A record number of young people registered to vote in 2004, and we don't yet know what their impact will be on the election. If you're looking for a sound rich way to examine the voices of this new generation of voters, look no further. Barrett Golding & Jonathan Menjivar of Hearing Voices produced "Dream of Democracy", a twenty-nine minute special for WBEZ's Chicago Matters "Our Next Generation". The special is posted both as a full program and as individual segments ranging between 90 seconds and seven minutes in length.

Listeners hear Chicago area college students' view of the state of democracy in the United States. Stark, original music by Jeff Arntsen of Racket Ship scores this contemplative and existential look at young people's vision of the health of our society. Topics include: What's Democracy?, Politics of Youth, Youth Vote, What Politicians Do,The Pink Bloque (see below), Politics of Rap, and the American Dream.

The program takes an unexpected and exciting turn during a five minute segment about The Pink Bloque, a performance protest group that brings the "femme back to feminism". Dynamic voices of young women talk about the role of protest and dissent in the marketplace of ideas while sounds of a Pink Bloque event (which apparently includes dancing to OutKast).

Soon there after, Golding and Menjivar bring a host of seldom heard African American voices to the piece, investigating the role of hip hop in US democracy.