Blog Archives
BREAKING UP ON FACEBOOK! How Today’s High Tech Millennials Fall Out of Love An Intergenerational Conversation Between Joan Gackstatter and Tom McBride Millennial Joan Gackstatter (not her real name), is currently a writer living in New York. Baby Boomer Tom McBride is co-author of the annual Beloit College Mindset List®, The Mindset Lists of American History (Wiley, 2011), and a forthcoming study of mid twentieth century popular culture (Sourcebooks, 2014). . Here’s part of their discussion about love in cyberspace: Tom: Here at The Mindset List® we’re always tracking what’s new. The Seattle Times called us “America’s cultural timekeepers.” We take that seriously. Yet we often find that a lot has stayed the same. Joan: Yeah, Tom, but this time Read on »
As the calendar flips to 2014, announcements will fill the media of the first child born in the New Year. Parents, veteran and new, will start preparing for the future, imagining what it will be like when these precious bundles grow up, graduate from high school, and head off to college around 2032. Ron Nief and Tom McBride, authors of the annual Beloit College Mindset List, offer their yearly advisory on the questions these parents should be prepared for. Here is their counsel: “At some point you are going to have to explain yourself and your generation to the inquiring minds of your children, so it is best to recognize now how fast things are going to change.” As a guide Read on »
WeRHistory A Guide to THE MINDSET LISTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY INTRODUCTION WeRHistory is a guide to discussion of the past and do-it-yourself history. As co-authors, we want our readers to explore the underlying message of THE MINDSET LISTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY: From Typewriters to Text Messages, What 10 Generations of Americans Think is Normal. As the first chapter says, “History Has Always Been Us.” Each of us does our bit for history every day. We make personal decisions that alter our individual history and collective decisions that make history. We are all part of the historical parade from birth to grave. We are all historical personages and actors in a historical drama. We not only are history; we can Read on »
Here are a few excerpts from our talks around the country–from NCAA to NASA, from Greek system organizations to councils on financial literacy, from universities to doctors’ associations—and many more in between. Have talk, will travel! Hire us, and you’ll be glad you did. We’ll custom design our presentations for your specific group. For North Texas State University: THE Beloit College Mindset List is an international phenomenon. According to TIME Magazine “Mindset List” is part of the “American Lexicon.” The Seattle Times calls it “irreverent and insightful.” Editors in England say the Mindset List is essential. Brian Williams at NBC News says it is indispensable. Editors in India and New Zealand ask us to help them create lists for their Read on »
For Release: TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013 Author contact: 12:01 a.m. Ron Nief (608-770-2625) niefr@beloit.edu Tom McBride (608-312-9508) mcbridet@beloit.edu Beloit College Mindset List Recognizes the Class of 2017, Entering College this Fall, As The “Sharing Generation.” Beloit, Wis. – When the Class of 2017 arrives on campus this fall, these digital natives will already be well-connected to each other. They are more likely to have borrowed money for college than their Boomer parents were, and while their parents foresee four years of school, the students are pretty sure it will be longer than that. Members Read on »
THE SHARING GENERATION: A Preview of The Mindset List® for the Class of 2017 By now we are familiar with adjectives that go before “generations,” such as “Greatest” and “Silent.” Or sometimes we just hear “the Boomers.” For some reason that bunch isn’t called “the Booming Generation.” Maybe that’s a good thing, too. The current generation, I predict and I hope, will be called The Sharing Generation. They may very well become the most secular generation–and yet also the generation best organized for service–in American history. Why? Well, consider for a moment how much—and what–they share: *They share information: it is a generation that has grown up with the electronic cut and paste and forward. *They share themselves: it’s a Read on »
The MINDSET LIST® proudly presents a new series on famed fictional characters. Here we treat them as real persons, offer a character sketch, and then unite them with famous people who died, or were born, the same year they were. We then present their personal Mindset Lists…. Here’s DONALD DUCK, and right after him you’ll find TONY SOPRANO. In future look for the likes of Jay Gatsby, Lucy Ricardo, Don Draper, Jerry Seinfeld, Captain Kirk, and more. Have fun….. Donald Duck Donald Duck has always been #2, or perhaps he is 1A. #1 has always been Mickey Mouse, likely the most recognized such rodent in the world. Donald is probably the most recognized duck, but given the Read on »
A Mad Man’s Mindset List®…. In both The Mindset Lists of American History and The Annual Mindset List, Tom McBride and Ron Nief offer an “indispensable” (Brian Williams) and “mesmerizing” (Associated Press) way of tracing the American past…. Here McBride and Nief offer their unique perspective on one of America’s favorite TV characters…. As AMC’s Mad Men continues in its latest season, it is time to take historical stock of its leading character: the outwardly handsome but subtly tortured Don Draper. A brilliantly successful man in the sexist, alcohol-soaked early 1960s, Don’s personal life remains a mess from which we viewers do not wish walk away. A Little Background Don Draper (real name: Richard Whitman) was born in the American South in 1924 and is thirty-six Read on »