Exploring Generation Next

Thank you for your comment; your point about the gender of our featured profiles was completely by happenstance! We tried in the first hour of Generation Next to look at a geographic, ethnic, religious and socio-economic mix from across the United States; we tried to do the same in Generation Next 2.0.

As it turned out, we profiled mostly women in part one, and mostly men in part two - but purely by coincidence! It was only after we had finished with part one, that we realized what had happened. We were focused on balance in every respect - and on telling a story that would be compelling to watch.

Regarding our choice of Jonathan Reimer, the student at Villanova University, we initially contacted him because we were looking for a mix of political views, both liberal and conservative. It was only after we got to know him a little better that we discovered the important role that faith plays in his life. There was no "grand design" going in, to portray a young person who was an evangelical Christian. As it turned out, we found that faith plays a large role in the life of another of the young people we profiled, Lisa Higaki, who lives in Los Angeles. I like your idea of doing a whole hour on faith in the life of young people; a subject for down the road. And, by the way, one of the profiles of Generation Next that we did for National Public Radio's Morning Edition was of a young woman from Atlanta, Gillian Siple, who has spent the past few years studying religions, and examining deeply the impact of this knowledge on her own faith. We also profiled two Chicago sisters who are Muslim, who spoke remarkably candidly about their faith, and the challenges it has posed in post-9/11 America. All these profiles are available for listening and reading on the Web site pbs.org/newshour, if you click on Generation Next.