What makes a Gen X'er???

The term "Generation X" means a lot of things to a lot of different people. For some, it's positive. They know exactly what being a Gen X'er means, because they know intuitively that they are Gen X'ers. And they are comfortable with that cultural tag to describe their particular experience in the world.

Others simply can't stand the phrase. They think it is a term void of meaning, or else it even creates hostility. I admit that I am baffled at the latter response when I get it. All I can figure out is that these folks think it is just another media attempt to catalog and pigeonhole something that is, in reality, too complex for that.

I think Generation X is a helpful term. What's more, I think the pop culture literature that has grown up around it is fascinating. The term itself goes back to a survey of disaffected youth done by a couple of Brits in the 1960s (and it was actually Baby Boomer youth their book was concerned with, but no matter). Billy Idol used the name for his band in the 1970s. But the "modern" use of Generation X came into popularity with the publication of Douglas Coupland's novel, Generation X: Tales for An Accelerated Culture, in 1991. It was then that the media really grabbed ahold and ran with the term.

So what does it mean to be a Gen X'er? I write about that in my most recent column in the UM Reporter. This is something I've done before and probably will do again in the future. I guess a part of me feels the need to defend the term, if for no other reason than because I have a column and a blog based on its inherent usefulness. If "Generation X" is really empty of meaning, then "Gen-X Rising" doesn't make a lot of sense, does it?

To me, being a Gen X'er is not so much about having been born between certain years. It's more about a common experience. The saying goes, "Here today, gone tomorrow." A more appropriate one for our day might be, "Here today, gone by 5:30." And it's that common experience - shared by many of us in our formative years - that makes Generation X a reality.

Read the column and you'll see what I mean. And as always, I welcome your comments.