This time (assuming there's a next time, possibly, possibly not) it's from the LATimes, a front page 'Column One' piece (which is to say, it's a puff piece on a semi-serious topic told from the personal perspective of one of their reporters, or a freelancer who writes in a manner that pleases the editors of the LATimes) regarding MySpace.com and young teenagers.
The piece is by the mother of a teenager who frets over whether or not to let her daughter have a MySpace account at 13, and the consequences of that decision.
The parent is responsible, thoughtful, engaged, and actually chooses to parent her kid rather than coddle, which for a boomer parent (even a late boomer parent) is pretty remarkable.
So what could I have a problem with?
Try this paragraph on for size.
She wanted to know not just how things work but why they were that way. Why are those people poor, Mommy, and why isn't everything free? If my answer didn't square with her sense of justice, there would be a whole new round of whys. She was always curious.
Grrrrr, Arrrrggghh!!
Stuff like that transcends my linguistic ability in expressing how ridiculous I find such musings.
And as a side note, 'Column One' is an 'innovation' added to the paper sometime in the 80s or 90s (I don't remember when they first slid into the morass of cutesy first person narrative pieces for the front page of a major daily newspaper, but whenever it was, it was a sad, sad day).
Often they report on interesting topics with these columns, plus frequently they express their assumptions and biases more nakedly in these columns, so for that reason they are valuable.
But these 'Column One' pieces still suck.
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