Category: Review

March 28, 2025 – The Fourth Turning, Chapter 12

March 28, 2025 / / 0 Comments

This is the last chapter and a very short one at that. With that, I would say that this is all about re-enforcing the totality of the theory. Remember the end of the Mayan Calendar 2012? Remember that there was a component of nut jobs saying that it was going to be the end of the world because that is what the Mayan’s predicted?

What everybody misunderstood was that it was not the end of the world, but the end of the saeculum, however they calculated it. Some people might have next year’s calendar hanging up but there are not many that have the next five hundred years. The Mayan calendar was this. There was no reason to plan beyond what is theoretically in focus.

Indigenous people inherently understood the circular nature of time. Whether it was the Anastazi rock drawings or Mayan calendar time is always measured in circles. I mean the clock is actually circular as well as the seasons and so is the earth. I am not sure how we actually lost track of this idea of beginning, end and begin again when it is so natural.

I have become more aware of native thinking since I have been watching Life Below Zero: First Alaskans. I have heard enough repetitive language that I am almost sure some of the dialog is coached. I don’t think that it makes it untrue. There is an extreme amount reverence for their elders and ancestors. But it also emphasizes the roles people are to play based on the position in life.

These are some of the most hardcore people I have ever seen in my life. They heat their homes with wood and there is not a tree on the island. That means that every bit of wood that they burn has to be found on the beach and drug back to their homes. Not only do they do that for themselves but also for the the people that cannot do the work themselves.

When an animal is killed, the head is removed and placed in alignment to where the animal was going. This is to ensure that they continue their journey into the afterlife. This reverence for life is not just spiritualism but this belief that the Hindus would call karma. It is the right thing to do because they believe in circular time. Do right now so that things will continue to go right in the future.

It is not like the show is some kind of documentary, but the lesson that we can take to heart is that we take from the land to survive. We must not take too much, not just for our future survival but also for all the generations that proceed us. If we manage to be successful for long enough, at some point we will return to the earth. That is circular thinking.

Be it country or kingdom or dynasty or empire, at some point it will end. It has too. The fourth turning could be the end of the world or America, a degraded country or a regeneration. The next conflict has the capability of ending life as we know it. Will it? Hopefully not but it is hard to say. One thing is for sure is that if we want the future to be as good as possible, it requires us to be proactive today. We can just hope that it is enough.

End Your Programming Routine: Next week will be my final reckoning for The Fourth Turning. No spoilers here today. The book ends with the bible scripture Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV). While it seems like a little bit of a rip-off to end my work with the exact same quote that the book does, I want to re-emphasize that Christianity is also circular even if the ‘church’ is not. We are still waiting for the prophecy of Revelations and the next coming. By no coincidence, this will be the subject of my next Friday series.

1 There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens: 2    a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
4     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

March 21, 2025 – The Fourth Turning, Chapter 11

March 21, 2025 / / 0 Comments

This chapter is about preparing for the fourth turning. Remember this book was written mid-unravelling. Given that we have not clearly seen the fourth turning, it still may be useful to prepare. Despite the preparation focus, there is some real gold in this chapter.

The one thing that hit me hard in this chapter is that post season behavior is not appropriate in the current season. It doesn’t work and is not effective. The book makes a point to talk about the public perception and reality of Chappaquiddick. In my book it is never appropriate to drunk drive your car into the river, kill your baby sitter fling and still be a US senator for 40 more years.

Because the times were different, drinking and driving didn’t have the same stigma. Many rich an powerful people had affairs. Besides, he was a Kennedy and he was sorry and it was an accident. As a result, he got a pass and didn’t lose his political career. By contrast, think about Monica Lewinsky.

By all accounts, I would say that she was a victim and yet I think that she is still a social pariah. Don’t get me wrong, I am not rooting for another leftest but I do believe that Clinton should have paid more consequences than he did and she should have bourn a fainter scarlet letter. The point being is that both sides had a say and that they both paid consequences as a result of the whole fiasco. Inappropriate action for the Unravelling that was acceptable during the high (JFK/Monroe).

Most of what the chapter was about was how to prepare for the fourth turning in the third (as the book was written). Even that was broken into two sections. The first was what the country could do. Examples that came from the book were things such as roll with the seasons, shore up defenses for coming trouble and don’t make unbinding commitments. The second was what you can personally do. From that section: focus on your network and locally and brace for collapse of traditional systems.

