Small Town Pep Rally This picture was taken in 1984 during a small town pep rally on a Mainstreet in America's Heartland. This is the town where I attended high school, where I was a little prom queen on the prairie many moons ago. There were only 51 people in my...
Oh thinkin' about all our younger years There was only you and me We were young and wild and free --Heaven, Bryan Adams (1983) Here are some memories I thought I'd share on this Memorial Day. This is a picture of Joe, a young Cold War veteran. The picture was taken...
In the late 1980s, the Illinois High School Sports Association created a file about the growing lack of interest in high school sports like basketball, football, and baseball. Struggling to understand the empty stadiums and gymnasiums, they labeled the folder The Lost...
December 2016 marks the 25th anniversary of Douglas Coupland's seminal novel Generation X: Tales For An Accelerated Culture. Coupland is widely credited with solidifying the term Generation X in relation to the Baby Buster Generation -- those of born roughly between...
Born on the cusp of Generation X and the Millennials is a micro-generation called the Xennials. They are a bridge between the two generations and "members" are often conflicted about which generation to affiliate with or claim as their own. Original Infographic |...
When I was in high school, I put together a scrapbook of things I'd held onto from childhood. We moved around a lot, so it's a miracle that I was able to save anything at all, but somehow, I held onto these Girl Scout membership cards including one from 1977. It's...
by Chloe Koffas, Regular Contributor There's something powerful about storytelling. We reminisce about a humorous memory with a friend we grew up with and our life-long connection becomes that much stronger. We hear someone speak about a deeply moving moment of...
Tonight, while watching the Olympics in Rio, I saw a McDonald's ad for Chicken McNuggets. The ad features a split-screen drama of a boy about eight to 10-years-old and his future daughter. The background music is Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time. The opening scene of...
A guest post about how Generation X got its name by L. M. McDougald The Gen X label, as we know it today, is the primary definition for those born roughly between 1961 and 1983. As these odd creatures grew up in a swirling jumble of punk, pollution and porn, the world...
Back in the 1970s and 80s, half of all Gen-Xers grew up in households headed by single moms. They didn't call us free-range kids back then, but I suppose that's exactly what we were. Latchkey kids that roamed the boulevards, back roads and byways of America. We dodged...
I spent the Summer of 1983 with Bess Motta, the 80s aerobics instructor of 20-Minute Workout fame. Every morning, Monday through Friday, I watched the show on TV and followed Bess's high-impact exercise moves. She was gorgeous with a wild mane of dark curly hair,...
My daughter Juliette will be a senior in high school this fall. We talked the other day about her wonderful years at Villa Teresa Catholic School and how different it was from the other Catholic schools she's attended. (Primarily different because it was run by...