Call it valuable information or call it a shameless plug, but today I want to draw attention to a project that one of our very own editors at The Daily Campus has helped to spearhead.
Our generation, for all its quirks and imperfections, often lacks a voice in the world of the mainstream media. Some media outlets might justify this by declaring that there’s a good reason for this lack of representation.
The common perception is that young people don’t know what they’re talking about and their opinions aren’t really worth broadcasting. But I think this is a flawed notion. There are plenty of people our age that know what they’re talking about when it comes to local and national issues, and I think those people certainly merit a voice in the debate.
That’s why I’m particularly excited about a new project that our very own Jessica Huseman of The Daily Campus is heading up.
Gen Why Press is a commentary site dedicated to promoting the voices of Generation Y. According to Huseman, “We wanted to start a website that would aggregate the opinions of Generation Y and call attention to them…Plenty of college news wires where they aggregate student news, but no one ever does anything with student opinions.”
People who might expect Gen Why Press to publish nothing but inane human interest stories or irrelevant updates that would be more at home in a teenager’s facebook status would be sorely mistaken. “You will find no suggestions for how to decorate dorms or adjust to life after college or bake cupcakes,” she said. Generation Y has all the power they want to push fluffy opinions, but we want to see what they REALLY think on tough issues that are currently facing the nation and world. We could care less about dorm rooms.”
The site offers a unique blend of original commentary from their dozen staff writers, but also partners with select college newspapers and blogs run by young Americans and pushes them on their site. In that sense it seeks to create a “one-stop-shop” for the thoughts of Generation Y to facilitate a conversation.
I know I for one am excited about the prospects of Gen Why Press. While still a new organization, the group demonstrates a lot of potential and is serving an important goal of getting young people into the national dialogue.
I’ve met plenty of people my age who feel like it’s often not worth it to express how they feel about divisive issues. “My voice doesn’t matter,” they might think, or, “No one is going to listen anyway.” And who can blame them for thinking this way when this is exactly how so many of us are conditioned to think? But like it or not, Generation Y is going to end up managing the world one day.
People are going to have to listen to what we have to say at some point, so why not make them start now? For that reason, I commend Gen Why Press and the work they’re accomplishing.
Brandon Bub is a sophomore majoring in English and edits The Daily Campus opinion column. He can be reached for comment at [email protected]. And you can check out Gen Why Press at genwhypress.com
