iGeneration

When I was 12 or 13 years old, TIME magazine declared that there needed to be a term for the generation *after* Generation X. The kids that were already hopping on the newly blossoming 'net, the kids with no goals and direction, the post berlin kids. We were kids weaned on X Files, burnt out on politics before out of the womb, and grew up on grunge. We bleed distrust in the system because we are the kids of the baby boomers. The kids born 1980 onwards. I was born at the end of '79, and I try desperately to say I am a child of the 70s, but in reality its not true. Yes, I was out of the womb before St. Helens blew, but I can't recall the day. I have no memory of that degree of polyester.The term that TIME gave us was Generation Y.I have always felt disinfranchised by the mainstream media's portrayal of what my generation is about, even if 99% of the time I hate my generation and believe that GenY does in fact suit them. Most of my friends and lovers are older than me, and I used to watch Love Boat and Gillegan's Island. My first concerts were John Denver and the Beach Boys. I have major breaks mentally with "kids my age" and still do, and honestly it baffles me that one of the people I am dating is younger than me, really does.But I found this song by MC Lars, called "iGeneration", and it hit, hard.iGenerationAnd people tried to put us downWhen iTunes bumped a post-Cold War soundMy generation sat at the Mecca of malls,Times Square, I'm there, Viacom installsSo we hit the net while the Trade Center fellNew York met Hollywood, we ran like hellNo Vietnam for us, yo, Iraq it's onSo who agreed upon this cowboy Genghis Khan?The choice made, baby. Hey we'd take it backlogged in dropped out, MTV took trackThey sold it back to us and claimed no correlationThe iMac, iPod, iGenerationAnd I'm waiting for the day we can get outThe world is ours, that's the story no doubtWant to be more than info super highway trafficwant to be more than a walking demographic!CHORUS"Hey! You're part of it" Talking about the iGeneration"Yeah! You're part of it" Talking about my iGenerationSee the iGeneration knew organizationmeant optimization and unificationWhen imagination gave participationIn creation of culture a manifestationThe Berlin Wall fell and out we cameThe post-Cold War kids laid claim to AIM.LOL, OMG, yo, BRB. Space, colon, dash, closed parenthesisWe sat at our laptops and typed away,and found that we each had something to sayWeb-logged our fears, our hopes and dreamsIndividuated by digital meansFiber optic lenses, DVD, Coca Cola, Disney and Mickey D's.Flat mass culture, the norm that took holdI hope I die before I get soldREPEAT CHORUSThis is the I-N-T-E. R-N-E-T ge-na-ra-tion, see?This is the I-N-T-E. R-N-E-T ge-na-ra-tion, see?---I am of the iGeneration. I was 4 years old when I wrote my first computer program, that I have written on a piece of paper in a photo album to this day. I live in a generation where the world is small, and yet so infinately huge. I was expected to get a college degree not because I wanted to pursue anything higher, but because of a job market that demands that the American education system is so flawed that no one out of high school could possibly work in anything outside of McDonalds.26. I'm still a bambina. I was 20 years old when I came back from London and was informed by my industry of academia (arts admin) that I could not possibly work for them because what person of my generation, so young, could possibly be responsible for multi-million dollar grants? Forget my CV, forget my abilities, look at the age and if the numbers look 80s onward, what value can we be of? 80s vapidness and designer demons writ upon our birth certificate like a plague of lycra fears that still manifest today.As a kid I was greatful that even at the age of 12 I was mistaken for someone over 21, was let into bars and hit on by grown men (and women). I did not want to be what the media painted me as. I do not want to be a Bannanarama child. But here I am. I know the lyrics to Color Me Badd and Warren G. I went to summer camp with the little sister of the drummer from Pearl Jam. My middle school made me sing the alto part for the "Little Mermaid Medly".I honestly believe a lot of my art project about sexual exploration of the self is because I did not want to be the energetic version of disposable jellie shoes and snap bracelets. I do not want to be forgotten like HyperColor and Snow (Informer baby). I want to create something tangible, something lasting, because the memories of my youth are gone like the joke that the 80s was. I wanted to be more than one of a thousand points of light from a president that showed me that the appropriate place for America involved vomitting on Japan and going into Golf War 1. I've grown up being told never again into this sea of sand, and here we are again, this time the kids of my grades and younger dying in the field. We painted yellow ribbons on the wall and tallied casualties while writing algebraic formulas in class. Yet here we are.I grew up in a generation where TV was our best friend.I want to be more than info super highway trafficI want to be more than a walking demographic.I am of the iGeneration.You can download the song for free via MCLars' site.http://www.mclars.comIt is very bubbly and bouncy, be warned. You can listen to more of his work for free on my space- I recommend "Download this song":http://www.myspace.com/mclars