Select Page

Hippie Parents and Anecdotal Evidence of Generation X

The Daily Photo is an opportunity to visit the stories and experiences of Generation X through slides, videos and pictures. In this exercise, the smallest details, such as a reference to a pack of Viceroy full-flavored cigarettes or a pair 1970s red tights, provide anecdotal evidence of our life and times. They can inspire, entertain and even warn as we see in Tara’s blog post about her hippie parents.

Hippie Parents

“I was raised by two artist hippies in Detroit,” wrote Tara on her blog Random Goods“What could possibly go wrong?”

Hippie Parents

Anecdotal Evidence: Hippie Parents

“My mom, Cyndee, was pretty damn interesting. My dad, Nolan, was also a character. Their good parenting made me grow up to be good, their bad parenting made me grow up to be better! (Lots of bad parenting hahah) I think that whole 50s and 60s era that they grew up in…may have skewed their views of parenting…..Hey, its all good.”

“Look at my brothers clothes and a BOWTIE! I hated wearing tights I was pretty tall and the tights were never long enough. I hated wearing tights, but I guess with how bizarrely short my dress was, I had no choice but to shove my pork chops in those red tights. (OMG, mom, I think I needed a bigger dress)

So there you have it….My dad died when I was in my 20s and my mom died when I was in my 30s…(Damn you Viceroy full flavored tobacco!)

By the way, does Cyndee’s dress look familiar? It is the SAME 1970s hippie dress Cathy’s mom Susan is wearing in the glorious picture I posted yesterday. Read Eulogy For A Mother Who Believed Her Children Were Real.

Anecdotal Evidence

Anecdotal evidence (versus scientific evidence) is evidence that relies on personal testimonies. It is collected casually and informally. Anecdotes provide evidence that is both empirical (it can be observed) and, for the most part, verifiable. They also support historical theories about the different generations. If you have not read The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy – What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America’s Next Rendezvous with Destiny by Neil Howe and the late William Strauss, I highly recommend it. It details a theory that generations fall into one of four archetypes and live their lives across four recurring cycles.

What do Tara’s pictures tell us about Generation X?

Nostalgia

Do you yearn for childhood days? Do you long for the effervescence of an evanescent youth? The beautiful, irrevocable past? Those years before time faded your beauty and strength and covered you in lines and strands of gray?

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” –Ecclesiastes 3:1

It is one thing to be nostalgic, but quite another to examine the past as a way to embrace the present and prepare for the future. In this regard, the past moves beyond some elusive dream or event distorted by the brain. For everything that has happened to you holds meaning and purpose that can work together for good. Especially the bad stuff.

Make no mistake, you remember everything exactly as it occurred, no matter what anyone says, for only you can bear witness to your life. Only you and Father God were fully present in all that you witnessed and endured. Together, you share in the truth about how events and experiences shaped and changed you. Do not let anyone tell you any different. We must live the life we are called to live, according to our history, according to God’s purpose, not the life others have imagined for us.

A mother may say to her child, “You are my greatest treasure and I would give my life for you,” while the child responds, “I never felt like I belonged.” 

Both stories are true. To deny them is to abnegate the present and render forgiveness, whether granted or received, completely useless.

One person’s purple is someone else’s violet is someone else’s indigo is someone else’s blue,” wrote Elizabeth Wurtzel, the celebrated Gen X author of the 1996 Prozac Nation: Young and Depressed in America – A Memoir. “I have been engaged in telling the truth about my life for most of my life now, and I believe everything I say. The events I describe are precisely as I remember them, and as anyone else who was there recalls. And still, I know: There are other versions.”

What anecdotal evidence of the Generation X experience exists in your photographs? Do you have any pictures of your hippie parents?

Be sure to check out Tara’s fabulous Etsy bookstore and shop full of wonderful vintage finds like Care Bear glasses and these green striped sheets, which are exactly like a set my parents had!


If pictures have anything important to say to future generations, it’s this: I was here. I existed. I was young, I was happy, and someone cared enough about me in this world to take my picture. Click here to subscribe to the daily photo
Gen X Blog Jennifer Chronicles

Thank you for subscribing. Posts are delivered ONCE A WEEK on Sundays at 6 p.m. You can unsubscribe anytime with one click. Also, we will not share your email address with anyone.
Posted in:

3 Comments

  1. Marty Rogin

    Hi Jen. Marty again. My folks are late-wave Silents, who tried to be part of the “revolution” but were just a bit too old. They did succeed in the divorce wave in the early ’70’s, which is probably why I have no desire to go back to my childhood.

    There were good times, but it was no “Brady Bunch” episode. Not even close. And many cousins suffered through that same divorce wave.

    Whenever my kids ask about the ’70’s, my response is usually just “Meh”. I did, however, save a couple of my stepfather’s textured polyester ties, made by “Count Luigi”. High fashion! They are too wide to fit under today’s shirt collars. And they are ugly as hell.

    Reply
    • Jennifer

      Hello, Marty. My folks were first-wave silents raising mid-to-late wave Boomers, so it seems the whole hippie-era missed us by a hair. The divorces Gen-Xers endured in childhood left a lasting mark, most certainly. I read about it a lot and have a post coming up about it. It’s a blog post a Gen-Xer wrote in 2010, I think. You read enough of this stuff you begin to realize just how universal that experience was for us – and it was so new, really. America had never seen the likes of that much divorce before, and so there were many hard lessons. I’m still not sure people have learned from our folks’ mistakes. As far as the ties, I would *love* to see pictures!! =)

      Reply
      • Marty Rogin

        Jen:

        It doesn’t look like I can attach pics to this message, so I’ll find another way to get them over to you.

        Yep, it got ugly at times. I was lucky. At least my parents weren’t at each others’ throats. Some other friends and family weren’t so fortunate. I recall lots of their emotional pain and even some physical abuse stories that today (if true) would have landed the perpetrators in prison.

        Is it any wonder we morphed into overprotective helicopter parents?

        Reply

Share Your Thoughts

Pin It on Pinterest