Issue 9: Youth Culture
David Gensler || President, The Keystone Design Union
More than any other time in our modern era can the power of converging generations be potentially harnessed to build our collective future. The very idea of youth is now so much more than an age - it is a mindset, a connectivity, an energy that affects all it touches - this reality brings with it extreme fertility.
Youth is change - it is Hope… in youth the changes Obama sets in motion will eventually grow into solutions, rebuild our country and hopefully begin the healing of our world.
This new administration brings with it an opportunity to bridge a gap that has been widening since the departure of President Clinton from the White House. Not since those days, which seem so long ago, did we as a people collectively understand the true power of the youth as a catalyst for great change. Now we will see a great shift from the inactive to the hyper involved - not a fad or trend but a movement unlike anything before it.
Our new President faces many challenges, but will be coming into office with literally a nation of support waiting to follow his lead. This support is rooted in the youth that are so very eager to once again have a trustworthy leader that they feel a connection with. I personally hope that the Obama brand will not simply usher in new energy and optimism but have the wisdom, passion and innovative mindfulness to understand how to use it to change both our country and the world.
David Gensler, MBA, is a Strategist and Designer living and working in Brooklyn, NY. Over his career he has focused primarily on youth culture, design culture and emerging trends. His work has influenced the realms of fashion, entertainment and media and consistently bridges the gap between high theory and bottom line pragmatism.
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Recent Responses
youth –> digital age –> transparency and activism via the web. obama’s started strong. let’s hope it only builds. i mean, to be TEXT MESSAGED by MY president about his VP announcement before any other news outlets knew about it, at 3 a.m. no less… THAT is connectivity.
youth –> digital age –> transparency and activism via the web. obama’s started strong. let’s hope it only builds. i mean, to be TEXT MESSAGED by MY president about his VP announcement before any other news outlets knew about it, at 3 a.m. no less… THAT is connectivity.
Very well spoken Mr. Gensler.
“The very idea of youth… is now a mindset, a connectivity” - true dat, David. Young people today really embrace the technologies that enable them to grow and manage personal networks that are orders of magnitude larger than what their parents managed at their age. The implications of this are huge and have only barely begun to be seen.
I think the key challenge for the Obama leadership is to realize how loosely they need to hold the reins. So many of the young people I know are keenly aware of the challenges we face now and are eager to take them on - they just need the sorts of structures, like game structures, that will make their participation meaningful to them.
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Inaugural Insight
- The inauguration for the first U.S. president, George Washington, was held on April 30, 1789 in New York City.