BOOMER, Tim Engel [amazing books to read txt] 📗

BOOMER
BOOMER BUST
A NOVEL ABOUT ARTHUR DIXON ENGEL - A BABY-BOOMER - 01NOV10

Wikipedia defines Baby Boomers : “A baby boomer is a person who was born during the demographic Post-World War II baby boom. Between 1946 and 1964. The term "baby boomer" is sometimes used in a cultural context, and sometimes used to describe someone who was born during the post-WWII baby boom. Therefore, it is impossible to achieve broad consensus of a precise definition, even within a given territory. Different groups, organizations, individuals, and scholars may have widely varying opinions on what constitutes a baby boomer, both technically and culturally. Ascribing universal attributes to a broad generation is difficult, and some observers believe that it is inherently impossible. Nonetheless, many people have attempted to determine the broad cultural similarities and historical impact of the generation, and thus the term has gained widespread popular usage.”
“In general, baby boomers are associated with a rejection or redefinition of traditional values; however, many commentators have disputed the extent of that rejection, noting the widespread continuity of values with older and younger generations. In Europe and North America boomers are widely associated with privilege, as many grew up in a time of affluence.[2] ^ a b Owram, Doug (1997), Born at the Right Time, Toronto: Univ Of Toronto Press, p. x, ISBN 0802080863As a group, they were the healthiest, and wealthiest generation to that time, and amongst the first to grow up genuinely expecting the world to improve with time.[3]” ^ a b Jones, Landon (1980), Great Expectations: America and the Baby Boom Generation, New York: Coward, McCann and Geoghegan

