Fashion bloggers are getting younger and younger. Girls as young as 14 are designing their own clothes lines and publishing them on their blogs. Because the internet is a modern way of getting ideas out in the open, a teenager’s opinion on the latest outfit could be given weight, just like an important fashion editor’s. Here’s a sampling of some of the top teenage bloggers.

First, is  The Cherry Blossom Girl, a blogger and designer from Paris. She does a lot of beautiful photography and her outfits seem as though they were made to go together. She has plenty to look at and admire. For as young as she looks, she sure has gotten a lot done -- including scarfs, belts,shoes, and bags) If you like photography, her blog is the place to go.

Second, TeenUgly, is one of the local crew in California. She puts out pictures with interesting captions at the side and adds in her own photo shoots here and there.  She has awesome outfits too. Here my three favorites-- Favorite outfit 1, Favorite outfit 2, Favorite outfit 3. For the most part, it’s a simple blog, easy to read easy, and to appreciate.

Third, is Style Bubble based in London. Her outfits are definitely weird, but the photography when it comes along, is beautiful. She’s always updated on the latest fashion trends and shows it to you through her pictures. Not only does she show clothes, but she’s constantly supplying images of crazy shoes.  Even though you may have to have a certain taste for her sense of fashion, you learn to think of it as interesting... (What’s up with the dead bird on her head?)

  Read more...

A new interactive map of juvenile justice disparities across the country has become available to the public. The tool also provides state-by-state statistics, like California's drug arrests between 2003 and 2006, which show that the number of African American youth arrested increased by six over that period, while the number of Latino youth arrested for similar offenses decreased by 21.

The San Francisco based nonprofit W. Haywood Burns Institute (BI)  released the “Racial and Ethnic Disparities Juvenile Justice Data Map” Wednesday. The Institute reports this the first time state-by-state data has been made available to the public. The map contains the following information for each state.

One-Day Count Incarceration Data: Publicly available counts and rates of youth in juvenile residential placement facilities on any given day by state, collected every two years from 1997-2006. The BI has displayed the information by the race/ethnicity of the juveniles.

Annual Juvenile Justice System Data by Decision-Making Point: The rate of involvement of youth in the juvenile justice system by decision-making point (arrest, court referral, secure detention, transfer, etc), where available, at the State and County levels.

Other Information Including: 1) Each State’s Three Year Plan for reducing Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC); 2) Contact information for each State’s Juvenile Justice Specialist and State DMC Coordinator; 3) States’ statutory guidelines for detention and age of juvenile jurisdiction; 4) Information about each State Advisory Group (SAG), which is responsible for monitoring and supporting their state’s compliance with the Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention Act (JJDPA).

(via W. Haywood Burns Institute)

Some notable data from a quick scan of the map's California statistics:

-In 2006, there were 3,024 Latino youth arrested for various offenses—making them the racial group with the highest number of arrests.

-The number of black and Latino youth incarcerated continues to increase.

-In 2007, there were 21,201 secure detentions of Latino youth, almost double the number of cases involving black youth.

A panel of top experts in the field of psychology is currently assembling the fifth edition of The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which will be known to medical professionals and crime fiction writers with a taste for the macabre as the DSM-V.

In the spirit of science, we offer the following five personality disorders encountered in the real time web, known colloquially as Twitter. Examine these closely to discover if you are among the afflicted.

HashTourettes (#HT)

Symptoms: Serialized use of hashtags to beat a joke, usually pun-based, to death.

While contributing one or two tweets to the latest #fourwordsaftersex or #drunkmovietitles meme is socially acceptable, a dozen plus entries in a self-generated “meme” like #thingsonlyIwouldsay issued in a two minute window is a sure sign of HashTourettes.

Treatment: Sufferers of #HT seek social approval. Withholding said approval is usually enough to curb the behavior.

Blog Anxiety Stutter Syndrome (BASS)

Symptoms:
A series of posts illustrating
     (7 minutes ago by web)
one coherent idea that doesn’t quite fit into
    (8 minutes ago by web)
the format of Twitter. These “bloggers manqués” would be better
    (10 minutes ago by web)
served by just biting the bullet and opening up a Wordpress,
    (15 minutes ago by web)
if only it didn’t take so long to sign up for one.
    (17 minutes ago by web)

Sufferers of BASS are likely classic narcissists with exceptionally low self-esteem, possibly stemming from childhood social trauma on the schoolyard. Convinced that no one would ever want to listen to them for more than 30 seconds, users with BASS become trapped in a downward spiral of negative reinforcement once their followers begin dropping them en masse because they won’t shut up.

Treatment: BASS sufferers respond well to group intervention tactics. A large group is recommended, as their narcissism demands an audience.

I admit it, I am a hat addict. In fact, I have a large collection of over 60 hats at my house, many of which I wear on a regular basis. Like most teenagers, I prefer officially licensed New Era 59fifty hats with authentic Major League Baseball logos. However, my taste in hats is a result of my affinity for baseball; unfortunately, for many inner-city teens, these hats hold a meaning that has its roots in gangs.

