Friday, March 31, 2006

Youthquake (Sort Of)


When I first glanced at this week's New York magazine cover story -- "Forever Youngish: Why Nobody Wants to Be an Adult Anymore" -- my first reaction was, "Oh, yeah. Like everyone wanted to be an old fart before" followed by "So all you need to do to stay young is wear a hoodie and carry a messenger bag?" But something about the guys on the cover made me want to know more (nice work, Adam Moss) so I bought it. The article examines how this perpetual state of "youth" -- or being a partial grown-up, or "grup" -- went mainstream and how it appears to be here for good.
I've always known -- and I think some portion of society has always resented -- that being gay or even married without children sort of extended your 20s lifestyle indefinitely. Staying out late, concerts, friends -- no problem. It's only natural that living a certain way makes you a certain way (mortgage + kids = old). I can remember being in Ireland a few years back with a friend of mine who is nearly a decade older than I am and when we were buying tickets to something the girl at the kiosk asked us if we were students (two 30- to 40-year-old men). This same friend was asked by his nieces and nephews -- while playing with them in the pool -- "Are you a grown-up, Uncle Kenny?" To be honest, it was a fair question: all the real grown-ups were overweight, sitting on the sidelines and no fun to be around. He was fit, active and ready to get wet. What the article illustrates is that these days, it seems, you can still have money, a spouse and even kids and still not throw away everything that made you who you are.

Andy Chase and Dominique Durand are members of Ivy, one of my favorite bands. They're also big-time grups.

3 comments:

Lavi Soloway said...

There is some considerable growing evidence, in Manhattan at least, that gay men can have mortgages and kids and still participate in life, maintain youthful energy and enthusiasm, and even, on occasion, wear hoodies and messenger bags into their 40s. I'm sure if we can do it, our straight counterparts can do it, too. There's nothing about sexual orientation that requires a man sit on the sidelines. I look forward to reading that issue.

Kristian said...

wau!!!, buepr entretenido tu blog.

saludos.

Anonymous said...

I love reading this blog thingy. I'm sixteen and, duh, gay and for some reasonI've just been reading all these gay blogs lately; they're just, I don't know, like me. I've been reading this project runway one that I LOVE. Also, I love that you love Aimee Mann.