Tuesday morning August 24,
2021/ 1996 (1996 performance project)

“At work, my primary tools would be paper
— a kind of very, very thin, stiff, dry, fragile fabric for writing on —
pens, and my landline desk phone.”

from:
the 1994 time travel article in the New York Times

 

This morning I started the official, dedicated study of Generation X;
The cohort born between 1965 and 1975/1980, depending on who you ask.

If you ask the New York Times, they will say “until 1980”, but will offer anyone born between late 70s early 80s, the Xennials, a very compassionate article, including a test to determine if you’re officially Gen X-er or no.

But, in what is probably their most factual/ inspirational article, the writer explained that it could very well be that generation X is extremely small;
Maybe even as small as 8 years.

Most people I know who ever copped to X-ness were born in the later ’60s or early ’70s,
a window of maybe eight years.
(My wife was born in 1979 and has no idea who Fonzie is. Case closed.)

My favorite NYT Gen X story by Alex Williams
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/14/style/gen-x-millenials.html 

I found the Alex Williams story and the Xennial test in what I will call New York Times’ “mainframe article” on Gen X.
As little as I know about computers I imagine the term mainframe, to be a very generational thing, that few born outside the 1965-1980 would use.

This is that New York Times mainframe article, that lead me to all others:
This Gen X Mess

Another article found through this mainframe article, was an a one-week experiment to try and live 25 years ago.
I had stumbled upon the secret twin from my own project!

In 2019 I started a time travel project, then called 1994.
You can find this very first year of posts here, but the project is already in its third year.
Despite the many setbacks, most notably my lover breaking up late 2019/1994, which threatened to make my 1995 diary incredibly boring.
And then there was the pandemic limiting story lines in 1995 to current day;
Despite those things it is my longest running project to date.

But I had no idea that it had a twin! That someone else, in this case the New York Times had also come up with the idea to revisit this year.
And although I had been aware what Generation X was, I was unaware that my 1994 project was “A Gen X” thing.
And that our generational clock, was indicating it was time to take a trip down memory lane.

For a week or three years, depending how much you were prepared to invest.

And boy, does the author of that article take things seriously! 
Where my project has been more a narrative, a way to tell personal stories without actually diary writing in current day; 
This project DOES go all in!

Without cell phone, email, and so on.

I m so happy I found this gem, and it will bring my own 1994/1996 (now) project to an entirely new level of commitment for my own project to live as if it is 25 years ago.
Maybe, for the very first time since starting this project in 2019 (1994), I feel it has been offered a pair of wings.
Analog, grungy, 1996 originals, wings! 

I never finished the mainframe article on Generation X, and jumped straight into the 1994 project.
It was so amazing to find a kindred spirit after two years of doing this project by myself!

The articles are paid, you will get one or a few for free.
But when I had used those up, I subscribed to The New York Times, an act that can get you into trouble in some circles.
I m not exactly sure why NYT is a paper non grata, but since their mainframe article with all the other extra articles is such a treasure chest, I absolute want unlimited access to it.

And besides, so what if The New York Times is not PC, and I m not supposed to subscribe?

If Generation X is known for anything;
It’s for being the most skeptic and rebellious of the whole lot.

 

~Lauren/LS Harteveld
An unexamined life is not worth living

I expect the next time capsule to be written tomorrow, Wednesday August 25.

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ABOUT TIME CAPSULES 

My time capsules are a written out collection of things that I have come into contact with, and that will influence my art.

The project is Inspired by Warhol, who created one time capsule (box) a month, collecting physical objects.

Time Capsules is a stand-alone project.
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