Modern Tweens

Modern Family is the show I look forward to watching each week.  I know I’m one of a large choir, but one of the many cool aspects of the show is that it is appealing to all ages.  A large range of ages are represented in the show, and I’ve watched and discussed the show with fellow viewers of all different ages, including tweens. 

Tweens are also represented on the show in the characters Luke, Alex and Manny.  Oh Manny. 

Luke seems to have an uncanny way of finding fun and charm in the simplest endeavors.  He also is capable of getting into situations that seem uncanny to everyone around him, but make perfect sense to him.  To Luke, everyone else who doesn’t understand, but it’s okay, they don’t have to get it. 

Alex is too smart, for basically everyone, but she also wants to be popular and hip, something that’s not always easy to master, no matter how good your grades might be. 

Manny may be the quirkiest kid on the show, but in many ways his predicaments come across as the most realistic.  He’s trying to fit in with his new family and school.  He’s been through a lot, so he has great insight on everything, which leads to great comedic effect because you know, he’s 11 and when he waxes philosophy, everyone is always a little shocked.  Manny’s trying to be true to himself in a world where people may raise their eyebrows at his antics.  It’s nice that he has the back-up of adults who let him be exactly who he is.

I have to admit, it makes me pretty happy that the show that currently makes me laugh the hardest is something I can sit and watch with my tween cousins.  It says a lot that a show can be smart and funny, and simply be about getting along with your family.

My Hair is Beautiful, and Yours is, Too

I know these videos are getting posted everywhere, but I figure the more these images are out there, the more young girls are likely to view and hear some messages that are long overdue
The first is a song sung by the newest muppet on Sesame Street, and while not exactly appropriate for a tween’s interest spectrum, I believe that the message is important, especially for young girls reaching their tween years when image becomes more important.  I wish this muppet (she doesn’t seem to have a name yet) had been around when I was little.  Also, I agree with the comment made by an individual in the comment section of the Tell Me More blog entry “The Best Week Ever for Black Girls” on NPR.org that both videos are not just affirming to young Black girls, but girls of every background, the more empowered we feel as a gender the more positive vibes we can send to others in order to promote an overall well being that the world desperately needs right now.

I feel a little more mixed about Willow Smith’s video “Whip My Hair”.  I doubt she would have had this opportunity if she were not the daughter of Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith, and it makes me a little nervous that someone so young is thrust out into the lime light, but with that said, is she not fabulous?  She looks like she’s having a great time being dressed up, singing and busting moves.  The song is a cheeky response to our culture’s norms of beauty.  She may be 9, but I have to admit, I felt affirmed after watching this video.

The first video I couldn’t help but post, but I think the second one is appropriate for young tweens.    

Fast Forward by Lauren Greenfield.  Chronicle Books, 2004 (2^nd Edition).

My intention was to return to my own culture and re-explore an experience that was formative and about which I was ambivalent.

– Lauren Greenfield, 2005

Lauren Greenfield’s work in Fast Forward are the images that I’m most familiar with, but many of her bodies of work deal with the pressures facing children, tweens and teens in today’s capitalist culture.  This includes her work in Girl Culture and Thin. 

Greenfield grew up in Los Angeles, and attended the prestigious Crossroads high school, so many of her subjects in this book are close to home.

The funny thing is that I always feel more hope for the subjects in Joseph Szabo’s photographs than I do for Greenfield’s subjects.  The tweens and teens in Szabo’s photos may be working class, and may be a mess of emotions, but there is never the heavy handedness of pressures of parents, society and the media that is present in Greenfield’s photos.

In Fast Forward, her subjects have been naturalized into their environment.  They’re ability, desire and willingness to adapt is impressive and scary all at the same time, and you may find yourself (at least I did) questioning all the things you consider to be “normal”.

The presence or lack of money is an underlying theme in many of the photos, as well as the desire to be attractive to peers, and to live up to physical standards portrayed by the media.

I’m always struck by how old everyone looks, even though youth is such a commodity in Southern California, even the seven year olds look old in a strange way.  The images of Brandon and Cube kill me every time.

An interesting read for anyone 13 and older.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

The Edible Schoolyard by Alice Waters.  Chronicle Books, 2008.

Alice Waters explains the process that took place when the staff at Chez Panisse decided to take stake in the empty lot at the middle school down the street from the restaurant.  The text reads like a story, but it serves as a great guideline for how to create community and school gardens.  It is very cool to see all the people who get involved, and how the garden betters everyone life in return.  The bright photographs show the amazing transformation, from drab lot to vibrant garden, a place where the middle school students could learn, retreat, and garden.  The food they make looks amazing and by the end of the book you’ll be asking yourself why not all schools have gardens.

The book does a great job of capturing the perspectives of the different types of people involved in the project, from the restaurant staff, the teachers, school administration, the parents and most importantly, the students.  Also, I like how at the beginning they describe the initial dinner/gathering that the restaurant hosts at the school to get the students, parents, and school staff excited about the garden.  The students, who are all tweens, are tentative at first and worried about looking cool, but once they see the possibilities of potential of the garden, they become the project’s best asset.

I would recommend this book for anyone who is interested in starting a school or community garden.  It would be a great resource to help give tweens an idea about what having a school garden would do for their school.

