Tag Archives: twentysomethings

Fairy Tales For Twentysomethings Are Exactly As Depressing As You Imagined

Julie GersteinMarch 27, 2013 //
Drunk In Your 20s
A narrative tale, as told by GIFs. Read More »
Botox In My 20s
STYLE
Why this author got Botox before her 30th birthday. Read More »
20-Something Breakups
How one writer handled her first big breakup in her twenties. Read More »

Let’s face it, you don’t need fairy tales when you’re a kid, when your whole world is a metaphorical warm sack of amniotic fluids full with all the food, love and sleep you’d ever want. No, you need fairytales when you’re a jaded, slightly damaged twentysomething, in need of inspiration, hope and a paycheck to pay the rent. Enter Fairy Tales For Twentysomethings, a Tumblr that rewrites classic fairy tales in a more, uh, realistic bent. Take Snow White:

Snow White didn’t like Mondays, so she sang a song to get her through: “Whistle while you work, and cheerfully together we can—oh my God how have only two minutes gone by somebody kill me now I want to die.”

I mean, right? Keep reading »

Dear NY Times, Here’s Why I Haven’t “Grown Up.” Love, A 20-Something

LemondropAugust 19, 2010 //

Yesterday I received the same message via email, text, tweet and wall post no fewer than a dozen times:

“I’m sure you’ve already seen this, but …”

The “this” was Robin Marantz Henig’s hefty New York Times article about the state of today’s 20-somethings — an extensive assessment of the way my generation is choosing to spend our transition into adulthood, what our choices mean, and if they’re good or bad. Read more … Keep reading »

How Much Financial Responsibility Should A 20-Something Have?

Ali JawinJune 28, 2009 //

I am not great with money. I think the problem is I don’t love money. Don’t get me wrong, I love material things, but money in and of itself doesn’t really interest me. Maybe the idea of having money isn’t as compelling because as a recent college grad, I don’t have any. Until very recently money didn’t feel real to me: I loved the things it bought me, but the dollars themselves didn’t have much value. When did my attitude towards money evolve? The very second I opened up my first paycheck. During my last semester of college I spent hours upon hours tutoring freshman on the finer points of writing and not using a hangover as a reason to ask for an extension on their term paper. I loved every almost every minute of explaining the beauty of the semicolon, but I wanted that paycheck. For every minute that I could have been doing something, anything else, I wanted compensation. At eight dollars an hour I was hardly raking it in, but I was so proud of each dollar. Keep reading »

Is Narcissism Keeping You Single?

Wendy AtterberryJune 10, 2009 //

It’s no secret that people are getting married later these days than in previous generations, and in this culture of hook-ups and “modern female dating anxiety,” we’re at no loss for theories that explain why. Some people say today’s twentysomethings are delaying marriage to focus on careers and build close friendships instead, but another explanation paints a less flattering picture of young people: apparently, they’re all just a bunch of narcissists. In an article on The Daily Beast this week, writer Hannah Seligson, explores this theory, writing: “narcissism, even in small doses, has shifted courtship into a high-stakes relationship culture. Now that people think more highly of themselves, expectations of what a relationship should be like have skyrocketed into the realm of superlatives. Twentysomethings not only expect to waltz into high-level career positions right out of college, they also expect partners who have the moral fortitude of Nelson Mandela, the comedic timing of Stephen Colbert, the abs of Hugh Jackman, and the hair of Patrick Dempsey.” Keep reading »

“Self” Profiles Single, Pregnant, & Panicked 20-somethings

Amelia McDonell-ParryMarch 27, 2009 //

Thanks to Amy Benfer at Broadsheet for pointing out this article in the new issue of Self, called “Single, Pregnant and Panicked,” about the trend of twentysomething women having unplanned pregnancies. As the feature points out, we’ve all seen this trend in Hollywood — Nicole Richie, Jessica Alba, and Ashlee Simpson have all had babies in the last few years — but some of us, especially given the statistics, have probably seen it in our personal lives or experienced unplanned pregnancy ourselves. Despite editing this site, the statistics shocked me. About half of American women will have an accidental pregnancy before the age of 45. That’s kind of a scary thought, considering my addiction to high-fructose corn syrup (um, and red wine).

Keep reading »

Where Are All The Style Icons At?!

Amelia McDonell-ParryMarch 9, 2009 //

Liz Jones, a columnist for the U.K.’s Daily Mail thinks our generation has a problem — we don’t have any style icons! Sure, we’ve got women like Michelle Obama and Kate Moss to look to for style inspiration, but, according to Jones, not one woman in the twentysomething age bracket really deserves the title of “Style Icon.” And she’s got an extra special bone to pick with those who claim model Agyness Deyn DOES.

“Maybe I am old and jaded, but I don’t think she has a clue about style at all. I hate that this messy, un-put together look is deemed somehow ‘London’. That Agy has now joined a long line of cutting edge Brits (Kate Moss, Amy Winehouse and the lamentable Peaches Geldof) who demonstrate how non-conformist they are by dressing like tramps. But what is even more galling is that Agy and her ilk have created so many young female doppelgangers. If I see another twentysomething in black cutoff tights under a mini-skirt worn with ballet flats, I will want to kill myself.”

Keep reading »