Writing articles for the Voice, now the Observer, is a wonderful experience that is enriching my life in several ways. Firstly, I absolutely love the process of getting an idea and working it, changing it, adding to or taking away from it until I end up with something that is readable and makes a certain amount of sense. Secondly, I love the people. While doing a series of articles on why people who left Brockville at one point in their lives chose to return to live here, I had the pleasure of sitting down with and talking to some pretty interesting people. Thirdly, I just get a kick out of doing it.
Lately I have been leaning toward writing this column with a theme so that each article is relevant to all the others. The theme that keeps jumping out at me is Baby Boomer. Being one myself, that seems to be the most natural demographic to pick for my subject matter. There are a whole lot of us Baby Boomers out there with plenty to say. A Baby Boomer, by definition, is one of the 'boom' of kids born after World War II right up until about 1964. The decline in births around 1964 is attributed to couples waiting longer to have families due to more women in the work force and oral contraception becoming widely available.
As the largest segment of the population ever, Baby Boomers have wielded quite a bit of power over the last fifty or so years. We have started and maintained many trends. As the major contributors to the economy, we have seen companies worldwide gear their products to us. Our age group was, and still is, the big money spender and we continue to get all the attention.
When we were teenagers, the record industry focused its production on our needs. Rock and roll records were churned out by the millions. Hollywood made movies with themes and issues relevant to teens and young adults. More and more magazines aimed at teenagers surfaced. A few kids in Philadelphia, dancing for the cameras on American Bandstand, became household names. All we girls wanted hair like Bunny and a very cool boyfriend. All the boys wanted Bunny.
Suddenly there were ‘labels’. We had to have certain brands of shoes, clothing, make-up. We created our own style. Jordache jeans, Bass Weejuns loafers, Beatles haircuts for the boys along with, madras and button down shirts were the order of the day. Our insatiable appetites spawned drive-in restaurants and our food was served by girls on roller skates.
And now here we are, the Baby Boomers, all grown up. We’ve made the transition from teeny-boppers to seniors with stops along the way to be protesters, young upwardly mobile professionals, and the comfortably middle-aged. Our children now have children. We turn around and, suddenly, there behind us, stretching out behind us.....we see our lives. Oldies stations play the rock and roll we danced to, our favourite movies are being shown on classic movie channels; our lives have become fodder for nostalgia. Since we are still the generation with the most spending clout the powers that be are gearing up to look after us when we are unable to do so ourselves. The number of homes for seniors that are springing up around us is testament to our numbers.
The pampering of our age group hasn’t stopped; there are many perks to being a Baby Boomer. We are probably the most affluent ‘aging’ population ever. We still travel, we socialize, we get involved even more than our parents did and we are a pretty darned interesting bunch. We are healthy and young in spirit. We think nothing of changing careers mid-stream and re-inventing ourselves when the need arises.
There is a wealth of topics waiting to be scrutinized and written about and in keeping with the Baby Boomer theme, here are some of the subjects I should like to write about and share with you. How are we going to fill our days once we retire? How do we feel about being grandparents? If we suddenly find ourselves single, how do we cope? Is there still romance?
There will be many other subjects that I find myself wondering about or my friends are concerned about. As they occur to me I shall endeavour to write about them. I’m not going to attempt to problem solve or put forward my own personal opinions; rather I will leave you the readers to your own solutions and opinions.
I think we all have a unique story to tell; some stories a little more dramatic than others, some a little more humorous and some a little more poignant. It would be wonderful to speak with some over-fifties out there so I can relate your point of view to the readership of this newspaper. I am going to enjoy writing these articles and will rely on you, the over-fifties in Brockville, to be my stimulus. I hope to write on behalf of us all.
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