Inaugural gives younger generation their own Woodstock (DO take that brown acid, man)

SF Chronicle ^ | 1/19/2009 | Carla Marinucci

[markomalley]

America's 20-something "millennials" have driven, hitchhiked, walked, biked, and bussed their way to Washington in hordes this week to witness the must-see, must-be-there event of their lives - the swearing-in of Barack Obama.

Many of their Baby Boomer parents can relate: they remember this thing called Woodstock.

No one is suggesting that a rock concert on a farm in upstate New York where guitarist Jimi Hendrix wailed the "The Star Spangled Banner" - don't even mention to the sex, drugs and three days of rock and roll - approaches the weight of the inauguration of the first African American president.

But there are surprising similarities, experts say. Just as Woodstock was for their parents, Obama's moment assuming the presidency represents a "generational touchstone" event - one will define millennials' lives, their age and their experience, and become the event they will tell their kids and grandkids about.

And if history is a guide, a lot folks who aren't there today will claim that they were; Woodstock attracted a relatively small 400,000 and somehow it seems millions remember being on hand.

[Tempest]

An Orwellian woodstock...

[Thrownatbirth]

Nice timing, libs. There was hardly any nudity at the Reflecting Pool.

[Julia H.]

Sometimes I am truly glad to be a 40-year-old trapped in a 21-year-old body.