This: “If you’re thinking, waitaminute, aren’t the two most self-involved wealth hoarding nihilists, Bezos and Musk, GenXers? No they are not because they broke the cardinal rule of GenX: they sold out.”
I love this piece, but especially love the above statement because I’ve wanted to put both of them in the GenX reject pile, but needed an explanation.
Thank you! And same here - it's like the generation was split. I thought the Art Degree was a good carve-out/distinction although really the degree part doesn't totally matter. Maybe the fallen GenXers like M & B are doing all this because they are rejects. That's so GenX of me to call financially successful people rejects. Ha!
Also, when the 3 richest men are in the smallest generation, I think our overall wealth #s get skewed to make us look better off as a whole than if we accounted for the wealth gap.
Ahh! Thank you! So funny - I love the name Ruth. It's a family name and I can't believe I've never said you speak the truth Ruth to the Ruths in my fam. My inner critic smokes using a long filter holder.
Every part of me still smokes except for the real-life parts of me who quit smoking 8 years ago. It’s an ongoing struggle to remind myself that just because my earliest memory of glamour and cool (Olivia NJ stamping out her cigarette with her spiked heel in Grease) includes smoking doesn’t mean I have to do it.
Another Gen-x er here. Don't have an art degree but make lots of arts and zines. And I think that Gen-xers in general who haven't sold out are a hot commodity right now. People need to hire them to show the new kids how to be resilient!
I'm a xennial therapist who sees mostly queer gen z'ers who can't conceive of a time when gay marriage was illegal and trans folks were ignored by insurance companies and the federal government. i also made lots of zines in the 90s and 2000s and swore i'd never do it again. i've been making lots of stickers and zines and distributing them throughout my community and it's literally the best thing i've done for myself.
The litmus test: can you make a flyer by tracing/enlarging type from that giant spiral-bound font book (or if you could afford it/they were on sale: rub off letters)?
OMG I found mine in a drawer just the other day!! I had forgotten all about them, and instead do the “what you want divided by what you have” calculator method.
LETRASET!! Oh damn! I used to photocopy font alphabets and cut and paste headlines and such together for ads and stuff at my fist job in 1986. So much rubber cement!
Dang! I’m just a Gen X’er with a Psych degree who worked 15+ years of corporate across a half-a-dozen companies but recently became an artist and now sees the role of art in change and transformation…
Thank you!! And yeah, what is it about these times making us GenXers feel GenX-y? The Russia stuff? We grew up on Red Dawn and Rocky IV and are having an adverse reaction.
Oh gosh yes. I doubled in Art History / Studio Art (photog and video) so have been hoarding completely random skills my entire life.
I used to be a high-ranking person in strategy and communication at a Very Large Global Bank. At one of my first management retreats I got into a cool conversation over cocktails with the new Art Banker (yeah, when there used to be a lot of money rolling around, we all had one) and our highly educated banter drew a crowd, including my then-boss. She asked me afterwards how I knew so much about art-n-stuff, so I told her the truth.
She replied absolutely deadpan (this woman had no filter): "If I had known you had studied art history I never would have hired you."
So who is going to enjoy life more when we all retire? lol I have a headstart.
I love this! Having an art background absolutely expands every part of existence and it's a great companion in both good and hard times. One of the producers at my first video production job told me that he preferred to hire people with interesting degrees and backgrounds. He said, "you can train people for the technical stuff, but not curiosity."
GenX with an art and journalism degree — just found out one of my very special set of magical skills is being able to both read and write in cursive. It’s so special that the National Archives are seeking us out to “translate” and transcribe handwritten historical documents!
So true! My daughter is a librarian specializing in rare and historical texts. She sends me photos to transcribe all the time and the last time I visited her we practiced cursive together because it’s a skill she wants to learn for herself.
This was so awesome! GenX with a theatre degree! Musical theatre, to be precise. My last long-term gig was data analytics. You know what data analytics is? Sheet music. It’s composing music & scoring & finding the wrong notes. I could find the incorrect data faster than the young STEM grads who had the “right” degrees. I’m looking for career 4 at age 59. Because I can learn anything.
