Savannah Sowell Although we have explored multiple working conceptions of adolescence over the course of this class, most involve some level of formulation of a more concrete sense of self. This is a pretty broad theme, and one we have thoroughly delved into, but up until now when I was asked to synthesize some of … Continue reading Balancing Family and Fitting In →

Sophia Boquist Early in the course, we established that adolescence is a time of profound change in an individual’s life: we realize the ugliness of the world along with the good, we struggle through physical and identity transformations, and we learn, slowly but surely, how to find our place in the complex spaces we inhabit—sometimes by forcibly creating a place … Continue reading What Makes Adolescence Meaningful? →

History books have given many Americans the false perception that the United States had gotten rid of racism from the Civil War and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Though, in 2020, the harsh reality is that Black people are killed and incarcerated at an unproportionally high rate. Even though slavery has been abolished … Continue reading Still in a Dreadful Nation →

Adolescence is commonly defined as the developmental stage from childhood to adulthood. However, we learned that this stage of development is a relatively new idea. We say that it is a period for children to discover their identity and decide who they want to be. This freedom for self-discovery was not always an option for … Continue reading The Future of Adolescence →

Jaya King The majority of the books we have read this semester have been focused around characters from oppressed groups. It poses the question as to whether this period in one’s life is more difficult when they come from marginalized groups. Or if the authors purposefully choose these groups because some of their struggles are … Continue reading Adolescence in Marginalized Groups →

The past is a fascinating aspect of time. Compared to the present and future, it holds the most certainty, which makes sense… It already happened. I can say what I had for dinner last weekend, but I can’t say exactly what decisions I’ll make every passing moment (and I especially can’t tell you where I … Continue reading Puzzles of the Past →

By: Carson Zaremski Remember back when you were a little kid, and everyone knew what they wanted to be when they grew up. Some people wanted to be astronauts while others wished they could become princesses or professional athletes. As kids, we would often dream of what we wanted to become and even pretend that … Continue reading Living Your Dream →

By Maggie Packard             As someone who almost exclusively reads young adult literature, I have read my fair share of coming-of-age novels. Some of the more generic books pretty much blend together, and if you asked me to describe the plot of some of them, I probably could not tell you. However, every so often one … Continue reading Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of Adolescence →

By Linda Jiang As a closure for myself, I'm going to write a blog about healthy developments in adolescents. Healthy developments refer to children of all abilities to grow up where their social, emotional, and educational needs are met. Having a safe and loving home where adolescents feel comfortable is essential. But what happens when … Continue reading Healthy Development →

The monster wasn’t always under the bed. Just as it didn’t always have fangs, or claws, or blood-red eyes, it could be found in the wardrobe, the closet, and, in some cases, the mirror. The monster follows you wherever you are, and wherever you go; it takes on the shape and form of the society, … Continue reading Society Makes Monsters of Us All →