14 Years in the Making ...

I will never forget the first time I heard about National Review. I was 16 years old, working in our basement office, listening to radio coverage of the 2000 election recount, when I heard the host read the article, The Gore Lies. I wrote down the name of the magazine and headed to the library. I read the latest issue cover to cover, came home, handed my mom a subscription card and said, "This is what I want for Christmas!"

National Review has been my conservative Bible over the years. It truly helped me build a solid conservative foundation and understanding of my beliefs and led me to study politics in college and work in it ever since.

It was also in National Review that I saw an ad for the high school Young America's Foundation conference which I attended the following summer and then the college conferences in subsequent years. (I was quoted in Time magazine in 2004 as saying, "I'm a conservative because I'm antiestablishment" at that year's YAF conference!) I also credit YAF as being instrumental in my early development of conservative ideas.

When I was in college applying for internships, and then later jobs, when I would be asked, where do you envision yourself in 10 or 15 years or what is your dream job? I would respond: Stay at home mom and freelance writer for National Review. Flash forward 14 years and I'm a work from home wife and freelance writer for National Review!

Today I had my first article published on National Review! This is truly a career dream come true! You should be able to find all my articles here.

I guess now I need a new career goal. Hmmm... Maybe I'll make it to write a book in the next 10-15 years.

Youth Misery Index At All-Time High

Fitting in perfectly with yesterday's post Youth Vote: Our Future, Laughed Off Stage, Young America's Foundation (YAF) spoke at Heritage's Bloggers Briefing today about their initiative on the Youth Misery Index.

The Youth Misery Index is a modern take on Jimmy Carter's Misery Index and today stands at a record 90.6!

Here's how they calculate the number:

The Youth Misery Index adds together youth unemployment, average graduating student debt (in thousands), and national debt per capita (in thousands).

Youth unemployment is at 17.4 percent—one of the highest levels since World War II. Average graduating student debt has reached a record-breaking $26,300. National debt per capita is $46,900—the highest ever. Add it up, and the Youth Misery Index comes out to 90.6 (17.4 + 26.3 + 46.9 = 90.6). 

YAF's call to action reflects my point yesterday that my generation can't depend on short-sighted politicians in DC to represent our interests:

To fix these problems, young people must become more active; we cannot expect policy makers in Washington to fight these battles for us.  

YAF encourages campus activism to get students involved in reaching out and teaching their peers about conservative solutions to the issues most important to them.

...In other youth misery news, George Scoville points out that the Obama Administration has reversed its position on unpaid internships at for-profit companies.  Now Obama has unveiled a new "We Can't Wait" summer jobs program.  The problem?  Most of the positions will be "unpaid training opportunities."  I guess internships are fine since Obama hasn't figured out how to create jobs.  Obama's message to young people: We CAN wait for real jobs, we CAN'T wait for empty gestures designed to win back the youth vote in 2012.