Win, Win, Win

It's all good news today, ladies and gentlemen-- In fact, my news is so good that I swear angels are singing.  As 2012-- the year that kicked me to the curb repeatedly, winds to a close, you won't hear me moaning about burglars or large mice or the seeming endless drama of late.  Nope, today it's all good news.  Everybody wins!

For starters, the lovely Lilly of Lily's Life is the winner of my Christmas ornament giveaway courtesy of Attila the Mom and Highland Roses Design Studio.  Please check out both blogs and the ornament shopping site-- These ladies truly are awesome longtime bloggers with great writing and a strong sense of community in Blogland.

Second, I'm sitting up a little straighter in my chair today with a big goofy grin on my face.  Out of the blue, I received a very nice surprise from the Huffington Post.  No, I'm not finally showing my face in the photo below, but my little blog was one of seven blogs they like for post 50 women!  I'm ignoring the fact that HuffPost/50 solidifies my age as clearly not 40-something anymore but this recognition kinda makes being almost 55 okay. 

CLICK HERE FOR THE ACTUAL STORY ON HUFF/POST 50

What I especially like about the HuffPost/50 mention is that the sidebar next to my blog screenshot (not shown in the above photo) says "Joanna Jenkins muses about life, friends and family, and also offers a nice list of other awesome blogs." That means many, many of you, my dear blog friends, are also included in this recognition and that makes me very happy.

I have absolutely no idea why or how my blog was selected but I'm pretty sure it's because of word of mouth from YOU and for that I am deeply grateful.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

The other thing I like about this HuffPost/50's list of blogs is that they ask for comments with YOUR suggestions for other blogs.  So please--  CLICK HERE for the full feature, and if applicable, add YOUR blog to the list so the Huffington Posts knows about you.  Tell them Joanna sent you.

And while you're there, pretty please click the LIKE button for my blog and/or leave a commet.  (Hold your curser over my screenshot for the sidebar box and the LIKE button appears.  Or scroll all the way down to get to the comment section.)   Thanks a million!

How many blog do you usually read/follow?
Welcome to www.TheFiftyFactor.com  -  Joanna Jenkins
Photo Credit: © Fotowerk - Fotolia.com and Huffington Post

Generation What?

Recently, I came across an article online from an April, 2000 issues of Esquire magazine, by Paul Begala, who summed Baby Boomers up as "The Worst Generation" of "self-absorbed" nasty "greed is good" jerks, full of guys who "once dropped acid and now do Viagra" and chicks who used to "do lipstick and now do liposuction".  Sounds kind of harsh!

I'll admit I've been known to refer to Baby Boomers as "they", "them" and "those people" who were former hippies and draft dodgers.  I was a Disco Queen and that was all so far from my universe growing up that "they" seemed like the "older generation" to me. 

So you can imagine my absolute shock and mortification when I realized that I, was in fact, a member of the Baby Boom Generation that's constantly getting trashed in the media. How could that be?  I'm only 50 years old.  

Technically, Baby Boomers are considered those born in 1946 through the end of 1963.  They are classified as having grown up with Howdy Duty, Woodstock and anti-Vietnam War protests.  I was born in 1958 and never did any of that.  Somebody check the dates!

Seriously, I thought I was part of the Pepsi Generation ('63)-- We were born after World War II in time for, us-- the "younger generation", to take the "Pepsi Challenge" ('75).  The Baby Boom started a full ten years before I was even born!  Who do I call to file a protest?  The Pepsi Generation just sounds so much nicer anyway.  Besides, I was only 5 years old by the time the Boomer Generation ended.  

"Officially" Boomers include folks like Donald Trump and George W. Bush ('46), OJ Simpson (47), Cat Stevens ('48), Richard Gere ('49), Arianna Huffington ('50), Rush Limbaugh ('51),  Mickey Rourke ('52), Ben Bernanke ('53), Howard Stern ('54), Steve Jobs ('55), Bill Maher ('56), Spike Lee ('57), Michael Jackson ('58), Marie Osmond('59), Bono ('60), Dee Dee Myers ('61), Tom Cruise ('62), and John's son, Julian Lennon ('63).

That means Michelle Obama, Tavis Smiley, Russell Crowe and Bobby Flay (all born in 1964) are too young and just missed the "Boomer" title.  I doubt they're upset.

If that doesn't surprise you, how about the folks that are too old to be Boomers-- Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler, Eric Clapton and Diane Sawyer, were all born in 1945.  George Lucas ('44), Geraldo Rivera ('43), Aretha Franklin ('42), Martha Stewart ('41) and John Lennon ('40) didn't make the cut either.  I wonder if they realize they're part of the "Silent Generation".  (1930-1945) Nice, huh?

There is a glimmer of light at the end of my tunnel.  Additional research revealed there's "technically" an in between generation that I'm a part of, even though I've never heard of it before. Does that still count?  Maybe I've lived a sheltered life, but has "Generation Jones" ever come up in your dinner conversation?  It hasn't in mine.

Those born between 1954-1965 fall into the "Jonesers" category as they apparently are known.  According to Wikipedia, we were the children raised in the "optimistic '60s before the realities of the pessimistic '70s hit".  We dealt with things like Watergate, the cold War and the oil embargo.  For many of us, Jimmy Carter was the first president we voted for.  (Um, sorry about that.) People like Oprah, Jerry Seinfeld and President Obama run in our crowd.  Madonna and Prince brought us MTV.

Where does "Jones" come from, you ask?  Think, as in, "keeping up with the Jones".  Not very flattering but we're a competitive bunch, or so they say. But I guess it's better than being lumped into the Generation X crowd (1966-1980).  They're a bunch of "slackers" according to society's standards.

So here I sit eating crow.  I admit, I have not had many nice things in the past to say about "my people"-- the Baby Boom Generation.  But I felt better learning that in 1967, when I was 9 years old, Time magazine named "Middle Americans-- The Baby Boom Generation, as their "Persons of the Year".  Although I do wonder how they feel about that today.

Pondering life as a "fifty-something" now also includes the "Baby Boomer Generation" name tag.  I'm still adjusting to both labels with trepidation.  I've long since switched from Pepsi to Coke... so I could "Teach The World To Sing In Perfect Harmony" (1971), but maybe I should reconsider and step out of denial and explore my "roots" a little deeper, this time not as judgemental in my old age.

Do you have a generational "label"?

Welcome to TheFiftyFactor  -  Joanna