One thing that is particularly troubling was one of the preparing suggestions. That is prepare children for their role as the hero and to take their rightful role in the saeculum. The book makes the point that prior to World War II (the last fourth turning) government was shoring up debt and simplifying things. As a result, when the Heros went into the war, all they had to focus on was winning.

If we were to accept the premise that Millennials are the next Heros, the country has done no such thing. For instance, Social Security is significantly upside down. If we were trying to simplify, some sort of strategy to close it out (or catch up) would be in place. The reason that this is troubling is that either we are not preparing to leave the fourth turning successfully with the same momentum as post World War II or this is going to be a bloody mess. The only other possibility is that this turning is going to break the typical timeline and Gen Z or Gen Alpha is going to be the hero generation.

None of this should actually be surprising given that the Boomers are still running the country. They are the ‘Me’ generation after all. Another aspect to this is that the return to natural order needs to be made. This means that to elevate the child, they have to go from the poorest generation to the richest. By the same token, the eldest generation (which should be the Boomers now) need to move from the richest generation to the poorest, allowing Gen-X to be in charge.

If the fourth turning actually goes to cycle timing, then it is my prediction that America is in decline. We have failed to navigate the cycles successfully to continue to thrive both in the fourth turning and the next first turning. Honestly, I think that it is going to be China’s turn again. We will follow the path of Western Europe, nowhere near what we wore or could have been.

For all of you doubters out there, I have one last swat to take today with political parties. Both parties use linear thinking making them less suitable for ideologues to thrive in the transition. But, even more so than that, this linear thinking makes parties less capable of leading through transition. Make no mistake, I am reasonably sure the parties will survive. Think about this, Democrats were the party of slavery and succession, then they became the party of Jim Crow. Now they are the party of men can have babies and undocumented aliens. From can’t be white enough to can’t be white at all.

End Your Programming Routine: This in an interesting chapter. Even though the timeline says we should be deep into the fourth turning, I just do not see it. If that is true, we still have time to prepare somewhat. What I find more interesting than the preparations is the explanation that old tactics in the new world. I have always thought that we just needed a more or better execution for that to happen. However, after reading this I now see that as times change, we need to adapt according to the season and not the ideology.

March 14, 2025 – The Fourth Turning, Chapter 10

March 14, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Last week was all about the fourth turnings that have occurred in history. But as a reminder, this book was published in 1997 before the fourth turning has happened. So, this week is all about what the possible triggers that could occur. I have to say that while I believe we had had all of them since the book was published, I don’t see that they have actually caused the crisis.

One of the revelations in this chapter to me was, what if America did not come out better after the Crisis? There is no guarantee that just because that has been the case that it will continue in the same trajectory. What does that look like exactly? Gen-X will be in charge because they are middle age, The Millennials will be bear the brunt of the situation so that when they come to power in the High, they will create policies and mitigation strategies to move beyond the causes of the last saeculum.

As the GIs created government bureaucracy and the UN to address problems, the Millennials might create something like Artificial Intelligence. This would continue until the next crisis when something better is invented and supplants the status quo. Just because the High is not the best ever or the best in the world doesn’t mean that it still is not a High period. It simply means that it is the best era in the generation (80-100 years).

The reality of post World War II was that America was the best positioned and least damaged country coming out of the war. Sure countries like Spain and Switzerland were neutral and largely unscathed but the population and economy paled in comparison to the United States. The other potential big winner was the USSR but unfortunately, their own policies and beliefs left them short sided when it comes to world dominance.

There is also the concept that you have to play to win. Who do you know that does not gamble but yet hits the jackpot? Nobody because if you do not play you do not lose but you also do not win. Being neutral is a good strategy to not losing a war but it is also not a good strategy to participate in the spoils either. Winning very likely emboldens the winners to do things that they might not otherwise do as well.

The other thing that was interesting about this chapter were the suggested potential catalysts for crisis: financial crisis, terrorist attack, pandemic, Geopolitical war. Do any of these things sound familiar? I would say that since this book was published, every single one of them has occurred. We know about 9/11, the 2008 financial default and Afghanistan. But what about the Pandemic?

The Coronavirus Pandemic was certainly a watershed event. We talk about education and work environments in the Pre and Post pandemic constructs. I would argue that certainly was a crisis for many ‘non-essential’ workers spawning unprecedented policies like no eviction orders, massive economic stimulus and a simmering and seething division of the vaccinated versus the non-vaccinated. GI Generation tactics of getting stuff done at any costs were put into placed to force a subdued population into compliance. Propaganda in the style of censorship and a mass conformity campaign were instituted.

