Strollerderby : youth

Eight-Year-Old Petitions Mayor Over Inane Pet Laws

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 20:00:00 GMT

An eight-year-old from Jacksonville, Florida is proving that activism is alive and well in the younger generation. She has taken on the cause of her neighbors who lost their cat to Animal Control officers for what seems to me like a completely inane reason. Apparently, neighbors saw the cat playing outside and complained to Animal Control because the pet was not on a leash.

News flash: cats and dogs are not the same animals. Having had outdoor cats all my life, I can tell you that trying to put a leash on a cat would be much more dangerous to humans than letting a cat roam outside by its lonesome for a few hours. Fortunately, third grader Brianna Davey understands this and she's not going to let Animal Control take away her neighbors' cat without a fight. She has written a letter to her mayor stating, among other things, that the cat was not "running wild" and the decision to take her away was "crazy and unfair."

Brianna's mother Alicia is understandably impressed with her daughter's compassion. "She's got such a big heart and I am so proud of her," Alicia said. Hopefully, the mayor's office will be equally moved by Brianna's plea.

Photo: Jezebel

A New Anti-Aging Miracle Treatment Made From Baby Foreskins

Cole Gamble — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:03:00 GMT

For just a moment, I ask you readers to imagine me as a pitchman on the back of an old timey wagon…

“Ladies and gentlemen, I am here to tell you we’re all getting’ older. Yessiree, why in fact you’re older now than you were when I started this pitch. Heck you’re even older now. And now you’re older yet. Folks, there’s absolutely nothing you can do to hold off the inevitability of aging and all the unsavory drooping that comes with it. That is, until now. Right here in my hand I hold what may be the greatest miracle invention on this earth since God invented the baby Jesus. Inside this seemingly normal bottle is a gen-u-ine fountain of youth. Yep, take a little dab and you’ll transform into a schoolgirl in pig tails once again. It’s called Vavelta and it’s the handy-dandy, superfied, bone-fide, quantified miracle cure to make you look young once more.

And how Mr. Gamble, you ask, do we know this miracle cure works? Why, my good folks, because it’s derived from the most amazing substance on God’s Green Earth: little baby foreskins.”

Okay, enough with the snake-oil salesman act. Let’s get to the nitty gritty. Like: How? Why? What?!

Like I said, the product is called Vavelta and it’s claimed to work better than Botox or any of the other conventional wrinkle eradicating products on the market. So where do the baby foreskins come in? Let’s ask Britain’s Daily Mail:

"Vavelta is a clear liquid in which tiny skin cells, called fibroblasts, are suspended. These are derived from baby foreskins donated by mothers at a hospital in the U.S. after routine circumcision. The mothers and babies are screened before the foreskins, which would otherwise be discarded, are used.
Once in Britain, they are divided into pieces less than a centimeter square and treated with enzymes to release the fibroblasts. These are grown in sterile conditions in labs. The process is monitored by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the U.S. and by Britain's Human Tissue Authority."

(Suddenly writing this article has flooded my brain with foreskin jokes learned long ago that are wholly inappropriate here.)

The ladies who tested the product in trials say it’s a life changing miracle with few side effects. And it comes at a miracle price: $2,300.

So I ask you: women already inject fat and botulism into their faces, is this any weirder? And are you down with injecting little boy foreskins into your face for the sake of eternal(ish) youth?

More by this author:

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10 Things You May Not Know About Pregnancy (and might shock you)

Cute Overload: White Tiger Kitten and Monkey are Friends (PICS!)

Men with Baby Heads

The 26 Most Disturbing Kids Movies Ever

Roald Dahl's Widow Recalls His Childlike Sensibility

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:30:00 GMT

Felicity Dahl, the widow of the beloved children’s book author Roald Dahl, rarely gives interviews. 18 years after Dahl’s death, she finds it difficult to speak about her husband without crying. But in an interview with the Sunday Guardian, she spoke candidly about her husband's writing and personal life in order to publicize the inaugural Roald Dahl Funny Prize, which will be awarded to a humorous children’s book author on Thursday.

Felicity (pictured), won now runs the Roald Dahl Foundation, attributes Dahl’s popularity among kids not just to his humor, but to the fact that he treated children as his “equals,” never talking down to them or forgetting his own childlike wonder. He would drink pink milk for breakfast and constantly look for ways to surprise strangers with “treats,” such as buying all the nurses on his hospital floor new clothes in the last months of his life.

