From the Teen Archives - Page 2 of 2

Fabulous Ice Age #NetFlixKids

February 26, 2014 by Melissa

The Pairs Ice Dancing Competition is my favorite event in the Olympics. I find the chemistry between the couples beautiful and I am always blown away by the amazing jumps and lifts that they are able to perform all while sliding around on thin blades across ice. The way that the two can travel side by side at such a great speed and then the man lifts her and continues with the woman hoisted over his head all while keeping his balance is astounding. The trust that the woman must have in her partner to allow herself to be tossed into the air and spun around never fails to amaze me. They both posses such power and grace and they move so perfectly together; it’s breath-taking.

The Fabulous Ice Age took me back to the very first ice shows in 1930s night clubs and the ice dancer turned movie star Sonja Henie, up to the modern day Disney On Ice performances.

There was so much wonderful old footage of people with so much joy for what they were doing; I was thrilled. All of those people who spent their lives watching these wonderful shows and collecting props and costumes and memorabilia have such a passion for the sport. I don’t blame them. I love seeing the ice shows that Disney puts on. As soon as they began to talk about the start of the Disney shows, I began to remember all of the wonderful times that I’ve had with my family at those performances. They’re so much fun; getting to see my favorite characters and hear the songs from my favorite movies but all performed on ice. It was sad to hear that the old shows had to end for Disney to begin but a whole new era of Americans got to enjoy ice skating the way people did in the 1930s.

You’re Not Fooling Anyone

December 12, 2012 by Melissa

I think we all know a man like this. He’s an older man who still believes that he is cool with the kids. Maybe he wears cargo shorts with a braided belt and sandals in the summer time. He might enjoy a hobby like bird watching or collecting novelty ties. Men like this are everywhere. He could be your teacher, your coach, your neighbor, maybe even your dad. Even though each of these traits is a little embarrassing on their own, they all pale in comparison to what lies on the top of this man’s head. Whether it is a ponytail, a patch of bald scalp that covers the entire center of the head, or even the dreaded Comb-Over, this man refuses to relinquish his outdated and offensive choice of hairstyle. He clings to it in the hopes of concealing the fact that he is getting older. They put so much time and effort into making their hair look perfectly terrible when in reality all of their problems could be solved with a set of clippers. There comes a time in every man’s life when he needs to just give up and shave.

Who was the first man who thought that the ponytail was a good choice for hiding baldness? These men are so desperate to preserve their youth that they will grow their remaining hair incredibly long just so that they can pull it back and conceal the patches of shiny scalp on the back of their head. We all know it’s there. They aren’t actually hiding anything. They’re actually drawing more attention to the fact that they’re losing your hair. I don’t know a single man with a ponytail who isn’t balding. They also seem to think that the ponytail will draw away from the fact that their hairline is receding when in all truth it makes their bright and shiny forehead look twice its normal size. Basically, it makes you look like some kind of alien. It would be in their best interest and everyone else’s best interest if they just shaved their hair.

The same goes for guys who are trying to rock the Comb-Over. The Comb-Over is when you realize you are losing your hair in an expanding spot on the top, front or back of your head and you decide that the best course of action is to push the thin, long and wispy hairs on either side of your bald patch over the scalp in an attempt to hide it from view. How can they not realize that we still see they’re bald? A Comb-Over doesn’t hide anything. The hair on their head isn’t long or thick enough to cover that glistening dome. Just shave it. Men with shaved and bald heads are way manlier than men who refuse to accept the chunks of scalp that are slowly emerging and try to cover up by over-styling their remaining tufts of hair. It’s never just a simple bald patch with these men. They actually work to conceal their cranial dysfunction. They tease out the sides of their hair to make it look like they have more hair than they really do. All that does is create a wreath-like effect which gives them massive ears and oddly narrow heads. Some men oil down their hair. They slick it back to better hide their bald spots, putting emphasis on their receding hair line. There are guys who can’t make the commitment of a full shave so they get a Caesar instead. That’s when you cut your hair very short and slowly begin pushing your hairline further up your head as more of your hair vanishes. All of these looks are horrible and all of these poor men just need to realize what a horrible mistake they are making.

