The last several months have seen global economic crises spread from East Asia to Russia and Latin America; the U.S. declare a war on terrorism; and the Clinton presidency crippled by scandal. PNS editor Sandy Close talked with four representatives of California's twenty-something generation about how they saw these momentous events impacting their lives. Each emphasized the importance of finding spiritual direction and discounted the role of politics or politicians. Jaqueline Keeler works with the American Indian Children's Health Service Center in Oakland, Ca., and is a former TV producer; Mimi Nguyen is a 'zine publisher, web site producer and grad student at the University of California, Berkeley; Alfonso Serrano an immigrant from Chile, is a journalist and former editor of El Mensajero in San Francisco; David Gaither writes for African American newspapers and teaches writing to incarcerated youth.

Sandy: Things are moving quickly -- we have had a booming economy, pretty peaceful times and now we have war on terrorism, a damaged American presidency, the possibility of impeachment hearings. How do you feel about these events?

David: It really makes me insecure and uncertain -- not scared or crazy but feeling I have to get personally involved in my future, see to it that my family is secure. I can't depend on a safety net in the world or in the country.

Mimi: I've always thought we were in crisis mode, my entire life, really. Being born in Vietnam, having to come here, then growing up in the 1980s with Reagan. I was maybe just super-paranoid, but I always thought nuclear war was just right around the corner. I'm not surprised at all -- it just seems like the same crisis, in a new guise maybe.

Jackie: When I think of these things, I think of what my elders in the Indian community, the traditional community, told me. There is the strong sense that a lot of these things are coming to an end -- the way of life we see today. I know it sounds kind of crazy, when you hear elders talk about prophecies you don't know if it's going to happen or not, but it's always in the back of your mind. And when you see things like this you sort of feel this is the way it's going to go, and something new will arise.

When I look at the Clinton presidency I really think about how this country was founded on ideas of government that came from the native people. The United States Constitution and our form of government is based on the Iroquois Confederacy -- a lot of the founding fathers spoke Iroquois. The big difference was that in the Iroquois confederacy only women voted -- the grandmothers chose who was going to lead based on a long observation of the person, on an idea of their entire character.

SC: Alfonso, How are people like yourself -- 20 something immigrants -- viewing these developments.

Alfonso: With much concern. I came to America after a coup d'etat in my country, in Chile, and here in the United States, I've moved around a lot. I think I look at the world with more interest than most Americans of my generation -- many Americans I know live untroubled lives. America hasn't been occupied by another country, hasn't experienced a coup d'etat and I think that affects the psyche of a country and its youth. And I see apathy, I don't see much interest. On the other hand, perhaps I take more of a personal interest in these kinds of events because I have been more affected by them.

SC: Are you paying more attention to the news these days, or are you inclined to opt out?

David: I find myself drawing closer and closer to the news because there's a crisis. I think Mark McGuire will probably be named man of the year for getting us away from looking at the Clinton crisis or the war or doom on the financial markets -- but every day there's another thing that seems like the country and in fact the world is doomed.

SC: Do you care about the fate of Clinton?

Jackie: I don't have a lot of investment in Clinton personally or in the Democratic Party. I've worked as a lobbyist at the state level, and I don't feel a strong attachment to the political process anymore. I have a lot of respect for the elders in my community, which I don't have for the American government/political class.

SC: Alfonso, are you particularly concerned about things like the state of financial markets in Latin America for example?

Alfonso: Perhaps not as much as I should be, perhaps because the whole stock exchange thing is almost like a foreign language to me. The media in this country doesn't help the situation at all, there's so little coverage on the international world, so little interest.

David: I think there is apathy among the young and among people generally, but I also think this can be a rallying cry for the youth. The bottom really is falling out of the social network, talk of financial doom and panic, the year 2000 bug. I really think these issues are becoming a rallying cry, that we have to personally look out for our own future.

SC: We have the spectacle of the president of the United States facing what may be the end of his career. Does that speak to you about your own moral life?

David: Leaders are supposed to be examples especially for youth and for children. One poll number stands out -- parents do not believe Clinton or any political leaders are examples for their children and that's really humiliating for the country. In my opinion, the new movement -- the movement of the 21st century -- is a moral and spiritual movement. We've tried the ballot and the bullet, we've tried many, many different things. The Bible says "Not by might nor by power but by my spirit" sayeth the Lord. I think that -- regardless of denomination -- is the calling for the new movement.

SC: Does that worry you, Mimi?

Mimi: Actually, it does. I flinch when I hear the word morality because it's been used as a way to police certain behaviors, especially queer behavior. I'm queer identified and the whole idea of morality brings up pictures of sex panics and morality panics about women's sexuality and that bothers me.

SC: Where would you see your generation contributing to some new sense of direction?

Mimi: No one I know really thinks of Clinton as a political leader. Most people I know are cynical about the process of quote unquote democracy in the U.S. We're all activists in a certain way but we're all looking to do our work on a really local, community level.

Alfonso: I agree, I've never looked at Clinton as a political or moral leader, period. So to be honest I wasn't surprised or disillusioned.

David: I agree -- it's because there is no morality in the presidency. If we looked at it from the beginning it might have been different but today political leaders are looked at as jokes.

Jackie: I don't look at the president of the United States as my leader. I guess I look at him the way Ghandi would look at the Prime Minister of Britain. On October 11, 1996 President Clinton signed an order to have my grandparents forcibly removed from their land so it could be used by a British coal mining operation -- so my great grandparents' bones could be ground up and used to burn coal for electricity in Las Vegas. So I don't look at Clinton as a leader that represents my best interests, or the interests of my family.

SC: Where do you see your generation helping bring back some sense of a common ground? You don't see yourself as opting out of America. Is there anything right now that unites all of you around this table?'

David: I think the recognition that something has gone wrong. There's a steer towards something else and that unifies us, regardless of what we may think should be the new movement. I believe it will come from the youth. Youth have always provided the catalyst for mass movements.

Mimi: I think there's something about culture that appeals to people more than nitty gritty politics. Part of the reason people turn to spiritual things or invest themselves in subcultures like hip hop or punk is because there's real pleasure in a situation where everything looks really bad but here's a space where you can feel a sense of community, feel invested in something that feels personal and real.

Jackie: It's obvious to me that the democratic process has been co-opted. Look at the legislation on political donations -- the politicians don't really represent our interests a lot of times, they represent the interests of those who are willing to invest in them -- not just votes but money. For me, the spiritual element doesn't come from just the youth. Our people say that every seven generations a new crop of leaders come up, and my generation is the seventh generation since our leaders were murdered. So I was raised with the idea that we're going to create change, but in conjunction with my parents' generation as well, and in conjunction with the next generation, the younger ones.