The Generational Stigma

A friend just sent me a message with a link to an article about the Millennial Generation...and it got me fired up. Check out the link below for the full story, but to quickly summarize: it was not flattering about our generation's ability to be contributing members of society and in the workplace.

I've heard this several times before but it never fails to bother me. Isn't this age-ism at its worst? I understand completely that there are some generalizations to be made about a certain age group of people, but the things I have most often heard in analysis about the Millennial Generation (aka Gen Y, Gen Next, or Echo Boomers) are extremely negative.

When you also take into account the age range some people use to define the generation, I think the generalizations become even more absurd. I admit it, I used Wikipedia here (where's Encarta when you need it ;)...but I found the definition of the Millennial varies from at start anywhere in the mid 70s to mid 80s and ending as late at the mid 90s to mid 2000s. Really? We're going to generalize the motives and attitudes of a 30 year age range? I have a hard time being lumped in with folks who don't remember September 11th. How about we try and stick to a more commonly accepted range from the early 80s to mid 90s? I can get behind that definition a little easier. Still, though, we're talking about an age group that significantly splits a huge jump in technological advancement. At one end we have the early 80s kids who remember stuff like Skip-It, New Kids on the Block, Jellies, Sega Master System, Apple 2 E or C computers and Oregon Trail. Then the mid 90s kids had the Beanie Baby craze, Spice Girls, Nintendo 64, the beginning of the Internet, and Pokemon. Was there overlap? Sure. But did we grow up a little differently? Definitely.

So here's the article on CNN's website that started this tirade: http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/08/05/navarrette.millennials.jobs/index.html?hpt=hp_abar

A few points:

1) This guy can't do math. He claims his favorite researcher is a millennial (which are, according his article, age 18-30) and was born in 1971. That makes her 40, sir.

2) He claims we were raised in the era of 'everyone gets a trophy' and 'high speed internet'...so we're entitled and impatient. I didn't have internet at home til I was 14 and we definitely didn't all get trophies. Maybe the context (and not the judgement) only lies with the latter portion of the Millennial and into whatever the next generation is called?

3) Lots of the negatives listed don't seem like negatives to me. We want to like our jobs, value friends and family over career and care about the environment and human rights...how are these bad things?

4) He paints a picture that we are lazy and therefore have a higher unemployment rate. My question is: which age group was just trying to break into the job market as everything was going down the tubes? Oh right. Us.

5) I don't really mean this as a dig to the whole age group (because I love my parents and think they were great, as were the parents of many of my friends). But here's my point in generalization form: If this generation is so screwed up by how we were raised, who should folks be railing against? Solely the outcome or also the people responsible? Somebody must've been doing a piss poor job of parenting in order for us, as a generation, to turn out so terribly. So where are the articles about that?

Anyway, there's some food for thought. I've given my two cents to please chime in at will.

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PhD Comics...my grad school sanity saver

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I've been devoting all my writing time to my thesis right now...so I thought I'd give you some of my favorites from PhD Comics (www.phdcomics.com). It's been keeping me sane.

Life in Programming -


The Writing of the Thesis -


The Little Grad Student (so true)-

Teachers - Real Life Heroes

A few years back I got this quiz in an email:

Write down the answers to this quiz -----
Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
Name five Olympic gold medalists.
Name the last five winners of the Miss America contest.
Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.
Name the last half-dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.
Name the last decade's national or world champions in your favorite sport.
Name five teachers who aided your journey through school.

Which question is the easiest? The last one.

This past December a fantastic lady and teacher of mine from high school unexpectedly passed away. I was lucky enough to be in town to be able to pay my respects and when I arrived at both the wake and funeral was happy to see how many other alumni took time during their holiday break to come to show how much of an impact she'd had on our lives. At the funeral, one of our other teachers even told us that she holding herself together until she pulled into the parking lot...an honor guard of students and alumni were lining the walk-way from the parking lot to the church door. She said she was so moved and suprised at how many RK girls had shown up. But I think it was the least we could do to show how much our teachers mean to us, even after we have long been gone from school.

Here's a pic one of the girls put up on our Facebook group in remembrance of Mrs. Korte. She was just one of those kinda of teachers! (Grr Kougars with a K!)



