(Updated on April 28, 2010)
The following was broadcast on KUNM FM, Albuquerque as part of a series Youth Speak Out, a collaboration between Youth Radio, Youth Media Project in Santa Fe, KUNM’s Youth Radio in Albuquerque, and New Mexico's Youth Alliance, made possible by a grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. For more information about Youth Speak Out go to www.youthradio.org/new-mexico.
by Bethany Trujillo
The first time I had sex, I got pregnant. I was fifteen years old and I didn’t have any feelings for the guy. We weren’t in a relationship and there were no emotional connections. I had sex with him because two weeks prior my best friend lost her virginity and I wanted to have the experience, too. It took me two weeks to finally get a hold of the guy, and when he found out he didn’t take it very well. He said that he didn’t want to be stuck with me for the rest of his life.
You can't imagine how hard it was to tell my mom that I was pregnant at the young age of fifteen. It shocked my mom because we had never discussed sex before. But, it went better than I expected. She was mad, but understood. She told me that she would support me regardless of my decision. She was afraid that I wouldn’t graduate high school or be as successful as I could be if I was raising a child.
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(Updated on May 03, 2010)
The following was broadcast on KUNM FM, Albuquerque as part of a series Youth Speak Out, a collaboration between Youth Radio, Youth Media Project in Santa Fe, KUNM’s Youth Radio in Albuquerque, and New Mexico's Youth Alliance, made possible by a grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. For more information about Youth Speak Out go to www.youthradio.org/new-mexico.
by Sienna Sanchez
A recent Santa Fe Public School Board meeting about DWI and teen drinking left a bad taste in my mouth. There was a lot of talk about adding more abstinence programs in schools and steps they can take to try and stop kids from drinking. The school board seems to think that making more rules and punishments for teenagers will prevent teen drinking and driving, but I disagree. They like to show a lot of graphs and charts of surveys they have done asking youth about their drinking habits. Apart from the fact that a lot of those written surveys aren't taken seriously at all by the people who are forced to take them--namely youth and students--how often does telling teenagers NOT to do something really deter them?
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Like most teens you know, I am a texting addict. I decided to deprive myself from texting for a week-- but, could I handle it?
Each day I felt like something was missing -- the same way coffee drinkers feel without their morning coffee. I longed for the feel of the buttons underneath my fingers.
My week of no texting messed up my schedule. I was constantly receiving texts, then waiting for a convenient time to call my friends back. Often I would call back too late and miss plans.
I was fine for about two days, but then on the third, I was sick at home and under the influence of cold medicine. I got a text from a friend telling me to watch our favorite TV show. Without thinking, I pressed the letter K and with just one letter, I had broken my no texting streak.
Now that I’m back to texting, all I can say is that I’m never going to deprive myself again. Texting makes my life easier and is part of who I am.
Previously:
- Teen Drivers And Texting
- Is Texting Ruining Teen Communication Skills?
- Is Texting Ruining the English Language?
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In my family, most information about sex was withheld until my late teenage years, when they suddenly deemed me old enough to hear about it. Now that the teenage years are permanently behind me, my family talks about sex around me left and right. One thing that hasn't changed is the wide-eyed look of confusion that pops up on my face whenever I hear their candid discussion of (what I think is too much) sexual information. Read more...
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