This is what I ask; when you see the man in your life with this horrible hairdo, start leaving him little messages of encouragement to shave his head. Maybe you should talk about your favorite bald actors. Mention how manly and tough and cool Jason Statham, Vin Diesel and Bruce Willis are. Talk about their awesome haircuts; how their shiny heads make them even more awesome as action heroes. What about the oh-so-manly-and-tough Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson? He beats up other men for a living; how manly is that? Maybe one day these men will realize that bald can be beautiful. Then we can live in the incredible world of fantastic contrast, where men are either gloriously trussed or heroically bald. That’s a world that I want to see.

Just Give Up and Shave It
A Plea to the Masses
Sabreena Babiak
Author Note
This paper was prepared for Men’s Health Magazine as a plea to all men who continue to sport their horrendous haircuts in a desperate attempt at looking cool.

Our Place, a place for teens App

November 16, 2012 by Melissa

Our Place is an app created by Louise Palanker that gives tweens and teens a place to talk and post about issues in their lives that they may be uncomfortable discussing with parents or even friends. I’ve spent the last few weeks browsing and exploring all of the interesting chat rooms that the app has to offer. I’ve seen some interesting and helpful discussions and had some great conversations with people while using Our Place.

Our Place is a Social and Support and Creativity Network for Teens and Tweens, featuring expert advice from Teen Specialist, Louise Palanker

Our Place is designed to encourage and reward Cyber Kindness, cooperation, and compassion.

At Our Place, teens are talking about: life, love, boys, girls, dating, flirting, friends, bullies, parents, school, family, gay issues, puberty, sex, fears, depression, dramas and dreams. The more advice you give and receive, the more awesome you will feel about yourself and your place in the world.

The layout of the app is very easy to navigate. I really like that the “Courtyard” is broken down into so many sections. It gives you the ability to find what kind of topics you want to discuss, whether they are serious and personal or more of a fun chat. The advice section is always crawling with users who are ready and willing to talk about issues that you may have. It’s divided into Friends/Peers/Bullies, Dating/Romance/Crushes, Family, Gay/Lesbian/Bi, and more. This allows you to put your question in a section where people are comfortable reading about and responding to those types of issues. You might even find someone with a problem similar to your own. Everyone on the app is incredibly helpful and respectful. Anyone who is found being rude or inappropriate is stopped by moderators before it gets out of hand. The moderators do a great job of maintaining civil conversation on Our Place.

Advice isn’t all that the app is good for though. The chat and creativity sections are full of activity and conversation amongst users. Teens can post stories and poetry that they have written and share it with others. This way, aspiring writers can get feedback and new ideas for their writing. It’s a great supportive community with lots of kids getting the advice and guidance that they need.

There are just a few things that bothered me while using the app. I commented on a thread but lost it when I came back a few days later to check for any updates. There doesn’t seem to be any method of marking the threads that you want to be updated on. Also, personal photos aren’t an option for your profile picture. I’m sure they don’t allow them for privacy reasons but when multiple users pick the same picture of Justin Beiber as their icon and then comment on the same thread, it can get pretty confusing. Other than that though, I really enjoy the app will continue using it.

Our Place is a FREE app available on the iTunes platform.

Emergency Preparedness with The Hunt

July 19, 2012 by Melissa

Today my family and I completed the challenges for Day 8 of DoSomething.org‘s, The Hunt. The challenges today focused on Disaster Response and Relief and was one of the simplest and most important days in the campaign. Many people are not prepared for a disaster and would be stuck without the most basic supplies should one occur. Today, we made sure we were prepared.

The first challenge was to check all of the smoke detectors in our house and make sure they were fully functional. Our dogs did not appreciate this at all.

The next two challenge was to identify the top natural disaster in our area and set up a disaster preparedness plan and kit. The most common risk in our community is a Nor’easter, a violent storm which occurs along the north east coast that greatly represents a hurricane. They mostly happen in the winter but have come at other times of the year and cause floods and power outages all over Delaware. We collected all of the things that we would need and figured out what we would do and where we would go if our power went out or if the area around started to flood.

We searched for the items listed on DoSomething.org and found that we had most of the items somewhere in our house. We just had to collect them into one space so they were accessible in an emergency. Then we came up with our plan. If the power went out, we have several flashlights with batteries strategically placed all over the house. We also have a large box of candles,holders and lighters. We were prepared for the power to be out for a short time. We also have several family members nearby who we could visit if there was a prolonged power outage.