In my mind, 2024 was the first post pandemic election. The 2020 election was in the beginning of the event and the rejection of Trump’s initial handling as well as his propensity to bully and be vulgar. The 2022 mid-terms held a ton of uncertainty about it really being over. I see the 2024 election as a resounding rejection of the previous status quo. If the pandemic is the crisis, we are experiencing the regeneracy, we will see if that works for the economy, etc as we head to the climax and finally resolution.

End Your Programming Routine: I could easily persuaded that the 2020 pandemic is the crisis. I already believe that the saeculum has shifted due to the massively long reigns of the GI generation and the Baby Boomers. To me, the timing works even if Gen-X is not fully in charge, we are at least of age. By the time this is all over, I do believe that Trump and DOGE will fundamentally change how the government operates. The heroes are waiting in the wings to shift how we move into the next cycle.

March 7, 2025 – The Fourth Turning, Chapter 9

March 7, 2025 / / 0 Comments

With last week covering the Unravelling and the book being written in 1997, we are moving into speculation territory for the Crisis. Since the book was written, the author Howe has chimed in on some of his observations including the foreword of this book. His speculation is that the crisis was the 2008 financial crisis. That would make the Gray Champion someone like Dr. Ron Paul.

I could probably buy that part of the theory but I don’t know anyone that was directly effected by that event. Because of that, I really do have a hard time completely adopting this event as the actual catalyst. Quite frankly, I feel like 9/11 was more of a galvanizing event that set off a lot of things in the name of fighting terrorism. With that, I am wondering who the Gray Champion is. You are also missing the Nomad generation in charge on both events.

In both 9/11 and the 2008 crisis, you really do not have the Hero generation at the age of majority. Just looking at the year 2008, the Millennials span the age ranges of 12-28. The full generation is hardly in their full summer. While a twelve year old might be effected by the mortgage crisis they were hardly in position to do anything about it. My speculation is that with the delaying of marriage and families have pushed the generational turnings out later.

We will stick to the facts here. For a crisis saeculum, you have the following steps catalyst, regeneracy, climax, resolution. With the sort of sizzle/dud, I don’t know that anyone would agree with the steps being met for 9/11. Lest we talk about the financial problems of 2008. Leaving the crisis is supposed t put us at a generational high. I sure don’t see that either.

Next week, I will write about some of the potential triggers for the crisis, so I will stick to what I have been working with here. It seems like this current cycle is something extraordinary. Because the GI generation left World War II on a rocket ship, the economy was dominant from 1946 to the late 1970’s. The Awakening economy was much better than it was supposed to be.

Minus the late seventies to mid-1980s stagflation, the economy took off again in the 1990s just as the Baby Boomers were coming into mid-life and assuming the power structure. While Strauss and Howe labelled the Unravelling (84-??) the ‘Culture Wars’, that had nothing to do with how the economy was behaving. As a result, there wasn’t much appetite to actually unravel.

Given the extraordinary size and prosperity of both the Hero and Prophet generations, I am not convinced that this is an ordinary cycle. It still seems like we are still in the Culture Wars with the Profits in charge. Just as there was an anomaly during the Civil War saeculum where an entire generation did not exist we may see either an extended cycle. I don’t see us skipping the crisis however because that is necessary for the high.

For the purpose of clarity, the following crisis have occurred during the American historical period. Those would be War of the Roses, Armada Crisis, Glorious Revolution, American Revolution, Civil War and World War II. Please look these up if you are curious for more information. The title of this chapter is actually the Fourth Turning in History making it difficult to really analyze much when it comes to facts.

End Your Programming Routine: Based on what I have outlined above, I am not convinced that we have actually ended the Unravelling. Clearly, that would make that phase over 40 years long. The other alternative would be that the Awakening shift was too short which also might be possible. From my experience, I don’t think the mood shifted until 1992 as the Reagan/Bush years were largely the same. It was the Clinton/Gore years of Christian evangelism, Global Warming, and media labelling.

March 5, 2025 – The Tucci Table

March 5, 2025 / / 0 Comments

The Tucci Table by Stanley Tucci is the March Left Coast Culinary Book Club selection. Normally, I would present this much later in the month but it is a short cookbook. With those, I don’t really read. I read the opening caption and scan through the list of ingredients. In a couple of evenings, I was done.

