Whatever happened to Pebbles, anyway?

Interesting article in USA Today about todays 18-25 years olds and their life's goals.

The reason this is interesting is the voice given to this generation concerning its ambitions and aspirations. I guess my bitter Gen-xity comes out here. I am a Gen xer, who speaks fluent boomer (and silent gen, I might add) as well as a smattering of Gen Y. The ironic thing to me in this article is not so much the overwhelming numbers of 18-25 year olds who want to strike it rich and be famous, but the fact that this is a major article. In the mid 80's, I have no doubt this was the general idea with the college student of the day- I mean, just look at the Top 40 for pete's sake- "I want to be rich (I want money, lots and lots of money)" "Do you want to ride in my mercedes boy" "I've got the brains, you've got the looks, lets make lots of money" "Money, money changes everything" "Material world and I am a material girl". It was the greed decade, remember? But who gets the credit for that? THE BOOMERS! It's the whole "Wall Street" thing (you know, the movie with Michael Douglas) instead of "Risky Business" (Tom Cruise is technically a boomer, but he played a teenager in the 80's- which would make him Gen X). The ME generation and their 30-something Yuppie-ville got all the hype for being materialistic and fame driven. And now, the Gen-Yers get the moniker on them- (funny enough that they are their parents' children). And so, Gen X slides by, unnoticed and ignored, marginalized at best as a latte drinking, clove cigarette smoking bunch of communist wannabes- when I have no doubt that we all wanted fame and fortune just as much as these college kids today.

Hey, wait a minute. We are vindicated in the silence of the media. I should just shut-up, because we come out looking good! In fact, if we could dig up articles from the 90's, when the second half of Gen X was in college (when they started realizing they existed) you'd see these glowing reports of how giving and service oriented we were as young people. So, here we are, this huge population bubble (contrary to popular belief, Gen X is as big if not bigger than the boomers. Its just that birth rates went down (at the same time as Roe V Wade was passed, go figure)- it doesn't factor in immigration) waiting to change the world, and whining about it along the way. But maybe we'll actually do one better than our parents, and see someone from our cohort in the White House one day. Until then- I guess we'll just make money, invest it in socially responsible equity funds and hit the Starbucks for a latte while we blog.

I love it when this happens

I love it when I'm stewing over several things- money, wealth, power- what is this "Emerging church" thing, how do I behave as a follower of Christ in a culture basted in money and power- and along comes a quote that sums it up for me nicely. Here it is, by none other than one of my fav. people- Rob Bell


“How do comfortable Christians in the suburbs join the God of the oppressed? Is it even possible? I live in a city where one in five people live in poverty and on 28th Street they just opened a new Hummer dealership... I need this seminar because I need to know what following Jesus looks like in an empire where so few have so much and so many have so little.” -Rob Bell

I hear John Williams "Empire Strikes back" playing in my head....

...And a Happy New Year?

From the internet- gotta love it~


"Please accept with no obligation implied, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, nonaddictive, gender neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion or secular traditions of all.
And a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling,and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make Britain great, (not to imply thatBritain is necessarily greater than any other countryor is the only “Britain” in the Western Hemisphere),and without regard to the race, creed, color, age,physical ability, religious faith, or sexual preference of the wishee.
By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms: This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable provided there is no alteration to the original. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishesfor her/himself or others, is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expectedwithin the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, which ever comes first, and warranty is limited to repair of this wish or issuance of a replacement wish at the sole discretion of the wisher."