Talkin' bout my generation

MIKE TOBIAS
The Port Arthur News

PORT ARTHUR May 08, 2008 03:32 pm

— Ok, maybe it’s because I came across some songs by The Who on my iPod, but yes, I’d like to talk about my generation.
I watch a lot of History Channel shows and read a lot of books; I learn about plenty of eras defined by moments and the people who witnessed and created them. I agree with those who’ve written history that history itself is defined by the generations that have passed through it.
Those who experienced World War II are referred to as the Greatest Generation. This was followed up in the broadest sense by the Baby Boomer generation. And afterwards, Generation X, coined by novelists to describe a generation of individuals who came of age feeling no connection to the cultural icons of the preceding generations.
Ozzie and Harriet, “The Beaver.” Opie. All of them quickly gave way to the era of flower power and the acceleration of media growth led to grisly images of war that instigated calls for peace by the freethinking Baby Boomers. Quick to act because of their passion to act.
And they had some great music too; I always tell my mom I was born in the wrong time. I get by these days because I’m in sole possession of her record collection.
So I have to think, what kind of world are we living in now that it is not run by members of a group known as the Greatest Generation? Seems like a lot with that kind of name couldn’t be all that bad.
And soon to be gone are the days of a world run by the freethinking, passionate Baby Boomers. Life with their kind of fire under your seat is something to be a little envious of. I mean they did end the Cold War and land a man on the moon.
I start to get a smile on my face when I think of my generation. Coined by a Pepsi commercial sometime in the 90’s when they called us Generation NeXt. Ha. That was even the name of our senior yearbook at Nederland, back when I was the editor in 1999.
Slowly but surely, my generation is beginning to fill the holes and shoes of our predecessors. We’re graduating college, taking entry level jobs in multimillion-dollar corporations. We’re designing houses, buildings, ads and feeding you information in your daily paper.
The generation beginning to take charge of the world was some of the first ones to go through Happy Meals. Somewhere out there will be a bank president who as a kid blew up his G.I. Joes with firecrackers. There’s teachers in schools now who had Barbies as kids and can still recite the theme song from the cartoon “Jem.”
There are athletes out there now pursuing their dreams they acted out as kids. Baseball players who can’t help running the bases without remembering when Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez pickled ‘The Beast.’ Hockey players who know what the ‘flying V’ is. There’s baseball players out there who watched “Rookie of the Year” as a kid, acting out their dreams now after wishing that same scenario would happen to them years ago.
The movie “The Sandlot” actually inspired this column; last week Amy Moore and I just came back after chasing down Craig Biggio in Bridge City and were making references to the movie in the newsroom. Saying things like, “You’re killing me, Sols.” To which our Baby Boomer editor Roger Cowles overheard and essentially knew nothing about.
We were aghast. And we began reciting the movie to him, word for word, from the top of our heads, no rehearsal needed. Yes folks, our secret is out. There are those of us on The News staff that bring you your news everyday and know several of Babe Ruth’s nicknames in correct order…The Sultan of Swat…the Titan of Terror…The Colossus of Clout…The Colossus of Clout (see, you have to be a member of my generation to know why we list that nickname twice).
I’m in the company of a great generation myself, the one that will soon be running the world after a childhood full of Saturday morning cartoons and Power Rangers. One day there will be a President of the United States that remembers which Saved by The Bell character was hooked on caffeine pills and who can remember all the words to “Ice, Ice, Baby.”
But don’t worry; we had a good generation in place to teach us what to do when the time came for the torch to pass. All of you Greatest Generation-ers, Baby Boomers, and Generation X-ers can rest assured that the future is in good hands.
Mike Tobias is a writer and image specialist for the Port Arthur News and panews.com.

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