lex! Generation

co

Betsy Moss, Lisa
Weinshenker, Scott
Winnick and Nathan White
play pool at
Roosevelt's.

Coffee talk (below) at Brazil
Coffeehouse with Caryn
Sherline, Dena Woll and
fiance David Raminick, and
Gary Goodman.

•

Ma!

Now Marks
The Spot

Are the
successors to the
Baby Boomers
a "lost" cause?

JENNIFER FINER STAFF WRITER

i N l

athan White, a
2 2-year-old
Wayne State
University med-
ical student,
does not like the
the term Gener-
ation X that is
used to classify young adults.
He thinks it implies that he
and his friends are part of a
lost generation.
"My friends and I are not
lost," he says.
Gil Stebbins, a 24-year-old
entrepreneur, agrees. He says
it's much harder to be a young
adult in the '90s because in
order to succeed "you have to
be a step ahead of everyone
else."
Betsy Moss, a 32-year-old
teacher, says it's about work-
ing hard, giving back to the
community and still having

5 g

•
•
O

time to spend with friends and
family
"It is not easy to do all of
this," she says.
They were the generation
who grew up watching "The
Brady Bunch" re-runs and

"The Cosby Show" and their
mothers entered the workforce
in record numbers. As teen-
agers, the malls were a popu-
lar hangout and television sets
were, for the first time, tuning
in to MTV.

Name: Gil Stebbins
Age: 24
Occupation: Owner of a
lawn mower-parts distribu-
tion franchise.
Residence: Oak Park
Quote: "It's hard to meet
other Orthodox people my
age becuase it often seems
like there's no one here. They
go to the bigger cities like
New York, Chicago and
Toronto to meet people."

They were too young for
disco but too old for techno-pop.
They listened to the Go-Gos,
Duran Duran and Adam Ant
while sporting Guess Jeans
and leather ties. Movies like
Grease and The Breakfast
Club were also generation fa-
vorites.
They made a steady diet out
of McDonalds and other fast
foods because counting fat
grams was not an issue.
This segment of our society
is Generation X — a group of
young adults that the media of-
ten characterizes as lost, lazy
and unmotivated.
It's the generation to follow
the baby boomers, who like its
predecessor, bases "member-
ship" on birthdays. But to
stereotype a typical Generation
Xer would be impossible.
"X" page 104

103