Giving back to the little thugs

I've started doing some volunteer work at an organization that publishes a monthly newspaper by teenagers from all over Atlanta. The idea is to provide some media experience and training for young people in an environment that isn't subjected to censorship or control by school districts. It's a pretty cool idea and I was even going to apply for a paid staff position there before I worked out this working-from-home deal, so I figured it would be worth putting on pants once a week or so to go over and share the accumulated wisdom of my vast experience.

This week was my first afternoon there, and as it happened they were trying to get next month's issue to the printer that night so it was pretty busy, which meant all I did was proofread pages rather than share my wisdom. That's OK, though, I'll get around to shaping future generations next week.

I did get to read and copy edit a lot of their stories though, and it is somewhat different than reading and editing a Business Journal. It's more satisfying, for one thing, because sometimes I'd get done with a page at work and have no edits at all to make on the page, which always makes me feel like I have to go back and read the whole thing again because there must have been ONE mistake somewhere. Suffice it to say that was not a problem with the teenagers' copy. Also, it was more challenging because there are no entries in the AP Stylebook for words like "nerd-dom" and "schnizzle".

Some of the pieces are actually quite good, and interesting even to someone sadly removed in years from the target demographic. They don't really seem to write much "news", it's more personal essays around a theme so you get some interesting perspectives on things like justice and racism and so forth. Of course, since this is the Valentine's day issue and these are all high school students, there were also plenty of angst-filled reflections on the pain of rejection and how love sucks and I don't really even want a boyfriend anyway and blah blah blah, but I guess it wouldn't be a teen newspaper if some of it weren't comicly self-involved and dramatic.

I did wonder if I should be concerned about the self-esteem of the young woman who wrote that all she wants from her boyfriend on Valentine's Day was a nice present from the Spencer's Gifts store at the mall. For one thing, is that place still around and are teenagers still going there? I used to go in there to sneak looks at the adult greeting cards when I was 13, I would hope modern youth would have advanced at least a little. And also, would a fart-noise maker and a black light really make such great romantic gifts?