Weekly Column
Is Facebook use slacking off?
Dear Straight Talk: A middle school teacher friend of mine says he’s noticed his students are less interested in Facebook. My 16- and 19-year-old are constantly on Facebook, which drives me crazy, as a father, because I feel it distracts…
Weekly Column
Here’s to you Mrs. Robinson
Dear Straight Talk: I'm 17 and being seduced by a "Mrs. Robinson.” She’s a rich divorced friend of my mom's in her 40s, in great shape and very attractive. First she offered me good money to do yard work. Then she started…
Weekly Column
Should Mom share her prom-night story?
Dear Straight Talk: My daughter, 17, always attends prom. She is curious about my prom experience. I wasn't popular in high school, but right before graduating, a boy I'd just met asked me to his school's prom. WOW!…
Weekly Column
Shy freshman mortified over school showers
Dear Straight Talk: I'm a high school freshman and very private about my body. I can't handle anybody seeing me naked except my sister and my best friend. Not even my mom. Our gym teacher told us, with hot weather coming, everyone…
Weekly Column
Brother blackmailed over condoms
Dear Straight Talk: I'm 16, sharing a room with my 13-year-old sister because our single-parent mom can’t afford otherwise. My sister snooped, found my hidden condoms and now she's blackmailing me. I have to pay her from my…
Weekly Column
Big Sis wants Lil’ Sis to forgive her
Dear Straight Talk: I’m ashamed to say I was like "No Slut's" sister [column MAR 26]. In addition to having a terrible reputation, which gave my younger sister a bad reputation, I did everything to make her life miserable. The…
Weekly Column
Toxic stress + bad diet = HUGE PROBLEMS
Dear Straight Talk: I have the opportunity to observe teenagers without being a teacher, administrator or counselor. I notice three things: 1) Those getting into trouble have stressful home lives and parent issues. 2) These kids commonly…
Weekly Column
Do I tell on sibling regarding Adderall use?
Dear Straight Talk: After reading the warning signs of Adderall abuse in your recent column (MAR 19), I'm 99 percent sure my older brother is on Adderall or something similar. He’s paranoid about his grades being perfect so he…
Weekly Column
Getting past a false reputation in high school
Dear Straight Talk: I’m 16 and my sister (a senior) has the deserved reputation of a "slut." Our mom is an alcoholic who will sleep with anybody, even with my sister and me right in the next room, so I think my sister learned from…
Weekly Column
Academic doping with Adderall not road to excellence
Dear Straight Talk: My very stressed-out son admitted using Adderall as a "study drug." He says he needs it to be competitive. He buys it at high school for $3 a pill, saying, "you can get it everywhere." I had no idea this was such a widespread…
TNT AdvisorOn the lighter side...
Sexuality 101
Nobody knows why some people turn out to be girls and others turn out to be boys, and what any of it means at puberty. Some think girl-ness or boy-ness is a function of how many Oreo cookies the mother ingested during pregnancy. Others think it's the number of Doritos.
While scientists get their pocket-protectors in a wad over this, cunning linguists have discovered that girl is simply a misspelling of the word gril. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to tell you that since the discovery of fire, boys have been irresistibly drawn to grils! Whether it's hamburgers or hotdogs, a man wants to hang with his gril and barbeque! And nobody needs a linguist, cunning or otherwise, to tell you that if a gril isn't given enough attention, things will soon be toast!
Ah, but while scientists were straightening their pocket protectors, linguists have been tying their tongues in square knots, slip knots, even the legendary bowline over the aggravating fact that some grils band together, telling boys to "back away from the flame." And some boys prefer flambéing in a cheery kitchen with a well-scrubbed hardwood floor underneath over chillin' with their gril. And here the scientists jump back in the fray with "Aha! We did not consider the Pecan Sandies!"