I don't know how I missed this comment earlier but heck yes that is exactly what I am talking about! I'm feeling emboldened but I really think there aren't too many jobs outside of stuff like brain surgery and rocketships that a GenXer with an art background couldn't do. Thanks so much for the comment!
Such talent is best used for own growth. So in my opinion for that the best you can do now is to learn how to unlearn everything and move inside of your own. I was a person like you and within six dedicated years I could find light within. It brings eternal freedom from fear and bliss. Living life as real human being begins after discovering light or Reality or truth within.
I share from my experiences what helped me in my inner journey. Best wishes.
On a side note, in my country (Portugal) a Gen-xer artist finishing the art degree was sometimes part of selling out, or at the very least counter-productive and a waste of time. Art teachers were very often complete tools (nowadays things are much better, fortunately). Me and a lot of artists friends just dropped out and went on to become successful self-taught professionals.
Portugal! That makes sense because y'all are cool. Truth be told, it was kind of the same here in the US too. The degree part really doesn't matter but it has a good cadence for a headline. When I've been in positions to hire folks, I didn't have degree requirements (those are slowly going away here but a 4-year degree used to be this arbitrary deal breaker). I studied fine art/electronic art and video so school was more about equipment access which used to be a thing too! I loved the experience, but I probably learned more from the city of Detroit where I went to school than I did from my instructors. So see, I'm not a sellout! I'm not! Ha. Thanks so much for your note! I love hearing everyones take on this stuff.
Indeed - a US Gen-X person here and loathe to go to art school (my family is artistic - but from a really different time when artists didn’t have 5000 degrees, they had on the job, life learning to supplement any school learned skills), instead got a degree in East Asian studies and continued my art education alongside everything else in my life in my own way, with courses to teach technique in subjects that interested me. Not part of the group that believes that academia defines what is and isn’t art.
Love this! And I am a Gen X with an Art degree and currently teach art and other stuff at a High School. I could add more cool reasons why we will be in demand soon because the Arts and Humanities will be cool again when AI takes most jobs in the next 10-20 years. Lots of leisure time to do those creative hobbies most put off because they are too tired after working a job they don't like. Finally - we will get some much deserved respect and who knows - maybe get paid too!
Excellent story, absolutely true and spot on! I’m going through and feeling everything you mentioned. I can confirm that some of the other generations I’ve worked with, non Gen X’ers are going to struggle in the near future when things shut down and go dark. I think we’ll be fine.
I used to promote concerts with paper flyers (handed out in person at other gigs), posters that I'd put up around the city, paper mailouts and organising newspaper articles and announcements about the concerts. It was wild. Lots of people came too! This is only 25 years ago too...
I’m 60. Technically Bezos is not one of us. He’s 61. Whew 😅 There is no explaining Musk. Thanks for this article says a BFA + MFA person who misses phones attached to walls.
They'll never be one of us! We should start putting phones back on walls (with a 25 ft cord in case someone needs privacy) and see if that starts to right the world.
This: “If you’re thinking, waitaminute, aren’t the two most self-involved wealth hoarding nihilists, Bezos and Musk, GenXers? No they are not because they broke the cardinal rule of GenX: they sold out.”
I love this piece, but especially love the above statement because I’ve wanted to put both of them in the GenX reject pile, but needed an explanation.
Thank you! And same here - it's like the generation was split. I thought the Art Degree was a good carve-out/distinction although really the degree part doesn't totally matter. Maybe the fallen GenXers like M & B are doing all this because they are rejects. That's so GenX of me to call financially successful people rejects. Ha!
😂 that’s so funny and I do it, too. I know financially successful people who’ve never read a book! What’s admirable or sexy about THAT?
Also, when the 3 richest men are in the smallest generation, I think our overall wealth #s get skewed to make us look better off as a whole than if we accounted for the wealth gap.
Totally! All those average/median/mean stats are BS anyway. We are GenX. You can't average us.
Definitely!
You speak Truth, Ruth! (Always wanted to say that to someone named Ruth). Also, nailed it Sara. PS My inner critic smokes too.
Ahh! Thank you! So funny - I love the name Ruth. It's a family name and I can't believe I've never said you speak the truth Ruth to the Ruths in my fam. My inner critic smokes using a long filter holder.
