1998

The neat thing about growing up is you get to watch the world grow up with you. Given as I am to narcissism and projection, I see the world as a reflection of me. This allows me to indirectly understand certain things about myself by examining my views of the external world. For example, I have this indelible sense that "modern day" culture started in 1998. I've thought this for a long time. Probably as far back as late '99. For me, 1998 was the dawn of the 21st century. The last vestages of neon clothing and rollerskates lay in the Goodwill Graveyard and the 90's were behind us. The culture of my Gen-X predescessors had finally set and a new world, one all my own, was dawning.

Culture obviously changes all the time and there is nothing special or correct or mature about the late ninties. That I feel that there is reveals something about my own maturation. I would be hard-pressed to think objectively about my own personal growth at that young age (all of my memories are first-person). But my perceptions of the world that survive those formative years expose a metaphor for my own growth. If I thought "modern culture" was born in '98, it is probably because some part of me started then. Probably puberty. 12 is about the age.

I'm sure most people have some year in their mind when the world "really started." I think it would be a fun party to have everyone dress in that style. You'd need a diverse age range.

Don't fly to the sun if you can't take the heat.