Tag: Ryan Gavin

The kids are alright

~ Randy Seaver ~ 5 Comments

v1I remember it like it happened yesterday, but actually it took place a little more than two years ago.

I was standing in my back yard, practically screaming into my cell phone and more than annoyed with the obnoxious punk on the other end of the line.

I’ll get more into the substance of that conversation in just a bit, but here’s the kicker: the young man I was arguing with was incredibly mature and polite, best evidenced by how he responded to my venting anger about his arrogance.

“Mr. Seaver, I simply disagree with you,” he said more than once during that 15-minute call.  He called me “Mr. Seaver,” a sign of respect offered by a much younger person. It was both jarring and nostalgic.

My parents insisted that we always refer to adults (even their close friends who frequently visited our home) as Mr. So and So or Mrs. Smith . . .

It’s been almost 40 years since I was in the fifth grade, but I still call my fifth-grade teacher Mr. Flaherty, despite the fact that he is a Facebook friend. I know many of my peers do the same. It’s how we were raised. You know, back in the good ol’ days.

The good ol’ days weren’t always so good

Lately, I have heard what appears to be an increasing amount of complaints about Generation Y, those born between 1982 and the early 2000’s.

Of course, the criticism reached a crescendo recently in reaction to the performance by Miley Cyrus at this year’s MTV awards show.

A few days later, a good friend shared a link on his Facebook page about Generation Y, pointing to a familiar narrative about what is supposedly the most self-absorbed, narcissistic and generally lazy generation of all time.

It occurs to me that sociology experts said a lot of the same things about the generations that preceded those Generation Y twerps, Gen X and the so-called Baby Boomers (those born in the years following World War II).

In fact, no one seems to enjoy writing about and analyzing the societal impacts of Baby Boomers quite so much as other Baby Boomers.

For disclosure, I was born at the tail end of the Baby Boomer generation; and I often wonder about the real differences between Baby Boomers, Gen X, Generation Y or even the group that Tom Brokaw so famously dubbed “The Greatest Generation.”

With all due respect to Mr. Brokaw and to those amazing people he wrote about, I think we too often view history through rose-colored glasses.

Tomorrow’s not as bad as it seems

Kids today could not survive in the world I grew up in. Kids today are so disrespectful. Parents no longer teach manners. Kids today are so lazy, self-absorbed, belligerent, spoiled, blah, blah, blah . . .

Sure, I have caught myself yelling at a teenager to “turn down that awful music!” And every time I see a boy with his blue jeans hanging on the bottom of his ass, I have to work really hard not to slap him up side the head.

Within five or ten years, there is absolutely no doubt that I will be screaming: “Hey, kid! Get off my lawn!”

But are kids today really worse than they were in the 1980s, the 1960s, the ’50s, during the Depression . . .?

It seem as if many of us are more than happy to be armchair sociologists. We extract an abundance of anecdotal evidence over time, recognize a trend and react with a combination of resentment, anger, nostalgia and a sense that the world is going to hell in a handbasket.

What we see scares the living shit out of us. These kids are about to inherit the reins. Some day, they will be running this country. We need to do something, and quick.

Not necessarily.

Exception to the rule?

Remember that young punk I was talking to a couple of years ago?  His name is Ryan Gavin, and he came to my house on Sunday to interview me for a radio show he produces in Bangor.

RGA little more than two years ago this young punk took out nomination papers to be the mayor of Biddeford. Other than serving as an appointed student representative on the school board, this punk had zero political experience. He never owned a company or worked to support a family. He was a college student who had yet to finish his educational career. How friggin’ arrogant can one person be? How could he possibly think he was ready to lead an entire city or oversee development of a mult-million dollar budget?

But I was annoyed because I was supporting another candidate. I knew the perils of what could happen in a three-way race. I wanted a two-way race: my guy versus the incumbent, a clear, easy and obvious choice for every voter, regardless of their affiliation. A third candidate, I reasoned, would only muddy the waters. This arrogant punk was about to rain on my parade.

