ABSTRACT
I have watched my children grow up under the pall of 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They watched Hurricane Katrina on television. Oil prices, the economy, and their health care are mysteries about which they have little understanding and seemingly no control. The information technology they are so adept at using brings them information so rapidly that it is hard to digest. As a parent and a sociologist, I am amazed at the problems their generation faces, and I try to imagine how these problems look to them. Similarly, I look at my students, eager to face the world, but burdened by their time and place. How do they make sense of their world?
