Teens In Print : Jan/Feb 2010

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Please inlude your full name, neighborhood, and your date of birth (this won't be printed but is just to verify your age at the time of publication) and we may run your letter in an upcoming edition. Thank you.

To view past articles, click on one of the links to download and view a pdf for that issue.

painting by Marvin Bynoe // Artists for Humanity

Good Hair, bad hair

The politics of follicles

By Melissa Rodriguez // Staff Writer

Good hair equals white hair, Chris Rock insinuates in his recent documentary, “Good Hair.”

The movie shows that many black females are taking great pains to secure the straight, silky locks favored by society, including burning through their scalps -- and their pockets -- by the regular use of costly hair relaxer, known on the street as the “creamy crack” for its addictive pull. Some women had begun the practice when they were as young as three years old. Read More

NEWS: RELATIONSHIPS

Love me/sext me/say what you want about me...uuuh, no!
Sexting: The act of sending sexually explicit messages or photos electronically, primarily between cell phones. According to The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding, the majority of revealing images are being sent from females to males. Read More

CULTURE: SAY WHAT?

On dawgz, we’re dumb sick of hearing that word, kid!
A picture is worth a thousand words, but what are those words worth? Words sometimes determine one’s emotions. Sticks and stones can break people’s bones but they say that words can’t hurt their feelings. Well, some words hurt feelings while others hurt ears. Teens in Print went Downtown to do a survey, and we asked: “What word or phrase are you tired of hearing?” Read More

NEAR AND FAR: ON THE STREET

Bored in Boston
No money...no problem
How many times have you been caught in the middle of Boston with little or no money? This seems to happen a lot with Boston teens; you don’t feel like going home, but you’re incredibly bored when you get in town. One can think of something to do, but it’s usually expensive or inaccessible. But what if you had a list of things to do without a heavy cost? Read More

THE TRAGEDY IN HAITI

We know that many of you have been affected by the devastation in Haiti. In our next issue, we plan on publishing essays from the classroom about the unfathomable destruction of people and places in your homeland.

We hope that you will be able to contribute your own writings so that other teens will better understand the true situation both here and there. If you want, please send as a word document, or an email, to ric.kahn.jcs@cityofboston.gov, and we will get back to you. Our thoughts are with you all.

LETTER, GO!

Dear Editors of Teens in Print,

As editors of a fellow publication for teens, we want to compliment T.i.P. on it’s timely, well-written features -- not to mention your cool layout. We recognize the extremely talented teen writers who are featured each month in T.i.P. and want to commend your success.

Teen writers become the next generation of journalists, novelists, and great thinkers, and so, we wanted to inform you and your readers of our new online literary journal also designed to celebrate writing for and by teenagers: The Young Adult Review Network or YARN. We publish all kinds of creative writing for a teen audience -- fiction and essays as well as poetry and an interview.

Part of what makes YARN special is that we want to discover great new teen writers, and publish you alongside the well-known writers you, and we, already admire. In our first issue, for instance, we’ve lined up Tina Ferraro, Alisa Libby, and Susan Beth Pfeffer. For more details on how to submit your writing, and to find out more about our very first issue, we hope you’ll visit our website at www.yareview.net, and fan us on Facebook!

Thanks for your time, and we hope to read your writing soon.

Sincerely,
Kerri Majors & Shannon Marshall
Editor & Assistant Editor of YARN