tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88463069498899951362024-03-13T19:55:36.903-07:00My Generation - baby boomers & youth culture todayDid my baby boom generation change the world?
Is youthculture still a defining feature of the world today?
What do you think?
Or if you are also a baby boomer perhaps you would like to share some memories or family snapshots with us.
If you have the time/inclination, please have a look at the first, initial blog entry I did to try to kick off this discussion. Thanks. TedTed Polhemushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348704886991204171noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846306949889995136.post-48399289473461683152014-03-07T08:14:00.000-08:002014-03-07T08:14:24.423-08:00<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: magenta; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Does Youth Culture exist in the 21st Century?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: magenta; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ozthTVRzP8M/UxnsX57yycI/AAAAAAAAAUw/SvM6oeN2pzI/s1600/punk+girl+2+300dpi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ozthTVRzP8M/UxnsX57yycI/AAAAAAAAAUw/SvM6oeN2pzI/s1600/punk+girl+2+300dpi.jpg" height="200" width="127" /></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The following interview with me (Ted Polhemus) has just
appeared in Portuguese on the Brazilian IHU OnLine - Magazine - University Unisinos.
I'm posting it here in the original English. (My answers in caps.) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The question were put by Patricia Fachin<br />
(Jornalista, Instituto Humanitas Unisinos - IHU <a href="http://www.ihu.unisinos.br/" title="http://www.ihu.unisinos.br/">www.ihu.unisinos.br</a>)
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">If you want the Brazilian Portuguese version go to :</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.ihu.unisinos.br/entrevistas/528670-o-mito-da-juventude-o-problema-de-envelhecer-e-dos-velhos-entrevista-especial-com-ted-polhemus"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">http://www.ihu.unisinos.br/entrevistas/528670-o-mito-da-juventude-o-problema-de-envelhecer-e-dos-velhos-entrevista-especial-com-ted-polhemus</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10.0pt;"><b>Why is
there a myth about youth?</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10.0pt;">SINCE THE
50S AND 60S THE MYTH HAS GROWN THAT YOUTH IS WHERE IT IS AT – THAT ALL GREAT
CREATIVE ADVANCES COME FROM THE YOUNG. THIS OVERTURNED (THE ALSO ABSURD) MYTH
THAT YOUTH HAS NOTHING TO CONTRIBUTE. THE REAL MYTH (AND DANGER) IS THE
PRESUMPTION THAT CREATIVITY IS AGE DEFINED. AT THE END OF THE DAY WE ARE MORE
IMPORTANT THAN OUR AGE.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10.0pt;"><b>What
understanding had the boomers about youth? To what extent the cultural context
in which they were have contributed to their own understanding of youth?</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10.0pt;">BABY
BOOMERS LIKE MYSELF GREW UP IN A WORLD (JUST AFTER WWII) WHERE WE WERE
CONSTANTLY TOLD THAT WE WERE ‘YOUTH’ AND AS SUCH WERE SPECIAL. THE REALLY
INTERESTING THING IS THAT ALL THAT CREATIVITY ASSOCIATED WITH ROCK ‘N’ ROLL,
SWINGING LONDON FASHION, ETC. WAS ACTUALLY COMING FROM A SLIGHTLY OLDER
GENERATION WHICH HAD BEEN BORN DURING OR EVEN BEFORE WWII. THE VERY FIRST BABY
BOOMERS LIKE ME (BORN 1947) DID NOT BECOME TEENAGERS UNTIL 1960 WHEREAS ROCK
‘N’ ROLL, THE FIRST STREETSTYLES, MODERN JAZZ, BEAT POETS ETC. WAS ALL CREATED
BY YOUNG ADULTS WHO WERE THEMSELVES NO LONGER TEENAGERS. BUT SO ALL PERVASIVE
WAS THE IDEA THAT WE BOOMERS CREATED, INVENTED AND WERE DEFINED BY OUR ‘YOUTH’
THAT WE BECAME THE FIRST GENERATION WHICH NEVER MANAGED TO GROW UP. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10.0pt;"><b>You say
this generation affected other generations "like a tsunami",
"distorting and metamorphosing all Western culture." How and to what
extent did this happen? What are the consequences for future generations?</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10.0pt;">ONCE THE
IDEA TOOK HOLD THAT YOUTH AND ONLY YOUTH HAD THE MAGIC KEY TO WHERE IT IS AT
THEN ALL OLDER GENERATIONS WERE SEEN AS HOPELESS OLDY SQUARES WHO DIDN’T HAVE A
CLUE AND ALL SUBSEQUENT GENERATIONS (OR MOST IMPORTANTLY, THE ADVERTISING MEN
AND WOMEN WHO SOUGHT TO TARGET THEM) ACCEPTED WITHOUT QUESTION THE PRESUMPTION
THAT LIFE ENDS WHEN YOUR YOUTH ENDS. TAKE FASHION FOR EXAMPLE: DESIGNERS LIKE
DIOR, WHOSE ‘NEW LOOK’ TOOK THE WORLD BY STORM IN 1947, DESIGNED FOR WOMEN NOT
GIRLS (WHO WOULD TRADITIONALLY FOLLOW THE TRENDS SET BY THEIR MOTHERS). INDEED,
FASHION HAD ALWAYS BEEN FOCUSED ON WOMEN NOT GIRLS, MEN NOT BOYS. BUT 60S
DESIGNERS LIKE MARY QUANT (WHILE IRONICALLY NOT THEMSELVES TEENS) CREATED
FASHIONS FOCUSED ON TEENAGE GIRLS. TODAY WE HAVE GREAT DEBATES ABOUT SIZE ZERO
MODELS AND SO FORTH BUT THE ESSENCE OF THIS PREOCCUPATION ISN’T BODY SIZE –
IT’S ABOUT AGE. SIZE ZERO DENOTES GIRLS NOT WOMEN. PERSONALLY I THINK IT’S TIME
TO DECOUPLE FASHION AND STYLE FROM THIS AGEIST RESTRICTION. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10.0pt;"><b>Is the
current generation of young people still suffering the effects of the boomer
generation? In what ways?</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10.0pt;">IN IT’S
INABILITY TO GROW UP, THE BOOMERS TRY TO ATTACH A ‘FOREVER YOUNG’ LABEL ON
THEMSELVES WHICH, IN A SENSE, DENIES YOUTH TO THOSE WHO ACTUALLY ARE YOUNG.
WHEN THIS HAPPENED IN THE 70S – ALL THOSE AGING HIPPIES CONTROLLING THE MUSIC
INDUSTRY AND SO FORTH – THE EVENTUAL TRIUMPH OF YOUTH AND A NEW GENERATION WHO
ACTUALLY WERE YOUNG WAS PUNK. BUT THE PROBLEM IS MORE INSIDUOUS TODAY IN THAT
THIS MODEL WHICH EQUATES ‘WHERE IT’S AT’ WITH ‘YOUTH’ SEEKS TO CORAL THOSE WHO
ARE YOUNG INTO A CATEGORY DOMINATED PURELY BY AGE. IN FACT, FROM WHAT I SEE,
TODAY’S YOUTH HAVE HAD THE SENSE TO MOVE ON FROM SUCH AN AGEIST MODEL – IN THE
PROCESS APPRECIATING THAT LIFESTYLE CHOICES OF STYLE, MUSIC, IDEOLOGY,
CONSUMPTION PATTERNS, ETC. ARE THE REALLY SIGNIFICANT INDICATOR OF IDENTITY AND
THAT THESE STRIDE ACROSS BOUNDARIES OF AGE. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><b>Is
there a widespread process of generational conflict in Western society? If yes,
on what terms?</b></span><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt;">THERE WAS
IN THE 70S WHEN THE YOUNG REBELS OF PUNK TOOK ON THE ‘BORING OLD FARTS’. WHAT
AMAZES ME IS HOW LITTLE GENERATION CONFLICT THERE SEEMS TO BE TODAY. AND THAT
HAS TO BE DOWN TO YOUTH FOR FORGING US OLDIES FOR SCREWING UP THE WORLD. IT HAS
BEEN POINTED OUT THAT, STATISTICALLY, THE BOOMER GENERATION HAD IT ALL THEIR
OWN WAY: LAUGHING ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK AND DESPROYING THE PLANET AS NONE HAD
DONE BEFORE. IN FACT, IF I MAY, I THINK THESE SORTS OF ARGUMENTS (AS MADE IN A
NUMBER OF BEST-SELLING BOOKS RECENTLY) FALL PRY TO THE SAME AGEIST ABSURDITY.
