Julie Pippert: Using My Words

Last week, I wrote about 1984 meeting up with 2008 and noticing it simply looked like a slightly more weatherworn version of itself. I'm put in mind of what my teen self might think of my nearly middle-aged self. Shudder. Then some people said they hoped that 1984 (or whatever year) could be a topic for writing because what they had to say exceeded a comment. (So I am looking forward to some posts here!) So here we are, the topic is: . . . several people asked that the topic be related to my last post , about 1984. It doesn't have to be political, it doesn't have to be 1984 (keeping in mind that not everyone was born or much aware at that point). But choose a time that was an awakening for you, select a year or an event that year, that you invested in, although you might now have been quite old enough to understand it fully, and that affected you down the line. Or write about 1984, the election or your life then. Obviously I've already written about 1984. So let me hit...

I was over reading Sci-Fi Dad's blog today. As I have been in general, I've been a bad, bad cyberfriend to Sci-Fi Dad and his wife, who is expecting. I'm behind on the pregnancy and life updates, how their little bunny is doing (especially with her new glasses), and so forth. I finally did my Google reader scan this morning (after clearing it the other day when it had over a 1000 unread, and since then, up to 200---you people impress me with your loquaciousness) and I was impressed to see that the bunny has a redecorated room and that Sci-Fi dad has been busy on his many blogs and columns, yet still took time to answer reader questions. Out of 14, 2 were dedicated to how he would deal with a teenage daughter/sexual creature. It suddenly struck me that we are all very, very keen to ask men this question: how will you handle boys (read: slavering sexual beasts---nudge nudge wink wink, you know ) coming on to your daughter (read: precious pure princess angel)? Hmm, that prese...

Both are on the rise. On December 5, 2007, Mike Stobbe, AP Medical Writer, wrote an article that reported a 3% increase in the teen birth rate---the first increase in 14 years. For some reason, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were surprised. I'm not. I fully expect that the teen birth rate, and rate of STDs, will be on the rise. I attribute this to the absolute failure of the only sexual education program taught in schools: abstinence-only. As I stated in my post, " Abstinence only sex education is risky and ineffective ," the abstinence only program---which received $168 billion in funding in 2005, and has only received more funding since---uses an approach to education and discipline that any parent knows is likely to have a high failure rate: Don't Do It Because I Said So. In fact, I cited three reasons why I believe the abstinence-only programs are a failure: 1. Mixed messages about group think 2. One size does not fit all 3. The irony in the...

My first year of college was a real eye-opener. Despite the flirt fests and round robin craziness in high school, I entered college relatively naive. Carrie, a sweet girl who was my age but about ten years ahead of me in sophistication, took me under her wing for a semester. She dropped out the following semester to become a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader. And nail the cover of Texas Monthly Magazine. But, before she left, Carrie rescued me from what you might call a reeling shock and potential disaster. Carrie was better than any anti-drug or sex education program in the world. She was practical, matter-of-fact and spent way more time telling me what to do rather than what not to do . As I mentioned previously , I believe that positive approaches of education are more efficacious than scare tactic, punitive, threatening, or negative approaches. Science and research back me up on this. Sexual abstinence messages carry even less benefit and even more risk than anti-drug abstinence messages....