Barn Near Luther, Oklahoma | Photo by Jennifer Chronicles | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
An earlier version of this post appeared on the Gen-X Substack.
🐙 Billy Beans: Deep Where the Stories Live
For the past few summers, I’ve been retracing the steps of my misspent youth, reading all the stories I skipped the first time around. And, I’ve fallen in love with young adult (YA) books all over again. Back when Gen-Xers were kids we called it juvenile fiction.
One book I tracked down a few years ago was a short story collection, Deep Where the Octopi Lie, by Jean McCord. Published in 1968, I became acquainted with the writer’s work in the fall of 1979 when we read her story Billy Beans Lived Here. That was 7th grade English and I’ve never quite been able to forget it.
It tells the story of a girl named Ellie and her older brother, Billy, scraping by in deep rural poverty, a landscape all too familiar to me. When Billy dies tragically, there’s no money for a service, no way to mark that he ever existed. So Ellie scrapes together two bucks and buys a can of paint. With it, she writes a memorial on the side of their barn:
Billy Beans Lived Here
Those words aligned with something inside me, landing where logic and memory meet. In April 1979, my older brother, also named Billy, left for the Marine Corps. Our homelife was a battlefield and it had finally pushed him past the breaking point. He was only 17. Billy Beans Lived Here found me in the months after he left when unrest around the world busted through our 13-inch Panasonic TV during the evening news.
I watched it with great interest and intensity. In June, I saw journalist Bill Stewart killed on national television, shot by Nicaraguan National Guard forces as he reported on the revolution. Then, in November, Americans were taken hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
I watched every story as if it might contain my brother’s name. I imagined his death over and over, in every breaking headline. This went on for years, until Billy completed his service in the Marines, and I could begin to exhale.
Like many YA stories, Billy Beans Lived Here explores what it means to be human when everything is shifting under your feet. The words “lived here” have echoed deeply in me for decades, a quiet reminder of what it means to survive, to belong, and to move on. As a kid who moved constantly through the small towns of rural America, I was always leaving places and people behind. Imagining those words painted on a barn felt like someone had finally spoken the quiet grief of impermanence aloud. Jennifer Lived Here.
Therein lies the magic of YA stories like Billy Beans. They stay with us not just because we read them in the dawn and dusk of adolescence, but because they understood us, then and now. It’s why I keep returning to them.
Click here for a full list of Newbery Medal winners from 1922 to the present. How many have you read? Which ones stayed with you? I’d love to hear. Please leave a comment or send me an email.
Our Billy, circa 1980 | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Those Winter Sundays
Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.
I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he’d call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house,
Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love’s austere and lonely offices?
Here is a collection of links Gen-Xers may find interesting.
🦀 Kiel James Patrick
Maybe it’s because their Jeep embroidered Madras shirt reminds me of the cover of the 1982 Preppy Desk Diary, but I’m pretty much over the moon with the lifestyle brand Kiel James Patrick. Preppy. Americana. Coastal. Yay.
🕵️♀️💊 Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders on Netflix
In the fall of 1982, seven people in the Chicago area died after taking Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide. The case was never solved. It led to sweeping changes in consumer safety, but its influence went deeper than that. The Tylenol murders, as they became known, had a profound psychological and cultural impact on Generation X. We learned that we could not trust the world to be safe. Even medicine, intended to make you feel better, could kill you. All of this unfolded during the first wave of the AIDS epidemic, when we also learned that sex could kill us.
The Netflix series, which was released on May 26, 2025, is a three-part documentary. I’m not sure how I missed it, but I didn’t know three members of one family died from taking the cyanide-laced pills.
💙 Smurfs Musical
The Smurfs are back with a brand‑new animated musical adventure, hitting theaters July 18, 2025. Smurfette is voiced by Rihanna, who also penned original songs for the soundtrack.
🩸🎥🔪 …Last Summer
Can you believe it’s been over 25 years? I Know What You Did Last Summer hit theaters back in 1997, bringing us a perfect mix of teen angst, small-town secrets, and hook-wielding horror. I hate slashers…
💋 Bridget Jones
ICYMI. Bridget’s back, diary in hand and dating in her 50s. Renée Zellweger returns in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, navigating modern love, single motherhood, and the chaos of middle age with her signature charm. Watch on Peacock.
🎥 Father’s Day Gift Idea
Father’s Day is this weekend. If you’re stumped for a gift, consider Target’s Portable Media Projector. It’s compact, easy to set up and perfect for backyard movie marathons.
🖋️ Permission (Memoir)
What happens when telling the truth costs you your family? In Permission: The New Memoirist and the Courage to Create, writer Elissa Altman explores the emotional fallout of revealing a long-buried family secret. It’s a bold, moving reflection on memory, storytelling, and the price of honesty. This book was release in March 2025.
✝️ Gen Z and Religion
Contrary to the trends observed in Gen X, Generation Z is showing an increased interest in religious texts. Sales of the Bible in Britain surged by 87 percent from 2019 to 2024, driven by the growing spirituality among young people. This suggests a potential resurgence in religious engagement among the younger generation.
🦓 Ed the Zebra
Ed the Zebra, curious and mildly bewildered, flies through the sky in a basket. Best thing I’ve seen in ages!
🩷 Psychedelic Furs Tour
The iconic 80s band, known for hits like “Love My Way” and “Pretty in Pink,” is embarking on a world tour. They’ll be performing in cities including Glasgow, London, and Brooklyn, with a highly anticipated show at the Barrowland Ballroom in Glasgow on October 24, 2025.
Oh Joy!
Joy Cho’s Instagram makes me so happy even if I still wear black every day. She’s also here on Substack.