Gangbangers use these same New Era hats to identify their affiliations with their sets. For example, this red Washington Nationals cap has an interlocking "DC," which reportedly stands for "Death to Crips." On the flip side, this Colorado Rockies hat has been a widely known symbol of crip allegiance since the Rockies were established in 1993. Other teams with well-known "gang affiliations" include the Pittsburgh Pirates (the P stands for "P.I.R.U," another name for Bloods), the Los Angeles Dodgers (a well known Crip hat), the North Carolina Tar Heels (the "NC" stands for "neighborhood crip"), and the San Francisco 49ers (a widely used Norteno symbol).

In fact, the logos of the 49ers and the San Francisco Giants were recently banned from a Sonoma County (Calif.) middle school after school officials caught onto the hidden meanings behind the clothing. The interlocking SF that both teams use, which normally stands for San Francisco, is a Norteno symbol for "scrap free" or "Sureno free." However, most people are unaware of the hidden meaning behind these hats.

More after the jump

So the Oscars were amazing and Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were great hosts. Sadly, the dresses weren’t as great. Evidently ruffles are in now and EVERYONE is wearing them.

First up is Jennifer Lopez. I loved the color of the dress with her skin, but the style with the layers of puffed fabric coming from her hip, just made her butt look HUGE. It was like a light pink sea urchin.

Next is Zoe Saldana. I love this woman, but her dress is awful. It’s like puffs of purple that almost seem to resemble some of the plants in her latest movie Avatar. Also, the colors of the dress go from sparkling white, to a light purple waist that fails to hug in the right places, to a darker purple and then an almost blackish purple. The colors are not working for me at all and the cut is all wrong for a woman’s body.

The next dress is a dress worn by Vera Farmiga. It’s definitely one of the worst dresses so far giving that it looks like she’s wearing a deformed rose. The color I will admit is beautiful, but I only have one question -- how is she going to sit down in that thing?

So talking about roses, Charlize Theron managed to wear roses on her boobs. It's a dark pink dress, with light pink roses on her breasts than it flares out in the back to become like a short train of the lighter pink. The front actually hugs her body nicely. The roses just throw the whole thing off. Almost like you can’t look at her face because your so fixed on why she has roses on her chest.

Probably the worst dress was worn by Diane Kruger. It looks like birds made a nest on her body. It’s like there’s a band of feathers around her neck, waist, and then a weird ruffle thing and than another ring of feathers. The bottom of it looks kind of 1920’ish but for the most part, other than the bottom of the dress, I hate it. It’s absolutely awful and I have no idea what the designer was thinking.

So I hate Miley Cyrus with a very deep passion and her dress is only somewhat better. The top of the dress looks almost like lingerie and the strip around her waist makes her look a little pudgy but for the most part, it’s not half bad.

Now onto the good dresses…

I just celebrated my eighteenth birthday last week. I'm looking forward to more than just being able to go clubbing, buy cigarettes, and try my luck at lotto tickets. I can't wait to vote. And although that this is something I have been anticipating since middle school, I'm starting to get some cold feet.

Not only am I confused about what party to register with or how to vote on key issues, but I'm also uncertain about how to even go about registering. So to try to clear things up and make the process easier, I've put together a list of top five questions to think about when you're voting for the first time.

1. Whose side am I on?
I'm not sure which party to register with. Should I go ideological or practical? I am a fierce environmentalist but even I am not sure if I want to register as Green Party. It seems a lot more realistic to register as a Democrat because it is part of the two party system and is usually for environmental legislation, as opposed to Republicans. I’ll probably end up going for the more pragmatic solution to this problem, but I find it sad that third parties will probably never have a chance in this country.
 
2. Is this my Grandmother's Ballot?
Studies show, including The American Political Science Review’s article “The Influence of Parents on the Political Attitudes of Adolescents” that parents’ political views have a severe impact on children, and are likely to carry over into the child’s own views.

When I discuss any kind of politics with my friends, I think twice about if the opinions they voice or their own or if they are just repeating what their parents said at the dinner table. I know few young Democrats with Republican parents, and vise versa. I hope that everything I think isn’t just a direct copy of what my parents told me to think. I’ll have to disassociate from their views and think about my own if I don't want to be a regurgitating copy-cat.

read the rest of list after the jump

Before President Obama was elected he was able to connect and gain the support of young voters, but do young Americans still have his back? A study done by the Institute of Politics at Harvard University looks at young Americans’ attitudes toward politics and public service. The survey measures the extent to which young adults are likely to remain active in politics and public affairs. The survey looked at 3,117 young people ages 18 to 29. Questions ran the gamut of issues:

• Political preferences and activity, including voting in the 2010 midterms;
• Opinions of President Obama and Congress
• Trust in American and international institutions
• Political ideology and world view
• The personal effects of the current economy and
• The use of social networking tools such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

(via The Gaggle and Survey) 

The survey shows that young people are still cheering for President Obama despite sending more troops and the country's financial suffering. In fact 44 percent approve the way President Obama is handling health care. 46 percent feel he is handling our country’s economy the right way, 42 percent agree on his views on Iran and 43 percent in Afghanistan. Only 40 percent approve the way he is handling the federal budget deficit. Less than half of the 3,117 young people interviewed agree with the way he is handling things. But when ask “Do you approve or disapprove of the job performance of Barack Obama, Democrats in Congress, and Republicans in Congress? The numbers were higher for President Obama—56 percent feel comfortable with his job.

