Happy Veterans Day! This is my brother Billy during his time in the U.S. Marine Corps in the late 1970s. He joined in 1978, when I was 11. He was only five-and-a-half years older than me, which means he was only 16 when he actually signed papers. He left right after his 17th birthday. I’ve...
Gen-X Memoir: Overeducated, Underemployed It was not the life I planned, but the life I feared. Graduating college with loads of debt and job prospects that were no better than what I could have gotten straight out of high school. I rarely thought of these things during my university years which...
This is Jacob Wetterling. 1978-1989. I first caught up with Justin, “a quiet guy in the Midwest, waiting to be seen…” after I read something he wrote on the now-defunct Open Salon. I liked it so much I asked him if he’d be interested in writing a guest post occasionally for...
A brief account of my life as a 6th Grade Loser. Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret…I want to be like everyone else.” From Blume and Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. Bridgy’s new doll, which she named Bridgy, now, no stranger to mud. Also, not a 6th grade loser....
Sometimes, my father would joke, “I feel like I’m fading.” Other times, sitting across the table from me at breakfast, he’d tell me he felt out of sorts. I’d ask him what he meant, and he’d wave a firm palm in front of his face and say, “Just out of...
Now, the neighbors come from near and far As we pull up in our brand new used car I wish he’d just hit the gas and let out a cry and tell ’em all they can kiss our asses goodbye Last night, I asked some of my friends on Facebook to share the first word that came to mind when they saw...
“But the Master of the sea heard my despairing cry, From the waters lifted me, now safe am I…” –From Love Lifted Me and James Rowe, 1912 I thought I would tell you about the crickets. When we bought the house in the mid 1990s, it was with the understanding that the previous...
Carl Wilson has written an essay, My So-Called Adulthood for The New York Times, which explores the anti-nostalgic set of Generation X (those who came of age in the 90s versus the 80s). Despite what Wilson says, Xers actually displayed an early appetite for nostalgia; however, the plethora...
My Army-supply-store sneakers squeaked against the lacquered wood floor as I sunk into the locker room. I hid inside a stall until everyone was gone and hoped by the time I emerged I’d be at the end of the line of 5th grade girls preparing to climb the ropes. Maybe the bell would ring before it...
When you draw a tree does it have a knothole, cut branches, or wounds in the trunk? According to some experts, these could be indications of trauma. When I was a girl we had a tree in our front yard that was dotted with knot holes. I remember watching little black ants crawl in and out them all...
We used to talk about all kinds of things, but especially about a subject which interested me above all others: myself. — From Simone de Beauvoir’s Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter Sometimes, I think I’ve written all there is to write about Generation X. I’ve written about...
I recently came across this picture on Flickr of a playground near the Ensfield Power Station in Brimsfield, England, a suburb outside of London. It’s been generously made available by the photographer, PysProblems, through the Creative Commons License. He’s a Gen Xer, by the way,...
[…] with minimal disruption, echoing the parenting attitudes of previous generations, such as the latchkey kids of the 70s and 80s. This…
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Hello, Jill! It's so nice to receive a message from a majorette. No doubt, it was a grand experience for…
I was the majorette at my Catholic high school (William V. Fisher Catholic) in Central Ohio. Fall 1993-97! Loving these…
Thank you so much. This post was one of the hardest I ever wrote because the trip was difficult. I…