On The Rise of Teen Pregnancy

Posted on June 23, 2008

I just posted this over at YPulse and wanted to post it here as well to get some more thoughts. Currently it rings true to me but on the other hand I could be way off base.

I would almost say it seems to feed on it self. Pregnancy among disadvantaged teens has always been high. And I would almost call a lot of these young celebrities disadvantaged as well, even if it is in a completely different way. With so much pressure and control from the outside world I could imagine a person retreating to a place they can't be controlled, their bodies. Having a baby was something they could make their own choice and in the end also give them something to do that isn't part of their career. With these celebrities taking control it only encourages others to take control as well. The reason I shy away from blaming movies like Juno and Knocked Up (besides the fact that I loved both movies) is that these movies are about dealing with irresponsibility and mistakes. But when you come to the real world it does seem to be that teens are clearly actively choosing to get pregnant. Am I wrong? A lot of this is right from the gut where Colbert has taught me to think from.

It seems the “baby pact” has been called in to question

Posted on June 23, 2008

While this probably kills my hopes and dread of made for TV movies and awesome reality shows it seems the “baby pact” has been called in to question. In a story that makes more sense in 2007 there were 4 pregnant teens and in 2008 there are 16ish. To explain this the principal has basically manufactured a wild story to explain is and probaly to enact some kind of draconian rules.

I went to high school during the Oklahoma Bombing incident and know too many stories of principals thinking up wild stories to get dumb litmus tests put in place. No trench coats, no red bandannas, no blue bandannas, no males with makeup, and on and on. I’ll bet it was the principal who blamed the day care center at the school as well and he’s been inching to shut it down.

American Nerd: The Story of My People

Posted on June 23, 2008

This is definitely now my favorite Sound of Young America episode about the book “American Nerd: The Story of My People”. It sounds like an amazing book. I’ve always been especially interested in the word’s etymology.

Sadly he did not broach my favorite topic of how the boundaries of Nerd come up against the boundaries of Geek. I’ve always considered myself more of a geek. Benjamin Nugent takes a broader scope of what a nerd is but defines it in such an eloquent way that I am certainly not going to argue. He defines nerdyness as “People who are really good with and like systems, rules and rational systematizing way of thinking which remind people of machines.”