A month ago, I was sitting in a Kmart parking lot eating Rita's custard with an old friend. It was late, approaching midnight, but with all the energy buzzing in that car no one would've ever known. We sat in that old, beat up Toyota Four Runner for literally hours. We had to soak up every minute, as there was a good possibility we wouldn't see each other for the rest of summer. I was leaving the following morning to live and work on a farm for the rest of summer. And as we sat there, talking about everything under the sun, we some how stumbled upon the topic of Facebook, and then Odyssey.

Now, I have been a writer since the fifth grade. I have written endless amounts of poems, papers, articles and stories, all for school, collections, competitions, etc. My exposure to Odyssey had been limited to the occasional "30 Things Every Freshman Roomie Says" and "Why 'Grey's' Describes My Life" article. They are entertaining, respectable pieces, a good way for me to procrastinate studying during finals, but not what I thought of when thinking about literary merit. So in an ignorant and somewhat pompous declaration, I told my friend that if I ever wrote an article for a site like that she had permission to revoke my right to writing.

Sorry kid, but I'm going to need you to break that promise.

Fast forward one month and I have spent countless hours and my family's entire data plan (there is no Wi-Fi on a farm Dad!) trying to do outreach, organize, write, and publish my college's first Odyssey publication. When the opportunity came to me just a few weeks ago, I was skeptical for sure. The only reason I took the phone call was because a friend asked me to look into it, and because I figured a little extra writing each week would do me no harm. But the more I delved into the company's ideology and methodology, the more I realized I had just stumbled upon a gold mine.

Odyssey is one of the largest and fastest growing online news sources in the world right now. It has 30+ million unique viewers each month who can explore 12,000+ Creators and 1,000+ local communities, all from their mobile or home devices. In just two years from its conception, it has managed to obtain a larger audience than USA Today, and has done so through almost exclusively organic social connections.

And it's all for us.

Yes, my fellow millennials, this site's core mission is to give us a voice. It aims to be an avenue through which our perspectives, opinions, and contributions to the world we live in can navigate to the global community. It is an all access pass, no restrictions, open invitation to tell the world exactly what we think of, and how we deal with, all its chaos. We are a unique generation. We are son's and daughter's of the final baby boomers. We are forged from economic crises and this era of terror we seem to be stuck in, and we are bathed in innovation and constant technological progression. We grew up riding bikes with the kids next door, but now have conversations with the lady on our phone. We had our baby pictures taken with Kodak disposables, and now take selfies as dogs on Snapchat. We have such a unique and vital perspective of this world. We are the transition babies. The one's who were forced to navigate this mayhem at the same time that we tried to navigate puberty. We are finding ourselves and losing touch with reality all at once. However, I am determined to make this one thing we never lose touch of.

This site, this opportunity, is one we should take full advantage of. This, and other sites and publications like it, will be the diary of our generation. We often forget that what is put online can rarely be truly erased. So with every post and tweet, with every picture and hashtag, and with every article we are leaving a legacy of what we wish the world to remember us by. While our social media can be quite entertaining, Odyssey gives us the chance to use social media to tackle social issues. Odyssey allows its communities and its Creators to pick topics they want to discuss. They aim to begin conversation between the hyperlocal community, as well as the greater global community. Through this, our generation has the chance to have a real influence. We can create dialogue, encourage understanding and spark change. College campuses can alter social climates for the better by reading what their students have to say. Major news companies can now see how their potential future viewers, or employees, are unpacking the bombardment of tragic reports. Our future generations can begin to understand what it was like to be us.

So. My fellow Creators, my peers, my generational companions, I beg you. While we all enjoy the occasional listicle or a heart touching letter to our ex boyfriends, or even a witty commentary on how life changing Grey's Anatomy is (trust me you are preaching to the choir on that one), we must all remember there are so many important and crucial conversations happening right now. We are being given the mic, and just this once, let's not drop it. Get on your soap box people! It's time we use our voice, and Odyssey, like the weapon it is and make change.