’59 Pontiac
Being 65 and Membership in Generation Jones
Cheers to my fellow 1959ers! Whether we are ready to accept it or not, we are all turning 65 this year. It’s one of those really significant life markers, like turning 21. I remember being so eager to turn 21; naive me thought it would mean automatic freedom from parental rules and expectations and I would go from being an unhappy teenager to a happy-go-lucky adult . . . It didn’t turn out that way, but that was the other side of the moon.
Now I am 65 and I am at peace with it. I understand myself, my life, my choices, my relationships much more clearly and thoughtfully than I did back then, which is to be expected and hoped for, I guess. We are all eligible for both our government pensions this year. However, there is tremendous variety in how we are living out this 65th year; some of us have stopped working for money, and maybe have time for hobbies, travel and nurturing relationships with family and friends, while others, including myself, are still working part-time or full-time. Some of us, for various reasons, are hoping that someone will hire a senior.
As I was planning and researching this post, I came across a couple of fascinating tidbits – at least fascinating to me . . . Did you know that within the context of the Baby Boom Generation (1946 to 1965, which is the year that most official Canadian sources use as the cut-off line), 1959 had the largest number of births in Canada? Also, did you know that those of us born between 1955 – 1964 have a separate designation, distinct from Boomers and GenX? It’s called Generation Jones, coined by Jonathan Pontell, an American cultural commentator, about 15 years ago.
The very few people I have asked have never heard of it, including myself. Have you? However, Pontell does make some valid points for why those of us born in the second half of the baby boom have a distinctly different context from those born in the first half such as Springsteen, Trump, Dolly Parton and Margaret Trudeau. He argues that we were not part of the idealism and social protests of the 60s – we were still children – yet, we were influenced by the earlier, and he argues more fortunate, Boomers to believe that we would lead prosperous, bright lives. However, by the time we became adults in the later 70s and early 80s, the world had changed: unemployment was higher and so were interest rates, peaking in 1981 at 21.75% in Canada. A lot of the social issues that had united and motivated early Boomers were dissipating by the time we became adults. If you’re interested in knowing more about this way of identifying ourselves, click here, here and here.
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1959 Trivia
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip visited Canada to officially open the St. Lawrence Seaway.
The value of a Canadian dollar in 1959 compared to today
Popular Foods
Snack pastries, cheese balls and Jello desserts and salads were extremely popular in the 1950s.
Where We Lived
Click here to see the plans for the most common houses of the 50s, which are gradually disappearing from Toronto neighbourhoods.
I can’t climb out of the 1959 rabbit hole without saying something about the music that I, as a later Boomer, most vividly remember hearing. Both our father and we, his children, listened a lot to the radio, although to very different stations. We also all listened to music. I listened to and appreciated my father’s music – Italian pop records imported from Italy – but I don’t think he cared about what we were listening to on the radio. There was definitely a generation gap. Besides, he was too busy trying to make a living to pay attention to the protest songs of the late 60s and early 70s.
. . . and, of course, Frank Sinatra, whose “High Hopes” won the Academy Award for Best Song the following year.
There is so much I have left out about this interesting, fabulous year. Have fun clicking on the links and let me know in the comments what you think. Did you learn anything new? What do you think of the Generation Jones label? Hope you enjoyed this.
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