What did we want, you ask?
What did we dream of as children growing up in grey cities surrounded
by broken concrete and broken people?
We dreamed of peace
open areas with green grass and climbable trees
starry nights
clean air
adventure
freedom.
Latchkey kids dreamed of having
their own bedrooms
privacy to expand
of making tents and having sleep overs,
functioning air conditioning,
treehouses and field trips,
and the serenity and security needed to flourish;
and yet, like weeds
so often dismissed as worthless
those who survived, thrived
to dream dreams of providing these things and more for their children.
Those with siblings had tailor made
best friends and nemeses
die-hard besties, covering each other’s stories,
as they snuck out windows, climbed down rusted fire escapes
to attend midnight public school yard raves with boom boxes and Calvin Coolers, underage clubs or basement hot box parties with dubbed tapes, mojta and pubescent grinding,
alternate outfit, cash and knives in hand.
Using the “new tech” of multi line phone calls to pretend we were at a friend’s house.
Sneaking back in without making a sound
Master Gen X Urban Ninja moves.
The City was our playground
Soho was an abandoned part of the city with its own unique architecture,
where we imagined we lived amongst castles.
The FDR, East River and Battery Park, jungles of sand, abandoned cars, dimly light streets and empty buildings used by ravers, squatters and drug addicts.
We built our forts in abandoned lots with discarded furniture, wood pallets and tarps, doing our best to sweep away used needles and other urban offal.
The City was divided into territories with their own rules
Heroin ally, 10th Street Weed Corner, Uptown, “Crookland”, “LES”, “The Boogey Down”, where having friends who lived there gave you a pass, to go through, hopefully, without getting jumped.
We learned early, where and when we could explore,
before they were gentrified and sanctioned gangs in blue took over.
But now?
we are the ones raising a generation so lost in their social media
Committed and convinced that thru half-assed effort
they’ll become "virtual" somebodies of significance
money growing from virtual trees paid for by virtual entitled spendthrifts
they don't know... how much more trapped they are now,
then we were then.
At the least we can say,
we Lived,
we Explored, and had the
Wildest Dystopian Adventures
Without the distractions of “gotcha”
moments of
Today’s social media.
Ahh ha, we won!
Love Gen X, the Latchkey, Escape
Artist,
Mentalist, fully inoculated, highly political, Woke
Chill AF but We Can love you and Cut You
Generation
What did we dream of as children growing up in grey cities surrounded
by broken concrete and broken people?
open areas with green grass and climbable trees
starry nights
clean air
adventure
freedom.
privacy to expand
of making tents and having sleep overs,
functioning air conditioning,
treehouses and field trips,
and the serenity and security needed to flourish;
and yet, like weeds
so often dismissed as worthless
those who survived, thrived
to dream dreams of providing these things and more for their children.
die-hard besties, covering each other’s stories,
as they snuck out windows, climbed down rusted fire escapes
to attend midnight public school yard raves with boom boxes and Calvin Coolers, underage clubs or basement hot box parties with dubbed tapes, mojta and pubescent grinding,
alternate outfit, cash and knives in hand.
Using the “new tech” of multi line phone calls to pretend we were at a friend’s house.
Sneaking back in without making a sound
Master Gen X Urban Ninja moves.
Soho was an abandoned part of the city with its own unique architecture,
where we imagined we lived amongst castles.
The FDR, East River and Battery Park, jungles of sand, abandoned cars, dimly light streets and empty buildings used by ravers, squatters and drug addicts.
We built our forts in abandoned lots with discarded furniture, wood pallets and tarps, doing our best to sweep away used needles and other urban offal.
The City was divided into territories with their own rules
Heroin ally, 10th Street Weed Corner, Uptown, “Crookland”, “LES”, “The Boogey Down”, where having friends who lived there gave you a pass, to go through, hopefully, without getting jumped.
We learned early, where and when we could explore,
before they were gentrified and sanctioned gangs in blue took over.
we are the ones raising a generation so lost in their social media
Committed and convinced that thru half-assed effort
they’ll become "virtual" somebodies of significance
money growing from virtual trees paid for by virtual entitled spendthrifts
they don't know... how much more trapped they are now,
then we were then.
we Lived,
we Explored, and had the
Wildest Dystopian Adventures
Today’s social media.
Mentalist, fully inoculated, highly political, Woke
Chill AF but We Can love you and Cut You
Generation
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