Teen Self-Care in the Age of YouTube

Annalena mentioned last night that she's taken to watching this video every morning -- that if she watches Smokey Robinson and The Miracles sing The Tracks of My Tears, she has a good day. I think back to when she was a baby and discovered the comfort of her thumb to sooth herself through the night. I don't know how she found this video or what exactly about it she finds sustaining, but on a non-linear level, it makes all the sense in the world. The lyrics of the song transcend time, not to mention the suave dance moves. How wonderful that YouTube makes this wisdom of the ages accessible to teenagers in 2009.

Red, edited by Amy Goldwasser

I just finished inhaling Red: The Next Generation of American Writers -- Teenage Girls -- on What Fires Up Their Lives Today and highly recommend this anthology of essays to anyone in the throes of raising said generation.

Our girls are facing some different questions than we were at their age and these poignant, raw, and passionate essays offer both hopeful and harrowing insights into their predicament.