DoSomething.org, the nation’s largest organization for teens and social change, has partnered with Lenovo, the world’s second largest PC maker who helped found the campaign last year, and Bing, the search engine from Microsoft, to launch “The Hunt: 11 Days of Doing.” I have been compensated by Mom Bloggers Club to share this information with you.

11 Days of Doing Something, The Hunt

July 18, 2012 by Melissa

Poverty and hunger has been my active cause for about two years. I frequently volunteer at the Food Bank of Delaware and I love it. It is a great feeling to know that you have provided someone with a meal that they would have gone without otherwise. Those who run the Food Bank strive to ensure that everyone gets the nutrition and sustenance they need. They even have a special program during the summer that provides meals to children who already participate in the school year free lunch program. During the summer these children often don’t know where their next meal is coming from, the Summer Feeding Program ensures they don’t miss these meals. I was encouraged to see that Poverty and Homelessness was the cause for Day Three of The Hunt.

The first challenge was to live below the poverty line by not spending more than $1.50 in one day. That’s the price of my mom’s cup of coffee at the convenience store. My house is stocked with food that no one under the line would ever be able to afford. I have running water, indoor plumbing, electricity and central air conditioning. I can only imagine what it must be like for someone who can’t afford to eat let alone cool and light their home. It seems impossible to live on such a small amount of money but this is the reality for so many people in the world today.

The Hunt’s second challenge was to donate 5 food items to a local food pantry which I will be doing on Thursday when I go in to volunteer for my weekly shift.

The final bonus challenge was to visit slaveryfootprint.org and find out how the products you use are connected to slave labor. I took the survey and was shocked by how tied up I was with slavery. Of course the survey is based mostly on assumption and cannot give you an exact statistic but it can open your eyes and make you more conscience of your impact.

I’m really looking forward to completing the other challenges and viewing the photos and videos that people send in. I’m so excited with how many people are participating. They really are making an impact on their community.

DoSomething.org The Hunt for Social Good

July 17, 2012 by Melissa

“The Hunt: 11 Days of Doing” is a campaign started by DoSomething.org to spread the word about multiple issues that affect the world around us. “The Hunt” asks you to do different challenges everyday for eleven days, each one dealing with a different cause. This campaign strives to get people thinking, talking and doing something about key issues in today’s world and making their community a better place.

This campaign is in it’s second year and currently has over 16K participants with more joining every day. To get involved individuals sign up on DoSomething.org/hunt to receive daily challenges. The challenges are posted at 11:11 am EST online or can be sent to via text message or email. Anyone can participate whether it’s as an individual or as a group of friends, family or co-workers. Most of the challenges are incredibly simple and can be completed in less than an hour. They range from researching an interesting statistic and sharing through social media to going out and donating to a local food pantry or animal shelter.

photo courtesy of Flickr

By participating in the challenges, you have the opportunity to win some amazing prizes. At the end of the project, one person will be selected to win a $1000 scholarship for themselves and everyone else on their team. Everyday one team or individual who completes the ULTRA bonus challenge will receive a Lenovo Ultrabook. The grand prize winner or winners who complete the most challenges will be sent to Los Angeles for the 2012 Do Something Awards and be honored at the award ceremony and receive a Lenovo Ultrabook.

Though the project has already begun, you can still participate fully. By going to their website, you can see all of the previous challenges and submit your photos at anytime before July 23rd.

Let’s Talk About Sex Education, or the Lack of it.

April 17, 2012 by Melissa

For the last few months I’ve been doing an outrageous amount of research for my bill for Youth in Government. I had to figure out what I wanted to change about the State of Delaware and try to create a law about it. While I was thinking about a topic I kept coming back to one issue, teen pregnancy. Delaware is 6th in the country with the highest teen pregnancy rates. After doing some more digging I found that states with Comprehensive Sexual Education have lower teen pregnancy and teen STD rates than those with other forms of Sex Education.

Comprehensive Sex Ed is taught throughout a student’s entire school career. It starts with lessons about bullying and inappropriate touching in kindergarten through second grade. Third through fifth graders will learn about the human body, body image, healthy relationships with adults and other children and identifying adults who they can talk to when they have questions about their bodies. In middle school they learn the standard Sex Ed lessons that most children are taught, with lessons about puberty, the reproductive system and different types of contraception while stressing that abstinence is the best option. During high school, teenagers learn about the importance of protecting themselves if they chose to have sex, healthy sexual and emotional relationships, pregnancy options, and symptoms and treatments for STDs.