This book is supposed to be about the repertoire of recipes that the Tucci’s eat in their home. It is pretty Italian forward with some British, American and French influence. I haven’t cooked anything but the ingredient lists are pretty simple and doesn’t require many exotic ingredients that are hard to source. I would say that it is pretty approachable from that standpoint.

The one thing that I will say about Tucci is that he is pretty sincere about his food. I do believe that he takes an interest in it. In fact, we just bought two pans that had his endorsement on it from Williams and Sonoma. They are very nice pans and they were on clearance so we paid significantly less than retail value. They replaced some worn out, non-stick pans that we had. As a result, it is my opinion that he is a credible resource when it comes to cooking.

I respect the man from the culinary standpoint. As for the rest of him, my impression is that he is an ultra-egalitarian, liberal elitist. For that reason, I cringe at the selection of the book title. In addition to that, I am not a fan of pasta. I find it boring. Yes, I eat it now and then but I just don’t crave it ever. You can guess that my opinion of the book is negative.

I would say that if you had no cookbooks, this would be one that you could use for everyday cooking. It is simple and varied enough that you could make quality meals from it. But, for a person like myself there is nothing really new here. As a result, I cannot wholeheartedly recommend it.

I know that you didn’t ask but I will say it anyways. What makes a good cookbook? To me it is one that strikes at all levels. Simple cooks as well as advanced cooks can get inspiration. The last one that I remember fitting the bill was the one skillet cookbook from April 2023. It was Indian, African, Asian as well as western all cooking in one dish. That was novel and interesting.

There are some celebrity chefs that I am a fan of. I like Paula Dean for authentic southern food, Rick Bayless for Mexican food and Steven Reichl for barbeque. To me, it is not the notoriety of the chef but the subject mastery that makes me respect the chef. I am not saying that Tucci has not mastered food, but lets face it he is an actor. As such, there is a credibility gap.

It reminds me of when Emeril Lagasse became famous in the mid-1990s. I don’t know for sure but my impression is that he is a competent and surely charismatic Cajun chef. But, does that mean that he is now an authority in counter top ovens or inexpensive cookware? They may be fine products but just as likely it is a money grab. Anytime someone is using their name to hawk wares, we need to consider the source and motivation.

End Your Programming Routine: Is it really bad? No, it is meh. Tucci has good branding sense and just like there are Food Channel groupies there are Tucci groupies. They are going to latch onto whatever he puts out. I don’t select all the books, I help facilitate the operation. It is just my two cents on this selection.

February 28, 2025 – The Fourth Turning, Chapter 8

February 28, 2025 /

Last week I talked about the Awakening, this week it will be the Unravelling as we barrel toward the Crisis. Don’t forget, this book was published in 1997 so in theory, we were in the middle of the Unravelling when the book was published. It will therefore be up to us to figure out what that acute event is considering the book is almost thirty years old now.

First, let us talk about the book. The Unravelling begins in 1984 at the second election of Ronald Regan. In this period, the Millennials are being born, Gen-X is coming into adulthood, the Baby Boomers are coming into mid-life and the Silent Generation is reaching elderhood.

There are still plenty of GIs around but the youngest among them would be in their sixties and the oldest would be in their mid-eighties. According to the Fourth Turning theory, that would make them largely irrelevant, but not true. We still had Reagan’s second term and George HW Bush aspirations for two to go before they relinquish ultimate power.

The theory predicts that the Unravelling would last 18-25 years, the length of a typical generation. That should put the Crisis between the years of 2002 and 2009. I will save the Crisis for next week but it is hard to talk about this period without addressing it’s starting and ending events. The truth is that I am not sure of the trigger. 9/11 meets some of the criteria but not the results of society in Crisis. We will just have to proceed and then we can debate the specifics next week.

What is the Unraveling anyway? The basic premise is the order and structure that was implemented as a result of the High start to fall apart. As an example, both the High and the Awakening periods were extremely active in fraternal organizations. The Elks, Eagles, Moose, Odd Fellows, American Legion had many active members. These groups were bound together for common purpose and community outreach but as the members age, they are not replaced by the younger generation.

The charitable actions fulfilled by fraternal groups becomes increasingly fractured into more, smaller organizations that may perform niche elements. In the Unravelling, society does not necessarily stop doing the work of charities but the mechanism of how they are performed continues to diminish. That would be the disintegration of High era societal norms.