Other volunteers on Alan Casavant’s campaign thought I was overreacting. They did not see this young punk as a threat. I knew they were wrong. Ryan Gavin was no ordinary kid. Eventually, he dropped out of the race and joined our team, heading up the campaign’s social media efforts.

When he came to my house, he was prepared for the interview. He had done his research. He asked tough questions, and caught me off guard more than once. Just the two of us in that room. One of us was a pro, but it was not me.

So here’s my own anecdotal observation. There are just as many Richie Cunninghams in the world today as there were in the 1950s. There are also just as many Fonzies, and Fonzie was actually (beneath the surface) a pretty good kid.

Ryan Gavin is much more Richie Cunningham than Fonzie. He was a stand-out student at Biddeford High School. He made older people feel comfortable. He is articulate, polite and wears his jeans on his hips. My wife served with him on the school board and often remarked about how we was always the most prepared, the most earnest of school board members.

In January 2009, Ryan founded WildbrookMedia, and now serves as its executive director, overseeing the creative process for some of the most recognizable content on the air and on social media in Maine.  In 2008, Ryan attended the American Legion’s Dirigo Boys State program, and joined the staff in 2009, currently serving as Media Coordinator. Ryan ran for Mayor of Biddeford in 2011, before endorsing Mayor Alan Casavant in the general election. He  represented Maine at the 47th Annual United States Senate Youth Program, and is a member of the United States Senate Youth Alumni Association.

In summary, this young punk offers a lot of hope for the future, and so do the majority of his peers. It’s just that we spend a lot more time talking about people like Miley Cyrus instead of people like Ryan Gavin.

Sure, this is just one piece of anecdotal evidence, but you don’t have to look very far to figure out that the only thing us old farts have to fear is fear itself.

All the young dudes

~ Randy Seaver ~ 9 Comments

What was up with 1992 and the name Ryan?

Of course, we all know the fictional Jack Ryan.

You know, . . .the humble Tom Clancy character who routinely saved the world from a cadre of evil forces while also writing a thesis about the importance of granola in the post-Soviet socio-economic structure.

Ryan Gavin

But what about the other guys named Ryan? The ones who were born in 1992 and grew up in Biddeford?

One of them made a short-lived bid to be Biddeford’s mayor, and the other one is wreaking havoc with the city charter.

Both Ryan Gavin and Ryan Fecteau are all of 20 years old, and, make no mistake: they are politically ambitious.

Nearly a year ago, Ryan Gavin, fresh off the heels of learning how to shave and graduating from high school, decided he was the most qualified person to become Biddeford’s next mayor.

After all, Gavin had all sorts of  experience built up after serving two terms as an un-elected student representative on the Biddeford School Committee and a valid driver’s license.

Sadly, he was more qualified than many others who tried to become the city’s mayor. Karl Reed’s 2009 campaign comes to mind.

Ryan Gavin put on his best Sunday suit and a pair of sunglasses to make his public announcement from the back stairs of City Hall on a weekend afternoon.

Sadly, the media actually covered this event that included 11 people listening to a kid who looked an awful lot like John Belushi’s character from the Blues Brothers.

Jake was on a mission from God. Ryan was on a mission to save Biddeford from the clutches of Darth Vader, more commonly known ’round here as former mayor Joanne Twomey.

Gavin was smart enough to remove his sunglasses halfway through his press conference.

He was also smart enough to  quickly figure out he had a snowball’s chance in hell of ever getting elected in a city brimming with old people who vote like clock-work.

Ryan Gavin eventually became an important part of Alan Casavant’s mayoral campaign team.

Let’s pause for just a moment and give out a shout-out to Ryan Gavin’s parents.

If I could be half the parent that Ryan’s parents were, I would be thrilled and could die feeling as if I accomplished something decent in my lifetime.

Ryan was an exceptional student at BHS. He is, today, an exceptional student at UMO.

