Tags
A new blog I’m following is Literary Minded, Angela Myers’ excellent blog of all things literary from an Australian perspective at http://blogs.crikey.com.au/literaryminded/. I’m overwhelmed by her energy and prolificy, and feel appropriately old and tired. She’s keeping up with everything!
She describes herself as a Gen Y writer and I realise I’m not sure I can call myself this. Not that it wouldn’t be good to be the voice of a generation (until Gen Z comes along and you’re yesterday’s news). But that I feel a perpetual outsider status to be necessary to my sense of self. I guess I’m disloyal to my generation. There’s a lot I don’t like about it. (But I don’t think it’s as bad or as monolothic as commercial media makes out, either.) Maybe I need to find more of a sense of generation as part of my identity.
(Part of the problem is that I’m on the cusp of Gen Y and Gen X and so I don’t belong in either. )
Nathan Hobby, a biographer in Perth 
Hi! I’m glad you’re enjoying LM 🙂
The reason I deliberately label myself as Gen Y is that I, too, don’t actually feel I possess a lot of the aspects generally attributed to Gen Y in the mainstream media etc. (except perhaps a certain ambition) and being in the public eye, I proudly try and subvert the general ‘image’ of a generation. As, of course, we are as diverse as any other. But also, I most definitely associate myself with having grown up in a technological and consumerist society, and a lot of what I write engages and reacts to this.
I have many friends on the Gen Y/Gen X cusp who have a similar identity crisis to you! I say, labels are mostly crap anyway – I use mine in a defiant way – if that makes sense!
Angela
LikeLike
Thanks for your interesting thoughts Angela. I’m glad someone’s giving our generation a good name. I’m also glad you’re using it in a defiant way; that makes very good sense. You just caused me to think about what I thought about Gen Y and how I fitted in (or didn’t, as the case is).
LikeLike
🙂
LikeLike
PS: have added you to my blogroll Angela.
LikeLike