Baby Boomers Vs Gen Jones

OK, I have a bone to pick here and a soapbox to mount. While Baby Boomers is a term often used to cover everyone born between 1946 and 1964, actual demographers (as opposed to pop culture talking heads) now use the term to mean only those between 1946 and 1953 (or 1954), while those born 1954-1964 are demoted to such names as Generation Jones (how anonymous) or Shadow Boomers (defining them as shadows of their older siblings).

Those of us in Gen Jones are tired of being tarred with the Baby Boomer brush, which doesn’t really apply.

Let’s start with a Wikipedia quote: “While 1945-1965 reflect the post-World War II demographic boom in births, there is a growing consensus among generational experts that two distinct cultural generations occupy these years. The conceptualization that has gained the most public acceptance is that of a 1942-1953 Baby Boom Generation, followed by a 1954-1965 Generation Jones. Boomers and Joneses had dramatically different formative experiences which gave rise to dramatically different collective personalities.”

To get personal with this, I am from the first age cohort of Gen Jones, born in 1954. I remember seeing Jack, Bobbie and Teddie Kennedy during the Wisconsin primary in 1960, but I was only five at that point. I was eight for the Cuban Missile Crisis and nine (third grade) when JFK was killed. Yes, I saw Oswald shot live on TV and ran to tell my parents. The Summer of Love, RFK’s and King’s assassinations took place just after I graduated from grade school. Kent State happened on my 16^th birthday. I never faced the draft, but I was able to vote in the 1972 election.

The younger members of Gen Jones had even less connection with these events. They were born after the Missile Crisis and JFK’s assassination and were not even in kindergarten in 1968. Some could not vote for a president until Regan’s second term.

I am quite willing to concede that Boomers have made lousy political leaders. This would include Bill Clinton (1946), Hillary Clinton (1947), George W. Bush (1946) and Tom Delay (1947), with Jim Webb (1946) and Al Gore (1948 ) providing some counterpoint. Their formative years made them formidable politicians, just not very effective leaders. Clarence Thomas (1948 ) and Samuel Alito (1950) are Boomers, while John Roberts qualifies as Gen Jones. Gen Jones politicians include Barak Obama (1961) and Russ Feingold (on the cusp in 1953), though most of that generation have not (yet?) reached prominence.

Baby Boomers are reaching retirement age, deluging our airways with Depends and Viagra commercials. Gen Jones expects to work until they are 70 and will not really start hitting retirement until 2024, with the trailing edge hitting 70 in 2034. John McCain will be 98 by then (God willing).

I’ll close with another Wikipedia quote: In demographic terms, Generation Jones was part of the baby boom which ended in the early 1960s. However, the events stereotypically associated with generational discussion of Boomers, including protests over civil rights and the Vietnam war and the emergence of rock music took place while the members of Generation Jones were still children or early teenagers. Thus the early life experience of this group was more similar, in many respects, to that commonly imputed to Generation X.

Almost Catholic by Jon M. Sweeney

This book is well defined by its subtitle: An Appreciation of the History, Practice & Mystery of Ancient Faith. Sweeney is not a Catholic and isn’t interested in becoming one. He is interested in how to adapt (not adopt) some Catholic practices into his faith life and there he finds much that he can use.

Sweeney’s background is evangelical and he spent time as a missionary. It was the experience of working to convert Catholics in the Philippines that helped him realize that, though he wasn’t interested in being Catholic, he was interested in much that they had that was missing from his life. This is not a book about dogma, papal infallibility or canon law, but about imagination, mystery, the Desert Fathers and Incarnation.

In all this he stays within his own faith (he is now an Episcopalian), even when spending a chapter on eleven steps to becoming a truly Catholic Christian. As a Catholic myself, he is entirely correct in these prescriptions, which get to the core of our shared faith. Unlike your flag decal, they might well get you into heaven, but they are too often missing from Catholic orthodoxy and pronouncements. He is thus calling all Christians to recover some of their heritage (his primary purpose here) and reminding Catholics of some of their core beliefs.

Much of the heritage came back to him only with a lot of struggle. Andrew Greeley, when not penning romantic suspense and mysteries, has written about the importance of the Catholic imagination, a world view that stands in sharp contrast to that of most Reformation and post-Reformation Christians. Catholics are more “fleshy”, which is why they use a crucified Christ rather than an empty cross. Sweeney even comes to appreciate such thing as rosaries and repetitive prayers, novenas and icons, anathema to most Protestants.

In all this, Sweeney is not looking at Benedict or Cardinal Law as his exemplars of what Catholics are about, but the Desert fathers, Merton, Francis, Chesterton and Flannery O’Connor. He is looking at two thousand years of faith (much of it shared with other Christians). If there is a conversion he is seeking, it is one that any Christian can undergo – a closer approach to Jesus.

This brings to my mind Gordon R. Dickson’s Childe cycle. In it, a crowded Earth colonizes several planets, but does so in the way Europe colonized America. One planet is a religious City on a Hill, another is devoted to philosophy, a third has little in the way of resources and turn to producing military expertise (Courage, Faith, and Philosophy). After each has developed humanity to the outer limits of what is possible, they find that they must reunite or die. Not that they must become homogenized, but that their strong traditions must blend and mix to provide even greater strength and survive.

Catching up on my graphic novel reading

I often pick up a graphic novel or two to fill out my lunch. Working in a library rules. Ran through the Queen & Country series, which reminded me a lot of Le Carre, which I am also working my way through (on A Perfect Spy right now). Gritty spy stories, lots of trade craft, but friends lost, people betrayed and regrets.

I heard that Watchmen was being made into a movie (due in 2009) and thought I would re-read it. Good decision. Super heroes have never looked more human, since many of the capes are just very motivated normals. The writing is multi-level, with a touch of coming of age, the cost of being more than human, deep foreshadowing and some truly deranged people. Hard to know just how this will translate to film, since this isn’t X-Men or Hellboy. Complicated plot and a lot of it. A good break from the Japanese stuff I sometimes read. This is a core title for anyone reading graphic novels.

ThenI picked up Orson Scott Card’s Red Prophet: The Tales Of Alvin Maker Volume 1 and Volume 2. This is a “based on the book” deal, but I liked the books and the GNs don’t disappoint. For those who haven’t read the books, these are more than fine. The story concerns an alternate history where magic is alive and well on the American frontier. Harrison, Jackson, Tecumseh all make appearances. Not instant classics, but rewarding.

Next I picked up The Gunslinger Born, based on Stephen King’s book. I must be one of the few humans never to have read a Stephen King book (though I have read a few of his short stories). Just don’t appreciate scarey things. This was different and more in my reading profile. Mythic. Very atmospheric. Very “painterly,” so that it does look like a comic, but is more like magic realism.

Finally, because the local newspaper messed up my subscription, I have been catching up on Robin. Not the original Boy Wonder, who is now Nightwing, but Tim Drake, who is unburdened by the legacy of Golden Age action that Dick carries. Tim reminds me more of Invincible. A young, talented hero who is feeling his way through the teen years and real losses.

Frankly, though I like anime and manga, it is nice to get a dose of American stories. No weird monsters from someone else’s tradition (Shimigami? death gods?). No weird sexual vibe. I don’t look down on other people’s traditions and culture, but I also don’t look down on my own. Taoism is great, but I use it as an adjunct to Catholicism, not as a replacement. Adapt, not adopt.