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Generation Gap

At work on Friday I got a Christmas card from a young colleague who thanked me for a number of things, including “for making the phrase ‘generation gap’ obsolete.” I was touched and thrilled. It made my day…at least until I got home.

 

That’s when, for the first time in decades, I picked up a copy of Playboy. What was a copy of Playboy doing in the mail of a 70-year old happily married woman, you might ask?

 

Well, before our son Seth moved to Brazil early this month, he arranged to have his mail forwarded to our address. As a freelance journalist, he subscribes to many magazines. The January issues of Esquire, The Atlantic and Playboy were in Friday’s mail.

 

As I recall the Playboys of my youth, the centerfold Playgirl-of-the-Month was topless, but showed a little modesty “down below” even it was just artfully-crossed legs. Now full-frontal nudity is available from cover to cover in Playboy, and the only controversy as far as I can see is whether to wax or not to wax.

 

So much for my making the generation gap obsolete…


 

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3 responses to “Generation Gap”

  1. Anne Gibert Avatar
    Anne Gibert

    As I grow older (and I’m 6 years older than you) I find more and more aspects of the younger generation that I just don’t get. Once I asked my lovely granddaughter (now 25) to explain the difference between rap and hip-hop. She said there was a great difference, but she couldn’t exactly explain it. I even sometimes find them, the youth, hard to understand when they speak. They talk too fast and use that rising inflection. So, having read your blog, I guess if I should run across a copy of Playboy I’ll just leave it closed.

    Reply
  2. Lorna R Avatar
    Lorna R

    older and still working..i agree with young people and their manner of speaking. mumble, mumble! speak clearly! i have a 21-year old granddaughter, and i happen to work with a 21-year old, with whom i get along surprisingly well. but she thinks she knows everything and can’t be told anything. but, weren’t we like that at that age? i do, however, in addition to their careless speaking skills, object to their relentless ties to technology; i can’t stand video games, text messaging, and graphic novels.

    Reply
  3. Lorna R Avatar
    Lorna R

    I retired after 30 years of teaching, and of course during that time, did not pay into Social Security, instead, i bought 403(B)s..which are annuities, and depended on someday getting the state pension for teachers. Upon retirement however, i got a job in the private sector, needing something useful to do with my time other than watching tv, gardening and quilting. not that there is anything not satisfying about the latter two. I have now worked almost ten years, paying FICA taxes out of my payroll wages, that is, paying into Social Security. Should I not get some benefits based on those 10 years? Some minimal benefits based on the taxes i have paid? It can’t be called double dipping since I would have earned those benefits, i would not be stealing them. But,no, i am forbidden to do so because of something called the Windfall Elimination Provision Act. It gives me the feeling that society has said to me, “you receive a windfall each month -your pension – and we are going to make sure you never get anything more.”- even if you do work in the private sector, that was your mistake and you will get nothing from it. my hard earned labor is a windfall? I have paid a significant sum into the social security system but will never benefit from it, unless the WEP is repealed. I am not asking for benefits that I am not entitled to, I am asking for benefits that are rightfully mine. anyone else with the same problem?

    Reply

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