Twentysomethings/Henry Alford

There was a well-written, funny, perceptive article in the New York Times today (actually dated 5/1/13) by Henry Alford on Williamsburg (in Brooklyn). I’ve been telling people over the past few years that these twentysomethings are different.; they’re a new ballgame.

   Henry not only gets what’s going on with young people, he likes them:

   “I like this generation of young folk. Their food is terrific, and they find even the most insignificant things “awesome.” I admire their adventuresome quality vis-à-vis fixed-gear bike-riding and their non-prudishness in the face of nudity. Yes, their attention to detail on the fronts of locavorism and beard care can verge on the precious, but I’d much rather have a young Abe Lincoln serve me his roof-grown mâche than I would have an F. Scott Fitzgerald vomit all over my straw boater. Today’s twentysomethings are self-respecting, obvi.

   If every youth movement says as much about the status quo as it does about itself, then this new eco-conscious, agrarian-seeming, hair-celebrating nexus of locavorism is maybe telling us that the rest of us need to plunge our fingers into the rich loam of the earth, literally and metaphorically.…”

   Click here. I subscribe to the Times, so get the full stories on their website. If you don’t, I’d go buy today’s paper if possible, this article (in the Style section) is worth it. I think it’s a journalistic reporting masterpiece. Very funny, and some exquisite turns of phrase. Ridic. Obvi.