The Throwback Generation

Browsing the internet today, looking at various tumblr, wordpress and blogger sites I was struck by the imagery presented by my peers. Everywhere I looked I saw people wearing graphic tees with old bands or TV personalities on them, vintage shoes and 50s-90s reminiscent hairstyles, while eating the favorite childhood cereals and candies, in bedrooms coated in posters of the icons of their youth. That’s when it began to sink in… we have become an entire generation created by the media—a throwback generation.

There is an obsession with remembering and recreating what used to be popular. Just about everywhere you look now you can find the vintage, or throwback, version of almost anything. From Captain Crunch in its original-style packaging to throwback team jerseys to toys modeled after the version your parents knew. We are enamored of the past.

After coming to this conclusion I had to ask myself how this phenomenon came to be and what it means for our future.

Because of our great advancements in technology providing us with the ability to record everything that happens and capture moments in time with amazing clarity, we have given ourselves a window—make that a door—to the past that we cannot seem to resist walking through every chance we get.

So if everything we consume becomes some incarnation of what once was, will we cease to progress? Will each successive generation simply become a stunted version of the one prior?

If the 50s had men in skinny ties smoking luckies and housewives serving up cocktails on a silver platter, and the 60s had long unruly hair atop the heads of the peace-loving masses, and the 70s had discotheques filled with sex and drugs, and the 80s discovered hairspray and shoulder pads and cheesy TV, and the 90s had high-waist jeans and grunge and rebellion…

Then what do the 2000s have? All of that and a bag of chips. A regurgitated, self-obsessed, remember-when nightmare. The hipster look and way of life has become so trendy that it is the quintessential 2000s identity.

The latest generation of young adults is the result of being raised during a time when media began to rule the world. Throughout childhood and adolescence we were flooded with imagery and learned to be the ideal consumers. In fact, we became so good at consuming that we don’t know how to stop. Our lives are now built around the over-consumption of ideas. Ads, movies, television shows and music are everything we hear and see from the time we wake to the time we fall asleep, and a large portion of it has now been put on ‘repeat’ with the media of our past coming back to haunt us. We have thrown-up or memories and are now trying to force them down again while pretending it’s somehow something new.

It’s become popular to wrap your identity around who were where when you were a child. And it’s equally cool to claim ownership of the identity of who your parents and grandparents were. So when does nostalgia-based evolution become devolution? Who can we become when we only want to be who we were?

Let me venture a guess:

At some point we will tire of this trend and the drive to create new ideas will propel us forward. We are naturally curious beings and once the novelty of the throwback wears off we will return to the drawing table.

At least I hope.

Afro

Maybe today I'm feeling especially rebellious but I'm going to go ahead and put it out there:

I resent the word 'afro'.

I will preface this bluster by informing you all that I am fully aware that I do not know all that much about the etymology of the word, beyond what I googled moments ago when I decided I was indeed perturbed, but I am nonetheless annoyed with it and its application.

What brought this about?

I was complaining of a headache due to too many bobby pins and head bands managing my coiffure and a co-worker suggested I remove them all and "'fro it out!"
I was immediately annoyed when I realized how excited white people seem to get at the idea of seeing a real life "afro". I can appreciate the acceptance of my hair if that were what this really was. But instead it feels like showtime and wearing my hair loose for others to see is the main attraction.
Why does my loose hair, which for any other race is just 'down', have to be called an afro? I don't expect to call it wearing my hair down as I realize my hair tends to defy gravity a bit and go any way but... but still.

I'm losing steam. I think you get my point.

Things like that just drive me crazy.

I also hate hearing older black people referring to my hair as "a natural". A natural? What is that? It's not 1973. And even if it were that shouldn't be an excuse to label what really is the absence of a specific style to in fact be a style. It's just my hair doing it's thing! Good grief.

Silly ignorant brainwashed people.


Maybe it's just me be being overly sensitive. Or maybe not.

Foul Moods

There's something about being in a bad mood that always leaks into every part of my day and ruins it.
Even though I know deep down what's really got me bummed, I still manage to let it affect everything else. So far today I've manged to take my bad mood out on a door, my coworkers, annoying callers (there it goes again), and worst of all my hubby.
Only one of those I listed really deserved it. I feel absolutely frustrated.

I don't really think this was blog-worthy, but I needed to get it out of my head.

Thanks for reading.

American Culture

When asked to define American culture most people, including myself, tend to describe a society made up of many different ethnicities, religions and beliefs that meld together into a sort of super-culture. The most unique answer I received was from my husband who used only one word, 'win'. I wouldn’t have thought of this term myself, but now that I have it seems to sum our culture up very well. To tie together all the definitions I heard and further explain the concept of winning as an American ideal, this is how I would put it: America is made of people who come from a line of strugglers. No matter what country our ancestors hailed from, they came here wanting a better life, if not for themselves—at least for their children. And for some of us we were brought here under persecution and have since had to strive for better treatment and equal rights. Ultimately we want to win. In our daily lives we strive to win in some way or another; whether it’s competing for a better job, a better school, a nicer place to live, or just the best deal. It is the American way of life to not only want better, but to reach for it.

