Welcome!
I'm Chloe - the writer here in this digital space. I'm a second wave Gen Xer fascinated by the collective experience of Generation X. I believe, that in spite of being dealt a bad hand initially, we can leave this world truly better than we found it. I write about the spiritual and philosophical issues of our generation through the lens of the history and pop culture that formed us.
This blog is followed by people who love all things Generation X, by writers and speakers, priests and pastors, leaders in politics and business, filmmakers and historians. It is used on occasion as an academic source.
So pull up a chair, and let's put a record on....
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This blog is about what makes Generation X who we are, and how what we have been through, especially our suffering, can be turned into strength. It is this strength that will help us transform the wasteland we inherited into a beautiful landscape for the generations that follow. If there is one defining trait of Generation X, it is our resilience in spite of adversity throughout our lives. And here's to things getting better. Way better.
If you are Generation X, you will see pieces of your life and history around this blog, and I hope that what you find here brings you hope and encouragement.
If you are not Gen X, I hope this blog will give you a new found respect and appreciation for Gen X and the Gen Xers in your life.
If you are a Gen Xer who grew up in the Western world, you will identify with a lot of the stories and photos.
For those from other parts of the world, there will be at least some familiarity around here for you from the pop culture that influenced our youth to the international events that influenced who we became as adults. If you only read one entry on this blog, read this one:
As a quintessential Gen Xer, my promise is to tell my story authentically. Rather than just re-posting pictures already online, I often go to places that have been significant to Gen X and do the photography myself. As a Gen Xer fascinated by collective experience, I have gone on many pilgrimages as part of a larger, more extensive journey to revisit what has affected us most in our lives, and I have photographed and written about it on this blog:
When it comes to the music of our generation, I did a photographic journey of the Death Valley area which was the backdrop of U2's Joshua Tree album since many consider this to be the quintessential album of Generation X's formative years...
...and I went to silently leave flowers at the Cobain Memorial in Seattle.
As far as the films of our formative years, I have gone back again to watch many of the John Hughes movies we remember from our teenage years and have written about it.
I have gone with friends I grew up with to the Goonies house in Astoria, Oregon to see the filming place of this movie that we remember from our Gen X childhoods.
I went with my family to the arcade that was in the first Karate Kid Movie in Norwalk, CA. My husband grew up playing here as a kid, so it was nostalgic for both of us to go back here together. You will find all of this on this blog.
When it comes to the world events we remember in our youth, I did extensive photography of the Reagan Museum in Southern CA. This was to experience the international history that happened during the growing up years of Generation X. This is where I did a photo set of one the largest remaining pieces of the Berlin Wall...
For more about how the Challenger Disaster affected Gen X collectively, read this piece I wrote and published on the 30th anniversary of that day in 1986:
The Challenger Disaster and Generation X
Stranger Things was filmed at the high school I went to in the 1990s in Albuquerque, NM, and the roller rink they hang out at in the Netflix series is the same one I went to as an elementary kid in the 1980s. That series tells the story of 80's kids who sang along to The Never Ending Story, and used CB radios to call each other before there were cell phones. I was that kid. The stories you'll read on this blog are written by someone who couldn't possibly be more quintessentially Generation X.
Our Generation X journey has been more than difficult, and it has been more than extraordinary. In looking at our individual stories, we look at our collective story, and here is where we can begin to find the answers to our unanswered questions.
Know that if you are Generation X, you not only were the bridge between an analog world and a digital one, you were born as the tides of history were changing and you have been entrusted with leaving this world a profoundly better place than you found it.
This blog includes both the painful things that affected us collectively, and the good things we remember as well. I have worked to make the happier memories of our formative Gen X years come alive from the pop culture we remember. I did the bulk of this during my year-long project Fireflies at Dusk.
Throughout 2017, I went on a one year journey to find the Lost Generation - Gen X is also considered a lost generation, so we have a lot in common with them. This generation would have been alive during WWI.
The pages of this blog have been viewed almost 100,000 times. Thank you for being here. When I have checked online metrics, this blog and its connected social media content have been ranked in the top 3%-5% across the internet for its content on multiple topics from retro pop culture to religion.
On the topic of generations, Eugene Peterson says, "Everyday we wake up in the middle of something that is already going on, that has been going on for a long time: genealogy and geology, history and culture, the cosmos - God. We are neither accidental nor incidental to the story...."
The most extraordinary part of the story I have found in the experience of Gen X is the ways that God has reached out to us - the ways in which He has shown us light. I have found this in the most unexpected and amazing ways as I have looked back on my own experience and as I have looked at the collective experience of our generation. The glowing fiber optics and the brilliant kaleidoscope images of my childhood were my own stained glass windows, allowing light to come to me when I needed it most. If there is one thing He has done throughout the centuries, it has been to reach people within their generation, within their culture, within their context. My hope is that from the pixels glowing on your screen, some of that same light will shine through this blog.
Hopefully, in the more spiritual moments, this blog will be like a little chapel for you to stop by where you can find some peaceful resonance. In its moments where retro Gen X toys, shows, or movies are the subject of the day, I hope this blog will be like the rec room where you played air hockey or video games. In its moments where I talk about food and recipes, I hope it will be like some kitchen where you sat on the counter as a child as someone baked you something good in the oven. Come sit on the counter here as long as you like, and bring a cup of coffee if you want to. Come look at the stained glass with me a while so that we can find the light together....
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(c) 2011-2020 writing and photography by Chloe Koffas - all rights reserved