Mrs. Korte was the computer and business teacher at Rosati-Kain for over 30 years and was a welcoming presence up on that third floor. But that's not where I first met her. As I was nearing the end of grade school, her daughter and I went to the same Girl Scouts golf clinic. I was just starting to look at high schools in the area and the subject came up with Mrs. Korte as we were leaving the clinic one day. She told me about this school that she taught at...and I remember thinking - "She's so nice! If all the teachers are like her, that'll be a great school." So I owe a lot to her. I checked out RK and fell in love with it.

Mrs. Korte had one other major impact on my life, this time in her computers class. I viewed this required class as basically a 'let's learn how to type' sort of course. And since I'd been using a word processor for years just fine (I was a hunt-and-peck typist, but I was fast and it was working for me) I was just mad that I had to waste my time on this class. I'm very, very glad that class was required because not only was Mrs. Korte a great teacher (the class was a blast!) but I am now able to type really fast...without looking at the keyboard. Every time I sit down at a computer or watch one of my professors using the old hunt-and-peck routine I think of Mrs. Korte. She's saved me a lot of time over the years :)

Funny story - at the end of this past semester I had to re-type a seminar write-up...I'd put the hard copy in a safe place but could NOT find the electronic copy anywhere. So I was sitting in my office clacking away and all of a sudden my office mate bust out - "What ARE you doing?" She couldn't believe that I was actually typing up something because (A) I was typing so fast and (B) I wasn't looking at the computer...just the hard copy. I laughed and credited my ole RK teacher!

She is one of the many fantastic teachers I have had over the years that have gotten me to where I am today. The only big diservice they have done for me is leading me to believe that all teachers care...care about their students as people not just a one dimensional thing AND care that their students actually learn. It's been hard to adjust to having a few professors who could care less about anything other than their work...but I'd rather be dealing with this lesson now than back in high school!

So, thanks to all those great teachers out there. You may not get paid very well, but you make a bigger difference in more lives than so many million-dollar CEOs.


In Memory of Mrs. Korte
'For Good'
(this song was sung at her funeral)

"I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you...

Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good.

It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend..."

Democrats vs. Republican - The Biggest College Rivalry?

So it's 7:30 and I can't concentrate. I'm at work...but it's Election Day and returns are coming in! I've had quite a few conversations about politics today and have come to a few conclusions.

The Democrats and Republicans are basically acting like college football rivals.
Now, I will be the first to stand up and mock kU (note the not-capitalized k...because kansas is neither a proper noun nor a proper place). As a MIZZOU fan (GO Tigers!) I am staunchly anti-j-hawk. I hate them and think they are horrible. BUT...if there was ever a major project to put together I would have no problem putting aside that rivalry to get it done. I'm even working well on a project at work right now with a kansas grad - who I still taunt mercilessly on football weekends. Dems and Reps need to start acting the same way. They've got the rivalry jeering and fighting down pat, but they've got to work on this cooperation thing. Cause if not, the dissalusion of voters with out political system is going to continue and who knows where our country will end up. At least they need to find common ground and then work on compromises on things that they more or less agree to disagree upon.

We've also wondered if it will ever be possible for a third party candidate to ever seriously run for president? When did the election come down to how much money you can raise? Wouldn't things work out a little better (ie - we could get people not in the pocket of party politics) with shared 'war chests' for advertising, etc. I think I'd respect politicians more if some of those millions of dollars spent on campaigns could go to charity instead. I'd also just love to see party politics taken down a few pegs. I'm sick of all this fighting and would be happy to see action. I don't think I'll ever declare red or blue...I'm going to be purple - I fully support the Divided We Fail campaign.


Ads and debates should be run more strictly. No more negative ads should be allowed. Sticking to the facts should be the way to win a campaign. If candidates want to bring up a problem they have with their opponent they should act more like scientists...SUPPORT YOUR CLAIM! Site voting records and have a website with details, for example...and for heavens sake, be specific. Elections should be about the issues not who can smear who better.

Media should be held accountable for their reporting and claims as much as candidates are. I tend to find myself simply siding with the candidates that are receiving the most unnecessary flack from the media - the most pointless and probably not entirely factual attacks just tick me off. (ie - attacks on Palin for her makeover)

No matter who wins, I'd like to see it not be close. The last thing we need is a repeat of 4 or 8 years ago where the decision was drug out over a number of days. The economy probably won't handle that all too well. We need a decisive winner...which at this time, as I watch the 24hr news networks, looks like it will be Obama. He's a great speaker who could really ignite passion back into the public perception of our government. I just hope he handles the war well...

