In The Event That...

You Think Obama is Too Smart to Be a Gen-Xer

by Dianca Potts

X Saves the World: How Generation X Got the Shaft But Can Still Keep Everything From Sucking | Thu., Feb. 26, 6 p.m., free, Penn Bookstore, 3601 Walnut St., 215-898-7595, jeffgordinier.com

Early MTV and '90s flicks like Slacker helped shape a generation that might just save the world, according to writer Jeff Gordinier. The Details editor became an accidental spokesman for Gen-Xers after writing the essay "Has Generation X Already Peaked?" in 2006. Featured in Details, Gordinier's tongue-in-cheek analysis of Kurt Cobain's contemporaries gradually developed into a book. "You just didn't hear much about Gen X, which was my generation," says Gordinier. "It seemed like all the other generations were sucking up all the mass media oxygen."

To counter that, Gordinier examines how people born between 1965 and 1980 are making the world a better place in his book, X Saves the World: How Generation X Got the Shaft But Can Still Keep Everything from Sucking (Penguin, $15). Made up of green fiends, artists and political activists, Gen-Xers are anything but carbon copies of the past. By creating what Gordinier calls "new forms of philanthropy," his generation has contributed much to the greater good. "It wasn't a matter of shameless self-promotion," Gordinier says. "I saw Gen-Xers making an impact." Don't believe him? A few beloved Gen-Xers include President Barack Obama, comedian Stephen Colbert and author Douglas Coupland.

For Gordinier, the key to changing the world is simple, but easy to forget nowadays — pursue what you love, even in times of crisis. It's something that he belives Gen X has remembered. "Nothing is safe. That's the only lesson I've learned. I've seen three different stock market crashes, 9/11 and friends lose all their money," says Gordinier. "The only thing that's safe in the end is passion."