With a rebel heart beating in my chest, being put in a box really bugs me especially when capitalist culture gets it wrong. Born in December of 1962, I embody the Flower Children designation. I think your name for this group works out better than the Jones name. Some people commenting in the thread on generation classifications in Oldster (that's how I found you) were confused with the meaning and thought it meant 'keeping up with the Jones' instead of jonesing for something. - Amy @findingmyway and @mindfulsoulcenter
Thank you!! Yeah that Jones name is weird and confusing, glad you like mine better too. Classifying people by generation is highly flawed, but if we're going to do it let's at least get it closer to right! I can relate to being a rebel — and hey, capitalist culture gets just about everything wrong ...
That was fantastic. I'm a hard core Gen-Xer ('72), but I absolutely get the satisfaction you must feel to accurately define your generation. And it makes perfect sense. I always thought the Boomer generation span was too long a spread. Great job!
Thank you! Funny how your generation was the one considered not to have a name, but mine was really the unnamed one. I have friends who think I’m more of an Xer, but I was born in ‘61.
Very thoughtful and interesting read. I'm of the 'hippie' generation and so glad to have been. Such a historic, incredible, music-filled, upheaval of a time—an orgasma of counter-culture. I would have felt really cheated to have been in a generation when women weren't feminists and didn't want to try to achieve things. Truly liberating. I 'dropped out' after college (had one job and then moved to CA) but now that would have been called taking a 'gap year, or 2.' I never stopped working, had to pay the rent, and eventually moved to San Francisco where I put my collegiate talents to work. This was around the time that my family stopped saying I'd been a hippie, and that I'd been a flower child (think it sounded better). I like that you differentiate but guess b/c the song "Flowers in Your Hair," I'll always think of hippies and flower children as one and the same.
Thank you!! Indeed, most people think of Flower Children as being hippies. And I remember that song from when I moved to San Francisco in 1985! Anyway, I'm reframing "Flower Children" for my own purposes here and feel like I did absorb those values at an early age.
I think I get most of what you mean. I identified with flower power for maybe a year, back in junior high. Striped bell bottoms and flowery shirts. After that, existentialism took over my being, and I just went dark. Even GenX didn't really fit, and I was never, ever a boomer. If I could have named my generation, it might have been the "Apollo Generation," for the space race optimism and the "pale blue dot" feeling. But that moniker only seems to fit those who "got" the engineering attitude, with all its hopes and flaws. Yet, I believe the Flower and the Rocket are oddly allied. Renewable energy, as a social benefit enabled by deft engineering, is a good example. So, more power to your flower! There's room in the rocket for flowers, too!
I'm pretty much a GenXer by your q's, but things do blend a little bit to flower child because of my older brother (1964), who had an influence on discovering music, politics, etc. Great thoughts, Rosana!
Love this Rosana! Latchkey kid here too (who grew up on Star Trek and pop tarts). I think we out ourselves just by the fact that we don't like being categorized, but especially don't like being identified as Boomers. :)
Thank goodness! Thank you Rosana! We are not 'boomers'. i hate the term! Also i dont like generational names anyhow, but still, this is very helpful. I'm happy to be a Flower Child.
Also, btw, Flower Child is the name of a nice cafe in Sydney, with nice flowers, lots of plants, nice decor, good food. Flower Child. Love it!
I’ll have to go to Sydney sometime and check it out. Thanks for reading, fellow Flower Child! I also don’t love the generational designations — but if we’re going to have them, let’s at least get them right.
Thank you! Can't stand the generational categorization. Always felt my generation was left out. And now its ok. Born in 61 watched greatest gift I ever had was watching the moon landing on my birthday! I feel seen.
Awesome, and thank you for reading! I was also born in 61, but September. What an amazing birthday gift you had! I remember looking up at the moon to see if I could see the rocket. ;-)
I was born in 55. I’m a little older than you, but I identify more with your Flower Child classification. I always felt that I was not a “real” boomer- too young to join the marches and protests or hitch a ride to Woodstock. Funnily enough, we hit the traffic that ensued due to it on our way to a campground upstate!! Glad that I followed you on Bluesky!
I'm so glad this resonated with you! And thanks for reading, subscribing, and commenting — I really appreciate it! Your experience just goes to show that it's a bit arbitrary delineating generations according to specific years. And hey, you got a lot closer to Woodstock than I did. 🤣
Good point! I grew up with an awareness that I didn't have to get married and I was expected to work, and that was different from the mindset of previous generations — but of course, there were still many obstacles in the way of women and still are to this day. I often think about how girls now have such a different experience and view of the world, seeing so many examples of women politicians, doctors, engineers, etc. all around them. But we still have such a long way to go! That's amazing that you had that West Point offer — and it sounds like you don't regret passing it up?
No regrets at all. It was a bit surprising even to get the offer - I was a library girl, not an outdoors one! Even the application process is grueling, I seemed unlikely to get in, and didn't really want to so I put the effort into other things.
With a rebel heart beating in my chest, being put in a box really bugs me especially when capitalist culture gets it wrong. Born in December of 1962, I embody the Flower Children designation. I think your name for this group works out better than the Jones name. Some people commenting in the thread on generation classifications in Oldster (that's how I found you) were confused with the meaning and thought it meant 'keeping up with the Jones' instead of jonesing for something. - Amy @findingmyway and @mindfulsoulcenter
Thank you!! Yeah that Jones name is weird and confusing, glad you like mine better too. Classifying people by generation is highly flawed, but if we're going to do it let's at least get it closer to right! I can relate to being a rebel — and hey, capitalist culture gets just about everything wrong ...
