Conflict - In General
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…
6 Comments
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…
10 Comments
Imagine there’s no violence. I wonder if you can.
Dear Straight Talk: This generation is not just born and bred on the Internet, but on an insatiable diet of violence in movies, video games and rap. The other thing uniquely part of their world are mass shootings. If these shootings were…
1 Comment
Lying to parents? Why?
Dear Straight Talk: As a parent, I find your column very helpful. I have a situation I've not read about. Over the past two weeks, I kept asking my youngest about his homework assignment and he kept saying he had it handled. It turned…
4 Comments
Is cursing at parents standard fare for teens?
Dear Straight Talk: A dear friend struggling with single parenting called to tell me that his daughter said, "F– you," to him at dinner. She is 14. I burst out laughing and told him welcome to raising teenagers. He is still mad at…
3 Comments
Making a better world, Part II
DEAR READERS: Each New Year I ask the panelists: What bugs you most about the world? How would you make the world better? Last week's “better world” column covered concerns about how digital networking has diminished face-to-face…
0 Comments
Harry Potter: Hero in a hero-less world
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: Harry Potter was such a sensation for so many young people who grew up on the books and then the movies. I would love to hear what Harry Potter meant to them, and if…
1 Comment
A bullying solution that really works
DEAR READERS: If your school could have a superpower, what would it be? If it’s an anti-bullying superpower, you’re in luck. I’d like to shout from the rooftops about the “Safe School Ambassadors”…
1 Comment
Siblings embarrassed about having two moms
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: I’m 16 with a 14-year-old sister. Our mom is gay and her partner, “Jenny,” lives with us. We’re products of a marriage when she was young and…
4 Comments
Panel weighs in on Arizona shootings
DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: I’m curious how young people feel about the shootings in Arizona. Politics has taken on an “us versus them” mentality. Hate and sound bites prevail…
