Archives for July 2011

Through her Love is Louder campaign, it seems that starlet Demi Lovato is hoping she will not be another Lindsay Lohan, known for her struggles in rehab.

Now equipped with the words “Stay Strong” tattooed on her wrists and a new hit single, Lovato has pulled herself up using the Love is Louder campaign through battles with bulimia and being checked into a health center.

The Love is Louder campaign has been both an inspiration and support for teens who share similar struggles as Lovato.

Though the campaign was started by actress Brittany Snow, MTV and the Jed Foundation, Lovato has recently come on as a supporter with Seventeen magazine.

While Lovato was getting help, Seventeen magazine got letters from young girls that confessed how they cut themselves and developed eating disorders in order to deal with the feeling of being overwhelmed.

“We were looking for a way to help the girls cope,” said Seventeen Senior Editor, Jane Bianchi.

The campaign has given teens such as Ashley Heard hope that she is not alone. She said she felt grateful that she wasn’t the only one feeling the way she did.

“It made me appreciate the people around me, and appreciate the situation I’m in,” the 15-year-old said.

A fan of Lovato’s and the campaign, Ashley heard about the fact that Lovato was bullied during school because girls thought she was fat. Lovato developed an eating disorder soon after.

According to Bianchi, Seventeen wanted to start something that would shed light on the issues girls experienced and support them. The magazine, along with the Jed Foundation, heard about Lovato’s struggles, and decided to contact her publicists with the idea about the campaign because they thought she would be a good role model for teens due to her recent issues.

Once published, the story reached millions.

“The story just didn’t happen in the magazine,” Bianchi said. “It was viral.”

Once the story hit, a multitude of teens began following the campaign through social media sites. The campaign’s Facebook page alone has more than 70,000 fans. Celebrities such as Miley Cyrus, Colton Haynes and all the nominated Miss Americas have uploaded pictures of themselves with the Love is Louder symbol.

By the time the campaign became especially popular, teens followed celebrities’ footsteps and photographed themselves with ‘Love is Louder than the Pressure to be Perfect’ written on their hands.

Fifteen-year-old Kinyanna Evans said, “I would take a picture of my hands. I’m [Lovato’s] biggest fan.”

Last month, on June 23rd, I went to the Owl City All Things Bright And Beautiful concert, in Roseland. I went with two of my friends. I am probably the biggest fan of Owl City, and since this was basically the first concert I had ever been to, the whole day was a pretty big deal to me.

Christina Hong, 16, admits that even though she cares a lot about the grades that the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene gives out to restaurants, it’s not the first thing she notices when going out to eat.

She says she doesn’t always pay attention to the grade in the window, but if she happens to notice, she won’t step foot into a restaurant if it doesn’t have an “A” grade.

“I’m one of those people who is constantly paranoid of food poisoning,” she said.

Teenagers all over the city are having mixed responses to the restaurant grades given by the DOH. Some teenagers notice the grade and only eat at certain places, where other teenagers don’t care too much about them.

Some teenagers’ restaurant choices have changed since the DOH has required eateries to post their grades. 

Nadine Ruiz, 18, says she pays attention to grades and certificates posted by the DOH. Although she would prefer to see her “usual and favorite eating spot has a high grade,” she does not walk past a restaurant if it has a “B” grade.

“Clean and a ‘B’ grade? Sure,” she said.

In some cases it is an issue of affordability.

“I can’t always afford to eat at a place with an ‘A,’” Ruiz said.

Hong and Judith Vigliotti also said some restaurants with an “A” are more expensive than they wish, but both are willing to spend the extra money for a top-graded restaurant.

Another reason why some teenagers eat in a restaurant with a “B” grade is because it just doesn’t matter to them.

Ruiz will eat in places that say “Grade Pending,” and says her friends agree with her. One of her friends, Caleb Olvera, 16, has the same views of the DOH’s restaurant grades.

As long as the food tastes good and they can afford it, then it “doesn’t really matter” whether it has an “A” or a “B,” both Ruiz and Olvera said.

Sixteen-year-old Vigliotti at first said she doesn’t eat at a restaurant with a “Grade Pending” sign and if it looks dirty.

But Vigliotti gave the benefit of the doubt.

“Every restaurant said ‘Grade Pending’ at some point,” she said.

Vigliotti kept reviews and reputation in mind when going out to eat. Prior knowledge of whether a restaurant has good reviews or is popular helped Vigliotti make her decision.

But when she learned what a “Grade Pending” sign meant, she started changing her mind.

On the DOH website, it says a restaurant can contest the violations against them, and while they’re waiting to contest their results at the agency’s Administrative Tribunal, “the restaurant has the option to post either the preliminary grade or a card that says “Grade Pending.”

Once Viglotti learned this, she said “why would you want to hide an ‘A’ grade?” and said she would no longer be eating at a “Grade Pending” restaurant.

The DOH website also states that a restaurant with an “A” grade can have “0 to 13 points for sanitary violations.” This worried Hong, and she said that she does not even feel 100 percent comfortable with an “A” grade now.

Hong also says that even a “Grade Pending” sign is important.

“I will not go in that restaurant,” she said.

When Richard Desjardin,16, scrolls down his newsfeed on Facebook, he gets annoyed when he sees that some of his friends have updated their statuses six times in the last ten minutes.

“Why do I need to know that your dog just took his first bath? I don’t even care,” he said.

Complaints like Richard’s have become increasingly common among young social media users.

“If you’re in the party tweeting about how poppin’ the party is, then the party isn’t that live,” said Chris Rivera, 21. “Or you’re a lame for sitting in the corner on your phone.”