What makes Comprehensive Sex Ed different from abstinence-only-until-marriage Sexual Education is the idea that we have accepted that some teenagers are going to have sex and that it is our job to make sure they understand how to protect themselves from pregnancy and STDs. By teaching kids that abstinence is the only option, schools are leaving them open to STDs and pregnancies because they don’t know how to use or even obtain any kind of contraceptive. It’s better to be educated about the dangers of sex than to be kept in the dark and open yourself up to them. I wanted to make Comprehensive Sex Ed required in Delaware so that one day we could be like New Hampshire, with only 3% of all teenagers getting pregnant instead of our current 9%.

This is not a sponsored post. The information and statistics were gathered independently from professionals in the health and sexual education field by Sabreena to be used in her bill presented to “Legislation”.

Inappropriate influences

August 9, 2011 by Melissa

I feel like I am influenced by everything around me. Things like television and music probably affect me the most. However it seems like it’s just influencing me to hate them. I can’t stand 95% of the music on the radio and I feel a special kind of hatred towards artists like Katy Perry and K-E-$-HA. It seems like their music is just really inappropriate for my siblings to be listening to. Kesha is constantly singing about drinking and doing drugs and my sister will walk around singing her songs without knowing what she is really saying. It’s really creepy.

gross kesha

And then there’s the TV. Stuff like Jersey Shore and Teen Mom is absolutely ridiculous. They just make it look cool for people to act like idiots or to get pregnant at 16. You have no idea how many Baby Snookies I see at school now. I don’t understand why this is seen as entertainment because it’s just stupid. It’s very inappropriate to pay these people so other people can watch them be morons. There are plenty of other TV shows on that are actually interesting for the people where the actors deserve to be paid for their work.

Internet or Television

July 10, 2011 by Melissa

My friends and I were talking earlier this week about whether we would rather give up television or the internet and almost all of us chose to give up TV. It could just be my generation but I use the internet for entertainment far more often than television. The internet is the place where I get all of my news and where I can talk to all my friends, new or old. I watch content on YouTube and read articles on Yahoo. I look at old pictures on Facebook and play games on Lumosity. And I look at blogs just like my parents do (though they are not the same kinds of blogs.) I use the internet the way it should be used, to find interesting and entertaining websites and new and original content that I can tell my friends about and obsess over.
However I don’t believe the internet could ever replace television. Even if the internet could provide every show that is offered on television for the same price as television, people would not be willing to give up there giant flat screen TVs for tiny computer screens. Also television is quickly improving and become higher quality (not necessarily in what kinds of shows we are viewing but in the visual look of the shows.) People are spending more money on their televisions and the packages they purchase to get more channels. TV is a pastime that families can do together and the internet can never replace that.

If you have to choose would you give up television or the internet?

Teen Smoking from a Teen’s Perspective

June 22, 2011 by Melissa

Smoking is pretty gross to me. Just the smell of cigarette smoke makes me feel nauseous and every time I see someone smoking, there is a brief moment of confusion during which I think, “People still do that?” Luckily none of my friends smoke and I’m not sure if I would still be friends with them if they did. But all year I noticed that there are a lot of people at my school who are smokers. I saw people in the parking lot every morning before school, standing in a circle, passing a cigarette around. On my walk to the bus after school, I would pass a small group who stood in the middle of the front lawn outside of school and smoked. There were others who were more discreet and smoked in the tiny crevice on the side of the school but it seemed like most of them didn’t care whether they got caught or not. There was a girl in my gym class who would smoke as we walked around the track even though we passed the teachers twice on every turn.
I never really understood why people till decide to start smoking wherein there are dipping alternatives for sale. I get that it is incredibly difficult to stop but starting even though you know all of the terrible risks involved just seems stupid. In health class this year my teacher showed us photos of cancers caused by smoking and second-hand smoke. We all looked in disgust at these awful pictures and were horrified that this could happen to us. Most of us signed pledges to not smoke and one girl made a promise in front of us to quit smoking and from what I was of her later that year, she kept this promise. I feel like schools are trying their best to show us the dangers of smoking but I feel like people just don’t care.

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