The Wilderness Downtown

The Wilderness Downtown is an interactive film by Chris Milk.  The soundtrack is the song “We Used to Wait” by the Arcade Fire from their most recent album, The Suburbs.  It is dubbed a “Chrome Experiment” and must be opened in Google Chrome in order to work.

There are two reasons why I find this film, which I see more as a music video for the Arcade Fire, relevant to tweens. 

The first reason is while I find the use of surveillance data available on Google Maps simultaneously fascinating and disturbing, I wonder if tweens today who are inundated with so much digital and internet technology that allows for so much sharing to take place, would find this film normal in terms of the culture they live in today. 

The second reason is that when it came time to write a postcard to my formal self, I automatically began to write a note to my formal tween self.  Subconsciously, I knew that if I could really send a postcard back in time, that it would be my tween self who would need it most, who would enjoy the whimsy of receiving mail from the future the most, and who would be teetering on the verge of child and teen, a place where I would still believe that such magical things might be possible, while simultaneously appreciating the gift.  I wonder if other people sent postcards to their tween selves as well.  

I think this could be a fun experience for older tweens, maybe in the eighth grade.  They could write postcards to their younger tween selves.    

Justin Bieber vs. 500 Days of Summer

Here’s what happens in the Children’s Room at the library during summer vacation and seasonal breaks: the tween girls tend to either play digital paper dolls or watch Justin Bieber videos, over, and over, and over. 

With the tween boys, I have to worry about them cursing in response to losing their computer games.  With the girls, it’s a tad more comical.  They tend to try and sing loud enough so they can hear their own voices through their headphones.  Then, there are my cousins, who roll their eyes about the phenomenon that is Bieber Fever, while simultaneously quoting lyrics from his songs and scenes from his videos at the drop of a hat. 

So, I Googled Justin Bieber and watched the first video that came up, Baby featuring Ludicrous.

Bieber’s character is attempting to win back his crush in a bowling alley where he and the girl who has shunned him are surrounded by their friends.  There is a boys vs. girls mentality, and Bieber’s crush interest doesn’t appear impressed by Bieber’s heart felt lyrics.  That’s when the dance off begins.  Once Bieber and his friends begin to dance, and in so many movements, challenge their female counterparts to a dance off, the girls get interested.  Ludicrous raps while the tweens dance, as if narrating the scene taking place.  In the end, because of his stealth moves rather than his lyrics (even though he is known for being a singer), Bieber gets the girl.

  

The dance sequence in the bowling alley reminded me of the dance sequence in the movie 500 Days of Summer.  Both dance numbers take place in an ‘everyday’ setting, while paying homage to musicals.

Joseph Gordan-Levitt’s character Tom, leaves for work the morning after his first night spent with his love interest Summer, played by Zooey Deschanel (yeah, my friends and I kind of can’t get enough of her).  Like Bieber, Tom conveys his emotions to the audience through movement, rather than words.  Dance in the place of, or in conjunction to, dialog, seems to be effective.  My friends and I never really discussed any lines Gordan-Levitt said during the movie, but we were all quite taken by his dance scene.  We thought it was adorable, which means I guess we can sympathize with the girls in the library who watch the Justin Bieber videos over and over.  I wonder why members of the male gender dancing rather than speaking is seen and portrayed as appealing, and what the reasons are behind why it’s enforced as a mode of communication rather than dialog in certain instances. 

Tweenage

Almost Grown and Teenage by Joseph Szabo, 1978 and 2003.





Sometimes when it comes to media concerning tweens and teens I feel bombarded by images that are put out by the commercial mainstream, images that are promoting a product in order to make a buck.  This is why I find the images from photographer Joseph Szabo books Almost Grown and Teenage so refreshing.

 

There is nothing one dimensional about these representations of tweens and teenagers; however the images are simple while being artistic.

Szabo worked as a high school photography teacher (something we need more of in this day and age) for many years in Long Island.  Something that I have always cherished about his approach is that his subjects were the people he found all around him.  He didn’t travel all over the world in search of shocking, unusual or peculiar subjects, instead he gives tweens and teens the respect they deserve in these telling portraits.  Some of the looks on the subjects in the photos just kill me every time.

A great book for older tweens ages 12 to 14, especially those interested in experimenting/practicing with photography as an art medium and a form of self expression.

Tween Pics: Christina Balit

Sometimes younger tweens (and older tweens for that matter) want to settle down with a good old picture book.  This is a common occurrence when the 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th graders from the local charter school come in to check out books, someone always asks if they can borrow one of the pop-up books from the display behind the reference desk, many times they will check out a combination of chapter and picture books.  I try to keep an eye out for picture books that tweens will enjoy.  A main criterion for me is that the illustrations are complex, challenging, creative, and beautiful, much like the tweens that come into the children’s room.

One illustrator that I fell in love with at first book is Christina Balit. 

Once Upon a Starry Night: A Book of Constellations by Jacqueline Mitton illustrated by Christina Balit, 2004

Her illustrations are colorful and many times contain mixed media, making the images tactile and therefore engaging.

 Kingdom of the Sun: A Book of the Planets by Jacqueline Mitton illustrated by Christina Balit, 2008.

Also, the books she illustrates tend to contain information that tweens might find interesting, and Balit’s illustrations add even more incentive to delve into these topics including constellations, mythology and history.

The Adventures of Odysseus by Hugh Lupton illustrated by Christina Balit, 2006

I would recommend her books for anyone from 3^rd to 8^th grade, even though I love looking through the pages of her books, too.