Jamie Janosz

In evaluating the value of media, some critics find it helpful to ask whether the media is prescriptive or descriptive. In other words, does it describe reality - even tough reality - or is it trying to "prescribe" what we (and our children) should think or do? While many Christians would hope to shelter their children from difficult subjects, most of us agree that addressing tough topics can be important. We want our kids to make right choices, but we don't want them to be completely naive and unaware of this difficult and sinful world that they must exist in. We want them to engage in descriptive television shows and books that teach them about tough subjects. That is why we have them read books about the Holocaust or think through tough ethical issues like the death penalty and racial inequality. What we fear, as parents, is that some of these tough shows about tough subjects will actually educate and indoctrinate our kids with the depravity of their generation. Th...

If you walk through the young adult section of any bookstore, you won’t be able to miss her books. Sarah Dessen’s books have lovely covers of soft focused girls holding flowers or standing on the dock wearing rolled up blue jeans. They have just as lovely titles like: Just Listen, Keeping the Moon and The Truth About Forever . They are middle school chick lit…books about girls and problems and relationships and falling in like (as I call it) and worrying about our looks and getting along with mom. If you want to learn more about Sarah Dessen, check out her web-page and blog at: www.sarahdessen.com. She is hugely popular with the young adult audience and has just published her tenth novel. Sarah never intended to write for teens. Born in Illinois, she grew up in North Carolina, the daughter of two professors. She loved to read and write. She says that, “When I was eight or nine my parents gave me an old manual typewriter and a little desk in the corner of our den, and I'...

Henrietta Leavitt had an unusual talent. She was good at counting stars. In the 1800s, Henrietta was employed by Harvard University to begin a massive project. The university wanted to produce a careful record of the position, brightness and color of every star in the sky. At this point in history, the computers we rely on today were non-existent. In addition to basic calculators, the scientists depended on a different type of sophisticated machine: the human brain. Scientists like Miss Leavitt were paid about 25 cents an hour to look at photographs of the night sky – counting, measuring and recording the stars. Henrietta found that she was very good at this job. She began volunteering at the observatory in 1893 when she was just 25. The eldest daughter of a minister, Henrietta wanted more than anything else to learn astronomy. She was also highly educated, receiving training from Oberlin College and Radcliffe. Despite her troubles with increasing hearing loss and poor heal...

UPDATE: I had a wonderful time talking with WMBI Radio program host Nancy Turner about our kids and the media. If you'd like to listen to my segment, feel free to go to this page and click on the Listen tab under my name. http://www.moodyradiochicago.fm/rdo_programToday.aspx?id=44985

When my daughter was little, I tried to keep her from hurting herself. We put safety latches on drawers and moved sharp and breakable objects out of her reach. But with each year, our parental efforts to safeguard her existence get more difficult. While she has changed and grown and matured, our instinct, as parents, is still to keep her safe, to keep her from harm. I was thinking about this as I watched one of my favorite television series, The Gilmore Girls . In the show, there is a Korean mother and daughter, Mrs. Kim and her daughter Lane. Mrs. Kim owns an antique shop and keeps her daughter close at hand. She attends church regularly and forbids her daughter to talk to boys. She wants to keep her daughter pure and safe. There is only one problem. Lane. Lane is a delightful character. In the series, we watch as she progresses through junior high, high school, and college. She is sweet and funny and kind and awkward. She also is a HUGE fan of all sorts of music – music of ...

My mom retired yesterday after nearly four decades as a teacher. This is my letter to her: Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to be a teacher, just like you, mom. I remember playing school with dolls and friends, passing out worksheets and writing on a chalkboard. I would mimic all of the things I had seen you do in your real-life classroom. You have taught school for as long as I can remember. I always loved going with you to school. In those early summers, when you were teaching in Thornton, in those non-air-conditioned classrooms, I would get a cold bottle of grape pop in the vending machine and help you cut out construction paper alphabet letters for your bulletin board. I loved watching you help boys and girls learn to read and write and add and subtract. Your students loved and respected you. Your classrooms were colorful and interactive and always well organized. I remember your first days at Glenwood School. As I rode onto the campus for my first visit, I was i...