BabyBoomers, Gen X, and what’s my generation called? Oh yeah,
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Generation Jones
by Cari Ogden of Cari-Okie
Hello 4:00 a.m., we meet again. It’s Saturday morning and there’s no good reason to be up, but tell that to my restless legs. But hey! I learned something this morning. I apparently have been living under a rock because I’ve never heard the term Generation Jones.
So I’m not really a Baby Boomer. And I’m not a Gen X-er. Generation X claims Michael Jackson as an icon. Born in 1958, Michael Jackson didn’t become quite the international pop icon until I was too busy raising babies to be impressed. Personal computers, video games, the Iran hostage crisis, the end of the cold war and the fall of the Berlin Wall…all I experienced as a young adult.
George Clooney, Nadia Comaneci, Lady Diana, Michael J Fox, Heather Locklear, Julia Luis-Dreyfus, Jeff Probst, Meg Ryan, and of course Barack Obama – all born in 1961. So I’m in good company. Or at least interesting company! OK, yes, Andrew Fastow (think Enron) was also born in 1961, but hey, every generation has its crooks. So at least I have a place, sort of. I don’t really think “Generation Jones” is a very cool moniker. But maybe we’re just not that cool as a group. Sandwiched between the hippies and the yuppies, between free love and AIDS, we are too busy trying to keep it all together.
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I’ve always called our generation “tailgaters.”!
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That’s my generation too! I only learned about Generation Jones in the last couple of years. I think many of us have felt like we didn’t fit into GenX or Baby Boomers. I guess we have to spread the word!
I’ve always thought that who was a Boomer and who wasn’t shouldn’t be the years that are commonly listed, but whether or not you remember anything about when JFK was shot. For me, that’s the clear dividing line.
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Someone from my high school class (1981) sent around an article a few years ago about “Generation Jones.” I vastly prefer this title over “tweeners,” as in ‘tween the boomers and Gen X. Gag.
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Hi Liz – your “tailgaters” made me laugh. Pretty descriptive!
Anali – I totally agree that remembering JFK’s assassination would make a good dividing line. It’s pretty clear cut.
Pam – the feeling about “tweeners” is mutual. We GenJonesers have characteristics very unique to our generation that aren’t shared by Boomers or GenXers.
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I was born in 1958 but I’d have sworn I was part of the “Pepsi Generation” (Remember those commercials). But noooooo, that ad campaign didn’t hit until 1963 so I’m a Joners. Although I can’t really remember ever trying to “Keep up with the Jones”. It seems I’m lumped into the “big picture” Baby Boomer Generation that’s getting blamed for everything these days. Oh well.
Hope you get some sleep! Thanks for this post.
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CariOkie reply on September 27th, 2009 11:21 am:
Joanna – I loved those “Pepsi Generation” commercials. “I’d like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony…” Jonesers can all probably sing that pepsi commercial.
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I’ve never heard that phrase. I was born in 1956 and definitely identify with the boomers. I’m going to have to read into Gen Jones.
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CariOkie reply on October 21st, 2009 8:38 am:
I know! It was new to me to. Folks born in the early 60s really are sort of in limbo between the boomers and gen-x. It’s interesting that you strongly identify with the boomers.
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