THERE WERE BOOMERS WHO DROVE BUSES AND GOT BY ON A VERY LIMITED INCOME WHILE
THERE ARE PLENTY OF THOSE LIKE, SAY, MARK WHATS HIS NAME WHO FOUNDED FACEBOOK
WHO ARE NOT BOOMERS BUT WHO HAVE MADE ENOUGH MONEY TO KEEP A SMALL NATION GOING.
IT IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE THAT IT WAS DURING THE LIFETIME OF THE BOOMERS THAT THE
DESTRUCTION OF OUR PLANET WENT INTO OVERDRIVE. BUT, AGAIN, I DON’T THINK IT IS
FAIR TO PIN THIS ON EACH AND EVERY BABY BOOMER. BUT DESPITE THESE DISCLAIMERS I
COULD WELL UNDERSTAND THAT YOUNGER GENERATIONS RESENT THE FACT THAT SO MANY
BOOMERS ARE ON COMFORTABLE PENSIONS (NOT TO MENTION SOAKING UP ALL THE MEDICAL
FACILITIES) WHILE SO MANY OF THEIR GENERATION CAN’T EVEN GET JOBS.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10.0pt;"><b>What is
this process of "youthification" of which you speak?</b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10.0pt;">BY
‘YOUTHIFICATION’ I MEAN THE TRANSFERING OF YOUTH CULTURE FROM THE STRICT DOMAIN
OF THE YOUNG TO PENETRATE INTO ALL AGE GROUPS AND THE CULTURE IN THE WIDEST
SENSE. FOR EXAMPLE, AS I MENTIONED EARLIER, IT WASN’T SIMPLY THAT A NEW MARKET WAS
CREATED WITHIN FASTION TO CATER TO THOSE WHO WERE YOUNG BUT THAT YOUNG MODELS
AND YOUTHFUL DESIGNS APPROPRIATE ONLY TO A YOUTHFUL BODY PUSHED EVERYTHING ELSE
ASIDE IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY. DITTO POP MUSIC. WE FORGET THAT THIS ISN’T A
NATURAL PHENOMENON: THOUGHOUT 99.9% OF ITS HISTORY OUR HUMAN ANCESTORS REVERED
THE OLD FOR THEIR WISDOM. THE END RESULT TODAY IS THE AGING ‘KIDULTS’ WHO TRY
SO DESPERATELY TO ‘GET DOWN WITH THE KIDS’. MY HOPE IS THAT AS MY GENERATION –
FINALLY – GOES OFF TO THAT GREAT ROCK FESTIVAL IN THE SKY THE WORLD CAN RETURN
TO A MORE NORMAL AND SENSIBLE PERCEPTION THAT CREATIVITY AND VALUE ARE NOT
LIMITED TO ANY AGE GROUP. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10.0pt;"><b>Is it
possible to break this youthification process started by the boomers? </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10.0pt;">What
would be the subsequent social myth? JUST, AS I SAY, TO STOP THINKING THAT WHO
WERE ARE IS DEFINED BY OUR AGE. THE CENTRAL CHARACTER AND NARRATOR OF THE LATE
50S BRITISH NOVEL <u>ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS</u> FEAR THAT IN TURNING 19 HE WILL BE
PAST HIS SELL-BY DATE. WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP – NOT THE NOVEL WHICH IS GREAT BUT
THE NOTION THAT AT A CERTAIN AGE YOU ARE PAST IT. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10.0pt;"><b>How does
happen the identity processes of young people today?</b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10.0pt;">How this process differs
from the concept of "youth" originated by the Boomers? THIS IS
EXACTLY WHAT SOMEONE HAS TO START TO ASK YOUNG PEOPLE. I’M 67 AND HAVEN’T A
CLUE ABOUT YOUNG PEOPLE TODAY. THIS IS WHAT I WANT SOMEONE TO DO: SOME SORT OF
SURVEY WHICH ASKS YOUNG PEOPLE TO LIST THE SIGNIFANCE OF VARIOUS FACTORS (AGE,
NATIONALITY, CLASS, BRANDS, MUSIC, STYLE, RELIGION, RACE, VALUES, ETC.) FROM
MOST IMPORTANT TO LEAST IMPORTANT. HERE’S AN OBSERVATION I’VE MADE ALL BY
MYSELF: IN THE TOWN OF HASTINGS, UK WHERE I LIVE, WHEN THE WEATHER IMPROVES (IF
IT EVER DOES) THERE ARE A LOT OF MOSTLY YOUNG KIDS ROLLER BLADING AND SKATEBOARDING
ON THE PROMINADE BY THE SEA. I SAY MOSTLY YOUNG KIDS BUT – HERE’S MY POINT –
I’VE NOTICED THAT IF AN OLD PERSON COMES ALONG WHO IS GOOD AT ROLLER BLADING OR
SKATEBOARDING HE OR SHE IS WELCOMED AND RESPECTED. WHEREAS SOME KID WHO HAS NO
SKILL IS IGNORED. COMPARE TO MY GENERATION WHICH SAID ‘NEVER TRUST ANYONE OVER
35’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10.0pt;"><b>This
self-understanding of "youthification" makes young people do not
develop characteristics of adulthood? Which one, for example?</b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10.0pt;">How the
"youthification" affects adulthood? I THINK IT’S THE OTHER SIDE OF
THIS COIN WHICH IS THE MORE SIGNIFICANT: HOW THOSE WHO ARE NOT YOUNG STRIVE TO
RUN THEIR LIVES AS IF THEY WERE YOUNG WHEN THEY ARE NOT. MY GUESS WOULD BE THAT
TODAY – UNLIKE THE 50S AND 60S – ONLY THE OLDIES ARE STUCK IN YOUTHIFICATION
MODE. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10.0pt;"><b>Is there
a paradigm lacking regarding what is being grown for the youth of today?</b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10.0pt;">AGAIN,
I THINK THE YOUTH OF TODAY ARE OK WHILE THE PROBLEM OF GROWING UP IS WITH
OLDIES. IF THERE IS A PROBLEM WHICH WORRIES ME ABOUT TODAY’S YOUTH IT IS THAT
SO MANY OF THE YOUNG TODAY SEEM TO BE LIVING UNDER THE SHADOW OF MY GENERATION.
STUDENTS SAY TO ME ‘IT MUST HAVE BEEN SO COOL IN THE 60S’. WELL, YES AND NO.
HISTORY HAS A WAY OF IGNORING ALL THE BORING STUF AND JUST REPLAYING ON AN
ENDLESS LOOP THAT CLIP FROM WOODSTOCK WHERE MAGIC HAPPENED. IN THE 50S WHEN, IN
MY VIEW, THE REAL REVOLUTIONS WERE TAKING PLACE, IT WAS EVEN MORE A MATTER OF A
TINY MINORITY STATISTICALLY SWAMPED BY A HUGE, EXTREMELY BORING MAINSTREAM. AND
THEN LET’S NOT FORGET THAT THE JACK KEROUAC’S AND THE NEAL CASSIDY’S OF ON THE
ROAD WASTED MOST OF THEIR LIVES – AND SCREWED UP THE LIVES OF SO MANY OTHERS
AROUND THEM, ESPECIALLY THE WOMEN IN THEIR LIVES. WHAT IS SO SIGNIFICANT AND
EXCITING TODAY IS THAT WHAT WERE ONCE MINORITY PREOCCUPATIONS HAVE GONE
MAINSTREAM. MOST PEOPLE TODAY – OF ALL AGES – PUT EFFORT INTO CREATING A UNIQUE
IDENTITY FOR THEMSELVES AND EXPRESSING THIS IDENTITY IN STYLE OR WORDS, MUSIC
OR WHATEVER. AND THIS IS GLOBEL. REMEMBER THAT BACK IN THE 50S AND 60S THE
MAJORITY WERE CONFORMING RATHER THAN EXPRESSING THEMSELVES AND EVEN THE BEATS,
HIPPIES, BIKERS AND SO ON WERE CONFORMING TO THE DEMANDS OF THEIR SUBCULTURE.