Every part of me still smokes except for the real-life parts of me who quit smoking 8 years ago. It’s an ongoing struggle to remind myself that just because my earliest memory of glamour and cool (Olivia NJ stamping out her cigarette with her spiked heel in Grease) includes smoking doesn’t mean I have to do it.
Ahhh! Olivia NJ! Seared into our souls. Better Shape Up.
Just thinking about that Shake Shack scene gives me the chills!
Another Gen-x er here. Don't have an art degree but make lots of arts and zines. And I think that Gen-xers in general who haven't sold out are a hot commodity right now. People need to hire them to show the new kids how to be resilient!
That's what I'm talking about! I'm so stoked to see all the zine making going on. Bring back zine distros! Or are they already here?
I'm a xennial therapist who sees mostly queer gen z'ers who can't conceive of a time when gay marriage was illegal and trans folks were ignored by insurance companies and the federal government. i also made lots of zines in the 90s and 2000s and swore i'd never do it again. i've been making lots of stickers and zines and distributing them throughout my community and it's literally the best thing i've done for myself.
Same, no degree, but I'm an "artsy GenX-er" who can do all of the things Sara described.
The litmus test: can you make a flyer by tracing/enlarging type from that giant spiral-bound font book (or if you could afford it/they were on sale: rub off letters)?
Ahhhh! The big ol font book! Sweet memories.
LETRASET 🖤
And do you know how to work a proportion wheel so the enlargement comes out the exact size you need?!
OMG I found mine in a drawer just the other day!! I had forgotten all about them, and instead do the “what you want divided by what you have” calculator method.
LETRASET!! Oh damn! I used to photocopy font alphabets and cut and paste headlines and such together for ads and stuff at my fist job in 1986. So much rubber cement!
Ohhh, rubber cement 🤤. The joys of manually creating graphics. Forty years later, most of my x-acto blade cuts have healed.
I still use rubber cement. I am convinced it's the only try paper-to-paper adhesive.
eBay is a great source for old Letraset sheets if anyone wants to relive those good ole analog days…
Ok. I'm going on the 'Bay later today. :)
there's a creative re use store in my community and it has SO MANY RUB OFF LETTERS! it's heaven
Dang! I’m just a Gen X’er with a Psych degree who worked 15+ years of corporate across a half-a-dozen companies but recently became an artist and now sees the role of art in change and transformation…
Love this for you!
Yes. Gen Xer with a fine arts photography degree. Film photography! I know how to print shit and use chemicals to do it.
Oh yeah! Those are super special skills! Probably will be called upon for the resistance.
Lol i always joke that my experience as a goldsmith will make me a great war dentist
Ha! I'm going to follow you in case things call for a war dentist. I can sew - that could come in handy for stitches or making sails.
I mean who wouldn’t be relieved to see us arrive on the field lol
I've been really feeling my Gen-X status lately. Fantastic post, thank you.
Thank you!! And yeah, what is it about these times making us GenXers feel GenX-y? The Russia stuff? We grew up on Red Dawn and Rocky IV and are having an adverse reaction.
Oh gosh yes. I doubled in Art History / Studio Art (photog and video) so have been hoarding completely random skills my entire life.
I used to be a high-ranking person in strategy and communication at a Very Large Global Bank. At one of my first management retreats I got into a cool conversation over cocktails with the new Art Banker (yeah, when there used to be a lot of money rolling around, we all had one) and our highly educated banter drew a crowd, including my then-boss. She asked me afterwards how I knew so much about art-n-stuff, so I told her the truth.
She replied absolutely deadpan (this woman had no filter): "If I had known you had studied art history I never would have hired you."
So who is going to enjoy life more when we all retire? lol I have a headstart.
I love this! Having an art background absolutely expands every part of existence and it's a great companion in both good and hard times. One of the producers at my first video production job told me that he preferred to hire people with interesting degrees and backgrounds. He said, "you can train people for the technical stuff, but not curiosity."
GenX with an art and journalism degree — just found out one of my very special set of magical skills is being able to both read and write in cursive. It’s so special that the National Archives are seeking us out to “translate” and transcribe handwritten historical documents!
