I've seen several versions of the "official" start and end dates for the Baby Boom. Depending on which ones I use, I was born either at the last gasp of the Boom, or at the very beginning of Generation X. But I have always felt more affinity for the latter.

This is a generation that got called "X" because it had a lack of a generational identity. How so? As a smaller population, we just didn't define the popular culture - we didn't have a time or defining event pegged to us. The Boomers - through sheer force of numbers - have sprawled outward, to overshadow those both before and after them. (Remember the folks ahead of them, the "Silent" generation?). The constant redefinition of the word "young" (first "no older than 30", then past 30, then past 40, now past 50?) has the Boomers continuing to see themselves as the vital heart of our culture, even to the point of frustrating the adulthood of their own children. The Boomers have had everything since the '60s described in relation to them. From Woodstock to Enron, they've dominated the national conversation, and will probably continue to do so for some time. There are simply more of them than of us.

Yes, I once felt great resentment toward the Boomers. In this world, there is always competition - for good jobs, for educational opportunities, for media attention to your issues. And when I graduated from college, it felt like this overwhelmingly large generation had not only already taken all the "good stuff", but was "camping" there. I remember the frustration - though I got over it years ago. For one thing, I realized that the lack of entry-level jobs for us meant that some Boomers were still stuck in them, since other Boomers were already clogging the mid-level jobs they wanted to move up into!

The LW doesn't find GenX culture accessible, and I guess that's Life - we're a minority, generation-wise - LW never "had" to listen to our music, watch our TV shows, learn our in-jokes, since there just weren't enough of us. If we were ever the main target of Madison Avenue, I missed it.

So, my suggestion to the LW is this: try not to be a generational bigot. Take everything you've said about "Gen Xers", and replace it with "gay people" or "Latinos" or any other non-majority group. Does it still sound reasonable to you? Accept that the generations are different. We have had different life experiences. But neither is (as a whole) better or worse - though I would take a slacker over an Enron executive any day ;). Now, you might just have some terrible co-workers, but don't go blaming it on their demographic group - dislike them on their individual merits!

. . . but milk surely tastes better when the cows get to graze. And the quality of the pasture matters, too.

I grew up in the West of Ireland, surrounded by rich, green pastures full of small, shaggy cows. I even worked one summer for a large-animal veterinarian, so I'm well aware of the potential for unsanitary conditions on small farms, and the health troubles of cattle. Cows there got tested regularly for Tuberculosis and Brucellosis, and the farmers themselves were at risk for Brucellosis, a terrible disease.

The only time I've ever had raw milk was in France, while on a student exchange. The family I stayed with would walk down the road with a tupperware jug and an egg carton, to pick up milk and eggs from the neighboring farm. The milk was still warm from the cow, but the barn was ankle deep in muck, and the farm's dog seemed to be allowed to lick the sieve. . . this did not inspire my confidence. They, like all French farmers, had their health certificate posted prominently, so they were somehow managing to pass inspection. Oddly, it's sometimes difficult to find milk in Europe that's *only* been pasteurized - they seem to feel that as long as you're pasteurizing it, you might as well go whole hog, and sterilize it, so it will last for weeks in an unchilled box. The flavor of that stuff is ghastly!

So, I'll be sticking with the (regular, not ultra-) pasteurized organic milk, but I'll keep spending upwards of $8 a pound for Irish butter for my table (I can't afford to cook with it at that price!). Since it rarely snows in Ireland, the cows get to graze at least a little all year, and the flavor is incomparable.