After the devastating shooting that took place on March 27th in Nashville, the Gen Z-led organization "March For Our Lives" staged a protest outside Tennessee's state house to demand being heard in the session so they could talk about gun reform. Three representatives from the democratic party accompanied them, and now two of them, Rep. Justin Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson —both black and 27 and 28 years old, respectively— have been expelled from the house, setting a dangerous precedent for democracy according to Gen Zs all over the internet. Also, it has been highlighted that the white congresswoman who joined the protests —Rep. Gloria Johnson— was the only one that wasn't expelled. TikTok videos covering the demonstrations, informing about the voting, and calls to action have taken over the platform, as Gen Zs might not let this one slide easily out of the public eye.

Former President, Donald Trump, has been indicted and arrested in New York City. He now faces 34 charges regarding falsifying records related to hush-money payments to help him win the 2016 election, to which he pleaded "not guilty." While this is a "first time in history" kind of situation, some Gen Zs are taking it with a grain of salt. Yes, many have jumped right into the political debate/analysis arena and the meme-fabrication frenzy. Still, others are calling out for people to verify their sources when sharing AI-generated fake images of the arrest and also to avoid getting distracted by the political circus that is taking over headlines across all media. Instead, they encourage everyone to focus on the genuinely significant matters affecting states like Florida or Idaho. If we learned something from Cassandra’s most recent report, The Paradox of Gen Z Politics, this generation is truly worried about democracy and has plans to fix it.

In a bit of more uplifting news, life in plastic IS fantastic! The trailer for the highly anticipated movie Barbie, starring Margot Robbie and written and directed by Greta Gerwig (Little Women, Ladybird), dropped, and with it, a few other magnificent gifts for fans around the world: promotional posters. The Mattel Box-inspired images showcase a variety of familiar faces like Ryan Gosling, Issa Rae, and Dua Lipa(!), to name a few, and a slogan that shows a little bit of what their character is all about. Besides igniting the collective obsession with this nostalgic toy, the fantastic marketing of this movie stirred the meme-making magic of the internet by making it possible to create your own Barbie poster. The conversation has been so vivid that big cities like New York and Chicago plan to have pop-up cafes and restaurants themed after the iconic doll and —let's be real— soon-to-be feminist icon. Our designer Josh —pictured above— is living proof we can all be Barbies now!