[LM_NET] Share: 13 Going on 30

[Ed Nizalowski <ed.nizalowski@GMAIL.COM>]

I wanted to write a letter to TeenVogue regarding this article, but it
doesn't look like they accept letters to the editor.  I looked through
a few issues and found some "letters from the editor", but not the
other way around.  However, their website offers ample opportunity to
post comments.  This article has 14 of them so far and they can be
viewed without having to register.  They make for interesting reading.

This is the comment that I have submitted:

I wish to commend TeenVogue for its article in the May edition
entitled “13 going on 30”.  The pressure on teen girls to become
“sexy, sophisticated women of the world” is extreme in our culture and
any effort to counteract this trend is to be applauded.  However,
there does seem to be a conflict between this philosophy and that of
your advertising department.  Many of your ads, it would appear, are
promoting the “adult look inside an adolescent body.”  I would point
out ads for the following products: Mac Vivaglam, DKNY Fragrance, Zac
Posen, Prada, Just Cavalli eyewear, Juicy Couture and Daisy Fragrance.
 I could look at any of your past issues and find other ads that
represent “female provocateurs ready to conquer the opposite sex”.  I
do want to add that to Mac Vivaglam’s credit, all of its profits go
toward helping those affected by HIV and AIDS.
        Your magazine is one of the most popular in my high school.  I have
promoted the use of magazines for improvement of literacy for the past
25 years.  I think it is a resource for reading improvement and
comprehension that is being woefully ignored by the educational
community.  To your credit, you have consistently included articles in
each issue that deal with some of the serious issues facing both our
young people and society in general such as academic dishonesty,
cyberbulling, eating disorders, social networking sites, drunk driving
and STD’s.  Your December 2008 issue with Natalie Portman on the cover
was exceptional with articles on social consciousness,
environmentalism, global activism and school censorship.

I'll let you know what kind of feedback I get.

Ed Nizalowski, SMS
Newark Valley High School
Newark Valley, NY
enizalowski@nvcs.stier.org


“How long does it take to make the woods?  As long as it takes to make
the world.”
Wendell Berry, Sabbaths

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