This year, The Eagle is introducing the Quick Take. The online-exclusive content features columnists who get together each week to write about one topic from different viewpoints. Read more about each columnists, what they did this summer and what they think this generation should be concerned about.
Nick Field
Hometown: Bristol, Pa. (near Philadelphia)
School/Major: (SPA) Political Science
Class of: 2012
What did you do this summer?
I primarily spent this summer working at the office of Assemblyman Daniel Benson, a freshman state representative from New Jersey. It was a great experience to see government on an extremely local level, especially compared to how it is viewed in Washington.
As for the rest of the summer, I spent it as I would imagine most people did: mostly low-stress activities, like resting, having fun and traveling, in my case to the Jersey shore (no, not that one).
Also, just like everyone else, I was left to ponder some scary questions this summer like: Is Barack Obama so addicted to compromise that he’ll jeopardize his principles and his presidency for it? Can Republicans really be so unbelievably reckless and clueless? And, most frightening of all, will there really not be football this year? Well, I guess getting good answers for one out of three isn’t bad.
What should this generation be concerned about?
There isn’t any one issue or accomplishment that this generation should be most concerned about. Instead, this generation should be concerned about whether we will be able to thrive in this new century or whether we’ll just succumb to the fear that our ambitions will have to be cut back.
In his legendary inaugural address, President Kennedy asserted that only a few generations are granted the role of meeting great challenges and advancing themselves through history. He responded that we should not shrink from this responsibility, but rather welcome it.
This generation is incredibly unique in that it could be argued for the first time that our forebears failed us. Therefore, the greatest concern our generation should have is whether we will expend the small amount of individual effort that will coalesce into a movement to solve the critical issues of our own time.
Joe Gruenbaum
Hometown: Kansas City, Mo.
School/Major: (SIS) International Studies
Class of: 2015
What did you do this summer?
I read a plethora of non-fiction books and some classic fiction (Faulkner’s short stories, Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye,” Hemingway’s “For Whom The Bell Tolls”). I traveled to Dallas, for the National Forensic League Debate Tournament. I attended the YMCA Conference on National Affairs in Black Mountain, N.C. — one of the best experiences of my life. And I did service work at a Native American reservation in Red Lake, Minn.
What should this generation be concerned about?
Rising income inequality in the United States and the concentrations of power that have caused that shift in wealth to occur. Equality is paramount to strong, just, democratic institutions, and, in our society, concentrations of wealth and influence allow for inegalitarian influence on government policy.
These great interests often use media to disguise the true beneficiary of such policies; therefore, as Noam Chomsky puts it, “it is necessary to dismantle the structures of deception erected by doctrinal systems” and judge policy choices by the effects had on disparate groups.
Unfortunately, many in generations before us expend more effort on political banter than studying the verifiable effects of policy on those who suffer the most.
Sarah Palazzolo
Hometown: Richmond, VA
School/Major: (CAS) Undeclared
Class of: 2015
What did you do this summer?
I spent hours this summer daydreaming of all the places I’d do anything to visit; in the interim, I read my way through a long list of novels rarely covered in class, planted and consistently watered a window box garden and learned a few basic poses in the ancient art of yoga. I relaxed in the sand and surf for a week, and sweated out another week repairing homes in rural Virginia. I am ecstatic to join you inside the beltway here at AU!
What should this generation be concerned about?
This generation needs to be concerned about something more than ourselves. Maybe the world would be different if everyone cared about a real and urgent problem: genocide, starvation, environmental degradation, education, homelessness — the list is inexhaustible. Social justice is not an issue of the past; it is our generation’s responsibility to the course of history.
Jim Pavlik
Hometown: Evansville, Ind.
School/Major: (SIS) International Relations Graduate Program
Class of: 2012
What did you do this summer?
It was a quick summer, quicker than any I remember. I spent most of my time in summer-long sinecure working for the University of Indianapolis’ student center, but I had several other projects to keep me busy.