OR FASHION TOLD PEOPLE WHAT WAS IN OR OUT. NEVER BEFORE IN HUMAN HISTORY HAVE
HOMO SAPIENS HAD SUCH POSSIBLITY IN INVENTING THEMSELVES. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Ted Polhemushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348704886991204171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846306949889995136.post-27650430594505963472013-12-18T09:15:00.001-08:002013-12-18T10:28:03.757-08:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EQE8VouHuyU/UrHV8vHLNKI/AAAAAAAAASM/VPxCTf_WS-0/s1600/TPs+Perfecto+-+cutout.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EQE8VouHuyU/UrHV8vHLNKI/AAAAAAAAASM/VPxCTf_WS-0/s400/TPs+Perfecto+-+cutout.jpg" width="361" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">One of the most interesting things about </span><span style="color: magenta; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">'youth culture'</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> is how rarely it is actually created by youth. In the mid 1950s when the 'teenager' is said to have been born the post-war </span><span style="color: magenta; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Baby Boomers</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> like me were still children - even those of us born in 1947 wouldn't hit 13 until 1960. And all that Rock 'n' Roll, films like The Wild One or Rebel Without a Cause featured musicians and actors well past their teenage years. Poor Bill Haley looked well past his sell-by date when he and his Comets finally had a hit with Rock Around the Clock. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The </span><span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-large;">teenagers</span><span style="font-size: large;"> were the audience - supporting musicians, writers, artists and film stars who, unlike the Baby Boomers, were born during or even before World War Two. But what an audience: an unprecedented teenage and then young adult demographic which shaped each and every decade right up to and including the present day. And shaped not only youth culture but every facet of the post-war world. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">To see how - for better and for worse - the Baby Boomers (even if only as a receptive audience) changed the world check out my book </span><span style="color: magenta; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">BOOM! - a Baby Boomer Memoir, 1947-2022. >>>>></span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g20kxlLmUDI/UrHWO_-pBLI/AAAAAAAAASU/cdCJa3TWBns/s1600/Mexican+poncho+bought+in+Mexico+-+cutout.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g20kxlLmUDI/UrHWO_-pBLI/AAAAAAAAASU/cdCJa3TWBns/s400/Mexican+poncho+bought+in+Mexico+-+cutout.jpg" width="383" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: lime; font-size: 14pt;">Fire up your Kindle</span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> - the Kindle edition of my book </span></span><b><span style="color: magenta; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">BOOM! - a Baby Boomer Memoir 1947-2022</span></span></b> <span style="font-size: large;">now contains
125+ recently updated links to film trailers, music tracks and historic film
clips from the <span style="color: magenta;">50s</span>,
<span style="color: magenta;">60s</span> and <span style="color: magenta;">70s</span>. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">An
entirely new way of reading a book, the Kindle edition of BOOM! makes it
possible to leap from, say, a discussion of <span style="color: magenta;">Marlon Brando</span> in <u>The Wild One</u> to the
original 1953 trailer for that sensational film. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 19px;">'What are you rebelling against?'</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 19px;">'Wha Ya got?'</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Or,
when considering the roots of Rock 'n' Roll you can be listening to Roy Brown's
<span style="color: magenta;">'Good Rockin Tonight'</span>
or watch Little Eva doing <span style="color: magenta;">'The
Loco-motion'</span>. The Baby Boomers were the first generation to grow
up with TV and, naturally, BOOM! provides clips from <span style="color: magenta;">I Love Lucy</span> or <span style="color: magenta;">American Bandstand</span> to <span style="color: magenta;">Tony Soprano</span> and <span style="color: magenta;">Don Draper</span>. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background: fuchsia; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-highlight: fuchsia;">>>>></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">To have a look for yourself go to </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/BOOM-Baby-Boomer-Memoir-1947-2022-ebook/dp/B009BBYM08/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1386781907&sr=8-5&keywords=ted+polhemus" style="color: magenta;"><span style="color: magenta;">BOOM!</span></a> [< click]</span></span><span style="color: lime; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">- or
your local Amazon site and search for Ted Polhemus <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background: fuchsia; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-highlight: fuchsia;">Don't own a Kindle?</span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> Me neither. No problem. Download a free
Kindle reader for PC, Mac, Android, iPad, etc. Works really well on my PC. When
you download a Kindle book it flies straight into your Kindle Reader to form
part of your library. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Yes
we all love real paper books but where a printed book is hard to get, too pricy
or you need to read something immediately, Kindle could be the answer. And
everyday there are thousands of Kindle books given away free. For a free Kindle
reader go to >>><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=sv_kstore_3?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771"><span style="color: magenta;">FREE KINDLE READER</span></a>
[< click]<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">And/or
get </span></span><span style="color: magenta; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">BOOM! - a Baby Boomer Memoir 1947-2022</span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"> in <u><span style="background: lime; mso-highlight: lime;">print</span></u> form from </span><span style="background: fuchsia; mso-highlight: fuchsia;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Boom-Baby-Boomer-Memoir-1947-2022/dp/1470999951/ref=sr_1_5_bnp_1_pap?ie=UTF8&qid=1386855133&sr=8-5&keywords=ted+polhemus">amazon.com</a></span>
[< click here] or from your local amazon [search BOOM! or Ted Polhemus]</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> <span style="background: fuchsia; mso-highlight: fuchsia;">Sex, drugs & Rock 'n' Roll</span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">66
years in the making, <span style="color: magenta;">BOOM! – A
Baby Boomer Memoir 1947-2022</span> weaves together social history,
personal memoir, pop culture, youth culture, politics, design, TV, fiction,
food, sex, drugs, Rock ‘n’ Roll and a lot else besides to make sense of what
has happened to our world from WWII to the present day – and beyond. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">From
Neptune, New Jersey to Swinging London, Rhythm & Blues to Punk, the rise of
suburbia to the rebirth of the city, modernism to post-modernism, <i>Playboy</i> to ‘Make Love Not War’, <i>I Love Lucy</i> to <i>Mad Men</i>, boom to bust, LSD to ecstasy, Hipsters to, er,
Hipsters. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">400-pages
– including lists of all the most important music, films, TV and fiction for
each decade, a Timeline to enable you to do the time warp and a comprehensive
index. </span><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8846306949889995136" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8846306949889995136" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N8ak-qWPv9o/UrHbDUGI-SI/AAAAAAAAATY/RXexZfkp8q8/s1600/Copy+of+DSCN0636.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N8ak-qWPv9o/UrHbDUGI-SI/AAAAAAAAATY/RXexZfkp8q8/s400/Copy+of+DSCN0636.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Some
more</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsBQ5xvj8BU">Sophisticated Boom Boom </a>for
your listening pleasure.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Ted Polhemushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348704886991204171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846306949889995136.post-5102674786294414212012-12-17T04:36:00.000-08:002012-12-17T04:36:01.580-08:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rwXq_-kKhxA/UM8NcREbAiI/AAAAAAAAAQg/EBB_o5t_Wv8/s1600/CultureSoupBent+-+black+background.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rwXq_-kKhxA/UM8NcREbAiI/AAAAAAAAAQg/EBB_o5t_Wv8/s320/CultureSoupBent+-+black+background.jpg" width="193" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PX4uNwecBqc/UM8NdEUXnqI/AAAAAAAAAQo/u9tvScVa1Ns/s1600/HotButteredHumanity+-+no+background.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="318" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PX4uNwecBqc/UM8NdEUXnqI/AAAAAAAAAQo/u9tvScVa1Ns/s320/HotButteredHumanity+-+no+background.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span class="drop_cap" style="float: left; font-family: Nobile, Corbel, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0.04em 0.12em 0px 0px;"><i><span style="background-color: black; color: magenta; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 12.133333206176758px;">‘Th</span><span style="line-height: 21.983333587646484px;">e media love publishing stories on different generations of humans. Every time a new set of teenagers comes of age, countless authors expound upon what makes this one different from the last. Gen X, the disenchanted, have been replaced by Gen Y, hard workers who don’t remember a world before the Internet. Yet the baby boomers are always discussed as a thing of the past, not a force that shapes the present, let alone the future. Why should we care about them?’</span></span></i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: magenta;"><span style="font-family: Nobile, Corbel, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.983333587646484px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: magenta;"><span style="font-family: Nobile, Corbel, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.983333587646484px;">Youth Culture Vultures >>> Check out this review of my book BOOM! - A Baby Boomer Memoir, 1947-2022 at </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: magenta; font-family: Nobile, Corbel, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.983333587646484px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: magenta; font-family: Nobile, Corbel, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.983333587646484px;"><a href="http://popanth.com/review/boom-a-baby-boomer-memoir-1947-2022-by-ted-polhemus/">http://popanth.com/review/boom-a-baby-boomer-memoir-1947-2022-by-ted-polhemus/</a></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: Nobile, Corbel, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Nobile, Corbel, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">And for the best Culture Soup and Hot Buttered Humanity bookmark the excellent popanth.com for a truly global view of contemporary lifestyles.</span></h3>
