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The first three paragraphs of this article about M.T. Anderson (who was previously unknown to me) really, really strike a chord with me. I touched on it a little with my very first entry about Twilight and how I think we should be giving youth a lot more credit for intelligence than adults tend to. I was not nearly as pointed as this:

“If we’re going to ask our kids at age 18 to go off to war and die for their country, I don’t see any problem with asking them at age 16 to think about what that might mean.”

The article goes on to discuss Anderson’s works, his philosophy on writing for young adults, and how he came to be a writer — typical things for an author profile. But what really caught me is that he’s an author writing for young adults, explicitly, who writes books that seem as though they might be a heck of a lot more challenging and complex than a lot of the supposed adult fiction I read.

I think part of what gets me is that we can see just how responsible and intelligent kids can be — for example, last week’s presentation about youth who are interested in social justice and activism — and yet many people still want to protect them and shield them and tell them they’re somehow “not ready” to be given responsibility. Including the responsibility of reading whatever they would like to read — be that Twilight or Octavian Nothing. Maybe I’m an idealist (okay, yes I am) but I tend to think that the more responsibility a teen is given, the more responsible they will turn out to be. I know this isn’t universally true. Heck, it’s not even true for some adults. But still.

Curious to know if anyone has read anything by Anderson, and what they thought?

As my day for covering this blog comes to a close, I have just a few final comments to make. Throughout this term we have talked a fair bit about how youth are represented in news reports, major studies, documentaries, and more. Often, the images have been less than flattering. Well, this weekend I went home to visit my parents who live in small-town Ontario and I took the opportunity to look through the two local newspapers to see how youth are portrayed here. I found the picture painted a little rosier than in the newspapers based in the big cities.

There were stories about students standing up against bullying, teens running an extensive Christmas toy drive for children in the region and others collecting change for the same purpose. There were accounts of youth athletes overcoming tremendous barriers and still others volunteering to put up town Christmas decorations.

I spent the afternoon trying to decide why the picture painted in these papers was so rosy. Perhaps, youth in small-town Ontario get into less trouble than in the big cities. However, it would be hard to argue that as the crime rate in small towns has been increasingly fairly quickly. Maybe, it is simply the fact that reporters want to share uplifting stories in this time of economic turbulence. Or, maybe the small town environment allows reporters to engage the community at a local level and to share these small time stories. In the end, I am not sure these observations are really significant at all. Nonetheless, I found it interesting to read so many articles relating the great things youth are doing in our community.

In keeping with my theme of intergenerational programs, I am discovering that when given the opportunity and when done correctly, library programs that partner teens with senior citizens often work with overwhelming and surprising success. Senior citizens have a lot of wisdom to dispense and more often than not they are able to give a human face to issues teens want to discuss.

In one summer program called “Facing History and Ourselves” at Putnam County Library in Cookeville, Tennessee, they try to teach history in a way that creates personal connections with teens. Teens read and then discuss books on a central topic based on historical events but which are still relevant to the teens’ lives today. To foster discussion, guest speakers come in to give a personal touch to the issue. In this particular program, they discussed the Holocaust and related it to issues of  identity, hate, citizenship and activism and had a Holocaust survivor discuss her experience to wrap up the program. Was it a success? Absolutely. The participants didn’t want it to end and the program was extended from 8 weeks to 10.

And the wisdom and talents don’t just flow from senior citizens to teens. It’s a two-way street. A common way to bring youth and seniors together is to have teens teach seniors about new technologies.

The ‘Senior Computer Lab’ in Lewiston, Maine’s public library lets teens instruct seniors in basic computer skills using one-on-one tutorials. The result: teens show their willingness to volunteer their time and expertise and seniors show their trust and belief in teen talent and abilities. http://www.ci.lewiston.me.us/news/2007/07-18-07b.htm

It is possible to define adulthood using factors such as chronological age, financial and/or domestic independence as well as the nebulous concept of maturity. There was a discussion at the beginning of the course about how to define “young adults.” Is the label best applied to the traditional age range of 13 to 19? Or is it necessary to expand the parameters in order to reflect a social shift?

Statistics Canada reports that there has been a significant increase in the “the proportion of young adults aged 20 to 29 who resided in their parental home” (Human Resources, 2008). It is interesting that they exclude teenagers altogether from this category. The decision to return home can be the result of graduating from university, changing or losing a job, planning marriage or a divorce. All of these life circumstances often include some form of debt. They have been referred to as the “boomerang generation” or going through “adultescence” (Powers, 2007).

Consequently, young adult librarians may find themselves answering as many questions about resources for proper resume formatting and child custody as they do for high school projects on the solar system and the life cycle of trees.

In most cases, the aforementioned scenarios are temporary and individuals will resume their independence once their situation has stabilized. Unfortunately, there is a more worrisome trend that has been a focus of research by sociologists in recent years.

