I finished four podcasts so that the library could launch an entire month without worrying about delays. I finished the facebook page, the twitter page, and the layout for our weekly polls that go along with the podcast. I thought I was the coolest, hippest, new media-ist teen podcast host in town only to have my sixteen year old brother explain that I was totally lame when it came to teens. I believe his exact words were, "you just sound too old." Well, shoot me in the face now because I am not getting any younger, pal!
Nevertheless, my brothers words got me thinking, do I really understand teenagers today? Sure they have the same relationship issues I had (I love him so much...DUMP!) and acne, low self-esteem, and self-doubting have not gone away with time. So why is it that whenever I read a new young adult book I cringe a little? The Twilight series was not just bad writing it was, in my opinion, way too mature for a middle school audience. I recently read a book called Last Night I Sang to the Monster which displayed the f-word numerous times. A great book, but I kept asking myself if it is appropriate for the group it is aimed towards. Oh dear, not only am I old but I am also a prude! Me! Miss anti censor is wondering about the appropriateness of young adult books! And if I feel this way about books, how do I really feel about the big bad scary internet? Have I gotten older or have teens finally figured out that they are one of the largest consumer groups, therefore authors and publishers now have to present actual themes that teens want read about and deal with on a daily basis. Looking back, my teenage life was not Anne of Green Gables perfect. Nor was there always a Little House on the Prairie moral every time I was faced with a difficult choice. I guess teens finally got smart and said, "sorry, but we aren't going to read if you don't start writing for us."
That is exactly what I now have to do: write my podcast for teen. It is out with the old and in with the new. I may be grown up but so are teens and they are capable of dealing with the same issues that I deal with regularly. It is not as if the teenage brain stops developing in literacy because parents, and teachers, and certain groups of people don't think they are capable of dealing with adult themes. I say, if you are able to understand what you are reading, go ahead and read. I guess we all have to go through a bit of READ-hab, even the old farts like me.
I have been reading YA lit for twenty some odd years (I won't give the exact number because then I would feel ancient) and I am often surprised by how much it has changed. The Outsiders, now forty years old, is a text that reshaped what YAL could be--more authentic, more realistic, more focused on actual teens.
ReplyDeleteEven knowing that, I hurt when I read texts like Identical or Crank or Rainbow Party. I know from teaching middle and high school that the students are much more sexual and jaded I expect but it hurts my heart to read of teen drug abuse, sex, physical abuse, and suicide. Surprisingly, these were topics that my students wanted to read about, that they consumed.
I can't imagine trying to put together podcasts for teens--I am so not cool or hip. :)