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: Nobile, Corbel, Arial, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><i>‘</i></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Nobile, Corbel, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Popular anthropology for everyone. Exploring the familiar and the strange, demystifying and myth busting human culture, biology and behaviour in all times and places. Myths, music, art, archaeology, language, food, festivals, fun.’</i></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Nobile, Corbel, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Nobile, Corbel, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #111111;">>>> </span><span style="color: magenta;"><a href="http://popanth.com/">http://popanth.com/</a></span></span>Ted Polhemushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348704886991204171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846306949889995136.post-91705280718099422302012-12-04T05:35:00.000-08:002012-12-04T05:35:26.741-08:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3k4i3fxv-Mo/UL30dNuHcpI/AAAAAAAAAPA/g7qz-_5Va3s/s1600/tambini+240.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3k4i3fxv-Mo/UL30dNuHcpI/AAAAAAAAAPA/g7qz-_5Va3s/s400/tambini+240.jpg" width="295" /></a></div>
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This is interesting. A crate label from 1940s America reminds us that the notion of 'teenagers' pre-dates the 'youth culture' revolution of the 50s and 60s. I'm guessing that 'Western Vegetables' were those grown in the sunny climes of California and that were new to old school, East Coast cooking. Interesting too that here we have evidence that there were Don Draper pioneers even in the 40s making a connection between adventurous teens and 'new' products - here even striving to make vegetables trendy.</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was born in the USA in 1947 so have no memories of advertising or youth culture in the 40s but my book <span style="color: magenta;">BOOM! - A Baby Boomer Memoir, 1947-2022 </span>has much to report about the further development of youth culture in the 50s, 60s and 70s. As well as some ruminations on Gen X in the 90s and Gen Y today</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">News flash >>> The Amazon Kindle version of BOOM! will be <span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-large;">free </span>to download on <span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-large;">Thursday Dec 6 and Friday Dec 7, 2012</span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt;">>>>For the free download go to the url below and
check that the Kindle price is marked as $0.00</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: 20.0pt;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009BBYM08"><span style="color: magenta;">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009BBYM08</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><b>This
new Kindle version of BOOM! - as well as the timewarping 1947-2013 Timeline - has <span style="color: magenta;">125+ links to
the best films, music, TV and documentaries </span>explored in this
social history of popular culture + 10 iconic images not available in the print
version. <o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><b>*Don't
have a Kindle? Me too. No problemo: get a free Kindle For PC/Mac reader
download </b></span></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt;">at </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=kcp_pc_mkt_lnd?docId=1000426311" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt;" title="http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=kcp_pc_mkt_lnd?docId=1000426311">Kindle
For PC</a></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt;"> </span><b style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt;">or <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/kindle/mac/download" title="http://www.amazon.com/gp/kindle/mac/download">Kindle For Mac</a>. Works
great and as well as books like BOOM! there are lots of free books available at
Amazon every day.</b></div>
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<i><span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt;">More info about BOOM! ></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt;">Sex, drugs, Rock ‘n’ Roll<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Verdana;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">. . . and vanilla cream pie served by that
waitress in The Neptune Diner who lives on in so many Tom Waits songs.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">Straight from the fridge – <i>I Love Lucy</i> meets <i>The Sopranos</i> in <i>The Twilight Zone</i>.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">From Elvis to Johnny Rotten, Neptune, New Jersey
(with <i>Greetings from Asbury Park</i>)
to Swinging London, Hipsters to . . . today’s, er, Hipsters.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">Some say ‘it all happened in the 60s’ but in </span></span></span></span><i><span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt;">BOOM!</span></span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt;"> anthropologist and social historian Ted Polhemus
shows how the roots of our (post) modern age penetrate back to the heady years
just after WWII.</span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Verdana;"><br />
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<span style="background: white;">If you like <i>Mad
Men</i>, <i>Blade Runner</i>, <i>American Graffiti</i>, <i>Blow-up</i>, <i>The
Wild One</i> . . . wish you’d caught Monk at Minton’s Playhouse in 1947,
Springsteen at The Stone Pony in 1975 or The Pistols in London 1976 (or not) .
. .</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">Includes<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">- Sources & Inspiration: Music, Film, TV,
Fiction, Non-fiction</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">- Do the timewarp with the 1947-2012 Timeline</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">- </span></span></span></span><span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt;">Fire up your Kindle: 125+ music/film/TV/doc
video links throughout</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></h3>
<br />Ted Polhemushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348704886991204171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846306949889995136.post-54932267982522028572012-09-18T10:21:00.000-07:002012-09-18T10:21:59.572-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f_KGtuT-K1U/UFiqesgMaJI/AAAAAAAAAOg/9O4y8k38dFQ/s1600/ted+polhemus+punk+70s+3200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="204" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f_KGtuT-K1U/UFiqesgMaJI/AAAAAAAAAOg/9O4y8k38dFQ/s320/ted+polhemus+punk+70s+3200.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: magenta; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">??? TO PUT THE HIP CAT AMONGST THE HIPSTER PIGEONS </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: magenta; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">. . . A QUOTE FROM MY NEW BOOK BOOM! >>></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">‘I suspect
that those who would scoff the loudest at such a questioning of the intrinsic
and eternal value of ‘youth culture’, are not themselves young. From what I see
and hear there is nothing which puts off and irritates today’s adolescents more
than when they are specifically targeted as ‘youth’ – when products and
advertisements are all too cack-handedly directed at some magic kingdom/ghetto
fenced in by age. No, here again what seems to be the case is that presumptions
written in conceptual concrete during the Golden Age of Youth in the ‘50s and
‘60s, have been placed beyond doubt by Oldies who themselves cannot conceive of
life defined by any parameters other than age. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The evidence
of this inability to move beyond the presumed glories of youth and to grow-up
litters the landscape of life at the end of the 20th century and start of the
21st. Media pundits and market researchers have identified the ‘Kidult’ as a
(if not the) decade defining figure of the Noughties: middle-aged-plus grown
men and women who pounce on any and all innovations favored by the young and,
like those who would steal candy from babies, make them their own. Oldies who
ought to know better on skateboards, wearing back to front baseball caps,
wolfing down tabs of Ecstasy, their iPods blaring the latest Grime or Lady
Gaga. And it’s hard to find an ad for pensions or life assurance which doesn’t
feature leather-clad Boomers roaring past on Harley Davidsons or bungee jumping
grannies wearing Hip Hop approved upmarket label tracksuits. In the 21st
century youth culture is everywhere – except perhaps amongst those who are
actually not yet old enough to be <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tk4ZqNAnlI">Kidults</a> (but then, as
they always used to say, youth is too good to be wasted on the young).’</span></blockquote>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zkoblo0Doa8/UFir3zHiqJI/AAAAAAAAAOo/7mu_1JrOGN8/s1600/tp+++lynn+procter+portebello+rd+1972.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="321" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zkoblo0Doa8/UFir3zHiqJI/AAAAAAAAAOo/7mu_1JrOGN8/s400/tp+++lynn+procter+portebello+rd+1972.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">More BOOM! for your bucks</span></u><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"> > My new book </span><span style="color: magenta; font-size: 20.0pt;">BOOM! - A Baby Boomer Memoir, 1947-2022</span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"> is now available in an Amazon Kindle version >Buy
it at </span><span style="color: magenta; font-size: 36.0pt;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/BOOM-Boomer-Memoir-1947-2022-ebook/dp/B009BBYM08/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1347981528&sr=8-7&keywords=ted+polhemus"><span style="color: magenta;">BOOM!</span></a></span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">or check your local Amazon
site.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Only $6.00 this new Kindle
version of BOOM! - as well as the timewarping 1947-2013 Timeline as previously
- has <span style="color: magenta;">125+ links to the best films, music, TV and
documentaries </span>explored in this social history of popular culture. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Don't have a Kindle? Me too.
