Friday Civics Microdose No. 10 (double digits!!)

What does "civics" actually mean?

One of the most frequent questions I’m asked is what does “civics” actually mean?

I recently had my first freelance piece published where I was referred to as a “civic parenting expert”.

Let me just say this: no one else has tried claiming this title and I’m just as happy to take it. But here’s what I think actually makes a civic parenting expert.

The answer is self-awareness. It’s knowing that we’re capable of doing better and that there’s room for improvement. It’s the humility that comes with realizing that our physical wellbeing is, from here on out, under siege. It’s understanding and accepting that our sense of belonging changes profoundly with age, along with our metabolism, skin elasticity, and fortitude for hangovers.

Isn’t getting older grand?

For one, you can use words like grand.

At the tender age of 39, I’ve found myself living in a city that doesn’t champion maturity of age. Although I have to say, having just sat in a big room at the Beverly Hilton celebrating the most enviably accomplished, talented, beautiful women gathered to celebrate Hollywood icons who are all well over 40 — there is a quietly powerful strength that comes with aging.

Our generation is tasked with making the most of the opportunities that women like Jane Fonda, Annette Bening, Kate Winslet and others fought so hard for. We have an equally inherent opportunity in changing the course of our generation and the next two (“we” being millennials, the next two being Gen Z and Gen Alpha) when it comes to civics (and maybe even politics, but that’s outside of my expert domain). I think about civics disproportionately more than the next parent, and for that reason I’m OK being called a civic parenting expert. But as my article explains, we can (and should) invoke the inherent strengths millennials have been gifted with to change the course of civic history.

We’ll pick up next Friday with the Fourth Amendment!

More soon,

Sarah