Category: Jeremy Ritch

  • I Want My MTV: A Birthday Remembrance

    I Want My MTV: A Birthday Remembrance

    MTV began broadcasting August 1st, 1981, at 12:01am from New York City. The famous opening was the launching of the space shuttle and footage of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The words “Ladies and Gentlemen, Rock n Roll!” were the first words ever spoken on the network which was only available in the state of…

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  • Queering The Lens Of History To Understand Our Present Chaos

    Queering The Lens Of History To Understand Our Present Chaos

    The transphobic and homophobic nature of some Christians led to them judging everything they saw through those lenses. To argue with that perception is to argue with a wall that has been fortified through years of reenforced conservative building blocks.

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  • Christian Nationalism and the Great Manipulation

    Christian Nationalism and the Great Manipulation

    The manipulation, indoctrination and unethical way that Evangelicals gripped my generation has spiraled into the current state of American political right—especially the MAGA crowd. Generation X were coming of age in the late 70’s-the early 90’s, just the American Evangelical movement was also weaving its way into national politics and attempting to find a hold…

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  • A Myth Grew Out Of Gen X: The Alpha Male

    A Myth Grew Out Of Gen X: The Alpha Male

    The concept of the alpha wolf is well ingrained in the popular wolf literature, at least partly because of my book “The Wolf: Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species,” written in 1968, published in 1970, republished in paperback in 1981, and in print until 2022. Although most of the book’s info is still accurate,…

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  • Nostalgia in a Modern World: Embracing Meaning

    Nostalgia in a Modern World: Embracing Meaning

    “The Greek word for “return” is nostos. Algos means “suffering.” So, nostalgia is the suffering caused by an unappeased yearning to return.”― Milan Kundera, Ignorance Gen X tends to fall into a trap of judgmental attitudes towards other generations too often. We exaggerate our upbringings as these overly independent coming of age stories that are…

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  • I’m here, I’m Queer, and I’m Still Figuring It Out

    I’m here, I’m Queer, and I’m Still Figuring It Out

    The Intro My understanding of Queer culture and PRIDE came gradually as I grew up in the Midwest. I was not heavily exposed to LGBTQ culture as a kid on the southeast side of Cleveland. The diversity I experienced most was Black culture in my neighborhood and Indian culture due to my best friend. I…

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  • Facing The Music: Looking Back and Looking Inward

    Facing The Music: Looking Back and Looking Inward

    As a Gen X adult nostalgia is a huge part of nearly every aspect of life—assume for all generations this is true. Since my formitive years I’ve looked back on my musical journey, the pop cultural archives in my mind, and the fond memories of things that likely are more romantic than reality. With these…

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  • Under The Radar: Shawan Rice

    Under The Radar: Shawan Rice

    Susquehanna Soul I first encountered Rice’s music at a festival along Harrisburg’s Susquehanna River waterfront. At the time she was playing with a band under Shawan & The Wonton. I was just sipping a coffee in a folding chair, enjoy the shade of a hot Memorial Day weekend. The music began and I perked up.…

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  • Delving into The Tortured Poets Department And Cowboy Carter

    Delving into The Tortured Poets Department And Cowboy Carter

    Tortured Poet’s Department Taylor Swift has broken the internet again with the release of Tortured Poet’s Department. The Swifties have brought the album into record breaking territory yet again and with that comes the hatred. Call it our collective “keyboard courage era” in which we hate in viral fashion. Like a virus, I’m thinking herpes…

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  • My Love Letter To Hip Hop

    My Love Letter To Hip Hop

    The Intro My family moved to the Cleveland area in 1983 and having moved into a racially mixed area on the southeast side I became aware of hip hop culture by my pre-teens. Our neighborhood was around the corner from Cleveland proper. It was a place full of young families, many were Black, that were…

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