No problemo: get a free Kindle For PC/Mac reader download at </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=kcp_pc_mkt_lnd?docId=1000426311" style="font-size: 18pt;">Kindle
For PC</a><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> or </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/kindle/mac/download" style="font-size: 18pt;">Kindle For
Mac</a><span style="font-size: 18pt;">. Works great and as well as books like BOOM! which you can buy cheaply
and instantly and then keep and read as you want there are lots of free books
available at Amazon.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-da1JPNL9xQQ/UFisbzVMR6I/AAAAAAAAAOw/E_qX0MFk3F8/s1600/Copy+of+DSCN0636.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-da1JPNL9xQQ/UFisbzVMR6I/AAAAAAAAAOw/E_qX0MFk3F8/s400/Copy+of+DSCN0636.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Ted Polhemushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348704886991204171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846306949889995136.post-44974439480690309952012-06-08T11:20:00.002-07:002012-06-08T11:20:51.511-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eCj2Z3jNy3A/T9JBBVFeDuI/AAAAAAAAAMs/zg-oKtijoSk/s1600/002Copy+of+DSCN4942+crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="284" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eCj2Z3jNy3A/T9JBBVFeDuI/AAAAAAAAAMs/zg-oKtijoSk/s320/002Copy+of+DSCN4942+crop.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IVGVBStT4BE/T9JBFg-wOzI/AAAAAAAAAM0/QhWUFTehI9A/s1600/004Copy+of+DSCN4949+crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IVGVBStT4BE/T9JBFg-wOzI/AAAAAAAAAM0/QhWUFTehI9A/s320/004Copy+of+DSCN4949+crop.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Worn through: My jeans from 1969 + wanted to let you know that there is a really interesting review of my new book BOOM! - a baby boomer memoir, 1947-2022 on the always-worth-a-look website wornthrough.com >>> </span>
<a href="http://www.wornthrough.com/2012/06/05/book-review-boom-a-baby-boomer-memoir/"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: magenta;">Check it out at >>></span></span></a><br /><br />Ted Polhemushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348704886991204171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846306949889995136.post-14622144485315091372012-05-04T07:52:00.000-07:002012-05-04T07:52:41.232-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VceVbBTPz-c/T6PsfCWCP3I/AAAAAAAAAMg/LhzNma9poPU/s1600/WornThrough_300x250.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VceVbBTPz-c/T6PsfCWCP3I/AAAAAAAAAMg/LhzNma9poPU/s1600/WornThrough_300x250.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Always worth a look, www.wornthrough.com has served as a hub for ideas from those who, like me, look at dress, style and appearance from a social and cultural perspective. Monica Sklar founded wornthrough.com way back in 2007. Now there's an interview with me which touches on youth culture, streetstyle and much else besides. Have a look at <a href="http://www.wornthrough.com/2012/04/30/editors-interview-ted-polhemus/"><span style="color: magenta;">http://www.wornthrough.com/2012/04/30/editors-interview-ted-polhemus/</span></a></span>Ted Polhemushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348704886991204171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846306949889995136.post-82522428408618264642012-04-25T11:37:00.000-07:002012-04-25T11:37:44.050-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rxZR-c3whnQ/T5hBui4jN5I/AAAAAAAAAL0/FSPAmBtLGIQ/s1600/Picture+7.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rxZR-c3whnQ/T5hBui4jN5I/AAAAAAAAAL0/FSPAmBtLGIQ/s1600/Picture+7.png" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: cyan;">'Street style anthropology' is what it says on the tin and that's what you get at </span><a href="http://urbanfieldnotes.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: magenta;">http://urbanfieldnotes.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="color: cyan;"> - Philadelphia style. As told in the 'Sex', 'Drugs' and 'Rock 'N' Roll' chapters of my book BOOM! I spent the last of my teenage years in Philly while studying anthropology at Temple University. As well as documenting street style in Philly, Brent Luvaas' site also provides a fantastic listing of and links to street style blogs from around the world . . . and an interview with me, Ted Polhemus. What more could you want?</span></span><br />Ted Polhemushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348704886991204171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846306949889995136.post-26962310929687952312012-04-19T07:50:00.001-07:002012-04-19T07:50:55.432-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Q-8UON_Pw74/T5AjUyCZhsI/AAAAAAAAALs/clImdrXsI7A/s1600/BH_T0G4118lores.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Q-8UON_Pw74/T5AjUyCZhsI/AAAAAAAAALs/clImdrXsI7A/s400/BH_T0G4118lores.jpg" width="260" /></a></div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: black;">The dazzling, dynamic and delightful DJ duo Amber and Nisha who together make up Broken Hearts (surely the world's most stylish DJs) have invited me onto their weekly JazzFM radio show 'Peppermint Candy'. This goes out on JazzFM tonight April 19 between 6-7pm (GMT) but after that it is available whenever you want to listen on the JazzFM site.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: black;">Nisha, Amber and I will be talking about Zooties, the 40s, Jazz (natch), influence of the baby boom, street style, Hipsters, and, as always on this show, there's some great music including 'Swing' gems to get your foot tapping. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: black;">Be there or be square.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: black;"><a href="http://www.jazzfm.com/peppermintcandy"><span style="color: magenta;">http://www.jazzfm.com/peppermintcandy</span></a></span></span>Ted Polhemushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348704886991204171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846306949889995136.post-18517773913046738642012-04-16T08:28:00.005-07:002012-04-16T08:49:52.651-07:00<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p3uZnTaNKfw/T4w8I47Ln3I/AAAAAAAAAK4/iOEtOhxm2tg/s1600/ted%2Bpolhemus%2Bpunk%2B70s%2B3200%2B-%2Bcrop.jpg" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: normal; "><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 196px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p3uZnTaNKfw/T4w8I47Ln3I/AAAAAAAAAK4/iOEtOhxm2tg/s400/ted%2Bpolhemus%2Bpunk%2B70s%2B3200%2B-%2Bcrop.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5732022549153030002" /></a><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; " >Does 'youth culture' still exist? The creation of middle-aged ad men in the mid 50s, perhaps it was always more fiction than fact. Discussion about this and more in Eve Dawoud's new interview with me at ......</span><span style="color: fuchsia; "><a href="http://isysarchive.tv/boom/" target="_blank" style="cursor: pointer; "><span style="color: fuchsia; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; text-decoration: none; " >http://isysarchive.tv/boom/</span></a> <span style="font-size: 20pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1jLFNYstwjM/T4w8IDBwukI/AAAAAAAAAKw/i60qpby-Dp8/s1600/early%2Bted%2Bwith%2Bglasses.jpg" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: normal; "><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1jLFNYstwjM/T4w8IDBwukI/AAAAAAAAAKw/i60qpby-Dp8/s400/early%2Bted%2Bwith%2Bglasses.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5732022534685112898" /></a>Ted Polhemushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348704886991204171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846306949889995136.post-23774995574293180212012-03-22T13:12:00.014-07:002012-03-24T10:00:00.482-07:00<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hwB7YvPajQA/T2uIk7HHv6I/AAAAAAAAAJ4/af3FlHmho9k/s1600/62%2529on1%2Bendmatter2%2B72dpi.jpg" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; "><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 383px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hwB7YvPajQA/T2uIk7HHv6I/AAAAAAAAAJ4/af3FlHmho9k/s400/62%2529on1%2Bendmatter2%2B72dpi.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5722817919428575138" /></a><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; "><b><span><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; "><b><span><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; "><b><span><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; "><b><span><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; "><b><span><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; "><b><span><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; "><b><span><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; "><b><span><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; "><b><span><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; "><b><span><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; "><b><span><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; "><b><span><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; "><b><span><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; "><b style="font-size: 100%; "><span><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: normal; "><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: fuchsia; " >DON DRAPER AIN'T NO BABY BOOMER</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; "><b style="font-size: 100%; "><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: fuchsia; ">by Ted Polhemus</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><span>I don't often go to the pub but the other night I did and someone I know vaguely, aware that I have just written and published a book about baby boomers, remarked 'You must be excited that that ultimate baby boomer Don Draper is coming back on the tele'. 