Interestingly enough, the Baby Boomers who could not be bothered to raise their Gen-X children circle the wagons and become born again. It looks like the Awakening had two results. First, self exploration and then conformity. This causes the early Gen-Xers and the later Boomers to become ‘helicopter parents’ to their Millennial kids with an attempt to compensate for their own parent’s absence. There is a rise of the Evangelical right and family values. From the attempt to put warning labels on music to Promise Keepers, both Republican and Democrat agree that changes need to be made.

With the GIs in charge still, the Silent being silent and the surge of Baby Boomers influence and authority we were seeing a transition of power skipping one generation and moving directly to the Baby Boomers. The Gen-X skepticism of this change of heart in the Baby Boomers accentuates the Unravelling.

This was my era. I was roughly nine to thirty. Given my age, I kind of spanned two Saecula in my formative years. I was too young to fully participate or remember the Awakening, but not so in the Unravelling. To me, the event that completely articulates this era was Woodstock 1999.

Woodstock (1969) was a music festival that represented the mood of the youth in the Awakening. I don’t know for sure, but I think that it accidentally became a success. It was one of those organic experiences that touched a generation’s mood by medium and accessibility. The event is largely remembered as good and positive with some character building misery along the way (mud pits).

In contrast, Woodstock 99 also touched a generations mood. A corporate contrived event provided a venue for the castoff generation to rage. By the time Limp Bizkit played Break Stuff the tinder was lit. The light towers were torn down, the stage was destroyed and three deaths resulted. Rage Against the Machine followed by Metallica played while the venue literally burned. There is no excuse for that behavior but maybe the attendees (Gen-X) wouldn’t have acted the way they did if they felt the weight of their generation and their role in the Unravelling?

I am certainly not condoning Woodstock 99. But I also see some parallels between Woodstock 1994 and 1999 and our current political situation. Woodstock 1994 was supposed to be a generational event like 1969. What it failed to deliver in generational unity, it provided as the ember to build more aggression the next time it came around. Likewise, I don’t think that we would have the same Trump presidency today if he would not have lost in 2020. Those lessons learned in the first term with time to prepare have unleashed the current situation within politics.

End Your Programming Routine: While Woodstock 99 was abhorrent, was it different than the 1960 – 70s? Bombings, protest marches, race riots were on the whole more deadly and not isolated to one event but decades. The argument could be potentially made that those were ideological fights, this was the Awakening after all. I would say, who is to argue with natural order? This is precisely what is supposed to happen in the Unravelling. A perfect sign that things are not ok.

February 21, 2025 – The Fourth Turning, Chapter 7

February 21, 2025 /

This was an interesting chapter for me. After I did the math last week and realized that most of my grandparents were from the Silent generation and not the GI generation I had more revelations this week. I realized that the majority of the Baby Boomers were children of the Silent generation as well. I had often wondered how they could have been born in the American High and things turned so quickly. I now realize that opposing generations are bound to strife making the GI’s and the boomers opposing.

This was the era that I was born into and I spent the first nine years. Like many young children, it was all that I knew and seemed completely normal to me. I had an uncle that was a self proclaimed hippie. My mom was born again from the Billie Graham youth crusades of the late 1960s. Another uncle was a Vietnam vet. My mom excluded, all of my aunts and uncles were all divorced.

As we were transitioning out of the Awakening, the boomers were termed the ‘me generation’. I always thought it had as much to do with their size and age of the generation but it also seems like it probably had as much to do with the saeculum as anything. Generation X became the abandoned, latch key kids ignored by their self absorbed parents.

My parents were more traditional, as a I didn’t experience any of the typical abandonment of my generation. But, I would say that my wife did. I have heard the stories over and over again so I feel like I can relate a little bit. These were things like leaving a blank, signed check so that the kids could go to the store or buy dinner from a restaurant while they were out or at work late.

The generation that interest me the most in this era is the Silent Generation. What exactly were they doing in this period if the GIs were in charge and the Boomers were making the most noise? From what I read, they were the bridge between the two generations. They continued the post war high policies that ultimately went up in smoke under Boomer retaliation.

Though it took until Biden to actually have a Silent generation president, apparently they controlled the majority of the state legislatures and governorships during the Awakening. As a result, it was business as usual for the Silents. This was the generation that actually stood for civil rights but because the GIs controlled the federal level, it wasn’t realized. It took the Boomer’s rejection of the GIs to move these policies forward.

