Category: Jeremy Ritch

  • Nostalgia in a Modern World: Embracing Meaning

    Nostalgia in a Modern World: Embracing Meaning

    “The Greek word for “return” is nostos. Algos means “suffering.” So, nostalgia is the suffering caused by an unappeased yearning to return.”― Milan Kundera, Ignorance Gen X tends to fall into a trap of judgmental attitudes towards other generations too often. We exaggerate our upbringings as these overly independent coming of age stories that are…

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  • I’m here, I’m Queer, and I’m Still Figuring It Out

    I’m here, I’m Queer, and I’m Still Figuring It Out

    The Intro My understanding of Queer culture and PRIDE came gradually as I grew up in the Midwest. I was not heavily exposed to LGBTQ culture as a kid on the southeast side of Cleveland. The diversity I experienced most was Black culture in my neighborhood and Indian culture due to my best friend. I…

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  • Facing The Music: Looking Back and Looking Inward

    Facing The Music: Looking Back and Looking Inward

    As a Gen X adult nostalgia is a huge part of nearly every aspect of life—assume for all generations this is true. Since my formitive years I’ve looked back on my musical journey, the pop cultural archives in my mind, and the fond memories of things that likely are more romantic than reality. With these…

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  • Under The Radar: Shawan Rice

    Under The Radar: Shawan Rice

    Susquehanna Soul I first encountered Rice’s music at a festival along Harrisburg’s Susquehanna River waterfront. At the time she was playing with a band under Shawan & The Wonton. I was just sipping a coffee in a folding chair, enjoy the shade of a hot Memorial Day weekend. The music began and I perked up.…

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  • Delving into The Tortured Poets Department And Cowboy Carter

    Delving into The Tortured Poets Department And Cowboy Carter

    Tortured Poet’s Department Taylor Swift has broken the internet again with the release of Tortured Poet’s Department. The Swifties have brought the album into record breaking territory yet again and with that comes the hatred. Call it our collective “keyboard courage era” in which we hate in viral fashion. Like a virus, I’m thinking herpes…

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  • My Love Letter To Hip Hop

    My Love Letter To Hip Hop

    The Intro My family moved to the Cleveland area in 1983 and having moved into a racially mixed area on the southeast side I became aware of hip hop culture by my pre-teens. Our neighborhood was around the corner from Cleveland proper. It was a place full of young families, many were Black, that were…

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  • Under The Radar: I Am Snow Angel

    Under The Radar: I Am Snow Angel

    THE BOSS BROUGHT US TOGETHER “I ultimately found artistic satisfaction when I began producing my own music and created “I Am Snow Angel”, which has a much more electronic vibe than my previous work.” I discovered I Am Snow Angel in 2015 when I heard her cover of Bruce Springsteen’s 1984 hit “I’m On Fire.”…

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  • Confessions of Survival in a Post Kurt Cobain Life

    Confessions of Survival in a Post Kurt Cobain Life

    Kurt Left and I Struggled Kurt Cobain died 30 years ago on April 5th from a suicide. I was 18 years old, a senior at St. Peter Chanel High School, a place I desperately wanted to leave. I hated high school; in fact, I hated school. I didn’t feel comfortable in my own skin ever,…

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  • Ami Alex: Busking Her Way to Success

    Ami Alex: Busking Her Way to Success

    Under The Radar Series by Jeremy Ritch One thing that annoys me is the attitude amongst many Gen Xers that there is no good new music anymore. The fact is not only is there great new music, every year, but there is a lot of fantastic artists flying under the radar still. Some of my…

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  • St Patrick’s Day and the Music of Revolution

    St Patrick’s Day and the Music of Revolution

    By Jeremy Ritch My official title with Gen X Watch is culture and music editor. So that is my focus, of course, but in those areas, the often-uncomfortable space of social and politics collide. With St. Patrick’s Day being upon us, I wanted to write about such a collision as an activist and a person…

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