Marnie Screams into the Void
90: 1964 and the Barely Boomers
August 6, 2024, 90 days left, 1964, and the barely boomers. Lately, I've been hearing far too many people refer to boomers as anyone over 50. That isn't how this works. Even the 40-something Gen Xers seem to forget that someday they'll be 50, and they'll still be Gen X, just like the older Gen Xers who will be turning 60 next year. Rather than bore you with a math lesson, let's just make sure we're clear. Someone born in 1974 is not a boomer. Someone born in 1964 is barely a boomer. 1965 is the birth of Gen X. In my experience of spending a lot of time with barely boomers born in the early 60s, there's a consciousness shift that makes them often seem unboomery. Born December 31, 1964, boomer! Born January 1, 1965, Gen X, arbitrary, just like New Year's Eve's countdowns. What changes in the one second when the clock flips over? Or is there something happening before that, a fog rolling in or lifting? When is a new generation actually born? Let's get back to 1964. January 8, President Lyndon Johnson declares a war on poverty. January 14, Jacqueline Kennedy makes her first public appearance since JFK's assassination. February 10, Bob Dylan releases the times they are a change in. April 6, Tim Walz is born. April 13, Sidney Poitier wins an Oscar for Best Actor. May 22, LBJ presents a set of programs dubbed the Great Society, the goal of which is to eliminate poverty and racial injustice. June 12, Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life in prison in South Africa. June 19, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is enacted by the 88th Congress. June 28, Malcolm X forms the Organization for Afro-American Unity. July 17, Nelson Mandela is awarded the Joliet Curie Gold Medal for Peace. August 18, South Africa is banned from Olympic Games because of apartheid policies. August 22, Fannie Lou Hamer, Civil Rights Activist speaks at the DNC about terrifying experiences registering to vote in Mississippi. September 3, Robert F. Kennedy, not the brainworm wannabe bear eater one, the other one, resigns from Attorney General position to focus on a Senate run. He is assassinated in 1968. October 14, Martin Luther King Jr. is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He is assassinated in 1968. October 20, Kamala Harris is born. November 3, Lyndon B. Johnson is elected President in a landslide. Baby Kamala and Baby Tim are all grown up now. The last of the baby boomers were born when the times they were a change in, and the times they are a change in now. Aren't they? Boom, Baby. Boom.