One very interesting phenomenon happened in this saeculum. For the first time ever, the elder generation maintained their wealth as they transitioned. Across human history, elderhood meant loosing financial freedom. As a result of post war entitlements and a rocking economy, they did very well. In fact, the title of ‘poor’ shifted from the elder generation to the first time ever the child generation. That would be Gen-X in this context.

You can almost track our socialism downfall right here. Because the economy problem was solved, now it was time to turn on parity with LBJ’s war on poverty in 1966 i.e. welfare. He was quoted as saying that poverty will be gone by the early 1970s. That level of hubris, a signature of the GI generation lacked the forethought that instead of freeing people, it actually created a class of people destined to never leave the housing projects.

There has been plenty of government bloat since Abraham Lincoln, the first strong arm president. The GI generation was the first generation to fully utilize Social Security while the giant Silents and Boomers were pumping money into the system. Meanwhile all the excess money was drained to fund things like Vietnam and Medicare/Medicaid, Food Stamps, Section Eight and the like.

Reading this book has been a breath of fresh air. I have often wondered how this country got so screwed up from a Jeffersonian republic to an f’d up socialist mess and why people feel so passionately that freedom is not worth the risk of security. I now see that people were wanting to do the right thing the wrong way. I would have to say that while I respect the gumption of the GI generation, I really don’t think that they have earned the title of Greatest Generation.

In my book, the greatest generation would make this country infinitesimally better. While I see a lot of things that they did with the idea of what is better for me will be better for you. In practicality, every domino that is set up has a corresponding complexity and downside to it being part of the system. I think that there is a fatal error in the belief of solve one problem (WWII) does not mean that all problems can be solved, especially with the same tools.

I would go as far as to say that the GI generation did tremendous damage to this country. Who started USAID in the first place? The GIs of course under JFK. The Silent perpetuated it, the Boomers took it and added more individual elements (meaning race and division). I hear people wonder out load how politics got so divisive. It is pretty clear to me that the ‘me generation’ put their stamp on the process. If they didn’t take care of their own kids, what makes you think that they are going to take care of your feelings (or interests for that matter)?

Don’t look to Gen-X to fix it. This is our time, but it doesn’t look like it will be our turn. This latter section has more to do with the forthcoming chapters, but it all stemmed from this period. I actually think our best hope is for Trump to break it so thoroughly that it cannot be repaired. The timing is right for Winter to hit. Just remember that the Awakening is the summer.

End Your Programming Routine: Next week is going to be a doozy at over 70 pages. Just remember that it was written in 1997 and that the third saeculum had not ended at that point. This means that there is likely going to be some conjecture in the text. I have not yet read it either so we won’t have as nice of a road map of history to results as we did this week. I don’t know why the Boomers are destined to rebel but maybe they actually had a point with all of the entitlements the GIs created.

February 14, 2025 – The Fourth Turning, Chapter 6

February 14, 2025 /

At this point, we know all about the generations and the turnings. We have focused on the vocabulary that is crucial to understanding the writing. In theory, we know everything that we need to know to really integrate and understand what is our current saeculum. This chapter is all about the first turning and the American High (1946-1964)

The generations that are in play in order from oldest to youngest Lost, GI, Silent and Baby Boomers. As with all of this book, there are no clear lines. I find it easiest to work backward so the Baby Boomers were the result of the oldest Silent generation and the youngest GI generation is a good example.

My paternal grandparents fall right on the line. As an example my grandmother was born in 1925. That makes her technically part of the Silent generation since the GI generation range is 1900-1924. My grandfather was born in 1922 making him amongst the youngest of the GI generation. When I look at my maternal side, my grandfather was born in 1925 and my grandmother in 1930. This of course makes them both of the Silent generation

Like the book explains, people around the edges of a generation can take on properties of either generation. Before I did the math, I assumed that they were all of the GI generation since they were of age and involved in WWII (ignorance on the part of my maternal grandmother). Further, because all of the children were of the Baby Boom generation it was an automatic assumption. Of course, I did no math and I wasn’t a conversant of the theory like I am now.

The mood of the country was as the turning implies, high. The book makes a point to talk about the roles of each generation and their contributions to the era. I will spare the details suffice to say that the GI generation was large and in charge. They pretty much overwhelmed the remainder of Lost generation and elbowed out the Silent generation from further prominence.