“Boys are in serious trouble. Doing worse in the classroom now than they did ten years ago. Hard to talk to. Unaware of their emotions. And the most violent in the industrialized world” (Thompson, 2008)

This can lead to a life characterized by endless drifting and insecurity. Many young males are abandoning or delaying responsibility as much as possible. They do this in favour of a life of recreation. This has most recently been addressed in State University of New York professor Michael Kimmel’s “Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men.”

In it he describes “the wasteland between ages 16 and 26″ (Tucker, 2008) (an echo of the Statistics Canada figure that seems to be the common redefinition of young adulthood) when:

The guy is in no hurry to shed youthful egotism and hedonism and take up the mantle of adulthood. The Guy mentality is rooted in resentment, drenched in booze and dedicated to pervasive, sometimes violent denigration of women and gays. It’s a perpetual carnival of pornography, violent video games, hypermacho music and blustering talk-radio hosts who stoke resentment by constantly reminding Guys of the lost paradise that should have been theirs (ibid).

One of the problems is a lack of suitable role models for boys as they grow up. This problem is recognized in the school system. In a report by Ontario educators, the province was urged to “act immediately to boost the already low and rapidly shrinking number of male teachers” (CBC, 2004).

However, I believe it is equally important to have male representation in public libraries, particularly in youth services departments. These males can be available throughout a youth’s academic career, whereas exposure to a teacher typically lasts only one year. Furthermore, boys are required to go to school. Yet it is often observed that boys are not physically present in the library. There is some exciting and innovative library programming to address this issue. The ALA awarded its 2007 Diversity Award to Break-4-Boys: Male-2-Male Mentoring in which men speak and do activities with tweens and teens (ages 11–18) on a consistent basis. Mentorship is performed free for males by males (Nichols & Wilcox, 2007).

This is is no way intended to deride the contribution of women to librarianship. However, at a time of decreasing literacy, particularly for recreation, the value of male staff in the library as role models for boys cannot be overstated.

References:

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 2004, November 13). Ontario urged to counter drop in male teachers.
Retrieved October 23, 2008, from: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2004/11/12/male_teacher_041112.html

Human Resources and Social Development Canada. (2008). Family Life — Young Adults Living with their Parent(s) .  Retrieved October 23, 2008, from: http://www4.hrsdc.gc.ca/indicator.jsp?lang=eng&indicatorid=77#MOREON_1

Nichols, K.D. and Wilcox, L.J. (2007). Male-2-Male Mentoring Is Working in Chicago Libraries. Information Today, Inc.  Retrieved October 23, 2008, from: http://www.infotoday.com/mls/nov07/Nichols_Wilcox.shtml

Powers, G. (2007). What to do with boomerang kids. Sympatico MSN Finance. Retrieved Retrieved October 23, 2008, http://finance.sympatico.msn.ca/retirement/gordonpowers/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5767869

Thomspons, M. (2006). Raising Cain: Protecting the emotional life of boys. Retrieved October 23, 2008 from:
http://www.michaelthompson-phd.com/media.htm#cain

Tucker, C. (2008, October 5). ‘Guyland’ by Michael Kimmel: No girls or gays allowed. The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved October, 23, 2008, from: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/DN-bk_guyland_1005gd.ART.State.Edition1.269f7db.html

“His all-time favourite teacher is the one he calls Mr. Google. He doesn’t need lectures or classrooms, he says, because he can ask Mr. Google and learn everything he wants to know.”

When you have a few moments, read through White’s observations of 4 Toronto teens.

Let us know what you think.

Okay, I don’t expect you all to be able to participate in a flame war or anything after reading this, but my goal is to simply make you aware of the irony, humour, and rich culture that saturates the online gaming world inhabited by today’s youth.

Step 1: Take everything you know about English vocabulary and grammar usage and chuck it out the window.

A great example of language at work is Lolcats, the infamous “i can has cheezburger?” site where gamers have been putting leetspeak to work captioning hilarious pictures of cats. Yes, this is funny.

Oddly enough, “w00t”, a common gamer phrase that really means “woohoo!!!” (think celebration here people), was named Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year in 2007.

Step 2: It’s all about the pwnage. To “pwn” is to “own” or really at its most basic level, to be the ultimate winner. Whether it’s Chuck Norris or boom headshot, pwning is, well… pwn.

Step 3: You’re a noob. Accept it. Whether it’s nub, nubbins, nubcakes, newbie, newb, n00b, the point is, you’re new, and you suck. Deal with it.

Step 4: Online friends are real friends. Whether it’s your guild members or a new flame, the relationships gamers make online are real, and don’t try to tell them otherwise. There’s an extremely popular webcast called The Guild that pokes fun at just how important a gamer’s guild can be in their daily lives.

Step 5: Ascii and emotes are funny. Some hate them, some love them. Here’s some of my favs:

Look at these ones sideways:

8| ← how I feel when a prof. has just reminded us that a huge paper is due next week that I forgot about.

:O ← shock, pure and simple.

>:( ← sad and angry, all at the same time

<3 ← a heart

Look at these ones normally:

T_T ← the ever popular wince/cry

>.< ← oh noes!! covering of the eyes

^_^ ← anime smiley

That’s it folks. Go forth and conquer.

