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After we got back from Mexico, I came down with a cold and stayed in bed two days--an act of desperation but unavoidable. Good things happened, though. The world doesn't know or care if you have a cold or not so things keep coming. I finished another book by now-one-of-my favorite authors--Bill Bryson's Notes From a Small Island, about his thoughts and experiences in Britain. As usual, his hilariously truthful style had me laughing--risking a coughing fit. I love his books. His favorite word is "agreeable." Since Robert and I listened to Bryson's audio tape about Australia, In a Sun-burned Country while taking our walks, I now hear his real voice in my head as I read his books--and am aware of his special cadence as a writer and speaker. Since I was not feeling well on my birthday last week and it was drizzly, (Tuesday) Robert and I decided to keep things simple. He drove me over to the library and I picked up the tome, Generations: The History of the Future of America 1584-2069 by William Strauss and Neil Howe (1991) which he had been reading on our vacation. It's pretty packed, but I am fascinated by the archetypal personalities of each generation, and how they cycle (predictably according to the authors) through time. Being of the Silent Generation, I grew up under the archetype Artist. Wow, it really describes me very well! I copied the Wikiipedia synopsis below in case you want to know more. I was so excited, I sent the synopsis to my Uncle Ruhl (a GI generation) who just turned 90 on Jan 20 (same day as Anders.) So my "downtime" has been a chance to go down under. This morning sunshine is sliding down my study window instead of slabs of cold rain, which I love as well. I have new ideas, and feel my creativity coming back. Oh, forgot to mention, I picked up Wild Mind: Living the Writers' Life (1991) by Natalie Goldberg. I was sniffling and barking at 3:00 am when I propped myself up and put on my reading glasses to open the book at random. On page 48 Goldberg says,
"Use the format of 'I want to write about' to explore specific areas of writing. For instance, I haven't written much about painting and visual art. Though I love to paint, it has not manifested in my writing. I'd like it to, so I did a ten-minute 'I want to write about' and focosed on that: I want to write about how red looks against yellow and how it looks different against orange, how I became friends with an ugly building in Roy, New Mexico, because I sat in front of it and drew it for a whole day..." and so on Wow, I got so excited by the ideas I read that I sat up straight, and reached for my little yellow pad that I keep in a drawer next to my bed. I wrote down the words: Honest Nothing fancy I know this is blog is too long by blog standards, more of a catharsis after a siege in bed listening the rain Just wanted to say what I'm excited about. Today I start babysitting Anders and Auggie in the afternoon while Eliza takes chemistry.
Generational Archetypes Strauss and Howe state that Generations last the length of time of one phase of life--the same length of time as a turning. Like turnings, generations come in four different archetypes, defined in "The Fourth Turning" as Prophet, Nomad, Hero and Artist. - Prophets are values-driven, moralistic, focused on self, and willing to fight to the death for what they believe in. They grow up as the increasingly indulged children of a High, come of age as the young crusaders of an Awakening, enter midlife as moralistic leaders during an Unraveling and are the wise, elder leaders of the next Crisis. The Boomers are an example of a Prophet generation.
- Nomads are ratty, tough, unwanted, diverse, adventurous, and cynical about institutions. They grow up as the underprotected children of an Awakening, come of age as the alienated young adults of an Unraveling, become the pragmatic, midlife leaders of a Crisis and age into tough, post-crisis elders during a High. Generation X and the Lost Generation are examples of Nomad generations.
- Heroes are conventional, powerful, and institutionally driven, with a profound trust in authority. They grow up as the increasingly protected children of an Unraveling, come of age as the Heroic, team-working youth of a Crisis, become energetic and hubristic mid-lifers during a High and become the powerful elders who are attacked in the next Awakening. The G.I. Generation that fought World War II is an example of a Hero generation. Millennials are expected to emerge as the next generation of this example.
- Artists are subtle, indecisive, emotional and compromising, often having to deal with feelings of repression and inner conflict. They grow up as the over-protected children of a Crisis, come of age as the sensitive young adults of a High, rebel as indecisive midlife leaders during an Awakening, and become the empathic elders of an Unraveling. The Silent Generation is an example of an Artist generation.