Momentum is the term I would use to describe how society proceeded. As a reward for saving the world, the GI Bill is introduced causing all who qualified to become the most educated in history. That same bill made buying a shiny, new house much easier and that became the standard. Live better than your ancestors in every way.

The children of this turning (Baby Boomers) were the product of committed, successful and secure parents. This resulted in a certain coddling as well as the idea that children had a voice. Theories about the importance of what they had to say have led to the conclusion that they were destined to become entitled. This of course will manifest in the next turning.

The unity of the period resulted in things like institution building and homogenization. Factors such as TV played a strong cultural role in that beside just the mood. Medicine, food, education and socioeconomic status were all at parity during this period. Compared to rural poverty (or at least scarcity) the middle class life in the suburbs seemed like a dream.

This is probably intuitive, but I have never thought of it in this way before. Community unity drives individuality to almost nothing. As a result, issues such as Civil Rights take a back seat to group prosperity. This will of course raise its head in the next turning. My takeaway from this is that this is a watchpoint. While I don’t consider movements such as BLM as individuality, the fact that it is a social issue points to lack of cultural cohesiveness and prosperity. That is certainly an indicator of what turning we are actually in.

The American High ended with the assassination of JFK, America’s first GI generation leader. The die was cast however. He was followed by LBJ, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmie Carter, Ronald Regan and George HW Bush all of the GIs. From 1961 – 1992 one generation imprinted it’s nation building fingerprint on our policy and politics. That is a time frame that is fifty percent longer than the generation’s fall saeculum itself. Some might say that is undue influence.

End Your Programming Routine: It is hard to really put too much commentary on history. I think it is generally known what the stronger generations did in certain time periods. Notice I didn’t really even talk about the Lost generation nor the Silent generation. I think that is largely because those generations were really a non-factor in history. That is not to be disparaging, it still remains to be seen if Gen-X will have a hand in the next turning. We are running out of time as the oldest are in their sixties now, already stepping into Winter.

February 13, 2025 – Like Water For Chocolate

February 13, 2025 /

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel is the February 2024 Left Coast Culinary Book Club selection. This is the first Mexican themed book we have done in a long time. It is also one that has been around a while. I saw the movie in the mid 1990s. I will be honest, I don’t remember anything about it. My wife read the book in Spanish in 1994 when she was studying in Mexico. This is my first go around reading the book.

The story takes place in revolutionary Mexico (1910-1920) somewhere along the border. I surmise this because it references swimming in the Rio Grande at one point. The premise of the story is about a young women Tita who is in love with a boy but because of a family tradition of the youngest daughter has responsibility to take care of the parents until they die is denied marriage from her widowed mother. As a result, the boy marries her sister and the emotional tension between him being around throws Tita into cooking elaborate meals.

There is of course much more to the story but I am not going to spoil it. What surprised me about the book is that there are 11 recipes in it. The text of the book are the steps on how to make each dish. By my experience, they look like the real deal with the right ingredients and flavors. This is exactly the kind of fiction that we are oriented to read.

Being that this is February, a romance is the perfect selection for the month as well. As you probably guessed, I am not much of a romantic. I found some of the plot a little too out there for me. But the one thing that I can say is that the mysticism that is woven into the culture is right on. These come out with the home remedies that are used throughout the book.

Again, not much of a Romance reader I found the story bearable. If you like that sort of thing, then you might find this book even tame. It was edgy without being explicit would be my description. For that reason, I can say that it is a book that can be read in a setting like ours.

I enjoyed the story to a point. The farm life, the food, the history and the politics were all enjoyable to me. As an example, the storage mechanisms for eggs in a pre-electric era was pretty cool. The shower, the self reliance with keeping and eating animals raised on the farm were also enjoyable. I suppose that the story without the sexual tension wouldn’t have been a story at all. For those reasons, I would say that if you were going to read a romance, this would be the one for me.

For the dinner, I am bringing Mole. Not the recipe in the book but I have already made this and it is in the freezer. It is quite a bit of work which is why I cherish the leftovers but this is the perfect occasion to break it out. This is a group that will appreciate it and if they have only had it in the restaurant it is going to blow their minds.

The art of Mole is almost lost. Most people make it with a starter base commercially available. One person I spoke with years ago said that nobody has five hours to make this when they can just use the starter. I don’t like the sweet, bland, gelatinous blob at all. That being said, there are literally hundreds of variations of the sauce hailing from Oaxaca. Not having a particular ingredient shouldn’t be an excuse to not find a Mole that you can make.

