slackers

There may be better places to sound for depth, to mine for connections, to steep oneself in the near-eternal and give the ultracontemporary world the slip, than Edgewater, New Jersey. But from just outside my three rented rooms on Undercliff Avenue, through the rusty sideways diamonds of the staggering fence that runs along the walk and separates the occasional pedestrian from the oil tanks and cranes below, there is much to consider.

Today, the average American has less money, as wages for most of the population continue to stagnate. In the 60s, it was not too difficult to drop out and tune in without risking future economic turmoil. Gen. X and the generations since are not so fortunate (relative to the rest of the world, of course, they were), and their worldviews, dreams, expectations, heroes, and fashions vary as a result.