Over “The Bridge”! Talker joins Instagram

Posted by [email protected] | Dec 3, 2015 | Human Interest | 0 |

In The “Bridge Generation:” Born 1960 – 1980, I posited a new term to describe my generation: “The unifying principle is those whose lives, the lives of their children, and even grandchildren, span the digital divide.” In many ways, the Bridge Generation overlaps with Gen X. But Gen X was coined before the full transformative force of the internet. Hence, the new term is an updated title. For the most part, Bridgers have crossed the digital bridge.

(While hardly an earth-shattering precedent, I actually first used the name in 2012. See Brighton-Pittsford Post article below)

That said, I have been recalcitrant in some areas. For example, steadfastly refusing to join the teeming global masses on Instagram. Don’t even know what is Instagram. Except it must be something bad.

We have now joined Instagram.

Over Thanksgiving, my niece Audrey was visiting from San Carlos, California (near Palo Alto). At one point, Audrey showed a photo of “TJ,” the family dog. She exclaimed, isn’t he the cutest dog in the whole wide world! As Audrey and I share genetic material, concurring, yes, TJ is cutest dog in the whole wide world. And, apparently, TJ can be found on Instagram.

My heart softened, taking one small step for this man and one giant leap for mankind, I joined. It remains to be seen if this gesture is my landing on the other side of the Golden Gait. Or a plunge into San Francisco Bay.

One rule. TJ shall be the sole picture.

Follow #talkerofthetown on Instagram

4/18/14 Santa Cruz Boardwalk TJ’s owner and myself

At the same time, we are also asking for submissions of the SECOND cutest dog in the whole wide world. Winning selections will receive a box of Talker Treats (homemade dog biscuits.)

On the origins of “Bridge Generation:”

Wired Generation is missing out The Daily Messenger January 13, 2012

2/23/12 Brighton-Pittsford Post: “I think my generation — the ‘bridge generation’ — has had the best of both worlds. We were educated pre-digital yet have enjoyed the fruits of the new.”

2/23/12 Brighton-Pittsford Post “The ‘bridge generation’ — has had the best of both worlds. We were educated pre-digital yet have enjoyed the fruits of the new.”

and Then and Now Brown Alumni Magazine March/April, 2012

Just wait for our next visit to Lux! (Darn, too bad we swore TJ would be the sole picture in my IG account.)

What Millennials think of the Bridge Generation at Lux Lounge

Outside Lux Lounge 666 South Avenue

NOTE: if we break the rule, pics may be added from A Boy and his BG: A Love Story (visual poem) as BG, like TJ, is now part of the family.

Monroe Avenue, Rochester, NY

About The Author

[email protected]

Welcome to Talker of the Town! My name is David Kramer. I have a Ph.D in English and teach at Keuka College. I am a former and still active Fellow at the Nazareth College Center for Public History and a Storyteller in Residence at the SmallMatters Institute. Over the years, I have taught at Monroe Community College, the Rochester Institute of Technology and St. John Fisher College. I have published numerous Guest Essays, Letters, Book Reviews and Opinion pieces in The New York Times, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the Buffalo News, the Rochester Patriot, the Providence Journal, the Providence Business News, the Brown Alumni Magazine, the New London Day, the Boston Herald, the Messenger Post Newspapers, the Wedge, the Empty Closet, the CITY, Lake Affect Magazine and Brighton Connections. My poetry appears in The Criterion: An International Journal in English and Rundenalia and my academic writing in War, Literature and the Arts and Twentieth Century Literary Criticism. Starting in February 2013, I wrote for three Democratic and Chronicle blogs, "Make City Schools Better," "Unite Rochester," and the "Editorial Board." When my tenure at the D & C ended, I wanted to continue conversations first begun there. And start new ones. So we created this new space, Talker of the Town, where all are invited to join. I don’t like to say these posts are “mine.” Very few of them are the sole product of my sometimes overheated imagination. Instead, I call them partnerships and collaborations. Or as they say in education, “peer group work.” Talker of the Town might better be Talkers of the Town. The blog won’t thrive without your leads, text, pictures, ideas, facebook shares, tweets, comments and criticisms.