Many teens are becoming fed up with their friends who tell everyone, everything that happens in their lives, all the time.

“There’s no need to put your whole life on Facebook,” said Bruce Simms, 17. “Updating your status that many times is pointless.”

Some teens believe that every detail of their personal lives should be on the Internet while others consider this excessive sharing.

Not only is it pointless and annoying, “It’s just way too much information,” said Raychelle Lohmann, former high school counselor, psychologist and author. She noticed some teens have an “impulsive need to respond to messages the instant they are received” and to update their statuses periodically.

“People don’t need a play by play of your day,” said Lohmann.

Teens like Marc Cancel, 16, agree with this. He really hates when people update too much, saying that when people post too much he cannot see what “other people are talking about today.”

He posts a couple times a day, and sometimes every other day if he is really busy.

Similarly, Richard tries not to update his status more than six times a day to avoid being annoying. He said he posts to let people know when he’s busy and when he becomes available again to avoid having people call or text him while he is doing something important.

However other teens post more frequently.

“I post what happens,” said Angelica Chin, 16. “It’s called a status update for a reason.”

Whenever something happens that she finds “interesting or funny” she posts it on either Facebook or Twitter. She admitted to posting once and hour most of the time, and even said she had posted multiple times in ten minutes on more than one occasion.

“It’s my Facebook” said Angela Ali. “I don’t care what people think about me. I can post whatever I want, whenever I want, and if you don’t like it then block me or delete me.”

However, “It’s not just your Facebook when you’ve invited all your friends to view it,” Lohmann said.

“I hate seeing the same person update their status so much, it starts to clog my newsfeed and time line,” Rivera said.

When Richard and Marc see that people are updating too much, or updating about things they do not care about, they either block them on Twitter, or remove them from their newsfeed on Facebook. Neither however, would go as far as to delete them from their friends.

“It’s not serious enough to delete them, they’re just status updates” Marc said.

However, “If you’re sitting there updating your status that much, then you can’t really be doing anything important,” Richard said.

Yesterday was a huge day for someone, as his best friend said goodbye and moved to Denmark. Who knows how long it will be until they see each other again. He let a few tears fall as we drove home, farther away from one of the most important people in his life, I thought about my life and my friends. I thought about how it would feel to let them go like that. I don’t have a lot of friends. I mean real friends, not those people that are your acquaintances. The people who you actually trust with your life, someone who you consider family. For me, that’s only three people. No matter what happens, I know I’ll be fine with those three.
 

Sixteen year-old Stanley Chan’s wish to be married in France may not be such a distant dream after all. 

Now that same sex marriage is legal in New York, Stanley like many gay teenagers, can see their future marriage plans come true. Though, it may be years before they walk down the aisle, gay teens still feel affected by the passing of the Marriage Equality Act.

The act allows gay and lesbian teens the chance to have a choice they never had before.

“There are [many alternatives to marriage], but it’s good to have every option available. I know a lot of LGBT individuals that don’t want to get married,but they still want the option to do so,” said Stanley, a member of Stuyvesant High School’s Gay Lesbian and Straight Spectrum club.

 â€œI used to wonder whether or not I’d be able to get married here in 20 or so years whereas now, I know I will be able to,” he said.

The legalization also provides LGBT teens the knowledge that they too have the same rights as heterosexual teens.

Sixteen-year-old Isaac Park, a gay student at Queens High School for the Sciences, said, “I’m glad we’re given the same God-given rights. Everyone should be able to love… This is one step further towards acceptance.”

However, not all teens agree with this.

“The legalization may make others believe in growing acceptance, but I know that I am not anywhere near close to accepting,“ said 17-year-old Lillian Puk.

Lillian, who  participated in a public protest against same-sex marriage on July 24, said, “This is not going to change the way I feel.”

Anthony Dong, another LGBT teen, realizes this.

Indifferent to the legalization, Anthony, a member of an Ultimate Frisbee team, said, “People will not just start accepting because of this [Marriage Equality Act]. Actually I think they [people against same-sex marriage] will get angrier now, since they finally lost a very long battle.”

It certainly was a long battle for the legalization of same-sex marriage.

Back in 2004, 25 same-sex partners in New Paltz were married by Mayor Jason West. Days later, the Ulster County District charged West with only 19 of the misdemeanor charges for performing them.

The New Paltz marriages sparked countless court cases contesting their  constitutionality. More than seven years later, on June 24, the Marriage Equality Act, a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, was passed in the New York Senate.

The legalization made New York the 5^th and largest U.S. state to recognize same-sex marriages.

Thirty days after the law passed, more than 800 same-sex couples were married in New York City, according to USA Today. 

“These marriages took forever to happen, so I am so happy for these marriages!” said 14 year-old Kristie Goon, a LGBT teen and member of her school’s soccer team.

“[I am also happy] for myself because now I can see myself with a ring and a fluffy white wedding dress,” cheered Kristie.

Members of the Harvey Milk School are also enthralled by the legalization.

“Personally and professionally, I have been thrilled by this [Marriage Equality Act],” said Thomas Krever, executive director of the Harvey Milk Institute, which runs the school that acts as a  refuge for LGBT teens who have been bullied in school for their sexual orientation.

Krever says LGBT teens at the school and all around the nation will be affected by the legalization because it “sends a clear message that they have a future that will provide them all with the same life as heterosexuals.”

But, like most teens the concept of marriage is a ways off for Park, the Queens high school student. “I’m only 16.,” he said.”I don’t think I’m going to get married for a while now.”