'Yes', I replied, 'looking forward to the return of <i><span style="color:fuchsia">Mad Men</span></i> but whatever gave you the idea that Don D is a baby boomer? The man was born in the 30s or even the 20s!' <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><span><span style="color: fuchsia; ">1926</span> according to Wikipedia - I just checked. The post war 'baby boom' began in 1946 and really exploded in <span style="color:fuchsia">1947</span> - the year I and a heck of a lot of other 'Boomers' were born (3.9 million of us in the USA alone to be more precise). Don Draper was what might be called a <span style="color:fuchsia">'Pre-Boomer'</span>. When series 1 of <i>Mad Men</i> kicks off in <span style="color:fuchsia">1960</span>, Don would have been in his 30s (like my father) while I and the other first wave of Boomers would be just entering our teenage years. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><span>The distinction is important because, ironically, as it turns out so much of what we Baby Boomers are given credit for/slagged off for was actually down to Pre-Boomers like Don Draper. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><o:p><span> </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><span>Indeed, the amazing thing is that virtually everyone who razzled and dazzled in the infamous 60s was born during or before - often, like Don, long before - WWII: <span lang="EN-US">John Lennon (born 1940), Frank Zappa (born 1940), Bob Dylan (born 1941), Jimi Hendrix (born 1942), Brian Wilson (born 1942), Mick Jagger (born 1943), Pete Townshend (born 1945), Jack Kerouac (born 1922), Timothy Leary (born 1920), Andy Warhol (born 1928), Ken Kesey (born 1935), Elvis Presley (born 1935). So, interestingly, a demographically small generation (especially tiny for those born in the war years) had a huge, disproportionate impact. Even at Woodstock in <span style="color:fuchsia">1969</span>, all those zillions of Boomers who claim to have been there would have been <span style="color:fuchsia">sitting on their blue-jeaned butts</span> in the audience rather than up their on stage changing the world. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><span>As Hippies we Boomers chanted <span style="color:fuchsia">'Never Trust Anyone Over 35'</span> yet, in truth, most of our heroes were approaching or well past that age and, even more importantly, all those things which we Baby Boomers like to see as our generation's unique invention were, in point of fact, created before we were born or during the <span style="color:fuchsia">50s</span> when we were pre-teen children: <span lang="EN-US" style="color: fuchsia; ">Rock ‘n’ Roll, Modern Jazz, Surfing, Recreational Drugs, Let It All Hang Out Do It In the Road Sex, The Electric Guitar, Same Sex Sex, Oral Sex, Experimental Cinema, Streetstyle, Subcultures, Gender Bending, The Counter Culture</span><span lang="EN-US"> and so forth and so on, were all rolled out of the factory in the <span style="color:fuchsia">50s</span> (or long before that) by lone, courageous/mad pioneers who were themselves born long before WWII had even started let alone finished.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><span lang="EN-US"><span>Some months ago a student of mine in London exclaimed <span style="color:fuchsia">'It must have been so cool in the 60s - <i>everything</i> happened in the 60s'</span>. Well, actually, all the really world-changing stuff happened in the <span style="color:fuchsia">50s</span> - that decade which is so universally dismissed as boring, staid and uneventful. Perhaps most importantly, that <span style="color:fuchsia">'youth culture'</span> with which we <span style="color:fuchsia">Boomers</span> are forever associated was actually rock & rolling and being target marketed to by the likes of Don Draper and his Madison Avenue predecessors <u><span style="color:fuchsia">by the mid 50s</span></u> when even the oldest Boomers like me were still selling Boy Scout/Girl Scout cookies. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><span lang="EN-US"><span>There's a slick video doing the rounds at the moment ('We All Want To Be Young' - on Youtube - do we? Not me thank you) which sings the praises of <span style="color:fuchsia">'youth' as the inevitable wellspring of all things with it, innovative and happening</span>. It's fun - lots of cool looking kids in tight jeans with designer tattoos doing <span style="color:fuchsia">groovy stuff</span> on skateboards and laptops. There's a historical element which argues that my baby boom generation 'invented what came to be known as 'the youth lifestyle'')The implication is that thus it was always - and will always - be: with the hip kids leading the way and the middle aged and oldies trying to keep up as best they can. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><span lang="EN-US"><span>Yet when we actually go back to the birth of 'youth culture' in the <span style="color:fuchsia">mid 50s</span> we find (shockingly) that this Brave New World was being forged by <u><span style="color:fuchsia">adults</span></u>. When 'Rock Around the Clock' leapt to #1 in both the US and UK music charts in 1954 Bill Haley was 29. Jack Kerouac was 27 when he started writing <i>On the Road</i> in 1949. Even when the Baby Boomers did, finally, become the future of Rock/Rock & Roll - David Bowie in 1972, Bruce Springsteen in 1975 - they were in their mid twenties.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><span lang="EN-US"><span>In the same year as 'Rock Around the Clock' exploded onto the pop charts - 1954 - <span style="color:fuchsia">Don and Betty Draper</span> had their first child - the (sometimes) lovely <span style="color:fuchsia">Sally</span>. So it's Sally rather than Don or Betty who is the Baby Boomer and, now as <span style="color:fuchsia">series 5</span> shifts gears into the <span style="color:fuchsia">second half of the 60s</span>, the interesting thing will be to see how cool dude Don will deal with the freaky, <span style="color:fuchsia">far out</span>, freak out, psychedelic, wear flowers in your hair era which is about to explode in his bunker like that bomb in Korea. For <span style="color:fuchsia">the 60s were two very distinct decades for the price of one</span>: <span style="color:fuchsia">1960-1966</span> were cool school, modern and suited the like of Don Draper to a tea. But <span style="color:fuchsia">'66 was the pivotal year of a pivotal decade</span> - when I traded my Modern Jazz Quartet style suit for bell-bottom flairs and a hand-knitted Native American style headband; when I and a zillion other Boomers smoked our first joint; when we resolved to <span style="color:fuchsia">'Make Love Not War'</span>. Somehow I don't think Don is going to like it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><span lang="EN-US"><span>So just to be clear and to put the cat amongst the pigeons: <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><span lang="EN-US"><span>- it was the <span style="color:fuchsia">50s</span> rather than the 60s which changed the world<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><span lang="EN-US"><span>- these changes were brought about by <span style="color:fuchsia">Pre-Boomers</span> when Baby Boomers like me, David B and Bruce S were still kids<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><span lang="EN-US"><span>- while there are exceptions (early Punk, early Hip Hop, arguably a lot of computer/internet/gaming stuff today), <span style="color:fuchsia">teenagers have typically been passive consumers rather than wellsprings of pop culture creativity</span>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><span lang="EN-US"><span>There, I said it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><span lang="EN-US"><span>Or do you disagree? <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; "><span><span>(BTW, the real, fictional 'ultimate baby boomer' would be Tony Soprano.)</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; "><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; "><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><span> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; "><b><span style="font-size:18.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:14.0pt; font-family:"Comic Sans MS"">Good News - My new book </span></b><b><span style="font-size:24.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"; color:fuchsia">BOOM! - A Baby Boomer Memoir, 1947-2022</span></b><b><span style="font-size:18.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS""> is now available in ibook digital format (for iPad, iPhone, iPod)from </span></b><b><span style="font-size:24.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"; color:blue">iTunes</span></b><b><span style="font-size:18.