Observations from Minneapolis, Minnesota.

by Alex Steed

Published October 26, 2008 @ 08:11PM PT

We're lucky to be staying in Minneapolis this evening where we've been able to eat home-cooked food, drink local beers, talk politics, and listen to Gillian Welch.

A few observations from the past week:

Millennials don't know that they're Millennials.

In talking with over 20 teenagers, I've come to find that only one has been able to define the term "millennial." The young man who knew what the term meant, a 15-year-old who volunteers with a peace advocacy group in Ann Arbor, Michigan, took offense to his perceived implications of the label: "Some people call us Generation Me, or the MySpace generation. I think it's insulting. It's inaccurate."

Planes were crashing, kids were shooting, the Internet was booming, and no children were left behind.

Events like the Columbine High School massacre, September 11th, and US military involvement in  Iraq are oft-mentioned as defining influential events for this generation. I hadn't thought, however, about the impact of the No Child Left Behind legislation on the younger Millennial set until a friend who teaches English Composition at a college in Minnesota explained that his students quite-literally don't understand the basics of critical analysis "because of No Child Left Behind has all of them thinking in multiple choice." Interestingly, it's the third time in the past week and a half that the legislation has been mentioned.

Perhaps Millennials don't know that they're Millennials because 'Millennial' is an arbitrary term(?)

I spoke with a Chicago-based educator about the ever-changing definition of "Millennial" with regard to the generation a few nights back and she has since emailed me the following:

I've been thinking about your description of Millennials and not sure I can buy that you and my students are in the same generation.  Birth in the 80's vs the 90's is  fairly significant when you consider technology, which is what you said defines this group.  There are subtle but significant differences between people who were 10 in 2000 and 10 in 1990.  For example, you  interpreted 9/11 for yourself.  My students had someone interpret it for them.  Kids in grades 4-10 have no memory of 9/11 yet according to your dates, some of these kids are within your generation.

I very much appreciate this definition, especially since it's coming from a place where she serves consistently on the front-lines of from where the so-called Millennials are emerging. I too find it a somewhat lofty fact that this term has been applied to such a large cross-section of "young people" and I look forward to looking into this quite a bit further.

Dinner Talk.

• Us: Thanks so much for the food. It's really nice to have a home cooked meal.
• Hosts: You know - We like to feed Millennials. Just don't tell anyone. We only do it once in a while.
• Us: Hey - As long as you keep it off of Twitter and it isn't about how awesome we are, we have absolutely no idea whats happening.

Five years ago, the Millennials were predicted (by at least one guy) to help knock it out of the park for Dean.

To be fair to his short-term misfiring, this guy's long-term predictions would turn out to be pretty accurate.

The people doing the most interesting forms of activism work don't self-identify as activists.

The bike folks in Ann Arbor, at least while on their bikes, don't self-identify as activists even though they're doing the most self-organizing / bike advocacy solely by promoting bike use.

The economic downturn, no matter what one's political outlook happens to be, is scary.

The people I've talked with thus far are somewhat terrified by the frailty of the economy, especially with those of us in fundraising capacities. Some have mentioned noticing incoming funds contracting already. This makes projections for 12-16 months down the road, when those on the bottom of the economy are supposedly expected to feel the impact.