Fields makes politics ‘cool’ in community conversations lecture

Maryville College director of community engagement Preston Fields kicked off this year’s Community Conversation series on Sept. 27 in Lawson Auditorium. For his presentation, Fields integrated the subject of politics and political awareness into this year’s “Connections” conversation theme.

With the current presidential election campaign in full swing, politics is obviously a controversial topic right now. However, Fields managed to put a fresh, young spin on a subject that, when brought up amongst young people, is often in grave danger of quickly being exhausted. The mood was light from the beginning, as Fields opened by talking about his history with politics and how he first got involved with the subject. He shared several humorous anecdotes about his run-ins with politics as a kid.

One account had the room roaring with laughter. Despite having “two of the most non-political parents ever,” Fields’ father knew his son was destined to be a politician when, in his fourth grade journal, Fields responded to a “Things that annoy me…” writing prompt with, “My sisters touching my stuff, losing at soccer and Dan Quail.”

Fields then spoke about his political aspirations after graduating from Maryville.

“When I graduated, I thought politics was going to be my career, but I thought wrong,” he said. He moved to Washington D.C. after graduation to work on John Carey’s election campaign. To subsidize his budding political “career,” which did not come with a lucrative pay packet, he fell into a job teaching at an elementary school. Long days at school followed by long nights in the political office left Fields worn out, and he moved back to Tenn. once Carey was nominated. This experience taught Fields a lesson about politics, but he “learned it the hard way.”

“They say don’t put all your eggs in one basket, but the hard thing about politics is you kind of have to,” Fields said. “All mine were in John Carey’s basket. He lost, and took my eggs with him.”

Fields then turned his attention to one of the most important topics of his presentation, the Youth Vote. The Youth Vote, or Generation Y as it is commonly known in the trade, is the age bracket of the electorate from 18-29 year olds. Generation Y is the most diverse generation in history, with 34 percent of this group being of Latino dissent. Forty-six million individuals in the18-29 year old age bracket are eligible to vote in 2012. Fields was keen to express just how much political power is in the hands of this group, which rivals the Baby Boomers in size.

By 2015, this generation will make up one third of the electorate. Fields brought up a couple of interesting statistics regarding the Youth Vote. In the 2008 presidential election, only 32 percent of those who did not continue their education at college voted, whereas 62% of college educated Americans voted. Further, eight percent more young women voted than young males. After highlighting the voting power of young Americans, Fields shared his experiences as an official delegate to the Democratic National Convention this year.

He walked the audience through his “surreal journey” to becoming a delegate. Fields also discussed some of the “ins and outs” of politics that the general public often does not get to see, before he went into detail about the current Democratic and Republican campaigns.

Fields closed with a simple observation: “You know, democracy is kind of messy and weird,” he said. “On both sides.” Fields’ presentation offered an insightful take on politics that could be relevant to young people. It would appear that his experiences with Generation Y and youth in the MC community are support his efforts to make politics “cool” again. Maryville College director of community engagement Preston Fields kicked off this year’s Community Conversation series on Sept. 27 in Lawson Auditorium.

For his presentation, Fields integrated the subject of politics and political awareness into this year’s “Connections” conversation theme. With the current presidential election campaign in full swing, politics is obviously a controversial topic right now. However, Fields managed to put a fresh, young spin on a subject that, when brought up amongst young people, is often in grave danger of quickly being exhausted. The mood was light from the beginning, as Fields opened by talking about his history with politics and how he first got involved with the subject. He shared several humorous anecdotes about his run-ins with politics as a kid. One account had the room roaring with laughter.

Despite having “two of the most non-political parents ever,” Fields’ father knew his son was destined to be a politician when, in his fourth grade journal, Fields responded to a “Things that annoy me…” writing prompt with, “My sisters touching my stuff, losing at soccer and Dan Quail.” Fields then spoke about his political aspirations after graduating from Maryville. “When I graduated, I thought politics was going to be my career, but I thought wrong,” he said. He moved to Washington D.C. after graduation to work on John Carey’s election campaign. To subsidize his budding political “career,” which did not come with a lucrative pay packet, he fell into a job teaching at an elementary school.

Long days at school followed by long nights in the political office left Fields worn out, and he moved back to Tenn. once Carey was nominated. This experience taught Fields a lesson about politics, but he “learned it the hard way.”

“They say don’t put all your eggs in one basket, but the hard thing about politics is you kind of have to,” Fields said. “All mine were in John Carey’s basket. He lost, and took my eggs with him.”

Fields then turned his attention to one of the most important topics of his presentation, the Youth Vote. The Youth Vote, or Generation Y as it is commonly known in the trade, is the age bracket of the electorate from 18-29 year olds. Generation Y is the most diverse generation in history, with 34 percent of this group being of Latino dissent. Forty-six million individuals in the18-29 year old age bracket are eligible to vote in 2012. Fields was keen to express just how much political power is in the hands of this group, which rivals the Baby Boomers in size. By 2015, this generation will make up one third of the electorate. Fields brought up a couple of interesting statistics regarding the Youth Vote.

In the 2008 presidential election, only 32 percent of those who did not continue their education at college voted, whereas 62% of college educated Americans voted. Further, eight percent more young women voted than young males. After highlighting the voting power of young Americans, Fields shared his experiences as an official delegate to the Democratic National Convention this year. He walked the audience through his “surreal journey” to becoming a delegate.

Fields also discussed some of the “ins and outs” of politics that the general public often does not get to see, before he went into detail about the current Democratic and Republican campaigns. Fields closed with a simple observation: “You know, democracy is kind of messy and weird,” he said. “On both sides.”

Fields’ presentation offered an insightful take on politics that could be relative to young people. It would appear that his experiences with Generation Y and youth in the MC community are support his efforts to make politics “cool” again.