The transition to high school is or was incredibly awkward for so many of us--and not just because of increased academic responsibilities and challenges. There's hormones and body changes. There's discovering identity in the face of societal, marketing, and peer pressure. And there's negotiating relationships including those with romantic potential. Erin Entrada Kelly and Kwame Mbalia nicely address that awkwardness in their On Again, Awkward Again.
Pacy is a big time Star Trek fan who caries her enthusiasm over into regular life. She considers most of her new classmates to be Borgs. She has a younger sister for whom everything comes so much easier: academics, extracurricular, relalationships.
Cecil copes with irritable bowel syndrome and major league allergies. These do not exactly do wonders for his social life. His perfect sibling is his older brother, Cedric.
Although Pacy and Cecil develop a mutual crush in a first day of school encounter in the school nurse's office has the social skills or self confidence to pursue it. Then they both end up on the committee to plan the freshman dance. Will this mutual engagement be the catalyst to convert crush into romance or drive them even further apart? Only one way to find out.
There's only one this I seriously dislike about this book and a lot of other YA volumes. I've hit the point where I have to see something/say something. Ageism is one of the few acceptable stereotypes in America. Too many YA authors take advantage of this. Writers who would never commit sexist, homophobic, ableist etc microaggressions portray older people as doddering, clueless, and feeble, basically falling apart at the seams. And this does matter immensely for at least three reasons.
1) Older people are as diverse a group as any other demographic. Some of us are still very much in the game. At 73 (and after a stroke) I just earned my masters degree from Maine's flagship university the month after performing in the school's drag show to thunderous applause and $94 in tips. Would you say I'm not exactly doddering?
2) Driving a wedge between older people and youth is wrong. Both groups have so much to offer each other. That's why I love working with undergrads so much and they adore me. And some of us are as passionate about the environment, Black Lives Mattering, and other crucial social justice issues as we were back in the day. It takes a village to save a planet.
3) All the clues younger people are given about aging will effect the quality of their life in their older years. Now and as they enter the workforce they are bombarded with messages from the media, Hallmark cards, the plastic surgeons who make big bucks off their fear of not looking younger, and so many others that preach that from a certain age it's all decline. There are even doctors who see clinical depression as inevitable and consider referring older adults to a counselor a waste of time and money. What RESEARCH tells us is that people who go through their adult years with a positive view of aging not only are healthier and happier and more engaged and connected as they get along in years, they tend to live over seven years longer than their more pessimistic about aging peers.
So how about it, YA authors--can you please portray us with the same dignity and respect for our diversity and humanity as you do for other marginalized groups?
On a personal note, I'm really starting to like my Riverside Park walking loop. Yesterday I noticed a note on a nearby house's lawn: help yourself to raspberries. I sure did. I also this amazing sign on the property that I'll share with you tomorrow. Today I saw a 🐿 and a 🐍 and I got a picture of the 🐍.
A great big shout out goes out to the people kind enough to share their raspberries.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
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