Apparently I’m a member of Generation Jones. Who Knew?

I remember being fascinated by the Hippy, Afro, MOD, and psychedelic culture that was so pervasive in 70’s media (including the social changes). My high school and college-aged cousins were immersed in it - passionately engaging each other, and our “elders” no less - in their Dashikis and enormous ‘fros. It was all too COOL. From ages 8 through 11, I was thoroughly impressed. (I didn’t have any older siblings, so my knowledge of teens was minimal and second hand.) When I reached that transformational age for myself, I had an epiphany. Coolness could be as much for some an “acquired” persona - a method of self-marketing. For others, it is the authentic result of self-realization.

My Baby Boomer cousins and I are genealogically speaking, of the same generation. But I can’t identify with or claim the cultural trappings of the 60’s as my own, even though I was there. By the time we “late-Boomers” were teens ourselves, the revolutionary concepts that emerged and were embraced by our older cousins, were climaxing for us. The carriers of the Anti-Establishment message were beginning to get…well…established and many props from the theater of social change were quickly co-opted for commercial purposes, which diluted some of their impact, but also allowed some to become mainstreamed.

With all the talk recently about the influence of “Baby Boomers” on many aspects of today’s culture, it needs to be clear whom we’re referring to. What assumptions/expectations accompany that label?

This post at bozellthinking.com on the Generation Jones describes the phenomenon so clearly…