We’re going to end this week’s examination of dating and friendship and flakiness in San Francisco and California with this sober rap by reader Al:
Here’s my theory, (note: huge generalizations will be made): Our grandparents grew up during the Great Depression thus rearing their children (our parents) to value hard work, decorum, conservatism. As a result we have the buttoned up, squeaky clean 50′s and then the revolt of the free lovin 60′s. Unsure of how to raise us, our parents padded our cribs, fed us on formula of “you can be whatever you want to be” “everyone should go to college” “be an astronaut, honey” “be a ballerina” and it’s left us, as a generation, completely floundering. We can’t make decisions period. About career paths. “Let’s all be designers!” or what the fuck to eat. We’re all looking for the bigger, better, EASIER, next thing. This includes again jobs, lovers, friends, weekend plans. We like to keep all options open, hoping that someday our shot at “space” or “prima ballerina” will fall effortlessly in our lap.
Totally. If only I could be a ballerina without having to practice my pirouettes all that much.
But I have to say, there are advantages to this trip: Last weekend at Handlebar in Chicago, right after LCD Soundsystem’s epic set, my cousin Jono, a designer (he came up with that great Verizon “Rule the Air” logo), couldn’t decide whether to get nachos or fries. So he got nachos and fries and had no complaints. (See the fun after the jump.)
[Above photo by Elisa Hough.]
: Our grandparents grew up during the Great Depression thus rearing their children (our parents) to value hard work, decorum, conservatism. As […]</p>
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Either it was never said, or people just didn’t want to hear it, but the critical part of “You can be anything you want…” is actually the second part – “if you’re willing to work for it”. An attractive image, once an organic byproduct of actually doing something interesting, is now cultivated as end unto itself.
Again, like the iPhone clit flicker a few posts down, this blog posts some stupid shit that has been said a hundred times in the past as if its new material. iPhone girl and GenX Al up there should get together and make observations on pot that they probably didn’t realize they read somewhere else a long fucking time ago and claim them as their own.
I’m not claiming my theory is original. It’s definitely not. In the comment in it’s original post I linked to an awesome NYTimes article. Thanks for railing me though Kyle. I enjoyed it, did you?
I applaud your defense of your unoriginality by smacking my penis against the table in front of me.
Well since you started it… I think the 20-somethings who came of age with the web are just the shizzle. I’m not one of you, but I adore you.
I adore your blend of hippy and yuppy values, I adore your fashion sense, I adore your total lack of prejudice, and I adore your sense of humor. I adore how you don’t take sex too seriously, not to mention drugs or rock & roll. I just adore you.
That’s not to say there aren’t some serious pricks amongst you, especially “superstar” chicks who feel entitled to act like Angelina Jolie in an office environment — but even they tend to be really great once you get them off their sense of entitlement syndrome.
And btw, we are handing off the entire planet to you people in a few decades. That’s the amazing thing to me, that one person at a time, the whole planet is bequeathed to succeeding generations and there is nothing we can do about it.
It makes you think there must be no god, because if there was, God would select a few real gems to live forever and help out into perpetuity.
So to sum up, I heart you, and the future is yours.
I’m kind of with you on this. The Millennials suck far less than their parents and seem to be a genuine improvement on us Gen Xers. Their values are dead-on; their generation elected Obama. They can cruise on that for at least a decade.
The kids are all right.
If anything, their voting for Obama proves how susceptible they are to the powers of branding. And cruising they are, with their heads in the fucking sand.
“It makes you think there must be no god, because if there was, God would select a few real gems to live forever and help out into perpetuity.”
I respectfully disagree, God gives us free will because he wants us to love him with “reciprocal love.” So although He may have great plans for many people, it may be “said people” who choose not to give a hoot. Just something to think about. Maybe it’s not God’s fault that we have so many problems in society, maybe it’s the people who decide to sit back and do nothing. God can do wonderous things with people who live only 70 years, or less. Maybe if our world stopped condeming God as “old-fashioned”, “useless”, or even “dead,” and started listening to him, our world would be a better place.
I agree with the comment, but it still doesn’t explain why people in California are a billion times flakier than those in the rest of the country.
As a native Californian I can’t answer your question but can add that I too am frustrated by flakey people. Several Californians have cell phones but they can’t bother to at least call to say they can’t meet you? B.S. And I don’t use “Let’s have lunch.” as a greeting unless I really want to.
Please, there’s nothing “wrong” with this generation – every generation has it’s share of self-absorbed “woe is me” types, this one just has blogs. Please, get over yourselves and return to posting moderately interesting pictures of the neighborhood.
http://gifparty.tumblr.com/post/147507820
None of this is really that mysterious. East Coast is a land of prep schools, old money, dressing for dinner, deadlines, timelines, and manners. West Coast is a land of hot tubs, marijuana, loose virtue, avocado facials, and spirituality.
California is like a bowl of cereal, man. Once you get rid of the fruits and the nuts, all you’ve got are flakes.
This has been common wisdom since, like, before the war.
I think Ben Franklin was the original sayer of it.
I took that? Where?
Echo Park!
again to the flake-complainers. have you ever tried living in nyc?
man that verizon logo is one of the all time worst. If I created it I’d never admit it.
I really dislike the new verizon logo and campaign. How does using verzion make you some kind of counter culture activist? They put up a Verizon Rule the Air billboard right in front of the SF Food Bank…I wish they would encourage volunteering or actual activism instead of pretending like using their service is akin to activism.