Saturday, December 26, 2009

Goodbye '00's!

Holy crap, the '00's are ending! Ten years ago, I started keeping a diary, I was leaving middle school/starting high school, I left Christianity, I was coming out to myself, I left pop culture, I was in the middle of puberty. 2000 was quite a time to start high school, 2010 is quite a time to begin post-school life XP

Over the past decade:
- I've come out just as queer rights became more outspoken, successful (it's sad that what we're in right now can be called "successful" compared to the past)
- the internet became global, at least one computer with high-speed hookup in every home. Some memes are more well-known than hit tv shows.
- everything is wireless! Landlines are rare amongst my generation...I don't think any of my friends have landlines (or at least I don't have them in my phone)
- most of the decade has been defined by the hatred of Bush
- the first mainstream all-CGI movie, Toy Story, came out in the mid 90's. Now it's a genre unto itself. Excellent design programs (Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop, iMovie, Flash, etc.) are available to everyone now. Combine this with the internet and you have albinoblacksheep
- 9/11 combined with globalization, mistrust of government, and the internet has formed an unprecedented global identity. And then there was the "socialism scare" which occurred just as I became an active socialist.
- geocities and AOL came and went. MySpace came and now it's "ghetto." Now facebook and twitter are the most popular. YouTube has been...everything
- New fears: school shootings, identity theft, the economy, lack of medical insurance, emo, Kanye West

Put these all together and what you have is the ability to access anything from anywhere and to put your creations/expressions anywhere from anything, but you never know when your life will take a turn for the worse. Identity politics galore!

I HIGHLY recommend even just skimming The Rolling Stones' 00 issue. Until I read it, I hadn't been able to articulate the schism between what they call "internet music" and "radio music." Kelly and I had a really interesting conversation about why there is a lot of country music under "radio music" and none under "internet music" - I'll blog about that later. And it wasn't until I saw all the mentions of anti-Bush that I realized how much anti-Bush defined the decade. Now we're entering a new decade with a president whose very existence changes EVERYTHING, but who hasn't kept a lot of his promises. Could this mean that more people will believe that they, too, can succeed, nevertheless solidifying their mistrust of authority?

As the year itself comes to a close, I'm feeling grateful. Grateful that:
- I'm in a much better place (living where I want to live, a great apartment, a kitty, in a great relationship, my own spirituality, a better idea of what I want my relationships of all kinds to be and how to work towards that)
- I AM OUT OF SCHOOL
- I AM OUT OF WISCONSIN
- I went through some painful friend-breakups that, really, needed to happen. I'm now able to realize that, whether friend or family, holding on to the good memories in hope that they will continue is not a good reason to keep a relationship. I appreciate my friends even more now.
- cheese, pastries, olives, mushrooms, pomegranates, artichokes, hummus, peanut butter, bacon and chocolate exist
- sanitation, indoor plumbing, electricity, indoor heating, public transportation, indoor cooking, good music, the internet, comfortable clothing, libraries, books, good movies, the Bill of Rights, U-Haul, thrift stores, records, record players (especially Petunia), VCRs, VHS tapes, Peter Gabriel and elevators exist
- I have a better idea of where I've been and where I am gender-wise, more secure in discovering where I'm going
- I'm SCANDINAVIAN and CELTIC and GERMAN
- my family is AMAZING

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