Category: Culture
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Love My Way: The Psychedelic Furs and the Marimba That Woke Me Up
What if one song could tell you it was okay to exist exactly as you are? What if it came from a group of straight guys who decided silence wasn’t an option? And what if that song , of all things, started with a marimba? Let’s talk about “Love My Way” by the Psychedelic Furs!…
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When Free Speech Fought Back in 1985
Are we safe if a comedian does not have free speech? Were we safe when musicians did not have free speech? Did the executive branch always hate the first amendment or is this a new trend? In September 2025, ABC/Disney abruptly suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr publicly denounced Kimmel’s political…
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Pee Wee Herman: Lessons From a Manchild
By Rachael Price Nowadays, one does not usually understand the term “manchild” to be a compliment. Whereas it once denoted a young person who had to deal with adult challenges early in life, such as the autobiographical protagonist of Claude Brown’s landmark Civil Rights-era novel Manchild in the Promised Land, it now tends to invoke…
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Surviving the Cold War (Again): A Gen Xer’s Guide
If you were a Gen X kid, you remember the Cold War and may be having a familiar feeling right now. Global tension you didn’t fully understand but could feel. We didn’t learn about the Cold War from history books. We learned it from Sting songs, Stallone movies, and being told by our teachers that…
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Generational Fan Fusion Heals My Heart of Glass IRL
In my years as a journalist I have covered Fan Cons with press pass in hand in Baltimore, Washington DC, Chicago, Joliet, and Milwaukee. But I have never been to one as a vendor. The experience would change me and that change came at the hands of Millennials and Gen Z. That change would come…
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Gloria Estefan Taught Us How to Come Out of the Dark
Gloria Estefan is a Fem Friday icon. I’ve got Pat Green to thank for helping me remember just how iconic she really is. I asked him if he had ever considered writing about her. He said he had a rough draft and notes on her-as well as other women from the 80s. I asked him…
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Not Your Stepford Sister: How to Be Fem Friday Hero
All women are in danger right now. Our rights, the ones we have left, are under attack. Our bodies are being legislated. Our stories are being erased from history, and government websites like NASA. Whether you’re a white straight women in Boston, trans woman in Florida, a Black mom in Illinois, a disabled activist in…
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Ready to Rage? The Great Fem Friday Takeover
Hi! My name is Heather and I will be running Gen X Watch until the end of June. I have exactly one fond memory of the 1980s: the weekend Pat Green saved my life. Everything else about that decade can burn for all I care. Gen X nostalgia? Hard pass. I’m not here to romanticize…
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Jill Sobule: Social Legacy Far Beyond One Hit
I was scrolling my Insta on May 1st when I saw my favorite human and Go-Go, Jane Weidlin post in grief that it did not feel real. What didn’t feel real? Jill Sobule passed at age 66. I felt the breath escape my lungs and a wave of emotion hit. She’s one of those icons…
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Gen X Needs to Be Cool Without Being Cruel
One of the reasons I started Gen X Watch was to be the antithesis to the flood of memes on my social feeds. The ones posted by fellow Gen Xers bragging that we had the best childhood. You know the ones: pictures of kids from the 80s on BMX bikes, in muscle cars, hanging out,…
Recent Posts
- Love My Way: The Psychedelic Furs and the Marimba That Woke Me Up
- When Free Speech Fought Back in 1985
- Pee Wee Herman: Lessons From a Manchild
- Chrissie Hynde Taught Me How to Listen
- Surviving the Cold War (Again): A Gen Xer’s Guide
Tags
1980's 1980s abuse addiction ally art breakfast club cassie trilogy cold war cyndi lauper david bowie death domestic violence erika Fem Friday feminism feminist friendship GenX gen z hearts of glass helping others history HOG Inspiration jeremy ritch joan jett lgbt lgbtq lgbtqia+ madonna mental health miami vice music News nostalgia pride rap sexism suicide swatch Then and now tina turner trauma yearbook
Comments
Rachael, inspired and inspiring as always. You always are asking the most interesting questions.
honestly, I think the man was incredibly lovely but I don't feel like he defined my experience of GenX. In…