The Party's Over

My pity party, that is.

I've been doing a lot of questioning lately, especially today. Where do I fit in?

It's been frustrating because sometimes I look around at our society and feel as if I don't belong, like I missed something or I simply don't get it. I may joke that I was born in the wrong decade, as if that explains this feeling, but then looking back at the times before me I realize it wouldn't have been any more 'my place'.

Sorry to interrupt, but that remainds me of a funny story. A guy came into the office where I work the other day, and I tend to listen to oldies most of the time there. On that particular day I was jammin' out to some Led Zeppelin. Any way, the guy says, "Now I get why you wear your hair like that." Was that a compliment? I chose to take it as one, but thinking about it again later, I wondered why an explanation for my hair was even needed. As if it had been some bizarre mystery until this dude heard older music and had an ah-hah moment, thinking "oh, now I get it."  

As I was saying. . . 

At times I feel like throwing in my metaphorical hat, but then what would that even solve? There's no magical place to run away from in order to escape people, and even if there were I don't think I'd really want to go.

Perhaps I'm just at that point in my life where I feel the need to question everything. 

What's normal? Why do we do the things we do? And maybe we achieve some degree of satisfaction by seeking answers to our personal, philosophical questions. Besides, it's this very type of inquisitiveness that helped lead me to my BC and learning to accept and love my natural hair. But when I start to question everything, I wonder if there is some point at which I should stop and just leave things be.

I was watching BET Jazz a while ago and they were discussing black hair and interviewing black women on the subject. I couldn't help but think that we won't all ever be natural again (feel free to agree, or just roll your eyes at my exasperation). As long as society continues to have certain standards of beauty, there won't ever be a time where it's OK and normal to just wear one's hair the way it naturally is.

After I left my short pity party, I realized it's dumb to give up. Change is a long and hard process. Maybe there won't be a major change during our life time, or maybe it's already begun. After all, I went natural. If someone had asked me a few years ago if that would ever happen, I would have said no.

I want to part with a positive message for the day, which is not to give up on fighting for what is right. We've all heard that before but I think it's just one of those things you have to discover for yourself. We may not be able to change everyone's minds, but it starts with educating at least one. My personal mission is to continue to educate myself. As they say, ignorance may be bliss but knowledge is power.

Until next time fellow people. . .  

Strictly for Entertainment

In case you hadn't already guessed, they never called me back to do the show. Big surprise. As to the reason I wasn't chosen. . . your guess is as good as mine. According to by mom and a friend of mine, I'm too much of a threat to Tyra and they couldn't have me on the show making her look bad. Sounds good to me. 

My guess is that I was not angry or interesting enough for TV. They are looking for girls willing to act like fools, call each other names, and rant and rave like crazy extremists. The things that make for "good TV". Well that just isn't me and after giving it a lot of though, I'm glad I wasn't picked because I would have gone. I would have showed up there armed with valid points, a logical argument and facts to support my reasoning. . . not exactly the type of discussion they're going to have. That's what makes me sad. That show, and all the others like it, are strictly for entertainment. They try to convince us that there is good information being provided, like they're really trying to improve lives. They are not.

But it is what it is. I can't blame them for running their business the way they do. Their goal is to make money, and making money is exactly what they do.

I'll just continue to direct my opinions toward people I think are genuinely interested, or at least people that may benefit from what I have to say. People like you.

Thank you for reading. I'll try my best to keep it interesting.

Until next time. ( I need to come up with a catch phrase. I'm open to suggestions)

4 Months Later

It turns out something did come of my viewer comment to the Tyra Show.

I left class today to find that I had a missed call and a new voice message, so I checked it. It was a woman calling me from the Tyra Show and she asked that I call her back. When I returned her call she said that they were going to be doing a show about the controversy of black women chemically altering their hair and she asked if I'd be interested in going on it.

I was shocked that they even called me so I wasn't too quick on my feet with reponses to her slew of questions, but I told her I was interested. She proceeded to ask me about my opinions on the subject, quoting what I had written. She was probing to see just how adamant I am and make sure that I would be willing to repeat these thoughts to other guests and Tyra Banks in person.

After talking to her she asked to add me as a friend on either facebook or myspace so she could see what I look like. She also asked my height and weight. I think she was trying to figure out if I'd be TV worthy.

Now I'm waiting to hear back. The last I was told, she had "a couple more people to talk to first" then she would get back to me.

At that point I realized that I had just been interviewed, rather than selected, to be on the show. Suddenly I feel like I'm waiting to find out if I got the job, or if they are just going to hire someone more interesting instead.

Regardless of the outcome, I think it's pretty cool that this happened at all.

On the down side, getting chosen means getting an inside peek at how TV shows are really run, and just like finally getting a job at your favorite store it's doomed to lose some of its sparkle. It will no longer be a mystery. I'll get to see the wizard. Is this good or bad?

I'll let you know. . . if I get the job.

Until next time sports fans.