One last thing - I LOVE that the voting turnout has been so huge. I applaud everyone who went unfazed to stand in line, whether it be for minutes or hours. It's nice to see people getting excited about our government and also to see my younger generation turnout as well as we were expected to.

A long overdue update is here...

Life has gotten busy, so hopefully this post will help catch you up!

I started work at the NWS here in Huntsville and while it's rough
working and going to school/trying to get my thesis done, I'm really
enjoying it! The folks at the office here are pretty fun and they're a
good mix of young people and experienced forecasters. Sometimes I have
to work with the to kU alums in the office, which is rough, but we tend
to enjoy our mutual mocking. It's also kind of fun because there are
two other females in the office besides our secretary - one intern and
one forecaster. We're trying to convince the scheduler to get
us all on a shift together sometime. For some reason it seems to make
all the men in the office nervous...they're afraid of what we'll do if
we all gang up together, I have no idea why ;)

Work as an intern isn't too complicated - a lot of keeping tabs on
the radio transmitters and other equipment, making sure the website
updates correctly, organizing climate data, and taking obs.

Classes this semester are going really well. I'm taking seminar
(kinda boring) and the dual-pol radar class. Radar is probably my
favorite class so far at UAH. Everything is applicable to real life!!!
I also seem to be understanding well because I went out with our techs
from the office a couple of weeks ago to work on the radar and
understood what I was looking at in all the equipment and what it was
used for. It probably also helps that Walk & Larry (who are tag-team
teaching the class) remind me a lot of the profs back at Mizzou - very
energetic, excited about what they do, explain well, care that students
are actually learning, etc...so I'll be sad when the semester is over.

Thesis work is going ok - I'm looking at the Rita tornados from 2005.
I've done my synoptic analysis, looked at soundings and severe weather parameter trends over space and time around the tornado reports, gotten verification tatistics put together, and am currently in the long process of
unfolding radar data. I got the 88-D at Hytop done and am now on to
ARMOR...unfolding C-Band radar data in a tropical case is not so much
fun. We're hoping to do a dual-doppler analysis of two storms: one that
produced a tornado and one that was warned on but didn't. It'll be nice
cause this can then double as my final project for Radar class!

I'm still hoping to then be able to defend in late February and then
walk in May. After that, my MIC has hinted that he'd like to keep me on
here...but we'll see as we get closer what openings are available...

What else...I'm the new club webmaster for our AMS chapter. I've
been working on a new design for the page and am loving it. In a week
or so it'll get moved over from my trail workspace
(http://vortex.nsstc.uah.edu/~crowe/UAHAMS/) to the official slot...but
I want to make sure I've got the bugs worked out of it first. I'm also
playing coed flag-football with the department team and we look to
defend our title once again in a couple of weeks...it's amazing that a
bunch of grad students that sit at desks all day are able to take on the
Greek teams!

October is going to be a crazy month - I come in to MO for my
brother's wedding this weekend, then the weekend of the 4th of October
is our friends' John & Jen's wedding in New Orleans. Then we have NWA
(I'm going this year and soooo excited - 2 posters at the student conf)
and a week or so after that - SLS in Savannah (a presentation).

I know, I'm still just as insane and busy as I ever was!

Getting wiser everyday...

A few random things I have learned in the past few weeks:

1. After eating very little over the course of a day, it is thoroughly unwise to indulge in a Route 44 sized beverage from Sonic. The amount of caffeine included in such a drink is enough to give a person the caffeine shakes...which oddly feels like you are slightly buzzed and primed to faint at any moment - a very unnerving combination.

2. Godspell is the most physically demanding show ever. I have found bruises all over my body since we started running the show and most of the time can't figure out how I got them...and no, I'm really not that clumsy. After being on stage for almost the entire 2 hours of the show, flinging oneself about being goofy in a skit or throwing oneself down in despair during the crucifixion causes bumps and stage burn in the oddest places...

3. It is a very, very bad idea to leave a full cup of water anywhere near your alarm clock. It's especially unfortunate if both the cup and alarm happen to be on a shelf directly above your head.

4. I wake up quite quickly when a cold cup of water is poured directly over my head...and all down my back.

5. The only time you ever have to run to the store only for toothpaste and feminine products is also the only time you will run into a guy you know from work who will want to chat as you both do your shopping. There is a talent in quickly identifying things you kind of need as you walk along and then making an excuse just before going to checkout to go get that second item you originally came for...luckily I have said talent...