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS""> [search: Ted Polhemus] and the print version is now also available from www.amazon.com. </span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; "><b><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"">So . . . </span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; "><b><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"">if you want the paperback print version</span></b></p><b style="font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; "><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; color: fuchsia; "><a href="http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/tedpolhemus" title="http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/tedpolhemus"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: fuchsia; ">http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/tedpolhemus</span></a></span></b> <span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; "><b><br /></b></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; "><b><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="color:fuchsia">or www.amazon.com [search: Ted Polhemus] or your local Amazon site (e.g. www.amazon.co.uk)</span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; "><b><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; ">if you want the digital download for Adobe Digital Editions </span></b><b><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:fuchsia"><a href="http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/tedpolhemus" title="http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/tedpolhemus"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:fuchsia">http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/tedpolhemus</span></a></span></b><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; "><b><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; ">[note: Adobe Digital Editions is a free download from <a href="http://www.adobe.com/ap/products/digitaleditions/" target="_blank" title="http://www.adobe.com/ap/products/digitaleditions/"></a></span></b><b><span style="font-size: 18pt; "><a href="http://www.adobe.com/ap/products/digitaleditions/%5dhttp:/www.lulu.com/spotlight/tedpolhemus%5bnote" title="http://www.adobe.com/ap/products/digitaleditions/]http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/tedpolhemus[note http://www.adobe.com/ap/products/digitaleditions/">http://www.adobe.com/ap/products/digitaleditions/</a> and in my experience works very well. D</span></b><b><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; ">ownload and install the free Adobe Digital Editions <u>before</u> you purchase and download the book]<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; "><b><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; ">if you want the ibook digital version for use on your iPad/iPhone/iPod >></span></b><b><span style="font-size:18.0pt; font-family:"Comic Sans MS";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:fuchsia"> Apple iTunes [search: Ted Polhemus]</span></b><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman""><o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; "><o:p> </o:p></p>Ted Polhemushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348704886991204171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846306949889995136.post-48146345342248356112012-02-19T11:51:00.001-08:002012-02-19T11:55:15.532-08:00<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2eDxNCm_yfA/T0FTippfPFI/AAAAAAAAAIA/YALIWKET-ro/s1600/62%2529on1%2Bendmatter2%2B72dpi.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 383px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2eDxNCm_yfA/T0FTippfPFI/AAAAAAAAAIA/YALIWKET-ro/s400/62%2529on1%2Bendmatter2%2B72dpi.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5710937657243024466" /></a><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><span ><b style="font-size: large; "><span>Good News - My new book </span></b><b><span >BOOM! - A Baby Boomer Memoir, 1947-2022</span></b><b style="font-size: large; "> is now available in ibook digital format (for iPad, iPhone, iPod)from </b><b style="font-size: large; "><span >iTunes</span></b><b style="font-size: large; "> [search: Ted Polhemus]</b><b style="font-size: large; "><o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span ><b>So . . . </b><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span ><b>if you want the paperback print version <span ><a href="http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/tedpolhemus" title="http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/tedpolhemus"><span >http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/tedpolhemus</span></a></span></b><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span ><b><span >if you want the digital download for Adobe Digital Editions </span></b><b><span ><a href="http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/tedpolhemus" title="http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/tedpolhemus"><span >http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/tedpolhemus</span></a></span></b><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span ><b><span >[note: Adobe Digital Editions is a free download from <a href="http://www.adobe.com/ap/products/digitaleditions/" target="_blank" title="http://www.adobe.com/ap/products/digitaleditions/"></a></span></b><b><span ><a href="http://www.adobe.com/ap/products/digitaleditions/%5dhttp:/www.lulu.com/spotlight/tedpolhemus%5bnote" title="http://www.adobe.com/ap/products/digitaleditions/]http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/tedpolhemus[note http://www.adobe.com/ap/products/digitaleditions/">http://www.adobe.com/ap/products/digitaleditions/</a> and in my experience works very well. D</span></b><b><span >ownload and install the free Adobe Digital Editions <u>before</u> you purchase and download the book]<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span ><b><span >if you want the ibook digital version for use on your iPad/iPhone/iPod >></span></b><b><span > Apple iTunes [search: Ted Polhemus]</span></b><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span > <o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span ><b><span >Also . . . 2 extracted stories from BOOM! can be seen at <a href="http://www.babyboomers.com/boom-by-popculture-anthropologist-ted-polhemus/14172/" title="http://www.babyboomers.com/boom-by-popculture-anthropologist-ted-polhemus/14172/">http://www.babyboomers.com/boom-by-popculture-anthropologist-ted-polhemus/14172/</a> and</span></b><b> </b><b><span><a href="http://www.babyboomers.com/orbiting-neptune-by-popculture-anthropologist-ted-polhemus/14233/">http://www.babyboomers.com/orbiting-neptune-by-popculture-anthropologist-ted-polhemus/14233/</a></span></b></span><b style="font-size: 100%; font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span ><span style="font-size: 18pt; "><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>Ted Polhemushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348704886991204171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8846306949889995136.post-65996560589631527692009-04-18T07:26:00.000-07:002009-04-22T05:58:20.749-07:00A (boring old fart) Baby Boomer asks Does youthculture still exist?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_XwS6tVrCw1Q/Se8TsKYhbBI/AAAAAAAAACQ/_QLfsK8Kcpw/s1600-h/tp+high+school+400+reduced+to+72+dpi.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 116px; height: 198px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_XwS6tVrCw1Q/Se8TsKYhbBI/AAAAAAAAACQ/_QLfsK8Kcpw/s320/tp+high+school+400+reduced+to+72+dpi.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327498533624966162" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_XwS6tVrCw1Q/Se8T5ZZ2ZFI/AAAAAAAAACg/gyfXlJFcXqc/s1600-h/tp+oxford+early+70s+400+from+print+reduced+to+72+dpi.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 161px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_XwS6tVrCw1Q/Se8T5ZZ2ZFI/AAAAAAAAACg/gyfXlJFcXqc/s320/tp+oxford+early+70s+400+from+print+reduced+to+72+dpi.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327498760995365970" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_XwS6tVrCw1Q/Se8Tx1T1blI/AAAAAAAAACY/nrcEShRcFDA/s1600-h/tp+hippy+x2.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 80px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_XwS6tVrCw1Q/Se8Tx1T1blI/AAAAAAAAACY/nrcEShRcFDA/s320/tp+hippy+x2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327498631047376466" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XwS6tVrCw1Q/Se8T9UFZkOI/AAAAAAAAACo/vXHHjmuHk0I/s1600-h/tp+2003+72+res.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 74px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XwS6tVrCw1Q/Se8T9UFZkOI/AAAAAAAAACo/vXHHjmuHk0I/s320/tp+2003+72+res.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327498828286890210" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><br /><div><div><div><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:130%;" ><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"></span></span></div><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:130%;" ><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Some thoughts and questions from Ted Polhemus</span></span><br /><div><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:130%;" ><br />As a member of the infamous <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">baby boom generation</span>, when I was a teenager in the ‘60s, age – youth, magical youth – determined whether you were one of ‘Us’ or one of ‘Them’, the sad, pathetic squares like your parents who were past it. As Hippies in the later ‘60s we warned <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">‘Never Trust Anyone Over 35’</span> – ignoring the fact that so many of our Beat and Rock heroes were themselves approaching if not past that point of no return. Then – the horror, the horror – there came a time in the early ‘80s when we boomers ourselves were middle aged. But we weren’t having any of it: we had always seen ourselves as ‘youth’ and we weren’t about to change now. So we became the first generation in human history which simply refused to grow up. </span></div><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:130%;" ><br /><div><br />What I’m wondering is whether today’s adolescents – the <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">‘young people’</span> we hear so much about but rarely seem to understand – have more sense than we Boomers did. Could it be that today’s youth define themselves more broadly and more meaningfully then did my generation which fell head over heels for the <em>Mad Men</em>’s dream target ghetto of <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">‘teenagers’</span>?