cultureabout

Issue 6. Kids

When Mom is in Prison

The girls spent the other part of the weekend visiting their mothers -- applying make-up, doing each other's hair, talking about school and boys, and doing whatever else adolescent girls do with their mothers in a state prison

Cannibal Culture

Consumers of pop culture need a higher degree of cultural literacy than even the highbrows, since pop culture is the greater cannibal of other cultural products -- and, of course, of itself

Leave the Tests (Not Children) Behind

Despite President Bush's assertions to the contrary, standardized testing stifles true education

For the Love of Justin

With girls in charge, witness the feminization of popular culture

A Contract for the American Family

Your daughter comes home, enthused about a musical instrument. Your eyeballs throb. Your head pulsates. How do you resolve this dissonant dilemma?

The Suburban Fast Track

I wonder if I'm really good enough when I get the only A on that test. And sometimes I wonder if I'm a bit delusional, just like the other 2,000 kids who live in my shallow, suburban bubble

My Alien Sister

Coming of age as an only child can be a difficult experience, but it's even more strange when your father grows up alongside you

Kiddie Capitalism

The sound you hear is thousands of hours of market research, immense coordination of people, ideas and resources, and decades of social and economic change all rolled into a single, ''Mommy, pleeease!''

The Great TV Debate

I worry about a lot of things related to my son. For example, am I already letting him turn his brain to mush?