Lisa’s Generation Relations Blog

Hi All,

The past couple of days I have come across some random news stories related to generations, unemployment, students and more. I thought I’d provide a snapshot of each one that caught my eye:

Unemployment Olympics in New York: Recently unemployed Millennial, 26 year old, Nick Goddard, a computer programmer, said he had hatched the idea for the Unemployment Olympics because he yearned for the chance to “battle all the unemployed people for stuff.”

“It’s also not a bad time to be unemployed,” said Mr. Goddard, who is from Rochester Hills, Mich., and lives in the East Village. “There is no stigma associated with it now.” 

One NY Times article said: They flocked to Tompkins Square Park on Tuesday during what would have been lunch hour to partake in the largely impromptu, moderately chaotic, and, as it turned out, highly cathartic Unemployment Olympics — which organizers believe is the first, and hope is the last, event of its kind.

Four events were planned: “Pin the Blame on the Boss,” a “You’re Fired” race, piñata-bashing and the highly anticipated fax machine toss, which had to be nixed at the last minute, to much heartbreak. The parks department balked at the idea of having office equipment hoisted aloft (“dangerous,” said a spokeswoman) and then smashing to the ground (“which is essentially littering,” per the spokeswoman), so Mr. Goddard substituted “Office Phone Skee-Ball,” which also involved hurling office equipment about, albeit equipment of a smaller sort.

MBA in Social Media Being Offered by British University: A British university is offering a master’s degree in Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, but it will cost students more than $6,200. This type of degree is a Millennials DREAM! Click here to read the article.

UCSD Has Big Blunder: Oops! UCSD accidentally sent out a “Welcome” email to 29,000 Millennial freshman yesterday…but they were the ones who had been DECLINED enrollment! Ouch.

According to one article: A half-hour later, school officials said, they realized their mistake. Almost two hours after the first note went out, a second e-mail was sent, apologizing to 28,889 freshmen applicants for the mistake.

“No member of this department is more acutely aware of the emotional roller-coaster that this could cause for our applicants,” Assistant Vice Chancellor Mae W. Brown said.

Okay! That covers the random news I’ve seen that made me laugh or say “What?”

Bye for now,

Lisa