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A magical photo of a wheat field; it looks like winged caterpillars about to fly away. Brought to mind “Leaves of Grass” and Song of Myself;
Tenderly will I use you curling grass,
It may be you transpire from the breasts of young men,
It may be if I had known them I would have loved them,
It may be you are from old people, or from offspring taken soon out of their mothers’ laps…
What do you think has become of the young and old men? And what do you think has become of the women and children?
They are alive and well somewhere,
The smallest sprout shows there is really no death…
All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses, And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.
They must be hiding something really, REALLY big.
Everybody will find out soon.
The waiting is the hardest part.
Turn it around.
Remember this’n?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMyCa35_mOg
A beautiful magical photo of wheat, seems like winged caterpillar about to take flight. Brought to mind “Leaves of Grass” and Song of Myself:
Tenderly will I use you curling grass,
It may be you transpire from the breasts of young men,
It may be if I had known them I would have loved them,
It may be you are from old people, or from offspring taken soon out of their mothers’ laps,
And here you are the mothers’ laps…
What do you think has become of the young and old men? And what do you think has become of the women and children?
They are alive and well somewhere, The smallest sprout shows there is really no death…
All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses, And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.
Apologies for the duplicate comment. Not sure what happened.
Gen X Answers Gen Z
This Gen X woman’s response to an innocent question is both hilarious and absolutely 100-percent true.
So when y’all are saying that y’all used to drink from the hose… were sinks not an option?
For fuck’s sake. Whose gonna tell him? You want me to tell him? I’ll tell him.
We weren’t allowed in the house!
I don’t know why that’s so hard for people to understand. Our childhood was like one never-ending episode of that TV show, Survivor, okay? We are indestructible. We never sat in car seats, nobody’s ever given us swimming lessons, we’ve all either been shot with a BB gun or stabbed with a fucking jart. The television stations had to make a commercial reminding our parents that they had kids!
I shit you not! Every night, on the 10 PM news, a voice would come on and say: “It’s 10 PM, do you know where your children are?” To remind our parents that they had fucking kids.
So, no, Sir Shirtless with the beanie. Sinks were not an option.
https://www.tiktok.com/@kellymanno/video/7234266640832056619
Ghost, your comment reminded me of this. Can’t remember where I ran across it, maybe some of you have read it and can enlighten me. Many moons have passed since then. But, I found it amusing:
“Earlier generations have weathered recessions, of course; this stall we’re in has the look of something nastier. Social Security and Medicare are going to be diminished, at best. Hours worked are up even as hiring staggers along: Blood from a stone looks to be the normal order of things “going forward,” to borrow the business-speak. Economists are warning that even when the economy recuperates, full employment will be lower and growth will be slower-a sad little rhyme that adds up to something decidedly unpoetic. A majority of Americans say, for the first time ever, that this generation will not be better off than its parents. —New York Magazine
Generation X is sick of your bullshit.
The first generation to do worse than its parents? Please. Been there. Generation X was told that so many times that it can’t even read those words without hearing Winona Ryder’s voice in its heads. Or maybe it’s Ethan Hawke’s. Possibly Bridget Fonda’s. Generation X is getting older, and can’t remember those movies so well anymore. In retrospect, maybe they weren’t very good to begin with.
But Generation X is tired of your sense of entitlement. Generation X also graduated during a recession. It had even shittier jobs, and actually had to pay for its own music. (At least, when music mattered most to it.) Generation X is used to being fucked over. It lost its meager savings in the dot-com bust. Then came George Bush, and 9/11, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Generation X bore the brunt of all that. And then came the housing crisis.
Generation X wasn’t surprised. Generation X kind of expected it.
Generation X is a journeyman. It didn’t invent hip hop, or punk rock, or even electronica (it’s pretty sure those dudes in Kraftwerk are boomers) but it perfected all of them, and made them its own. It didn’t invent the Web, but it largely built the damn thing. Generation X gave you Google and Twitter and blogging; Run DMC and Radiohead and Nirvana and Notorious B.I.G. Not that it gets any credit.
But that’s okay. Generation X is used to being ignored, stuffed between two much larger, much more vocal, demographics. But whatever! Generation X is self-sufficient. It was a latchkey child. Its parents were too busy fulfilling their own personal ambitions to notice any of its trophies-which were admittedly few and far between because they were only awarded for victories, not participation.
In fairness, Generation X could use a better spokesperson. Barack Obama is just a little too senior to count among its own, and it has debts older than Mark Zuckerberg. Generation X hasn’t had a real voice since Kurt Cobain blew his brains out, Tupac was murdered, Jeff Mangum went crazy, David Foster Wallace hung himself, Jeff Buckley drowned, River Phoenix overdosed, Elliott Smith stabbed himself (twice) in the heart, Axl got fat.
Generation X is beyond all that bullshit now. It quit smoking and doing coke a long time ago. It has blood pressure issues and is heavier than it would like to be. It might still take some ecstasy, if it knew where to get some. But probably not. Generation X has to be up really early tomorrow morning.