Dahl’s life was punctuated by tragedy. His sister and father died of unrelated illnesses within a month of each other when he was young, and his own daughter contracted a fatal illness many years later. But Felicity said he kept positive in large part by keeping his child’s mind alive and well. “He was always looking to help people and just make their day a little more interesting,” Felicity said, “because most people's days were very dull.”

Felicity is certain that Dahl would have been sorely disheartened by the advent of Game Boys and Nintendo Wiis that occupy so much of young people's free time these days. “I think [computer] games are absolutely appalling,” she said. “A child is never left on their own with nothing, so that they have to create their world.”

On the upside, one million of Dahl’s books continue to be sold each year.

Photo: Antonio Olmes/The Guardian

Why Roald Dahl Matters

A Third of Parents No Longer Saving for College

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 17:30:00 GMT

One of the more alarming aspects of the financial crisis is its potential effect on the next generation of American workers. If young people can’t afford quality higher education, what will happen to the educated workforce? A new survey has found that more than a third of American parents have substantially decreased their college savings or have stopped saving for college altogether.

According to the Boston Globe, parents’ expectations about how to pay for college given these reduced investments breaks down like this: “55 percent of parents will be expecting their children to work part time while in college, 44 percent plan to have their children live at home while commuting to college, 37 percent will be encouraging their children to attend a less expensive public school and 23 percent will ask their children to graduate in fewer semesters.” Although these are all reasonable options, they sound like a recipe for some pretty stressed families.

Also, 35 percent of parents now expect to retire later than they had previously planned in order to pay for college. This is a scary plan, not only because working into one's 70s is hardly part of the American dream, but also because it means banking on two unknowns: that one's health and one's job will be both in stellar shape many years from now.

What Did Obama Actually Tell 'Joe the Plumber'?

No Child Left Behind Sets Impossible Goals

Explaining Financial Troubles to the Kids

Political Bullying in Elementary Schools

Photo: mspmag.com

Chicago LGBT High School Update

Shannon LC Cate — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:00:00 GMT

The Chicago School Board is set to vote October 22 on the opening of 17 new schools, including the "School for Social Justice Pride Campus, according to the Tribune. The school has received the support of most public school system leaders in Chicago, who argue that research shows that lgbt students face a difficult time in high school, dropping out at a higher than average rate and missing school for fear of violence.

The debate still rages on the sidelines that if such a school is opened, it will ghettoize lgbt students, lightening the burden on all schools to make themselves safe for all students.

I can't help but still feel that such a school--with no more than 600 students drawn by lottery--would, rather than ghettoizing queer kids, give them a secure setting in which to learn the history of sexual minorities, find out about the kind of work being done to further queer liberation in our culture and from which to take strong youth leadership roles in the community. So many queer youth grow up in a vaccuum, not knowing the history of struggle for justice for "their" people and hearing themselves referred to only in perjorative ways.

A district that prioritizes the needs of these students so much as to open a campus to serve them specifically is making a statement about the value of these kids and their potential for unique contributions to society. I do hope that having the school in the district will make for more inclusive curricula in all the schools. With only 600 slots available at the Pride campus, plenty of queer kids will still find themselves mainstreamed into general student populations. And it's not only lgbt kids who need to learn about lgbt issues, it's the kids who toss "that's so gay" around without thinking.

Watch this space for an update after the vote in a couple of weeks.

Also on this topic:

LGBT "Magnet" Schools: Help or Hurt?

Virginia Teachers Get Flack for Pro-Obama Email

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 18:30:00 GMT

The Virginia Teachers Union is in hot water for allegedly mixing education with politics. A union member sent out an email encouraging teachers to participate in “Obama Blue Day” by wearing a blue shirt (without displaying any candidate names), and getting at least two people to register to vote.

The author concedes that she should have worded the email differently—perhaps “Obama Blue Day,” for instance, was not the wisest turn of phrase. But the union stands by the email as an example of the nonpartisan voter registration efforts that Virginia educators have long engaged in. The union voted to endorse Obama because of his education policies, so the left-leaning tone of the email reflected that endorsement; it was not an indication that teachers should influence their students' political leanings.

According to the union president, no teacher interpreted the email as a call to encourage students to support Obama, as state Republicans have, quite understandably, charged. The president pointed out that "Obama Blue Day" was all but ignored. She even forgot all about it and wore red that day.

Just another reminder to take to heart the adage, "Always assume that whatever you write in an email will be published on the Internet."

Photo: Bag News Notes

LGBT "Magnet" Schools: Help or Hurt?