Affluent. Entitled. Spoiled. The Lost Generation. The Wasted GEneration. The descriptions go on and on . But didn’t Mom and Dad want us to be happy? Isn’t that why they bought us lots of cool stuff? Nearly weekly we went to Dud’s to get a new ‘surfer shirt’ for Tom and I. Dud’s was a local clothing store at Lakewood Mall and a surfer shirt was a cool short sleeved shirt with buttons coming halfway down the front of the shirt and contrasting trim around the neck and sleeves. There was no collar. These shirts were very popular and very cool and Tom and I felt fortunate to be able to wear them.
We also had 5 or 6 Pendleton shirts a piece. These shirts were serious. They were made of wool – were plaid – and had long sleeves and big cool pockets with flaps. These shirts were also very popular and very cool I think this is one design that has survived the decades. If you were cool you had Pendleton shirts. Mom and Dad made sure we had Pendletons. Surfer shirts and Pendleton shirts were both very BB. (Baby Boomer).
I think that compared to Mom and Dad and their parents, we were certainly spoiled. We always had enough to eat. I can’t remember ever wanting for food. I know Mom and Dad survived the great depression. Later I remember Dad reaching into magazine stands to find if there was any loose change. This at a time when I figured he was worth perhaps a million dollars or more. Why? Because he had survived want, need, hunger, fighting and scraping for a living. Mom too. Mom said there were times when Grandma would make dinner out of one can of tuna and some other ingredients to help stretch the precious food.
But Mom and Dad wanted us to have more than they did. They loved us; that’s why they were so good to us.
Tom and I have never known this kind of life. Mom worked at a grocery store and Dad worked at Douglas Aircraft. So, between the two of them we were well provided for. I think we were definitely spolied; we didn’t know any different. But I remember a neighbor saying something interesting; something that caused me concern; it was a warning. It was a voice of reason from someone who had been there. Joe Olsen was a wonderful neighbor. But I remember something he said – when I was a wee lad of about 7 or 8. “One day we’re going to wake up and have nothing.” Now for someone who loved his toys , guns, clothes, pet, home, bikes, and other ‘junk’, this was disconcerting. You possibly have never heard of the Great Garloo. I really had one. Looking at it now brings back fond memories – and like many of the ‘things’ in my life athat are no longer – I wish I had another one…or still had that one! Oh, you can find them – in working order on eBay. Garloo was big in the early 60’s. I mean, this was my own robot and it was nearly 50 years ago. He walked forward, backward, could bend over and pick up stuff and bring it to you. Well, he wasn’t like an independent robot that they talked about where he would serve you and be at your bidding. But he was like a monster. To be honest, he looked like the creature from the black lagoon.
At this age we liked to be scared. Sci-Fi movies. Horror movies. We loved em…and we hated em. The Creature from the Black Lagoon was pretty scary. Just the music from that movie can give you goose bumps. So here’s Garloo in all his green glory. I figure my Dad just couldn’t resist. I think it’s the toy he would have wanted if they had made them in 1930. Garloo was cool just to have; just to have him almost like a model. Some people who owned Garloo were scared to have him. Adjusted for inflation, Garloo cost $125. Yep, Mom and Dad loved me. And they loved my Brother, Tom. The museum of Science and Industry in Chicago has a display of dozens of robots – the Great Garloo plays a prominent part of this collection.
Garloo lasted a good long time…we were taught to take good care of our toys! He survived our stay in Lakewood; but he wasn’t to survive Lynwood. Boys being boys we matured in some ways and not so much in other ways. One thing we went through was pyrotechnics. Fireworks. Firecrackers and cherry bombs and M-80s; and half-sticks of dynamite. One fine day we had a big supply of explosives and a small supply of what we wanted to ‘blow up’. Well, we had Garloo. Don’t do it!!! Oh, yes – we arrived at a decision on this. One we regret now. But just the same, Garloo was going down.
The neighbors must have had infinite patience. The Loessnerz next door were a wonderful older couple, probably in their 70’s. Very nice people. But I’m sure that our shenanigans with fireworks must have gotten on their last nerve. But they rarely complained. We decided to go with middle-range explosives for our large green robot friend. An M-80 should do it. We removed Garloo from the cabinet in the garage. We taped the M-80 to a strategic spot on Garloo; his stomach. We placed him in the back yard and lit the fuse; and ran; fast. KA-BOOM!! These were the serious, loud, high powered M-80s. Made before litigation had them detuned to a whisper of their former selves. Garloo exploded into a million green bits, flying throughout the back yard and up and on top of the roof of the house and the screened in patio.
What remained was a shredded pair of leopard shorts, green shards of plastic, and a couple of motors that drove the green goblin. No mas. Blow taps. And when I think back, I think why, Art? Why did you blow up your $125 Garloo? Dad and Mom worked hard for that and you ‘killed’ him. One of life’s lessons.
What, pray tell, did Joe mean when he said we’d grow up and have nothing? My world was full of stuff – needs, wants, entitlements…everything imaginable. What exactly was he talking about? Well, what he was talking about was the great depression. When men went to bed with jobs, savings, stocks, bonds, and the like and woke up the next day with ‘nothing’. Meaning no jobs, no stocks, no bonds, and no visible means of feeding their families. Some chose to end it all and jumped out of windows, dashing their brains on the sidewalks. Joe also said children should be seen and not heard. I took what he said seriously because I could tell that he knew what he was talking about.
And he worked hard to support and put bread on the table for his wonderful family. We were like family with the Olsens. We vacationed together, played together, ate together…we were basically related. But we weren’t. More about them later. But certainly to be sure – Mom and Dad loved us. There was no doubt. They didn’t throw money at us and disappear to Vegas or anything like that. We did things together. We took vacations, we went to movies, we went to museums, miniature golfing, go-kart riding, trampolining, swimming…you name it. Well, I don’t think we ever went snow skiing…but I wasn’t really interested in snow sports. At that time.
Wiki goes further: “One of the unique features of Boomers was that they tended to think of themselves as a special generation, very different from those that had come before. In the 1960s, as the relatively large numbers of young people became teenagers and young adults, they, and those around them, created a very specific rhetoric around their cohort, and the change they were bringing about.[4] This rhetoric had an important impact in the self perceptions of the boomers, as well as their tendency to define the world in terms of generations, which was a relatively new phenomenon.
The baby boom has been described variously as a "shockwave"[2] (ibid) and as "the pig in the python."[3](op cit) By the sheer force of its numbers, the boomers were a demographic bulge which remodeled society as it passed through it.
1. The term Generation Jones has been used by Jonathan Pontell to distinguish those born from 1954 onward from the earlier Baby Boomers.[ FNP Interactive - http://www.fnpInteractive.com+(2008-12-19). "The Frederick News-Post Online - Frederick County Maryland Daily Newspaper". Fredericknewspost.com. http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/archives/display_detail.htm?StoryID=91159. Retrieved 2010-08-02.
2. ^ "Birthday Gift to Obama - Your Generational Identity Revealed | ThirdAge Articles". Thirdage.com. 2009-05-13. http://www.thirdage.com/holidays-celebrations/birthday-gift-to-obama-your-generational-identity-revealed. Retrieved 2010-08-02.
3. ^ "Opinion poll - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia". Research2000.us. doi:10.1016/j.jda.2006.01.001. http://research2000.us/2006/11/01/generation-jones-could-be-key-to-06-midterm-election-results/. Retrieved 2010-08-02.
4. ^ Noveck, Jocelyn (2009-01-11), "In Obama, many see an end to the baby boomer era". [1].
5][6][7][8]” It’s interesting how generations view themselves…remember that song “Kids, what’s the matter with kids today? Why can’t they be like we were, perfect in every way?” This song was written for the stage musical and movie “Bye Bye Birdie” – inspired