The Voice

In the most recent issue of Time magazine, there is a devastatingly important article about novelists. Read it. Basically, it highlights the great writers of the past - Hemingway, Fitzgerald, etc. - and the author of this article wonders aloud as to why there has not been an emerging Voice from our generation (those under 40) that speaks about what it is like to live and be in this generation.

At a service I attended on Sunday, the day before I read the article, the homelist drove a point home about the need to be prophetic - to read the signs of the times and articulate what is happening to our lives, our society, and our planet.

So, I started a crazy project two nights ago. I made a very long list of things that have impacted my generation, events and trends that I believe significant to the molding of my generation. See if something is missing, tell me about it and write me.

In no particular chronological order or correct spelling:

• The internet, computer explosion: google, email, blogging, ebay
• Reality shows: dating, swapping lives, adventure races, voyeurism
• Increase in divorces
• Increase in depression and medication
• Body piercing
• Tattoos
• Coffee shops
• Iraq War
• Columbine
• 9/11
• Film documentaries
• 2000 election
• Homosexuality, same sex unions
• Immigration
• Abortion and state power
• Delayed adolescents of middle/upper class
• Gangs
• Plastic surgery
• Botox
• Breast augmentation
• Youth obsessed
• Eating Disorders and Disordered Eating
• Campaigns against tobacco and second hand smoke
• In vitro
• New pope
• Searching for a sense of belonging
• 8 minute dating
• Pills and plans to stop/eliminate menstruation
• Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky
• Katrina
• Tsunami
• Michael Jordan and the Bulls
• WNBA
• Women's World Cup Soccer Team
• Cell phones
• Ipods
• Rise in obesity
• Inter-race/religion/culture relationships
• Rise in women in the workforce
• Delayed age in heterosexual marriage
• Groups of employees winning the lottery
• Info-mercials
• Bilingual education
• Organic food
• Bottled water
• vegetarian, vegan diets
• lactose intolerance
• rise in STD/STIs
• Yoga, spinning
• Remake origingal movies and songs
• NASCAR
• credit cards
• student loans
• Digital revolution
• Cable
• laptops
• electronic calendars and office gadgets
• terrorism
• AIDS
• celebrity worship and obsession
• OJ simpson trial
• Court TV
• Race riots
• Oprah
• Cloning
• Rise in community service
• Enron
• DNA
• Rise in spirituality
• Decrease in organized religion
• Sex abuse scandal in Catholic church
• Bill Gates and Microsoft
• Rise in entrepreneurialship
• Airbrushing
• Harry Potter
• TV show Friends
• Rise in going to college
• Challenger explosion
• Cold war ending
• Berlin Wall
• Fascination with extraterrestial life
• Humanitarian aid other parts of the world
• Outsourcing
• Chains everywhere - McDonalds, Walmart
• More cars
• Bigger homes
• Decrease in traditional family units
• Superhero movies - Batman, Spiderman
• Animated movies
• Rise in fundamentalism, conservative
• Same sex families and marriages
• Longer life expectancy
• 90210
• DaVinci Code
• Decrease in carpooling
• Global warming
• Earth Day
• Condoleeza Rice and Hilary Clinton
• Online pornography
• TV talent searches
• Boy bands
• Country music
• Extreme Sports
• Decline in Olympics watching
• Rise in gas prices
• Animal rights
• Atkins, South Beach
• Whiter, straighter teeth obsession
• Welfare to Work
• No Child Left Behind
• Vintage, Old School, Antiques trends
• Spelling Bees
• Sensationalized murder/missing persons: Elizabeth Smart, Jon Benet, Lacey Peterson
• Book deals for anyone involved in anything controversial