On Metamorphis: discovery of self, career/life passion, vision, village... (in that order)
You, me & the Cold War
20 Years Later: The Second Cold War Kids are Alright
This second body of work is similar to the first in that it takes an in-depth look at one specific sociological cause of depression that I am hypothesizing is the reason for depression's prevalence in our society/world today: the Cold War.
2011 is the 20th anniversary of the official end of the Cold War marked by the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In addition to a blog, I am pitching a 'timely' article for publication that I hope will kick-start my larger body of research. The article will explore the sociological effects of growing up in the Cold War's final days in a series of interviews with 4-5 women (late 20s - early 30s; bridging Gen X & Y) -- particularly from the co-incidence of it during our formative years. The interviewees will be a cross-section of perspectives, those:
- living in the US
- still living in Russia
- emigrated from Russia & the former Soviet Block countries for political asylum
- who have relocated to the former USSR for humanitarian work after the Cold War
In the last 3 years, I met several friends while either in Siberia or as a result of the trip with whom I have formed an instant kinship (note: see retrospective blog article of my 'Lessons from Siberia'). I suggest depression is the unifying theme/experience that joins our friendships and our personal stories, which, in short, are due to circumstances that left us with a lack of/loss of/repression of identity through the impact of messages that mutate into harmful belief systems. Underlying causes are vast, but relate to the influence of the Cold War and include: developmental & learned behaviors -- messages learned from family (First Cold War generation), community & society (touching on sentiments of feminism) -- and/or personal tragedy & hardship.
Using the model/methodology of historian Orlando Figes in books like The Whisperers, I foresee the final Cold War book comprising many more interviews of a similar nature that include up to three generations worth of stories/accounts (grandparents, parents and children retrospectives); thus, becoming a tale of the discovery of self & the empowerment to change. For us 'cold war kids' it's been a journey to recognize and overcome an outdated & out-of-context fear-based existence that was a means of mentally/emotionally surviving the Cold War's threat of nuclear war & imminent destruction.
I also propose that the end of the Cold War be the new generational marker that divides the ridiculously large 'Y Generation' (approximately spanning 1980 - present). As an 'in-betweener,' I neither fit in perfectly with Gen X or Y. I think the Cold War's influence & effect on our generation's formative years is the sociological basis for disconnect. Perhaps Gen Y can be redefined to span from 1980 - 1995 and be re-dubbed 'Second Cold War Kids.'
The interesting generational conclusion that I have discovered so far is that after 45 years of being bitter adversaries during the Cold War, the shared experience has unified an entire generation of youth on both sides that lived through it. 20 years after the end of the Cold War, a common bond (once unthinkable) now exists between the people of both the US & former Soviet Union... a story worth telling.
