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(03/29/13 3:00am)
"You can be anything you want to be" is one of the most dangerous lies that society tells its youth. From the time I was old enough to understand the simplistic message conveyed by those cheesy posters hanging in every elementary school classroom, I knew that "following my dreams" was somehow critically important in my life. My parents, my guidance counselor and television all taught me to do so, as did the repeated retelling of famous success stories. Though these messages were probably well-intentioned, it does not make up for the very real and palpable consequences of forcing this kind of perspective upon children from such a young age.
(02/27/13 4:00am)
When I think back to my senior year of high school, when every college was clamoring for attention, I remember finding Dartmouth particularly attractive. Not only was it ranked number one for undergraduate teaching by U.S. News and World Report, but it also promised to give students a markedly different experience from comparable schools. When I attended an information session held at a local high school, the speakers extolled Dartmouth's study abroad programs, leaving me excited and hopeful. This feeling intensified when I toured campus for the first time. Smiling all the while, the tour guides gestured to the inclusive Greek houses and praised the volunteering community and club offerings. I remember thinking about how, if I were lucky enough to be accepted, I would throw myself into Dartmouth, volunteering and studying abroad as often as possible.
(02/08/13 4:00am)
Given the state of the hazing conversation on our campus, it is easy to forget that hazing is neither exclusively a Dartmouth problem nor limited to Greek or alcohol-related episodes. This past winter break, I had the opportunity to speak with a friend of mine who had just completed his first semester at the Citadel, a state military college in South Carolina. After talking with him about his experiences, I realized that hazing is pervasive, settling like a thick fog around America and its most respected institutions.
(01/31/13 4:00am)
Ever since tears dropped on her guitar in 2008, Taylor Swift has become a staple of mainstream country and pop music. However, those harmless tears have transformed into something much more sinister in her later albums. Instead of pining over a crush who does not reciprocate her love, Swift's songs have a taken a turn for the worse. Now, her songs perpetuate the girl vs. girl mentality that has already taken over middle school friendships across the country. Furthermore, she views boys as property: property that she doesn't want to be stolen by other thieving girls. Add to this a dash of slut shaming and you have a poisonous mixture ready to drip into the ears of her young, predominately female fan base.
This is not to say that Taylor Swift is a bad person. My hometown is near hers in Tennessee, so many of my friends have met her. They all describe her as warm and gracious, echoing Swift's own views about the duty of a celebrity to appreciate and be kind to her fans.
(01/15/13 4:00am)
In the crisp, new 21st century, many teens are welcomed into the world of young adult fiction by a sensually beckoning albeit cold and sometimes sparkly hand. For this generation, vampires are exciting, mysterious and sexy. The popularity of Stephanie Meyer's "Twilight" franchise is a testament to the vampire's appeal, as are the subsequent iterations of modern-day vampire lore. From HBO's drama "True Blood" to CW's teen soap "The Vampire Diaries," a pervasive taste for all things vampire has gushed into popular culture.
(11/12/12 4:00am)
We all know that teen pregnancy is a problem. But for most of us, it is a far-off threat, one that is confined to the glow of MTV's "Teen Mom" on Tuesday nights. The idea of being a mother or father at this point in life or earlier is, for many of us, a distant concern. My typical reaction when Facebook shows me yet another girl from my high school sporting a baby bump is either a sigh or a passing thought of condolence. Personally, it is difficult to imagine toting around a crying, miniature me on my hip, especially since I find it hard enough to take care of myself each day. However, with recent attacks on Planned Parenthood and its contraceptive services and the prevalence of abstinence-only sex education in public schools, my high school classmates' situations and the country's financial concerns are inextricably linked.
(10/24/12 2:00am)
Zooey Deschanel is sweet. She's the type of sickening sweet that lingers, coating your mouth. She's a steaming apple pie, with brown sugar baked into the crust and a generous helping of ice cream on the side. The problem is that our society is diabetic. Although she seems wholesome and American, those apples are poisonous and may lead to a regression of this country's feminist thought.
(10/09/12 2:00am)
The perils of television-induced brain rot have been preached to us since the time we were young. Great-aunts and teachers warn us of the danger of television as if watching it were the same as staring at food heating up in the microwave. With a stern look and wagging finger, they caution that sitting in front of the tube will turn your brain to mush (which is exactly what those zombies from AMC's "The Walking Dead" want).
(09/27/12 2:00am)
Parents concerned about the welfare of their children have been forbidding sex, drugs and rock n' roll in one form or another for as long as modern society has existed. For the Puritans, it was bans on touching the opposite sex, all mind-altering substances, dancing and singing. For a lot of my friends back home in Tennessee with religiously conservative parents, it was forbidding premarital sex, alcohol, drugs and vulgar songs (though I'm sure "scream-o" wouldn't have gone over well, either). Parents are attempting to protect their children from the very real dangers that come with such things and the loss of morality that they view as the root of such deviant behavior. However, parents who demonize acts such as drinking, smoking, sex and cursing instill a sense of guilt and a tendency of repression in their children that can be much more detrimental to their mental health than the acts themselves. I've seen many of my former classmates and friends develop depression and other emotional problems due to these values forced upon them by their strict, religious parents.