<br /><br />The baby boom was a <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">demographic tsunami</span> which swept through each and every decade from the late ‘40s onwards and shaped the world around it into its own ageist worldview. It was simply that there were so many of us and a significant proportion of us had the money to spend on records, clothes, soft drinks, fast food and, eventually, cars. The result was that America (and then all other developed countries) underwent a top to bottom <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">youthification</span> which, from the ‘60s onwards, established an inviolate equation between being young on the one hand and, on the other, being <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">hip, cutting edge, avant-garde and in the know</span>.<br />Even today, despite the fact that youth is now a much less significant demographic than it was in the ‘60s, the presumption persists – and is rarely if ever challenged in marketing, the media, the music and fashion industries, etc. – that if you want to know where it is at, what’s happening and so forth then you had best look to youthculture which, ipso facto, determines what the rest of us will be buying, wearing, listening to, watching, eating, drinking and lusting after in the future.<br /><br />But is this still true? Is it always youthculture which sets the pace and the direction for tomorrow’s world? And do those who are adolescents and young people today see themselves and the rest of the world fundamentally in terms of age as we Boomers did in the ‘60s? Or is this preoccupation with age – with <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">‘youth’ and ‘youthculture’</span> – just a hangover, a misleading preconception which we boring old fart Boomers still cling to? I have a nagging suspicion that today’s teenagers see <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">lifestyle choices</span> (what styles, sports, ethical concerns you opt for) as infinitely more important than what year you were born in. <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">What do you think?<br /></span><br />For example: let’s say that you are 17 and into skateboarding. Some guy who is in his 30s comes along and he’s actually very skilled at skateboarding. Do you exclude this guy from your inner circle because he is too old or include him on the grounds that he is good on a skateboard and a true exponent of your chosen lifestyle? </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Another example: my nephew Nate has just turned 18 and is into jazz. Does that mean that jazz is 'youth culture' or does it mean that, whatever his age, Nate is a person who can be into whatever he is into?</div><br /><div><br />For the last 30+ years I’ve been writing books which explore how changes in popular culture – streetstyle, music, fashion, film, TV, etc. – give a unique insight into the really fundamental, underlying changes in attitude, beliefs and values which have shaped history since WWII. For the last year I’ve been writing a new book which at the moment is called <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">My Generation: a biography of the baby boomers</span>. I’m looking for a publisher but I’m also looking for some feedback and opinions on questions such as the following . . . </div><br /><div><br />- To what extent and in what ways did the demographic tsunami of the post war baby boom change history and the world we live in today?<br /><br />- The notion of ‘youth’ and the boundaries of age were a central feature of how we baby boomers defined ourselves. Is this true of young people today? </div><br /><div><br />- Did the baby boomers really change the world in the <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">‘60s</span> given that (to my mind) the most significant changes (modern jazz, Beats, Bikers, Hipsters, Rock ‘N’ Roll, the origins of the ‘sexual revolution’ and the ‘counterculture’) took place in the ‘50s when we boomers were just children? </div><br /><div><br />- My parents were fairly conventional with appearance styles which, while distinctive, were fairly normal for their times. So my ‘60s <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">‘counterculture’ rebellion</span> had an obvious direction in opposition to this norm. But if you’re a young person today and your parents were, say, <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Punks or Goths</span>, is rebellion possible and what course might it take? Back to the conventional? </div><br /><div><br />- My baby boomer generation was the first to grow up with <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">television</span>. Today’s youth is the <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">first Internet generation</span>. Will it make a difference? </div><br /><div><br />- My baby boom generation was focused on creating a brave new world and by and large we were not interested in what had come before in history. Today’s youth, however, no doubt more sensibly, typically take a great interest in what happened in the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s. Indeed, from <em>Mad Men</em> to new/old style packaging and <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">retro fashion</span>, the present sometimes seems stuck in mythological, idealistic vision of the past. Can today’s youth get out from under the shadow of my generation’s <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">‘golden age’</span> in order to find their own future? </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>In the future those in employment will have to financially support all of us aging baby boomers. And they will have to save the world economy and the planet from the <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">mess we Boomers made</span>. Will they accept this less than desirable state of affairs or will the next world war be between the young and the old?<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Does youth culture still exist?</span> Yes, of course it does – once the genie of youth was out of the bottle there was surely no way of putting it back. Indeed, even the middle aged now perceive themselves as <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">‘youth’</span> – going out raving well past their bed time. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>But I’m equally convinced that it is a big mistake to see youth and youthculture today in terms of how youth and youthculture were perceived in the ‘<span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">50s and ‘60s</span>. Surely a great deal has changed and, in particular, I suspect that the power of age alone to distinguish between ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ has – sensibly – diminished. <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">But what do you think? </span></div><br /><div><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><br />Ted Polhemus<br /></span></div></span><br /><div><a href="http://www.tedpolhemus.com/"><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);font-family:arial;font-size:130%;" >www.tedpolhemus.com</span></a><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:130%;" ><br /><br />Extra! Extra! – new book info >>>><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Writing about<br /></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 153, 255);font-size:180%;" ><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">MY GENERATION</span><br /></span>by<br />Ted Polhemus </span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:130%;" ><br /></span></div><br /><div><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:130%;" >Contents:</span></div><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:130%;" ><br /><div><br />1) Baby Boom<br />2) Coming Home<br />3) Suburban Life<br />4) Modern Times<br />5) Sex<br />6) Drugs<br />7) Rock N Roll<br />8) & Protest<br />9) Swinging London<br />10) Boring Old Farts V Punks<br />11) Grey Power<br /><br />>>> I'm currently looking for a publisher - so editors don't be shy and contact me at <a href="http://www.tedpolhemus.com/">http://www.tedpolhemus.com/</a> to arrange to see a copy. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Already published works by Ted Polhemus:</div><br /><div></div><br /><div><em>Fashion & Anti-fashion</em></div><br /><div><em>BodyStyles</em></div><br /><div><em>The Customized Body</em></div><br /><div><em>Streetstyle</em></div><br /><div><em>Style Surfing</em></div><br /><div><em>Hot Bodies Cool Styles</em></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>also check out <a href="http://www.pymca.com/">http://www.pymca.com/</a><br /><br /><br /><br /></div></span></div></div></div>Ted Polhemushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348704886991204171noreply@blogger.com1