As a policy research intern at a think tank in Indianapolis, I took the lead in creating a series of recommendations for securing hazardous biological pathogens currently being housed in inadequately protected facilities across the African continent. My research there, which ended in July, helped redefine the parameters of my thesis proposal, and so I spent a great deal of time with my nose buried in academic papers that my friends found overwhelmingly dull — a fact which did not stop me from talking in great depth about my discoveries over coffee or in long car rides.
What should this generation be concerned about?
This generation’s most significant challenge will be managing the relative decline in American global power. The current generation of young people is the first generation of Americans, ever, to be predicted to live poorer than their parents and to die sooner.
But this isn’t just a domestic problem. It’s not even that Americans won’t have the cushy lives they were raised expecting.
It’s also that elected officials, in an effort to postpone the inevitable, will be tempted to make policy choices that will actually speed up the decline. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
It is today’s students — tomorrow’s key decision makers — that need to be well-heeled in the historical, social and philosophical contexts of the current global order in order to make the right decisions for themselves and the world they live in. Policymaking is hard, but doing it right is of critical importance.
Rachel Lomot
Hometown: Framingham, Mass.
School/Major: (SIS) International Studies
Class of: 2015
What did you do this summer?
My summer can be summed up in one word: work. Except for a one-week vacation to visit a friend in California, summer consisted of 10- to 14-hour workdays. I worked three jobs: a camp counselor, a babysitter and a writer for an online newspaper. My days consisted of going from camp at 7 a.m., working all three jobs and then arriving home around 9 p.m.
Writing this summer has taught me a great deal, mostly that I do not favor reporting. I would much rather be freely writing my opinion.
As for camp, my daily experiences continue to shape my life. My campers come from low-income families and face heartbreaking situations daily. But every day these campers teach me that all children, despite their backgrounds, simply want to play. A good life lesson — we are all human.
However, after my summer I am ecstatic to be with only people over the age of eighteen.
What should this generation be concerned about?
Our generation should be remembered for providing hope for the next generation. Simply teaching women how to weave or children to read and write can go a long way. I am a strong believer in the power of education. There are too many success stories to prove otherwise.
I recently read Nicholas Kristof’s book “Half the Sky,” in which he writes, “educating girls is one of the most effective ways to fight poverty.” I believe this statement applies to humans across the globe. Not only does an education give someone an opportunity to build a business, understand how to healthily take care of their children and a more open mind; education provides confidence. An educated person is more likely to stand up for their beliefs and to help give back to the community. We must spend our money on books to build the future and not on bombs to destroy it.
Derek Siegel
Hometown: Baltimore, Md.
School/Major: (SIS) International Studies
Class of: 2015
What did you do this summer?
There are two things you need to know about people from Baltimore: They hate the Steelers and they can’t get enough crabs. I would never cut it as a Ravens’ wide receiver, so I worked in a crab house over the summer. I had a lot of fun; don’t get me wrong. But people who frequent crab houses, well, they have attitudes.
A typical customer comes in and asks to see our crab sizes. She scoffs and points to the large crab, “Well that’s a medium.” She points to the medium, “That’s a small.” She waves dramatically at the small, “And that’s — I don’t even know what that is. It should be illegal to sell something so tiny!” When she gets her crabs, she doesn’t pay for them. She feels them. “These ain’t warm.” “You call this heavy seasoning?” “Are you sure these the right size? They look pretty small to me.”
What should this generation be concerned about?
Anything, really. They call us the apathetic generation, more concerned with Facebook and celebrity gossip than with rising carbon levels or victims of ethnic warfare halfway around the world. It sounds shallow, but it’s hard to care about these distant things when we’re so busy with our own lives. And it’s even harder to do something about them. But just because they’re easy to ignore doesn’t make it OK.
AU has a reputation as a politically active and socially aware campus. Still, more often than not, we’re compelled to focus on ourselves rather than the world around us. And that’s OK sometimes. You don’t need to be a champion for every cause — that’s impractical. But choose an issue or two that are meaningful to you, and try to make a difference. Advocate for equal rights or volunteer at a local soup kitchen. Donate money. Donate your time.
Pick a cause — I don’t care which. Let’s be the generation of activism, not of apathy. It has a better ring to it.
