healthcare means that you’re being a spoiled entitled brat. It really doesn’t. The generations before us HAD a living wage, affordable college, and adequate healthcare. But now, inflation has far surpassed the minimum wage, college tuition and loan interest rates are through the proverbial roof, and medical bills are the top cause of bankruptcy in America.”
Shannen Doherty, Breast Cancer
This is Maggie Instagram post by Shannen Doherty, @Shando
This is Maggie. I’ve seen Maggie five days a week for what seems like forever. We have a love hate relationship. I love her because she’s part of the life saving treatment I’m receiving. It’s astounding how far we have come with technology. One day, Maggie will be retired and the cure will be found. Things like immunotherapy are the future but for now…. it’s me and Maggie. I’m seeing her twice tomorrow so that I can wrap this phase up faster. Goodnight sweet Maggie. See ya tomorrow. #cancerslayer”
Carrie Fisher
How Carrie Fisher’s Space Adventures Helped Define My Generation by Anna Leahy, Time
…because of Princess Leia and Sally Ride, I think of myself not as Gen X, but rather, as Generation Space. I was born in a particular slice of history, between the launch of Sputnik in 1957 and the first space shuttle launch in 1981. I was a toddler when people walked on the Moon. Those of us born into Gen Space have never lived in a world in which space travel was not going on. Our first collective tragedy occurred on January 28, 1986, when the space shuttle Challenger broke apart less than two minutes after it left Earth’s surface with a schoolteacher and six other astronauts onboard. The youngest of Generation Space were in kindergarten then and never knew a world without Star Wars. We thought of the world differently because we could look back at it — at humanity — from out there somewhere.”
Preppy Secrets Diary
I was an avid diarist as a young girl, but never had one as cool as the Preppy Secrets Diary. Kirsten’s tweet inspired me to take some pictures of my college diary. I posted them on Facebook. You can see that post here. Did you keep a diary as teenager?
Here’s Kirsten’s awesome tweet:
Preppy secrets? Why yes I have them. My diary from 1984 #GenX @LisaBirnbach @EmmaWillard srsly mixers w/ boys schools pic.twitter.com/JCRqhtk0tf
— Kirsten Major (@kirstenamajor) January 2, 2017
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