So true! My daughter is a librarian specializing in rare and historical texts. She sends me photos to transcribe all the time and the last time I visited her we practiced cursive together because it’s a skill she wants to learn for herself.
Magical skill indeed! I write in cursive every day and forget that it's a special skill. And now the National Archives need us.
This was so awesome! GenX with a theatre degree! Musical theatre, to be precise. My last long-term gig was data analytics. You know what data analytics is? Sheet music. It’s composing music & scoring & finding the wrong notes. I could find the incorrect data faster than the young STEM grads who had the “right” degrees. I’m looking for career 4 at age 59. Because I can learn anything.
I don't know how I missed this comment earlier but heck yes that is exactly what I am talking about! I'm feeling emboldened but I really think there aren't too many jobs outside of stuff like brain surgery and rocketships that a GenXer with an art background couldn't do. Thanks so much for the comment!
Such talent is best used for own growth. So in my opinion for that the best you can do now is to learn how to unlearn everything and move inside of your own. I was a person like you and within six dedicated years I could find light within. It brings eternal freedom from fear and bliss. Living life as real human being begins after discovering light or Reality or truth within.
I share from my experiences what helped me in my inner journey. Best wishes.
Thank you for this :)
On a side note, in my country (Portugal) a Gen-xer artist finishing the art degree was sometimes part of selling out, or at the very least counter-productive and a waste of time. Art teachers were very often complete tools (nowadays things are much better, fortunately). Me and a lot of artists friends just dropped out and went on to become successful self-taught professionals.
Portugal! That makes sense because y'all are cool. Truth be told, it was kind of the same here in the US too. The degree part really doesn't matter but it has a good cadence for a headline. When I've been in positions to hire folks, I didn't have degree requirements (those are slowly going away here but a 4-year degree used to be this arbitrary deal breaker). I studied fine art/electronic art and video so school was more about equipment access which used to be a thing too! I loved the experience, but I probably learned more from the city of Detroit where I went to school than I did from my instructors. So see, I'm not a sellout! I'm not! Ha. Thanks so much for your note! I love hearing everyones take on this stuff.
Indeed - a US Gen-X person here and loathe to go to art school (my family is artistic - but from a really different time when artists didn’t have 5000 degrees, they had on the job, life learning to supplement any school learned skills), instead got a degree in East Asian studies and continued my art education alongside everything else in my life in my own way, with courses to teach technique in subjects that interested me. Not part of the group that believes that academia defines what is and isn’t art.
1971. Older than Nike. Preach Sara, preach!!!! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏☎️
Ha! Yes!! Thank you. May we all become GenXevangelists.
As a fellow X(ennial) with an art degree, I cannot hire you, but you’ve earned a follow here.
Yes! Thank you! And I shall follow you. We've gotta stick together especially since I'm sure our era is coming any minute now.
🤞🏼🤞🏼
Love this! And I am a Gen X with an Art degree and currently teach art and other stuff at a High School. I could add more cool reasons why we will be in demand soon because the Arts and Humanities will be cool again when AI takes most jobs in the next 10-20 years. Lots of leisure time to do those creative hobbies most put off because they are too tired after working a job they don't like. Finally - we will get some much deserved respect and who knows - maybe get paid too!
Yes!! I'm ready to show people how to sew and make dioramas with construction paper.
Excellent story, absolutely true and spot on! I’m going through and feeling everything you mentioned. I can confirm that some of the other generations I’ve worked with, non Gen X’ers are going to struggle in the near future when things shut down and go dark. I think we’ll be fine.
Thank you! And there's definitely something about these times that's stirring us GenXers.
I used to promote concerts with paper flyers (handed out in person at other gigs), posters that I'd put up around the city, paper mailouts and organising newspaper articles and announcements about the concerts. It was wild. Lots of people came too! This is only 25 years ago too...
Yes!! I think I still can't comprehend how things were one way and then totally not that way. I still have some of those flyers.
Me too!! Seems like yesterday.
I’m 60. Technically Bezos is not one of us. He’s 61. Whew 😅 There is no explaining Musk. Thanks for this article says a BFA + MFA person who misses phones attached to walls.
They'll never be one of us! We should start putting phones back on walls (with a 25 ft cord in case someone needs privacy) and see if that starts to right the world.