The survey also shed some light on the distrust young people have on American’s institutions. When asked “How often do you trust____ to do the right thing?” 53 percent said they trust the U.S Military to do the right thing while 11 percent trust Wall St. Executives. Do young people trust the President? According to this study only 44 percent of young people do. Young people have more faith in the Supreme Court and the U.S Military to do the right thing than the President. Should President Obama be worried that young people don’t fully trust him? Maybe he should if he plans to get re-elected.

The economy continues to be the main concern for young people with Health Care falling second. It’s obvious that President Obama needs to restore the U.S economy in order for young people to fully support him.

At the moment, less than one in four (23%) 18 to 29 year olds believe things are generally headed in the right direction, 36 percent say things are off on the wrong track -- with a slight plurality (40%) unsure which direction the country is headed.

Nicholas Sparks is raining in the big bucks. Two books have been made into movies this year: the romantic Dear John and  his new film,  The Last Song, which was written in just a few months. His new film centers around a seventeen-year-old girl visiting her father for the summer. Usually Sparks goes for an older couple, but in this case he specifically thought Miley Cyrus should play the seventeen-year-old girl Ronnie. The Cyrus family had asked Sparks if he had any movies she could be in and he sat down and got to work on the screenplay.

Then, he had the Cyrus family look over her part to see if Miley could play the character Ronnie. They loved the character and Sparks got to work on the book. When authors write, they usually start with the book -- any potential screenplay usually comes later.

I thought the book would be written more like a screenplay but that wasn't the case. The book was fantastic! Even though I'm not a huge fan of Miley, I think that she will play the part well. This movie comes out in April.  This movie has a lot of emotion which ranges from complete happiness to complete distress. I hope it's as good as all his others.

AT&T has a new campaign targeting people, especially youth who text while driving. The new campaign reminds people that no text is worth risking your own life and that "Txtng & Driving ... It Can Wait." The cell phone company is using real scenarios to get the message across. But coming up with this simple method was not simple at all.

“We explored several campaign concepts but we didn't have our 'aha!' moment until we asked one of our focus groups to take out their devices and read the last text they received," said Cathy Coughlin, senior executive vice president and global marketing officer for AT&T. "When we asked if that particular message was worth the potential risk of reading while driving at 65 mph, you could have heard a pin drop. That's when we realized the message 'it can wait' was effective in educating consumers about the dangers of texting while driving."

(via PR Newswire)

AT&T’s campaign encourages teens, parents, and high school educators to be proactive and spread the word through word of mouth or via Facebook. To honor the AT&T’s Facebook pledge not to text and drive, the company will donate $250,000 to one or more non-profit organizations focused on youth safety. The company has an online resource center in which people can watch commercials, download posters, brochures, safety tips, and rate their texting and driving IQ.
 

Washington, DC is the first city to give out free female condoms. It's also the city whose population has the highest HIV rate in the country. A study conducted in 2008 showed that 15,100 adults were infected with HIV in DC.

“The project is funded through a $500,000 grant from the MAC AIDS Fund, a subsidiary of MAC Cosmetics, which contributes to numerous city programs, including two of the city's needle exchange programs. The grant helped the city buy the condoms at wholesale prices from the Female Health Co. and provide them for distribution by social service organizations, including Planned Parenthood, the Community Education Group and the Women's Collective.”

(via Bossip and The Washignton Post)

Female condoms can also be found at beauty salons, convenience stores, and at high schools located in DC areas with high HIV rates. So the next time you buy hair products, don’t forget to grab a free condom on your way out.

Teenagers are not the only ones being targeted. Tweens are also being encouraged to use condoms. A condom manufacturer in Switzerland called Lamprecht AG is creating extra-small condoms for 12 year-old boys. The condoms are called “Hotshot” and the slogan, “it fits when passion hits”—is catchy. Hotshots are smaller in diameter, not in length. The average condom has a diameter of 2 inches, while the Hotshot has 1.7 inches in diameter and 7.4 inches in length. The company decided to create smaller condoms after a study showed that young teens or tweens were regularly engaging in unprotected sex.

To some, condoms made for kids in middle school may appear unseemly, but I think creating something that can reduce the risk of getting HIV is far more important.