Stuck in the Middle

January, 14 1965 - my birthday. Two weeks into Generation X, two weeks out of the Baby Boomer generation. At least according to some sources. (not my birth which is historically documented, but the defining dates of the two generations)
Two weeks might sound like a long time, and if you’re waiting for test results or have lines to learn for a show, it is.
But when talking about years of growing culture, two weeks is a pittance.
What this means is I am stuck between two ‘cultures.’ Hippies and slackers. You would think I feel at home with post grunge America, but I don't.
I'm lost.
I’m dust from the tail of the comet that was the Baby Boomer generation. And the compacted soil on top of which the Generation X foundation was poured.
Not a Baby Boomer, and not a Generation X’er.
I read Douglas Coupland’s book, and I really enjoyed it. But I didn’t identify with the generation there. I identify more with the kids from Stand By Me. But I never had those experiences. I imagine them as my older brothers. Those kids are baby boomers, and I don’t remember those times.
I would have been a baby during the Wonder Years, just a few years off from the experiences of Kevin Arnold, the innocence being shattered by Vietnam, Winnie Cooper, and summers at the lake.
During one hilarious episode, Kevin and Paul went to the newly built Mall. The newness of it, the transition of the world during this coming of age story was a great metaphor. I was 5 when mall was built. I don’t remember it.
I am stuck between a generation whose values were defined by WWII and a generation whose values were born during the Vietnam War. I am from a generation whose parents were in school during World War II, but never fought - they remember, but they weren’t there. Stuck between a generation of people whose parents fought in WWII and a generation whose parents came of age during Vietnam.
I am stuck in a generation who made disco popular, then vilified it, made new wave popular then forgot it, and finally grew mullets and listened to Bubble Gum Heavy Metal, like Poison and Ratt.
Talk about identity crisis.
I am caught between a generation privileged to go to college just for an education, and a generation that saw college as a right, a need, and a prep school for their career. I came out of it the first time with an English degree and expectations it would make a difference. It did. I was saddled with the student loans of a new generation and the education of an old.
I don’t feel like an X’er and I don’t feel like a Boomer.
I’m part of the Disenfranchised Generation. The Wonder Who We Are Years. That Late 70s to Early 80s Show Generation. The Square Pegs Generation. (and those of you who remember that show, know what I am talking about.)
I found out today there’s a name for us. I am a member of the Baby Buster generation.
A small time at the end of the Boomer generation when the birth rate declined sharply.
Ya, Baby Buster. That explains it.
Peace
Larry