Regular readers already know that I'm a sucker for new labels to describe groups with shared lifestyle characteristics -- Gen X/Y/Next, Twixters, Yeppies, Grunge Parents, you name it -- so this is another one I got a kick out of, probably because much of it describes my current lifestyle (minus the $300 jeans and obviously high income), especially the stuff about music, work and kids. The entire article is fun and worth a read but here are the topic headings to give you the flavour:
- The Grup Music, or the Brand-new Sound of Twenty Years Ago
- The Grup Look, or I Swear These Jeans Were Here a Minute Ago
- The Grup Children, or Daddy, Please Turn That Music Down
- The Grup Career, or Take This Job and Allow Me to Do It From Home, With Occasional Snowboarding Trips
Update: Additional commentary from Semantic Compositions
2 comments:
J - I too am a sucker for generational monikers/characteristics...and yes I found myself in the article as well minus the $300 jeans. I have one suit but I do have dressy casual clothes if that makes any sense because of my occupation...
I listen to the same music as my students and was just as excited as they were when the new Jimmy Eat World or Death Cab or fill-in-the-blank band came out. Am I not growing up or am I simply fighting a modernist culture that was all about categories/levels/etc?
Okay I'll have to take this to my blog before my reply gets longer than your post...
There is something to the not-growing-up phenomenon. Although we're not still in our parents' basements at 30 and living the same lifestyles we had at 20 (like many guys are, apparently), we aren't eager to dress like our dads, freeze our musical tastes in 1992 or let go of the things we love (mountain biking, in our cases) in favour of golf or whatever the old dudes used to move towards as they got older.
I think there's also something in the kinds of choices we're making as workers and parents, which were both addressed in the article and identified as something that really differentiates many in our generation compared to the last couple. It may even be a reaction to the perceived failures of the last generation.
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