page contents Google

THE MISGUIDED BABY BOOMER

Won’t Get Fooled Again? Place Your Bet. Growing up, little boomer never questioned why anyone would smoke in the house. With a carton of Red in the freezer and ashtrays on every table, what are you supposed to do? Complain? To who? Then you go to college and find smokers everywhere, just like home, except […]

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT: TWO BABY BOOMERS TALK ABOUT IT

The last question you want to ask a combat vet is, “Did you kill anyone?” Just figure they did and if they want you to know, they’ll tell you. The last thing you want to ask a boomer is, “Did your parents and teachers physically abuse you as a child?” We come from an era […]

TOO OLD TO RETIRE YOUNG?

Sixty Is The New Sixty In The Garden. The dream used to be make a million before you’re thirty and retire. You’ve seen these people, these young retirees? They travel, learn new languages, stay in shape. In other words they’re bored to death and need to keep finding challenges before their brains shut down completely. […]

HIKING BABY BOOMER PORTLAND, pt 1

Not one to miss a chance to reflect positively, I strolled Portland’s upper west side from 11th and PSU to the Central Library. It makes sense on the first Tuesday of each month. That’s when Willamette Writers, the largest writing organization in the state, holds its month meeting. I head down early on those days […]

A MILLENNIAL EAGLE IN THE SKY

Score For Boomer Music…Again. Wednesday night the Eagles played the Moda Center at the Rose Quarter in Portland, Oregon. Rock Royalty came to town to play the hits from a long career, but they are a different breed than most royals. First off, they’re not English, so they could care less about royalty. The Rolling […]

BOOMER DENIABILITY: WE DIDN’T LIGHT THE FIRE

We Know Where The Matches Are Though. Believable generational research relies on strong academic studies, insurance statistics, and the federal census. This triumvirate of detailed minutia creates a colorless picture of the past. Instead of men in grey flannel suits, it looks like grey men in flannel, lines of them. Baby Boomer research is the […]

WHY THE BIG DISCONNECT? CHINA AND AMERICA

If You Never Fix What’s Not Broken, You’re Not Looking Hard Enough. There’s A Big Break. China is the world’s factory. Everyone agrees. If you disagree, look at labels in the nearest big box store. It’s also leading, or mentioned, in other categories too. Human rights, pollution, the usuals. Sometimes it’s a thin line between […]

HOW TO EXPLAIN MODERN PROBLEMS TO THE GREATEST GENERATION

Boomers in the Sandwich Generation have a lot to cover. Wedged between the Greats from WWII and Millennials, baby boomers in combined households find one group over-informed by network news, and the other who understand world events from Comedy Central. The younger group has time to figure things out on their terms. To the older […]

SEX, DRUGS, AND ROCK AND ROLL. OR JUST DRUGS

How To Live Next To A Heroin House. A move to the suburbs in most cities means a move away from drugs and crime. Not Portland, Oregon. My inner eastside apartment was too dangerous for a young family. Houses had metal barred windows and bad yards. The juice was never changing. It was a bad […]

BOOMERS IN A DOWNSIZING STATE OF MIND

Or Just Moving For A Better Portland View? From oregonlive.com: “The analysis of Census data showed more baby boomers than ever lived in single-family detached homes in 2012. The pattern holds true even for the eldest of the age group, born between 1946 and 1955. That an indication that the convention wisdom may be wrong, […]