We needed tough lessons as children. An occasional playground fight was expected as the norm, and if we complained to our mother that we were being teased, we were treated to this glorious aphorism: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” My mom used to say that all the time, one of the seemingly endless adages she had at her disposal to deal with any of life’s problems. To this day I think long and hard about the practical application that dogma had on my life.
The idea that you could actually choose whether or not to be hurt by words: that was huge for me. Even though it has been repeated ad nauseam for generations, “sticks and stones” really is a powerful bit of philosophy to a kid. That’s one of the great things about being a parent: you can spout nothing but clichés, and yet, to your child, you come off as one of the great thinkers in Western culture.
–from MEAN DADS FOR A BETTER AMERICA, by Tom Shillue
Thank you for reminding me. I wanted to talk about our post-show hangout in Memphis and here it is:
“They call me no show Jones,
They call him no show Jones
I’m seldom ever on,
He’s seldom ever on
The stage singing my songs
They call him no show Jones
They call me no show Jones”
— George ‘no show’ Jones
Conversations with GROK
‘Generation Jones’
I’ve talked about this briefly, I may have to make a video about it.
‘Explain Generation Jones’
Generation Jones refers to a distinct social cohort or micro-generation sandwiched between the Baby Boomers and Generation X. The term was coined in 1999 by American cultural commentator Jonathan Pontell, who argued that people born roughly from 1954 to 1965 form a separate group with their own shared experiences, attitudes, and personality traits—distinct from both the classic Boomers (typically 1946–1964 in the broader definition) and Gen X (1965–1980).
Birth Years
Most sources, including Pontell himself and Wikipedia, use 1954–1965 as the core range (sometimes slightly adjusted to mid-1950s to mid-1960s).
As of 2026, that places Generation Jones ...
