Holding Back The Years

When I was discussing the thesis with my adviser this morning, I had a novel idea for a framing and organizing devise. She happened to mention "college years" in relation to something when I realized that the years I wanted to concentrate on in terms of GenX hype -- 1991 to 1995 -- coincided perfectly with the traditional four-year span of college students.

So what, I wondered, would happen, if I broke my paper down that way to give it a narrative arc? The following is a very rough and raw idea, and maybe not even a good one, but I wanted to get it out there for brainstorming purposes.

We could look at it as the education of a mythical college student, Jenn X. (Get it?)

Freshman year: 1991-1992, the formative year of college/Gen X stereotypes: Generation X, the (overrated) novel, Richard Linklater's "Slacker," the rise of grunge, recession and lean times, MTV's "Real World" debuts as a (shaky) media interpretation of young people

Sophomore year: 1992-1993, getting involved and active: the media clatter of GenX as a whirlwind, the start of the Choose or Lose campaign, young people involved in Clinton's race, and, um, other things I haven't pondered

Junior year: 1993-1994, the turbulent years: this is when Howe and Strauss release "13th Gen" (with all its negative yet influential stereotypes), the idea of intergenerational warfare, young people join the Republican Revolution, other unknown ideas

Senior year: 1994-1995, the maturing years: suddenly there is a job market, the GenX stereotype fades (some media commentators saying "X is over"), the Internet revolution begins in earnest, Xers grow up and join the real world

I'm also considering a prologue introducing background factors feeding into the stereotype (consider it an application essay and freshman orientation rolled into one) and an epilogue (Xers grow up, marry, have kids, The End) to work in things that don't function elsewhere and to touch on overarching themes -- particularly whether Generation X ever was a valid concept at all.

The next step is to pore over all my previous research to see if it could fit in such a construct. Stay tuned.