In honor of Banned Book Week 2024 (Sept. 22-28), I’m looking back at a poignant question posed to me two years ago by a 16-year-old. A Tennessee school district had just voted to ban Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel “Maus” about the Holocaust due to “inappropriate ...
Q.: Well, I’ve been back to school almost a month and it’s not what I hoped middle school would be. I was worried about it all of August and my mom said it’ll be fine. My gram said I was old enough to just deal with it. My dad said, be a man. I don’t feel like being a man. We had a lock ...
Q. My parents divorced when I was a little kid. Why is it suddenly bothering me now? I’m a senior. I think my life is going well. I have good grades, play a sport I love, have many good friends and just started dating someone I like a lot. I get along with both my parents, and they don’t ...
Q: I started reading your column in 8th grade because my dad made me read it, but for a while I’ve been reading it because I enjoy it. I like the way you listen to teens. I read your column where you supported an anxious college freshman. Your advice was excellent. I thought I’d write to ...
Q. I’m not a teen, but I need advice. I thought we were raising our three kids (two girls and a boy) to freely express emotions, but my 12-year-old son shocked me last week. My husband and I were discussing the social media reactions to Gus Walz’s tears. We were both dismayed at some truly ...
Q. Is it normal to feel so anxious I can hardly sleep? I leave for college soon. I’m a first-generation college student. My parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and the ladies at church are all so very proud of me. I worked hard to get here. I set a goal of graduating with ...
