Generation X: Keeping it real

Fake. <insert bass and drum line>

Fake. <insert bass and drum line> 

Fake… Why you such a… Fake!

-Brand New Heavies, 1994

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xHw099a7hM

Lately I’ve been thinking about how the world needs more Gen X… AKA: The Latchkey or The MTV Generation.

If you didn’t know already, Gen X is a small generation falling between the Baby Boomers and the Millennials, typically born between the years 1965 and 1980.

I’m Gen X. I’ve always been proud to be Gen X.

I liked Grunge and went to Lililth Fair. I listened to the latest acid jazz from The Brand New Heavies or Brooklyn Funk Essentials. I liked the Grateful Dead even more and became a flight attendant so I could travel from coast-to-coast to see the band play. Back then, we didn’t have smart phones to text and meet up, but somehow we could find each other at a 60,000 person stadium. Parking lot K, second light post. Only drug dealers and flight attendants had beepers. So I had one of those.

I was not a slacker, as many pundits have tried to define Gen X. But I waited to grow up. I waited to start my career. I waited to have a child. I wanted to taste life to its fullest. I knew that these experiences would broaden my perspective. Make me a more valuable wife, mother, person. And waiting did.

But possibly, the thing I like most about Gen X, and a characteristic I carry myself, is we are not fake. We don’t pretend that everything is okay. We don’t need to always put on a positive attitude. We are not afraid to be cynical. We are not afraid to offend the easily offended Millennial Generation.

We like the word FUCK. We like it a lot and use it a lot. One time my husband was cursing like a sailor in front of our child at a local burger joint*.

Our daughter was maybe 2 or 3 years old, and I’d become desensitized to my husband’s river of obscenities. Some stranger, a guy probably a little younger than us, came over to say he was uncomfortable with my husband’s (or rather my daughter’s father) language in front of the small child.

Certainly, a stranger telling me, or my husband, what was appropriate for our family was not going to reduce the use of f-bombs streaming from his mouth. So we quickly grabbed our things and headed out rather than let my husband reach his boiling point and get us kicked out.

My child now chides her father to put a coin in her “swear jar” college fund. Let’s just say, she’s making bank.

I digress. The point being, we aren’t striving to be politically correct or to not offend people. Controversy is good. Controversy broadens the spectrum of thinking. It disrupts the status quo.

I am working with a young (college age) CP (Critique Partner), who by the way is kicking my ass on my current WIP. She commented in my manuscript that some of the content would make her uncomfortable, especially if it was glamorized. I laughed out loud. The last thing on my mind when I’m writing a manuscript is whether I might make someone uncomfortable with the content. In fact, if I don’t make you uncomfortable, I am not doing my job as a writer.

So in this world, where many people are touting to put up a front on Social Media that everything is okay. That we should wear our rose colored glasses and preach positivity. That every family photo posted on Facebook comes across as if they never raise their voices at one another.

Stop it!! Please, stop it. Stop being fake! Be real. Embrace what is happening to you or to someone else. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And, don’t pretend that everything is okay. We are all big girls and boys. We can handle the truth. I promise.

But most importantly, some days it is simply okay to say, FUCK, DAMN, ASS, SHIT!

Tell me, what is your favorite swear word? What helps you keep it real?

*The World Famous Darkhorse, IMHO the best burger in Boulder. And some would say also the best wings. Check them out at: https://darkhorsebar.com/