Isn't it Lame When Parents Just Do Understand?

The weather is nice, my belly is full of Big Mama's UltiMama burrito (it would take less time to tell you what isn't in that burrito than what is) and with Valentine's Day two days away, I am ready to talk about sex.

Turns out it sells, you see.

I will tell you why after I take a second to pimp one of my very favorite news sources. Jim Romenesko's blog for the Poynter organization rocks. Journalism 101 Instructor/Rock God/Jonathan Pryce look-alike Bob Stewart gave us the hint last quarter that Romenesko's blog was worth our time. Like any good brown-noser, I bookmarked Romey's blog but neglected to read it regularly. Now I do and I am glad because about 71% of the material from is blog is gleefully stolen from Romenesko (the rest is stolen from MSN). Anyway, I just thought I should give Jimmy some props. I am sorry I brought up a Journalism blog after teasing you with sex.

Back to sex and its selling capabilities.

Per a Suntimes Newsgroup release (obviously linked on Romenesko's blog), Stevenson High School's (presumably in Illinois) student newspaper recently gave away each and every 3,400 issues of its most recent paper. Why was this issue so popular? 

The Paper featured three articles and four sidebars about "hooking up," which the Suntimes then gives the definition for ("a slang term used by many teens and college students for making out or casual sex with someone they are not in a serious relationship with").  Now here's the part I love: since the papers vanished off of the racks so fast, everyone naturally assumed that the principal or superintendent snatched all of them to preserve these High Schoolers' innocence. 

Nope, the principal says that the issues quickly sold out due to the controversial subject matters. So the principal didn't have a problem with it, the teachers don't seem to have a problem with it and the parents certainly don't have a problem with it. 

"I'm fully in support of any issue that gets the kids talking," one parent even said.

I suppose I should feel great for these kids. Good for them that they live in a supportive, understanding environment that understands freedom of the press and does not sugar-coat sexuality. But I actually feel kind of bad. 

Who do these kids have to rebel against? How will they know how to fight the man if the man is pretty cool and pretty reasonable? How are they going to end up like anything other than normal and boring?

I really feel cheated by that article.