Category: Culture

  • Generational Fan Fusion Heals My Heart of Glass IRL

    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 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

    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

    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

    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

    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,…

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  • Phil Collins and the Long Long Way to Go Now

    Phil Collins and the Long Long Way to Go Now

    Is the world too hard to handle? Do we need to face the suffering? What happens when we turn off empathy? Phil Collins’ “Long Long Way to Go” is a punch to the gut, a reminder of the world I came of age in and how it shaped us. Whenever I hear that haunting chorus,…

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  • Ch-Ch-Changes(Turn and Face the Strain)

    Ch-Ch-Changes(Turn and Face the Strain)

    Gen x Watch has existed since January of last year. In all but two months it has grown in readership and clicks month after month. I hope that continues to happen, but I will be reducing the content to one article a week starting this week. Monday’s we will be starting off the week with…

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  • Hearts of Glass With the Heartbeat of Blondie

    Hearts of Glass With the Heartbeat of Blondie

    The news hit me hard and this was hard to write: Clem Burke, the drummer of Blondie, died at age 70 after a private battle with cancer. We’ve lost not just a drummer, but the beat of my youth. In the late ’70s and early ’80s, Blondie’s songs were the soundtrack of my coming-of-age. Today,…

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  • March Hopes for the Winds of Change

    March Hopes for the Winds of Change

    The month of March is at end. With that comes the month end wrap up at Gen X Watch. Before we continue with that… thank you! This year has already featured 3 guest writers and continued growth every month. Additionally, some of the readers here have been so wonderful in their continued support as Patreons,…

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