Each of the four turnings is composed of a unique constellation of generational archetypes. During an Awakening, for example, the children are always a Nomad generation, the young adults a Prophet generation, the mid-lifers an Artist generation, and the elders a Hero generation. During a Crisis, by contrast, the children are always Artists, the young adults are Heroes, the mid-lifers are Nomads, and the elders are Prophets. In "The Fourth Turning", Strauss and Howe state that this has held true with remarkable consistency over 500 years of Anglo-American history, since the birth of modernity. Strauss and Howe believe that history shapes each generation depending on what phase of life it occupies as it encounters key historical events--a period of crisis will leave an impression on children that is different from the one it leaves on midlife leaders. The boundaries of each generation and the characteristics of its members emerge because they share a common age-location in history. For instance, Strauss and Howe define the Boomer generation as anyone who doesn't personally remember World War II. They are different from the Silent Generation, who share the formative experience of childhood during the war. Thus history creates the generations--and these in turn reproduce the cycle of history. As the protected children of a High who never personally experienced Crisis, and as the moralistic, uncompromising crusaders of an awakening, the Prophet-Boomers are most likely to provoke a new crisis when they grow to control the nation's institutions. As the overachieving children of an Unraveling who never personally experienced an Awakening, and as the team-working, conformist civics of a crisis, the Heroes are most likely to provoke a new awakening when they get control. Strauss and Howe's first book, Generations (1991), tells the history of America as a succession of generational biographies circa 1584 to present. The authors identify a pattern in these generations: each can be seen as belonging to one of four archetypes that repeat sequentially. Every living generation therefore shows a remarkable parallel in character with generations of the same type throughout history. "Generations" plots a recurring cycle of spiritual awakenings and secular crises in American history, from the founding colonials through the present day. Strauss and Howe followed in 1993 with their second book, 13th Gen, which examines the generation born between 1961 and 1981, "Gen-Xers" (alias "13ers", since they are literally the thirteenth generation since America became a nation). The book shows how 13er's location in history--they were children during the Consciousness Revolution--explains their pragmatic attitude and disproportionately low reputation. In 1997, they published The Fourth Turning, which expanded on the ideas presented in Generations. Examining 500 years of Anglo-American history, The Fourth Turning reveals a distinct historical pattern: modern history moves in cycles, each one lasting approximately the length of a long human life (about 80-years), and each composed of four eras, or "turnings." Analyzing particularly the period from the end of World War II until today, they describe the general persona of each living generation, from the powerful proactive G.I.'s, the thoughtful Silent, the values-obsessed Boomers, and the pragmatic 13ers, to the new coming-of-age generation of powerful, proactive Millennials. By situating each living generation in the context of a historical generational cycle and archetype, the authors claim to clarify the personality and role of each--and the inevitability of a coming crisis in America. In 2000 the two authors published Millennials Rising. This work investigated the personality of the generation currently coming of age, whose first cohorts were the much celebrated High School graduating class of 2000. Strauss and Howe show how today's teens are recasting the image of youth from downbeat and alienated to upbeat and engaged. They also say Millennials are held to higher standards than adults apply to themselves; they're a lot less violent, vulgar, and sexually charged than the teen culture older people are producing for them, and, over the next decade, they’ll entirely recast what it means to be young. According to the authors, Millennials could emerge as the next great generation. LifeCourse Associates has since released several application books on Millennials—including Recruiting Millennials Handbook for the United States Army (2001), Millennials go to College (2003) and Millennials and the Pop Culture (2005). Millennials go to College: 2nd Edition came out in 2007, along with Millennials Go to College: Surveys and Analysis, the first significant study of college students and their parents by generation. Millennials and K-12 Schools and Millennials in the Workplace are soon to be released. Before the duo met in the 1980's, William Strauss began studying generations in the 1970's when he wrote a book about the Baby Boomers on how the Vietnam War affected them called Chance and Circumstance: The Draft the War and The Vietnam Generation (1978) with Lawrence Baskir while serving under President Ford dealing with the draft and amnesty issue which also included the book Reconciliation after Vietnam (1977) that determined the future of U.S. military enlistment after the war. Neil Howe studied America's entitlement attitude of the 1980's with the Concord Coalition and wrote On Borrowed Time: How America's entitlement ego puts America's future at risk of Bankruptcy (1988). |