I would be interested in trying some of the other recipes in the book. The very first one was called Christmas Rolls which is chorizo and sardines on a hard roll like a sandwich. I love chorizo and I am intrigued. There is also a recipe for chorizo in the book. I have never made it but I have made the pre-cursors and I think it would be fun. There are several others, but you read the book.

End Your Programming Routine: What I really like about the book is the passion in the story is translated to passion in the food. That is something that I can connect with. The truth is that did not translate when I watched the move all those years ago. But, maybe I will watch it again to see if I really missed that. One thing for sure is that you are not going to get the ingredients in the movie. For that reason, the book is better but maybe this is one to que up for Valentines Day between you and your special someone.

February 7, 2025 – The Fourth Turning, Chapter 5

February 7, 2025 /

If you are struggling to keep up, you got a break this week with the chapter only a couple of pages long. My feeling is just because it is short that doesn’t make it clear. In fact, I am really grooving on the book and the theory but this chapter makes no sense at all. Even the definitions seem to have conflicting opinions about the meaning.

Chapter five is all about the Gray Champion. The origin of the name comes from a short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1835. The story takes place in colonial Boston (1689) and is about a much disliked Governor Andros. The Gray Champion is an unknown, unnamed character that stands up to Andros and his troops as well as warns the rest of the people about the ills of letting Andros proceed.

Strauss and Howe tend to take a more recent view of the Gray Champion. That is a person that stands up to the status quo. In the story, he represented the Puritan ideals which were directly opposed by the British monarchy and the colonial system. Theoretically, the Gray Champion would re-appear whenever Puritan values were threatened. Strauss and Howe specifically mention Paul Revere and John Brown as an examples of that. The Gray Champion is the harbinger of the forthcoming crisis.

A more common interpretation of the Gray Champion is an individual that leads through crisis. Names that we would all recognize are George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and F. D. Roosevelt. What is important about this version is that these are all individuals that are not born of the Hero generation but lead the Heros through the Crisis.

I didn’t find out the second definition until I was researching the Gray Champion to write this. That definition seems to make more sense in terms of the overall theory because I cannot fathom as to why a Gray Champion would be required to initiate a crisis. But if I really try, maybe I can take a stab at it like the difference between WWI and WWII.

Make no mistake, both were horrific events. The reason WWII was the crisis and not WWI is several fold. The first being WWI created WWII by the settlement that was reached and the punitive restrictions placed on Germany as a result of the war. The second being is that WWI sort of happened. It was Rube Goldberg of assassination and alliances that set the war into motion. As a result, there was no real warning or concern about a building conflict. It was a war that grew as time went on (much more like an unravelling).

I am not totally sure who the Strauss and Howe Gray Champion is in WWII, but maybe it is Winston Churchill. He was certainly instrumental in holding the line against Germany and dragging the United States into the war. Even with that, I am not clear why a Gray Champion is required if the crisis is unavoidable. Maybe it is more of a coincidence rather than a requirement?

Strauss and Howe stress that a war is not required for a crisis despite the fact that our most significant events and cycles have been bookmarked by such events. It was Howe’s speculation that the crisis might have begun with the 2012 financial crisis. If Howe was right, would that make Ron Paul the Gray Champion? Also, if that were true, how are the Millennials (Heros) fixing it? We will have to wait another 7-10 years to find out I guess.

Under the more common definition, I was reading that Trump might be considered the Gray Champion. I definitely see him as determined and visionary using strong arm tactics just like Lincoln and FDR. I personally do not want to give him that title but somebody is going to get it and it would actually fit right under Howe’s opinion of the crisis dates. By that token, we are there and he is the leader and what Trump is doing seems to have effect.

Just like I wrote about last week, even though Gen X is in the fall season and should be generally in power, the fact that the Baby Boomers are the stronger generation makes Trump an exceptional character. He is not of the Millennial generation but leading through crisis. The same would be true with Gen X in charge but the point is that everything fits the theory perfectly.

End Your Programming Routine: Yeah, so I don’t totally get it. I guess that I get what the Gray Champion does but I don’t get why it has to be. It makes me wonder who that figure actually is. It also makes me want to keep an eye open for that person. The most logical person would probably look like a conspiracy theorist, dismissed and discredited by the status quo. As always you have to end your programming and keep looking at the evidence if you want to be ready for the crisis.