“What’s in a name?” - Shakespeare
So, to start, our name: The Zentennial. What is that all about?
Well, during our very first brainstorming session, after we were all hype off of our big dreams and initial plans, we realized that we had nothing to call this. We wanted something that would stick. Something that could, one day, become a household name like The Times or The Washington Post. But, also something that sounded new-age and alluring; like The Daily Telegraph or Teen Vogue. Then, inspiration struck. We knew this would be mainly geared towards other young adults in our generation, which is known as “Generation Z”. Additionally, we are called “The Centennial Generation”, as we are the first generation born into the new century. Now with a catchy new title that was a combination of both names and had a simple nickname, The Z, we were ready. However, as implied by the quote above, names don't really matter. They are nice for labeling, but what you need to know is what the subject truly is. The name of something does not matter as greatly as its nature. So, what are we? What is our purpose?
“Your Mission, Should you choose to accept it...”
- Mission Impossible
We are motivated to cultivate connections and share information with fellow young adults around the globe who are interested in the same things we are, making change for the better. A huge, and almost universally understood, problem with America (amongst other things…) is its citizen’s general inability to be extrospective or to look outside of themselves. So many people in this country barely pay attention to what's going on here, never mind in the rest of the world. And speaking of the rest of the world, this isn't just an American problem. Ignorance may be bliss, but the bliss is momentary, and the damage is never ending. A lack of knowledge plagues people all over, stealing from them the tools of information needed to look towards and plan a brighter future. We, and many others within our generation, refuse to allow this to continue, for the safety and betterment of our planet. To us, it’s paramount not only to research what is happening in our world and learn what we can do, but to hear from others around the world on their experiences and issues that need to be addressed. A lot of times it's simply a problem with exposure, because the USA exports a large portion of international media (accounting for roughly a third of the global Music & Entertainment Industry) people here rarely rely on media from other places. This causes them to feel inconvenienced when they have to experience something as simple as, say, having to watch something with subtitles because it's in another language. Or to feel/appear ignorant about a subject that people from other places in the world spent plenty of time studying, as the U.S. education system can be underachieving and self-centered. Moreover, globally, it is often difficult for young people to get information on various topics and issues, simply because we are young. Many adults fail to realize that it is our world too, and soon it'll be up to us to make serious decisions about our planet; it is in everyone's best interest for those decisions to be informed ones. It's also difficult to make connections with people around the globe if you don't get to travel. Most people aren't in the financial situation (especially as teenagers) to be traveling around the world to learn different things and meet new people, so it's something that one must struggle to improve on. The simpler choice is to only deal with things within your vicinity and not better yourself, some don't find it necessary. Our mission {one that we hope will become yours as well} is to rectify that idea so that people of the next generations don’t fall to the same disillusions, to help make that difficult choice a bit easier and motivate people to make it. We hope to inform and inspire change, as there is so much wrong with the world, and we don't have much time to turn it around. We can't do that without each other. It is our goal to spread information to human beings all over, on matters big and small, and in turn, help empower our people and our planet.
Saving, not only our generation, from a lack of knowledge and connection, but essentially our world? Sure, it may seem like Mission Impossible, but it is better to try and fail than to never try at all, and I think we got this. :)
But this is not something we can make happen on our own.
It will take plenty of hard work, untilizing both co-operation and collaboration with our fellow subjects of earth (young, old and all in between:) to spread this message and hopefully make the world a better place. If you are interested, subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter, and we will try to keep you updated about the carryings on of the world and our blog posts about, well, everything. If you feel you have something important to say and would like to send us information to help educate and inform, call in/be a guest on the podcast, or even write your own post to be featured on our website: reach out to us at the email address below, or though the resources on our "Contact" page, and we would love to collaborate!