Question

letter to the editor about generation gap

Answer 1

To the Editor:

During a recent trip through her childhood town, my sister was having lunch at a local pizzeria. She found it decorated with pictures from the past of the town and surrounding area. The teenage waitress didn't know what the pictures were but found it interesting when told.

This little bit of personal astonishment seemed to fall right into place with another breakthrough while watching this morning's news.

Mixed in with the big story of Hurricane Earl moving up the east coast was a story about parents springing for teeth whitening and, get this, a back-to-school tattoo. Why should I be surprised, cynically speaking? The follow up comment made by the co-newsperson was, "Whatever happened to the good old-fashioned book bag?"

It's all a matter of relativity. Today's mortification can only be soothed with a neon smile and a permanent armband of social acceptance. Go back a generation and you were nobody without a "cool" book bag. You know the kind. It's a take off on the old advertising sandwich board, declaring the best deal in town, but with a sports logo.

Then there's my generation, when going back to school meant new shoes, a new notebook, and maybe a pencil box in grade school. Remember those? They had a drawer, and two if you got the deluxe box. Unsnap the lid to find little pencils and erasers, a six-inch ruler and protractor with dubious gradations. The little plastic scissors sure looked like they belonged in there.