He is polite, smart, articulate and — unlike many of his peers — he not only cares about what is going on in the world around him, he’s also willing to step up and fight for it.

Ryan Fecteau

All of which brings us to our next point: Ryan Fecteau, a 2010 graduate of Biddeford High School who also served as a student representative on the School Committee.

In November, Fecteau began what will probably be a long and notable political career by actually winning an election.

Fecteau was one of five people elected to serve as a commissioner on the city’s charter review commission, a previously described group of dorks who want to sit around and debate whether the city’s bylaws should include more semicolons.

There were seven slots available and only five candidates on the ballot, so it’s not like Fecteau proved himself to be a tactical genius.

But you still have to respect a kid who is willing to tinker with the city’s charter when most young men his age are doing more important things like getting laid or drinking beer.

But not everyone in Biddeford is happy about Ryan Fecteau’s grand plans for Biddeford.

In fact, during last weekend’s downtown winter festival, I heard some people complain that Fecteau is actually living in Washington DC and is unable to attend the charter meetings in person. I wish I had figured out how to do that.

His critics also said he was trying to ram through “a lot of stupid ideas.”

So, I picked up the phone and called him, half-expecting to get his receptionist who would politely tell me that Congressman Fecteau was in a meeting with the Secretary of Commerce but appreciates my concerns and will have a form letter sent to me.

Actually, Fecteau is a sophomore at Catholic University of America, and it should come as no surprise that he is studying political science.

Fecteau said he saw an opportunity to get more involved in Biddeford politics, and he seized it.

“It’s a rare opportunity, even though we had a charter commission five years ago, who knows when I would have another chance to do this work,” he said.

When asked his opinion about the city’s police and fire commissions (two of the charter’s more controversial items), Fecteau said he would like to see the two combined, if not eliminated.

So far, so good. The city of Biddeford has more commissions and committees than the state of New York.

Fecteau also says he will only miss one more of the commission’s seven monthly meetings.

“The telephone is not a new invention,” he patiently explained to this over-40 geezer.

Asked to explain one of his recent Facebook posts in which he described Joanne Twomey as “a real Democrat” when compared to State Rep. Paulette Beaudoin, also a Democrat who may be challenged for her seat by Twomey in the June 12 primary, Fecteau chose his words carefully.

“I don’t agree with Joanne on everything,” he said. “Paulette is my neighbor, and we’ve had many, many conversations. The Democratic Party has a plank for a reason. I just think Joanne would be a better advocate for many of the party’s core issues.”

Again, so far…so good, but then we started talking about one of his new ideas.

Fecteau would like to see voting day moved to Saturdays instead of Tuesdays. He thinks such a move will increase voter turnout, completely forgetting that such a move would require Biddeford voters to go to the polls twice in one week: once for state and national elections, and then again for local elections.

“Yeah, I guess that’s an idea that needs more work,” he conceded.

I also told him Saturday voting would infringe upon the voting rights of normal college sophomores who spend the bulk of their weekends drinking beer and getting laid.

But for all you old farts who think these young punks ought to learn how to tie their shoes before running around and changing our government, you ought to take another sip of your Geritol and consider this:

There was a young punk from Bangor who got elected to his city council at the age of 23 before becoming one of the youngest state senators in the Maine Legislature. That little twirp named Johnny went on to serve in the U.S. Congress before becoming Maine’s 73rd governor.

On the other side of the political aisle, another young punk from Bangor became the youngest person to ever get elected to the Maine Legislature. Tarren Bragdon, former CEO of the Maine Heritage Policy Center, has had a big impact on Maine politics and public policy.

And no one should forget the impacts of two of our nation’s youngest presidents, Republican Teddy Roosevelt (42) and Democrat John F. Kennedy (43). Of course, Roosevelt was not elected at 42 because he was sworn-in after President McKinley was assassinated, but still . . . the U.S. Constitution says you can be president when you’re 35; a senator once you hit 30 or a member of the House at age 25.

Congressman Fecteau?… it’s not as implausible as you may think.