Generation X is tired.
It’s a parent now, and there’s always so damn much to do. Generation X wishes it had better health insurance and a deeper savings account. It wonders where its 30s went. It wonders if it still has time to catch up.
Right now, Generation X just wants a beer and to be left alone. It just wants to sit here quietly and think for a minute. Can you just do that, okay? It knows that you are so very special and so very numerous, but can you just leave it alone? Just for a little bit? Just long enough to sneak one last fucking cigarette? No?
Whatever. It’s cool.
Generation X is used to disappointments. Generation X knows you didn’t even read the whole thing. It doesn’t want or expect your reblogs; it picked the wrong platform.
Generation X should have posted this to LiveJournal.”
“Generation X is tired. It’s a parent now, and there’s always so damn much to do.”
Gen X isn’t special there, eh? Fred Flintstone complained about that.
But Gen X was the “Baby On Board” generation. It is now the parents to the woke of today.
Though as a boomer, it was my generation that raised the Babies On Board and gave them all Participation Trophies. We’ll take the blame for that; Gen X can take the blame for “woke”
Trooper – That is surely a Vox Day original.
He gets on that rant on a regular basis, mostly anti-boomer.
Anyway, my comment above was scalped right off of Days website.
https://voxday.net/2023/05/22/gen-x-answers-gen-z/
The problem with all this “generation” stuff is that it is all too general.
There are more exceptions, than rules.
We all know them.
What Day rants about, about the boomers, none of it applies to me and my wife.
generalizations.
None of what I copy n pasted above has to do with ALL X’rs.
IOW, all generalizations have to be understood for what they are.
Lastly, our son is an X’r, born in 79.
He and his wife have been married once and still, have 2 daughters, run their own business, and seem to be doing well. They come up and stay with us for a week or two every couple years. They fall into some of the X’r generalizations and no doubt some boomers do to. And maybe all generations do. That’s the problem with shooting a flock of pigeons with a .22, there are more misses than hits.
Yes, I remember what hose water tastes like but I’ve never been stabbed by a Jart though it was close a couple times.
Oh, how I love to see fields of wheat, or grass. They calm my soul and give me hope.
However, if you look closely there is one piece that has a brown tint. That brown is a virus that can destroy the entire field if not eradicated in time.
field mouse peed on that one
Can we switch to another . . .how about this guy?
“Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be…
A lovely poem. Good switch.
Like you, Anne, fields of grain give me a sense of hope and security, a feeling that somehow things will be ok.
I remember how I marveled at them driving from the Midwest to the Pacific Coast many years ago, passing the Mitchell Corn Palace on the way. Miles of wheat and oats and corn. Flocks of redwings. Stretches of empty highway. I don’t see many redwings anymore.
TBH, I never give Gen X or the rest of the youngers half a thought as anything unified. I mean, I suppose they share characteristics and cultural history, but it’s fairly boring since by the time this Boomer hit adulthood, I never looked backwards. Kurt Cobain might be of some interest, but I believe I’ve never listened to any of his songs.
Ghost, please no Tik Tok. Dood! Tom Petty: very good.
Buckle up, my friends. This summer we have Impeachment, Spring Offensive, and Taiwan. We live in interesting times.
Oh, let me add that I do care about my children’s Gen., but I don’t know what the Gen. has been named, yet. Born in 2001 and 2003.
Trooper John Smith. General Smith, in Confederate terms. Glad you post here and please do it often, sir.
Casey, have you seen the James Stewart movie “Shenandoah” (1965)?
I highly advise it.
He’s one my top 5 actors and that is my fav movie he was in.
Civil War era, farmer, wanted to stay out of the war. Things didn’t work out like he wanted. Lots of good messages in it. I especially like, and can relate to, his message to the young soldier that wanted to marry his daughter early in the movie. It’s a timeless message and maybe more so now than ever.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059711/?ref_=nm_flmg_t_22_act
I’ll put that on my list, for sure.
Story has it that Jimmy Stewart, returning to Hollywood after the war (WWII, for you youngsters reading), detrained one platform short of Hollywood to avoid a welcome home event. He was as humble as apple pie, and his wartime service was the real deal. I think it really fine the way he starred with John Wayne in the Duke’s last movie, and his performance in WSLV is top drawer. Going further, the conservatives going into WWII wanted none of it, and were rock-ribbed isolationists. Good to remember.
Let’s stretch that list on out. If you like JS and you want to see some decent footage of the amazing and enormous B36 take a look at “Strategic Air Command”, JS doing what he did best. I’d gladly give the left one up to sit in the front seat at 40,000 ft in one of them. Yes, WSLV is not to be missed. JW, JS and Lee Marvin all together. wow! BTW, that little short shit Strother Martin, Liberties pahdnah, was a world class diver and did dive instruction in the Navy in WWII, and he’s from right down the road! “What we have here is a failure to communicate!”
