Aging Backwards to Reach New Readers?

October 21, 2024

   Billy the Kid was barely in his twenties when he cashed out. Jesse was 15 when he really got going and quite a few others were not even teens yet. Their youth is what really appealed to all of us Boomers when we were that same age. In large measure, that's why we love them so much. They were kids like us only they had something that most of us did not—they were really brave.

Daily Whip Out:

"Killer Kid's Demon Eyes"

   And, if you have read our cover story on Killer Kids, you know where all of this came from. 

Daily Whip Out:

"Killer Kid In Gray"

Daily Whip Out: "Killer Kid Shines"

    Last weekend when I was in Fort Worth

for the Will Rogers Award Ceremony I talked to many authors and content providers about how to reach a younger audience and it was our food writer, Sherry Monahan who made the point that virtually all of the Old West heroes we love were in their twenties and early thirties when they did their nefarious and incredible deeds. And then what happened is, we Boomers grew old with them in our hearts. That's why when you go to Tombstone or Prescott, Deadwood, or Dodge City and see Old West re-enactments, they are invariably portrayed by old guys in their sixties! (At the very youngest)

   So, how do we reinvent these characters for the new kids coming up? Well, for one thing, go back to them being so young and we just might capture the current youngsters?

   It's worth a shot, said the guy who is as old as these guys.

Lakota elders Chikalakte, age 79

and Wahachanka Chikala, age 78

"You're only as old as the women you feel."

—Groucho Marx