Teens: Seattle needs you.
  • City of Seattle
  • Teens: Seattle needs you.
Hey, are you a Seattleite aged 13-19?

Are you reading Slog right now in the middle of a beautiful summer day? Well, you probably don't exist—but if you do, then you're already a great candidate for the Seattle Youth Commission. The youth commission is a group of 25 young adults who form an annual advisory committee; their job is to tell the mayor and the city council what's up with the young folks. And they're accepting applications for next year's cohort, but only until tomorrow, so APPLY RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW.

A legit question: Is stuff like a youth commission bullshit?

I don't think so. Not if you make it awesome. Sure, you can keep it boring and just join so you can put it on your college applications, but aren't there waaaay nerdier things to do if that's your deal? You live in this city, a lot of you can't vote, and yet tons of things that politicians do affect your life. Like, for example, putting the potential for a lower teen wage in our city's minimum-wage law. But you, my friend, do have a secret weapon: Politicians are just humans. And most adult humans have needlessly low expectations of young people. Which means that as a young person, you have an amazing magical power you shouldn't waste. Maybe you've noticed, but almost everything you say that isn't the derpiest garbage about Justin Bieber impresses adults. Yes, that's totally unfair, but you can use it, if you're passionate about an issue and somehow gain access to important grown-ups. (Man, was I ever hella bummed when I grew up and that stopped working.)

So do you have serious concerns about your city? Want to talk about crime in your neighborhood, lack of underage music venues, how crappy your public transit options are? Jacob Chin, a community affairs intern in the mayor's office, calls this commission "an opportunity to give back to the community and make an impact on problems and issues that youth face on a daily basis."

Yes, it's summer, and you only have six precious weeks of hanging around playgrounds at night and binge-watching TV during the day, but consider it. City Hall could use some non-grandparents running the halls. It would do you and the city a world of good. SO GO! NOW. Apply yourselves, young people, apply yourselves.

And older people, duh: Pass this on to your youths.