Sometimes, I think, where a generation starts and stops is a bit hard to define. We all know who the baby boomers are, of course. They’re the generation whose motto (“It’s all mine) defines our economy to this day.

I was born in 1976. I suppose if I’d been born in 1970-1972 or so, I would have greater claim to the title “Child of the Eighties.” After all, I was only 14 when the 80’s officially ended. And yet, I can’t stomach the thought of being considered a child of the 90’s. I have all the qualifications of an 80’s kid. I remember things like Cabbage Patch Kids and Garbage Pail Kids, Wonder Woman live on TV, and I must have read all of the books Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume ever wrote. I remember seeing ET at the drive in and He-Man on TV. I played with Legos as a kid and I remember when Michael Jackson was actually cool.

There’s a lot in the press these days about Generation X and the one behind it. I just can’t picture myself as part of a group who are cynical, and materialistic, the so-called “lost generation.” I’m not lost. I feel optimistic about the future, idealistic even. I know someday we’ll get over the violence and drugs and racial tension and get back to The Cosby Show and cherry Kool-Aid.

Maybe I am a child of the nineties, but I sure feel like a child of the eighties. I’ll take The Bangles over Offspring any day.