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048667/
Strother Martin. My favorite role of his is Coffer in The Wild Bunch. Actually, I think it is my favorite Western, too. Definitely my favorite Peckinpah film. Of course, it’s hard to go wrong with Bill Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, and Robert Ryan. Casey, you correctly guessed my username inspiration…the scene in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon with Ben Johnson being addressed by a dying Private Smith.
Gen. Smith, it was an easy catch since SWAYR is my fave movie of all time. “The sun and the moon change, but the army never does,” said John Wayne. Except this week, when it changes my old stomping ground’s name from a confederate general’s, to Fort Hal Moore. Changes like that don’t sit well with me, no matter how great Hal Moore was. This new gay army is tasked with much, and de-stoned more and more each day. The young soldier must have some sense of moral certitude if he’s going to have courage, and that don’t count coddling cross-dressers.
Ghost, I’m a fan of the SAC movie. When Jimmy Stewart arrives at the main gate, wearing the wrong uniform, that struck a chord with me.
Back in the day, the character actors we always recognized were integral to good movies. I watched Sam Elliott in Tombstone last night. Try: Ben Johnson, John Agar, Harry Cary, and Ward Bond. By God, that was movie makin!
I agree. Sometimes the character actors were the best part of the film. There is a fantastic video on the yootoobs with Ben Johnson and Harry “Dobe” Cary, Jr. talking about the early days of their Hollywierd careers. Ben talks about how he quit acting for one rodeo season just so he could win the championship for whatever circuit they were on. Once he won, he went back to acting. Great stories about their experiences with John Ford, too.
Though the old movies were fake there was a real sense of realism about them. Ol’ Ben. I’ve seen him in a hundred different things. Same with Carey. They were “go to” guys all over the place back then. It’s been said that John Wayne never played a character, he played John Wayne, and that’s true. He invented his own character. Watch Duke in a “modern role”, say, McQ for example. Except for the suit and modern firearms, he’s all cowboy Duke to the core.
The old movie “Texas” was a shocker for me. I lived most of my life thinking of William Holden and Glenn Ford a certain way. Then I saw Texas a couple years ago. WoW! They were younger than I had ever seen them and there was a rawness, a don’t give a damness to them. I believe they did all their own riding and stunts in that film. I had new respect for both of them. Which came in handy a little later when I saw an older Glenn Ford put a most serious ass whippin on that King Fu dood, David Carradine for raping a woman friend.
For the most part my wife and I live our TV existence in the old daze almost exclusively. Last year we finished the 20 year epic TV series Gunsmoke on DVD’s by watching 3 or 3 episodes week while eating supper. Can’t stand nor will tolerate most modern stuff. By the late 60’s, Hollywoods products became mostly useless as far as I’m concerned.
I saw something beautiful today.
I had driven down a very narrow side street. I knew it ended up at our citywide composite operation. I was looking for a driveway which I missed on the way down. I turned around at the end of the street and started back up toward the driveway. It was a bright sunny day here. A mid-sized “silver dick” came softly down toward me. DH calls those mid-prized cars that look like speedsters “dicks”. I could tell it was driven by a younger person. He came toward me and when he reached the intersection of the top driveways he turned a beautiful 180-degree turn, and for a quick moment he hesitated and headed back toward the way he had come, but then suddenly he stepped into a MOST PERFECT 360-degree turn in place–no deviation. DAMN that was beautiful! With the same sound and careful thinking he headed back the way he had come. We need more of him in our future! More young white men with courage to be who we were!
So, power braking with the wheel cranked to the left?
This thing must be terribly bogged down with trash cause it took over 2 minutes to open.
Yes. Done in a safe area with no bystanders. Just fast enough to make it a little exciting, but mostly done for the pure joy of getting it perfect! In my early years, I might have tried a couple of times in out-of-the-way places. What I think most here will understand is that the car has to have some specific design qualities, for example, my large 2007 SUV would not do well!
I once tried it on a back road covered with fresh snow in the middle of winter. I was driving my DH’s beloved 1977 Saab — no power steering. I left something that looked like a half-eaten doughnut dunked in coffee! Two hours later when DH and I went back up the same untravelled road he of course recognized immediately what had been attempted at that site–old sailor that he is! 🙂 Hard to pull one over on him! 😉
Yes. Done in a safe area with no bystanders. Just fast enough to make it a little exciting, but mostly done for the pure joy of getting it perfect! In my early years, I might have tried a couple of times in out-of-the-way places. What I think most here will understand is that the car has to have some specific design qualities, for example, my large 2007 SUV would not do well!
I once tried it on a back road covered with fresh snow in the middle of winter. I was driving my DH’s beloved 1977 Saab — no power steering. I left something that looked like a half-eaten doughnut dunked in coffee! Two hours later when DH and I went back up the same untravelled road he of course recognized immediately what had been attempted at that site–old sailor that he is! 🙂 Hard to pull one over on him! 😉