That was fantastic. I'm a hard core Gen-Xer ('72), but I absolutely get the satisfaction you must feel to accurately define your generation. And it makes perfect sense. I always thought the Boomer generation span was too long a spread. Great job!
Thank you! Funny how your generation was the one considered not to have a name, but mine was really the unnamed one. I have friends who think I’m more of an Xer, but I was born in ‘61.
Very thoughtful and interesting read. I'm of the 'hippie' generation and so glad to have been. Such a historic, incredible, music-filled, upheaval of a time—an orgasma of counter-culture. I would have felt really cheated to have been in a generation when women weren't feminists and didn't want to try to achieve things. Truly liberating. I 'dropped out' after college (had one job and then moved to CA) but now that would have been called taking a 'gap year, or 2.' I never stopped working, had to pay the rent, and eventually moved to San Francisco where I put my collegiate talents to work. This was around the time that my family stopped saying I'd been a hippie, and that I'd been a flower child (think it sounded better). I like that you differentiate but guess b/c the song "Flowers in Your Hair," I'll always think of hippies and flower children as one and the same.
Thank you!! Indeed, most people think of Flower Children as being hippies. And I remember that song from when I moved to San Francisco in 1985! Anyway, I'm reframing "Flower Children" for my own purposes here and feel like I did absorb those values at an early age.
oh yes, when taking a year off was taking a year off. unheard of and radical, but some of us did it. now its common place, a "gap year".
1963 here so I feel all of this. Definitely a Flower Child
So glad you can relate! I'm a 1961 myself, very close to your year. Thanks for reading!!
I think I get most of what you mean. I identified with flower power for maybe a year, back in junior high. Striped bell bottoms and flowery shirts. After that, existentialism took over my being, and I just went dark. Even GenX didn't really fit, and I was never, ever a boomer. If I could have named my generation, it might have been the "Apollo Generation," for the space race optimism and the "pale blue dot" feeling. But that moniker only seems to fit those who "got" the engineering attitude, with all its hopes and flaws. Yet, I believe the Flower and the Rocket are oddly allied. Renewable energy, as a social benefit enabled by deft engineering, is a good example. So, more power to your flower! There's room in the rocket for flowers, too!
I'm pretty much a GenXer by your q's, but things do blend a little bit to flower child because of my older brother (1964), who had an influence on discovering music, politics, etc. Great thoughts, Rosana!
Thanks, Tor! I think it really comes down to which generation you relate to the most — and as with most things in life, the lines are blurry.
Love this Rosana! Latchkey kid here too (who grew up on Star Trek and pop tarts). I think we out ourselves just by the fact that we don't like being categorized, but especially don't like being identified as Boomers. :)
Yes, Star Trek and Pop Tarts! 😀
Thank goodness! Thank you Rosana! We are not 'boomers'. i hate the term! Also i dont like generational names anyhow, but still, this is very helpful. I'm happy to be a Flower Child.
Also, btw, Flower Child is the name of a nice cafe in Sydney, with nice flowers, lots of plants, nice decor, good food. Flower Child. Love it!
I’ll have to go to Sydney sometime and check it out. Thanks for reading, fellow Flower Child! I also don’t love the generational designations — but if we’re going to have them, let’s at least get them right.
You will indeed Rosana! and you wont be disappointed!!
Thank you! Can't stand the generational categorization. Always felt my generation was left out. And now its ok. Born in 61 watched greatest gift I ever had was watching the moon landing on my birthday! I feel seen.
Awesome, and thank you for reading! I was also born in 61, but September. What an amazing birthday gift you had! I remember looking up at the moon to see if I could see the rocket. ;-)
I was born in 55. I’m a little older than you, but I identify more with your Flower Child classification. I always felt that I was not a “real” boomer- too young to join the marches and protests or hitch a ride to Woodstock. Funnily enough, we hit the traffic that ensued due to it on our way to a campground upstate!! Glad that I followed you on Bluesky!
I'm so glad this resonated with you! And thanks for reading, subscribing, and commenting — I really appreciate it! Your experience just goes to show that it's a bit arbitrary delineating generations according to specific years. And hey, you got a lot closer to Woodstock than I did. 🤣
Soon not a Boomer! But that bit about always having options as women..? We *had* them, only if we were willing to fight for them.
I was offered a shot at the first West Point class to admit women. I (almost instinctively) knew I didn't want it enough.
Good point! I grew up with an awareness that I didn't have to get married and I was expected to work, and that was different from the mindset of previous generations — but of course, there were still many obstacles in the way of women and still are to this day. I often think about how girls now have such a different experience and view of the world, seeing so many examples of women politicians, doctors, engineers, etc. all around them. But we still have such a long way to go! That's amazing that you had that West Point offer — and it sounds like you don't regret passing it up?
No regrets at all. It was a bit surprising even to get the offer - I was a library girl, not an outdoors one! Even the application process is grueling, I seemed unlikely to get in, and didn't really want to so I put the effort into other things.