I still think of myself as a teenager. I swear I don’t feel any different than I did when I was in high school. I don’t even feel more mature. And I don’t think I’m unique in this way. My grandmother, for one, always insisted she felt as though she were still eighteen years old – even while she was well into her sixties!

And yet, I have changed — and my grandmother has changed – without even realizing how.

So often, adults think back to their own adolescence when trying to relate to youth. While this can be a valuable exercise, our memories can be poor reflectors of reality. Besides, the older we become, the greater the difference between life for us when we were teens and life for teens today. As YA librarians, we need to familiarize ourselves with the youth of today, understand what they understand, and see the world as they see it.

To better understand youth and some of the cultural and ideological differences between younger and older generations, check out the Beloit College Mindset List. This list provides a window into the cultural milieu in which youth today have grown up, and highlights some of the cultural and ideological gaps between younger and older generations. It’s easy to forget what youth today remember and don’t remember, or what does and doesn’t resonate with them. While the focus of the list is on older YA’s, specifically those entering their first year of college/university, it still holds true for many of the younger YA’s as well.

Of course, the goal of such an exercise isn’t just to gain some new depth of understanding of youth today (although that’s important for anyone who has to spend work-related time with youth). Instead, in a library setting, the focus should be on answering some of the following questions:

How do these factors affect the worldview of our patrons?

How do these factors affect our own services, outreach and attitudes?

Where do we need to adjust our thinking and make changes in our outreach tactics and programming?

I found that video we viewed about Coolhunting was really interesting, and it got me thinking about new and different ways that we as librarians could market to teens. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to get away from that stereotype of being uncool and boring, without compromising our librarian integrity? I think one of our best assets is to keep informed, whether it be with the news, with literature, with library issues, and for youth work especially, with new and upcoming TRENDS!

Granted, it could be difficult and expensive to insert new trends into the library atmosphere (ie. It may be practically impossible to replace furniture constantly or computer technology) but online environments could be enhanced by keeping up-to-date, as well as programming, and art displays, etc. I found a trendhunting site from a journalist in Toronto named Bianca Bartz. I will post the link on the blog for future reference.

http://www.trendhunter.com/bianca 

Bianca posts constantly about the newest, hottest things, both for teens and in general. I thought I would use this blog space to point out some new things that have been identified as “up and coming”, as well as illustrate the importance of using this kind of tool to stay current.

These crazes may be short lasting or long lasting, no real way to tell. However, I do think that trendhunting sites would be a fresh new way for librarians to keep on top of the ever changing world of teens! Even if we can’t possibly do everything, we can at least keep up to date on what’s going on and be able to talk about it. Here are a few of the things I found most intriguing, and that I think could be incorporated into libraries in some way, shape or form:

Manga: Business Scenarios (for a slightly older audience)

“Manga is becoming hugely popular in North America, but we’re missing a whole genre,” Pink says. “In Japan, there’s manga for adults on business topics. We don’t have that here.  So I decided to create the first business book in manga for a western audience.”

Pimp My Flats: Shoe Decorating Making a Comeback (Cool Programming Idea?)

A plain, white pair of tennis shoes provides way too much creative potential to leave them as they come. Case in point, the Pimp My Flats exhibit has some stellar designs, showcasing ordinary plimsol shoes that have been taken to the next level of hip. Each pair of Lazy Oaf shoes has been decorated differently, from designs that are wearable, even seriously desirable, to others which are just plain hideous.

     I found an article from Time magazine that was written in 2000 at the height of the high tech industry where new dot com CEO’s were making millions but were not yet old enough to vote or drink legally in the U.S. This article was listed in Anderson’s (2004) reference list and although it may now be considered slightly dated, I believe it provides an excellent springing board for which to begin a discussion on the changing culture of teenager hood.      A new era of adolescence seems to be emerging as the largest population of teens is currently coming of age. So what does today’s teenager look like? Is it the young capitalist already investing in the market or the one in a new pair of Uggs bought with a credit card which is still paid by mommy and daddy? The norm these days is difficult to identify with so many twenty something’s and thirty something’s acting like teenagers themselves. It certainly doesn’t help that pop culture seems to glorify this stage of life that everyone goes through causing a “Peter Pan Effect”.

     As future Youth Services Librarians we must remain in tune with our user group we often refer to as YA-Young Adult. But are they adults or are they youth? How does this changing user group really want to be treated? I believe the library has a duty to enhance the community’s youth population by engaging them in activities that allow them to be themselves and enjoy this time of coming of age. The only way to understand this age group is to keep in contact with them, bringing them into the library by offering programming that interests them, helps them and allows their voices to be heard by the adult decision-making members of the community.

Here’s an electronic link to the Time reference: http://www.time.com/time/reports/v21/live/teen_mag.html

 References:

Anderson, S.B. (2004). On the verge of adulthood: Older teens and thelibrary in Serving older teens. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Kirn, W. (2000, February 21). Will teenagers disappear? As kids grow up even faster, that carefree age known as adolescence may soon be a memory. Time, 155(7), 60-61.