LilySea — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 20:44:00 GMT

The HRC reports that “A group of over 200 people met last week to discuss a proposal to open the city’s first high school for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. The Social Justice High School Pride Campus would focus on core college-preparatory curriculum but cater to LGBT youth in the Chicago public school district. Critics fear that the school would allow district administrators to neglect the responsibility to make all schools safe for LGBT students."

I admit, I didn't think of the catch when I saw a similar headline on a local LGBT paper in a box on the corner. Regardless, I still think such a school, modeled on the Harvey Milk High School in New York, is a great idea. I once taught in an urban high school where, in spite of the presence of a popular out and proud gay vice principal, kids still threw around the usual “that's so gay/he's a fag/what a dyke” insults as freely as any other place I'd taught. Also in spite of the vice principal, every queer teacher in the school except me was deeply closeted. I was chastised more than once for being “too open” about my “lifestyle” by a supervisor with a poster-sized black-and-white photo of his shirtless self and his tank-top-clad wife hanging over his classroom where most teachers have a world map or a “say no to drugs” poster.

While I do believe every school should be safe for every student, properly organized and run, a magnet-type program for young queers and their allies could set a friendly tone for an entire school district while nurturing the next generation of leaders in queer freedom movements.

Brand Names Play Increasing Role in Bullying

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 23:25:00 GMT

A poll by the British Association of Teachers and Lecturers found that the products kids want to own are largely determined by a desire to be accepted by their peers. And this is an understandable, given that almost half of teachers report that kids who can’t afford the “right” clothes are ostracized or bullied.

While bullying is unfortunately as old as school, brand bullying appears to be on the rise. What, you ask, could possibly have led to this increase? Well, here’s a possibility: more than 70 percent of teachers say that advertising affects young people more today than it did 10 years ago, and almost all teachers believe that ads directly target youth.

Photo: Shoe Market

And now, the Papal Skateboard

Brett Singer — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 16:00:00 GMT

OK, we know he's Catholic. But does the Pope ollie?

Krystal Melendez from Washington Heights in Upper Manhattan was the winner of the Papal Skateboard Design Contest. She presented her winning design to the Pope himself in Yonkers yesterday.

The who did what with whom now? Yes, that's right. 76 New York area kids entered designs for a Papal Skateboard; after whittling the field down to three finalists, Krystal was declared the winner. She received 3 tickets to see the Pope and also got to meet him.

Why a skateboard? According to Catholic News Service, it happened like this: Father Peter Pomposello of the St. Elizabeth Parish in Washington Heights (a skateboarder himself, 'natch) was discussing the Pope's Big Apple visit with members of the church's skateboarding club. Responding to a question about what one did with the Pope, the Father replied, "We pray with him and we give him gifts." Then "one kid, without missing a beat, said, 'Let's give him a skateboard!'" So Father Pete set up the design contest, which was only open to New York Area kids, "because this is meant to be a gift from the children of New York."

From the description: "The wheels are white with a red and white pattern of letters that spell "Supreme"--wheels fitting for the Supreme Pontiff." Gnarly, dude.

Shockingly, this design didn't win.

As far as we know it wasn't even entered in the contest, but methinks they didn't have a snowball's chance in... you know, the place with all the fire. In case you were wondering, this is not an official design. At all.

If you want to pick up the winning board, or one of the runners-up, they can be ordered at boardpusher.com.

All proceeds go to "inner city youth programs."

Two videos: Skaters expressing their excitement about the contest, and a lesson in how to ollie.

Skaters 'Flip' Over Pope Benedict's Visit

How to Ollie

images: boardpusher.com, archny.org, pricegrabber.com

Botox Kills Kids

Kelly Mills — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 12:40:00 GMT

Yes, it clears up those frown lines for a while, but could there be a darker side of Botox, aside even from the weird face paralysis and all that? In a word, yes. In fact, four children using Botox or a related drug have died, and there have been at least 180 documented cases of serious side effects in kids and adults, including severe difficulty breathing and swallowing, which can lead to a kind of pneumonia. One drug watchdog group wants a more serious FDA warning issued for Botox, as well as providing physicians with guides to give to all patients warning of the problems associated with the drug.

Now the children who died were not concerned with the ravages of time, but were using the drug for an "off-label" use, the treatment of muscle spasticity associated with cerebral palsy. Off-label uses for drugs are not uncommon. However, I have a funny feeling that even if cosmetic-use patients are given detailed information about the cases of side effects and death, it won't deter many of them from going forward with the pursuit of a more youthful look...