Hello World: I'll make the youth voice heard

I have been assigned my beats for July. Yay! My job is to blog and report on key issues that would capture your attention. This will hopefully spark an interest and motivate you all to do something about them. I will provide my sincerest perspective on issues that hit close to home. These issues will include the affordability of higher education, the hardships foster children encounter, and the view of the war from a young veteran’s perspective.

I plan to bring you all angles of every story-your view, my view, and anybody else's view.

Cost of Education:

We all know the cost of education is outrageous! Student loan debt has skyrocketed, our freedom of speech has been challenged, and copyright laws have gotten tougher.

Foster Care/K-12 Education:

Many issues come to mind when thinking about these two topics. There are success stories that must be covered. There are still more stories that have not been sufficiently covered and they must be examined, too. Barriers must be broken down between the "good" schools and the "bad" schools. "Good" and "bad" are everywhere and I want to go behind the scenes to expose both sides. Other topics will include current realities and obstacles, after-school programs, and youth-led events.

War:

War is one word that we will hear again and again until all troops come home, and until then I'll have the opportunity to interview proud veterans and the not so proud veterans. My goal is to bring unedited and uncensored footage of my one-on-one interviews with young war veterans.

You can also catch me covering youth groups in my community and the work they put into their organizations and their communities.

I am excited to cover beats on young Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Young Arabs- the cultures many people often neglect. I know they have a lot to say and what better place to have their voices heard than on the Rock the Trail blog. So be sure to check in weekly. You never know when and what they may say.

Lastly, I am excited to cover music and activism. Afterall, our world revolves around music. If you don't believe me simply try to go a month without listening to the radio in your car or at work. Music seems to be the driving force of getting us through the day. I am glad to bring stories to you from influential musical icons who have very influential messages regarding issues that matter the most to our generation. You will get exclusive interviews, Q&A's and videos from entertainers, Disc Jockeys, teachers, music lovers, record companies, and any other source you can think of.

In case you haven't figured it out by now, my ultimate goal is to make the enitre youth generation pay attention to me. Ultimately I want to have the most exposure I can get so that the answer to the question of “why should young people vote?” will be heard and spread worldwide.

Sometimes we don’t realize the extent to which politics affect our lives until we have reached a time in our professional career where things become forced upon us. But the truth of the matter is that we need to grasp and understand that there are issues that are affecting us now!

I am here to represent the voice for all youth and I will try my best to make sure the youth are heard. Young people have more to lose than many would think—like our future—and that is one sacrifice I will not make.

I encourage you to view the blog weekly for my different beats. Make Comments. Suggest topics. Whatever you do, be sure to stay engaged in what affects our generation- and that means everything!

Keepin' it Rural

What is up world! You've met me before - now hear me when I tell you I'm going to bring you some hot blogging action right here at Rock the Vote!

This election season I'm covering some of the hottest issues from rural America. That's right, I'm keepin' it rural, baby! Everything from the coolness of food and cows to things like broadband and wifi in the sticks. Not to mention some great info about the environment and how folks are "greening" our world with green jobs, alternative fuels and energy, and the efforts implemented by our own generation to save the planet our parents have totally screwed up. That's right, ya'll, its up to us!

Specifically I'm excited to look at why there is no broadband internet access in rural areas. Another highlight for me is that I will get to report from the first ever green city in Greensberg, Kansas! I also hope to speak with young people living on Native American reservations about their involvement in their communities. Most kids want to get out of town as soon as they graduate from high school. I'd like to talk to young Native Americans about how they manage to push away that common urge to fly from the nest and instead choose to stick around and make their community stronger and better.

I'm also addressing the serious concerns we all have about our economy. Times are tough and our generation is getting hit hard with soaring gas prices, student loans, home foreclosures and you don't even want to get me started on the price of coffee.

Other important issues are the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I'll be talking specifically with soldiers coming back home, some folks who are headed that way, soldiers from the first Iraq War and their perspectives, as well as taking a serious look at the ways in which we can step up to take care of our troops. We hear a lot of stories about what is happening, but we don't ever get any kind of follow up on what has been done, how people are organizing around specific issues, or the end result. I hope to bring you that information and comments from the troops themselves.

This is a great upcoming election for us! Not only do we have a multitude of issues that our generation is becoming involved in, but we are standing up to take action on those issues. We also have a number of folks our age running for office to make a difference that way. I will strive to bring you all the information on young candidates that I can find and perhaps even help you see how their perspectives are different from the older candidates'. Who knows, maybe my stories will inspire you to run some day, too!

Hit me up with ideas and questions - but comment and keep the convo going. Its all about the conversation!