Reading My LiveJournal
By now, many of us know about the popularity of internet sites like MySpace and LiveJournal, where youth can build social networks and publish their writing. For many teens, internet sites like these have replaced journals with locks and keys, as youth post their most intimate thoughts and activities on their MySpace and LiveJournal pages. Youth Radio's Bly Lauritano-Werner debates with her mom over whether or not mothers have the right to read their children's online blogs.

Singing the Blues
When Youth Radio's Jordan Monroe surveys his friends' taste in music, he's worried about the future of the blues. He says in the days of blues musicians like Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters, artists who first picked up guitars when they were kids, blues used to be incorporated into lives of many African American communities. But Jordan doesn't see that happening anymore. Today, kids rap instead of singing the blues. So in this personal reflection, Jordan tries to save the music he calls his "ladylove."

My Dad On TV
Youth Radio's Jordan Monroe grew up with a few dads...virtual ones. Because his own father was absent from the homefront, Jordan looked to male role models on television for guidance when he was a young man. Now that Jordan's a father, he catches himself acting like his TV dads and, as Fathers Day approaches, thanks them for the lessons they taught him about relationships and responsibility.

Depression after Combat
Army Specialist Abbie Pickett signed up for the Wisconsin National Guard when she was just a high school junior, eager to serve her country. When she returned home from combat in Iraq, she was depressed, suicidal and on medication. Specialist Pickett shared her story about living with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Leaving the Mountains
There are many parts of the country where illegal immigration is not a pressing issue... Places far from any U.S. border; places where the economy isn’t strong enough to attract workers. But some Americans in these places see a direct link between their experiences and the experiences of the millions of immigrants who cross the border illegally for economic reasons. Nineteen-year-old Machlyn Blair lives in rural Kentucky and finds the current immigration debate relevant to his life, and the history of his family.

Children as Medical Interpreters
The California Senate is considering a bill that proposes banning young people from translating in all medical situations. If passed, the legislation would have far reaching effects, in hospitals, clinics, and even private doctor’s offices. There are already regulations that require HMO’s to cover the cost of translators. Unfortunately, state government has trouble enforcing them. The bill’s author Assemblyman Leland Yee says using children as translators is poor medical practice. But Youth Radio’s Antony Jauregui reports the issue is more complicated than meets the eye.

Price for Protest
Young people have been playing a major role in the recent activism around immigrant rights. Los Angeles saw record numbers of protesters marching against House bill 4437 in March. L.A. was also the first city where masses of students organized walkouts from school. This Monday, May 1st, another large protest is expected across the country. Various student and immigrant rights groups are organizing boycotts of work and school. The movement is dubbed “A Day Without an Immigrant.” Youth Radio’s Jennifer Obakhume says students are suffering the consequences of having spoken out last time. Some are now facing punishments of detention and worse... (April 28 on NPR's Day to Day)

Female Genital Mutilation
For those who practice it, female circumcision is a highly valued ritual in which all or part of the female genitals are removed. For some, its purpose is to mark the transition from childhood to womanhood. According to UNICEF, an estimated two million girls around the world, mostly in Africa, are at risk of undergoing female circumcision every year. 17-year-old Ayan Hussein was a young girl when she was circumcised. She sent Youth Radio her story. (April 10 on NPR's News & Notes with Ed Gordon)

Family Ties and Iraq
Youth Radio has been gathering the voices of troops returning home from Iraq since the beginning of the war. Specialist Richard Denny is originally from Knoxville, Tennessee. He is stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and was deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq for 12 months, returning to the states in November 2004. He’s from a family of military men. Both his father and his brother have done tours of duty in Iraq. But Richard explains that since he returned to his base North Carolina, he’s realized his war experiences are hard to share, even when he’s with his family in Tennessee.(February 23 on NPR's All Things Considered)

Black Market for ADD Drugs
Sales of popular Attention Deficit Drugs like Ritalin and Adderall added up to over 2.7 billion dollars in 2004, with more than 33 million prescriptions filled in the U.S. That’s according to the prescription auditing firm IMS Health. Youth Radio’s Michelle Jarboe is part of what some people call the “Ritalin generation” because her peers have been familiar with Attention Deficit drugs since elementary school. Now that her generation has hit college, ADD drugs have become a hot commodity as a study aid and even a party drug. Michelle reports from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, her alma mater, on the black market for these drugs on campus. (February 9 on American Public Media's Marketplace)

Savoring the Weekends
With the various distractions of this day and age, procrastination is a pastime of many, and some have even mastered it as an art form. Youth Radio's David Barber-Callaghan is one of many youth who fall victim to the lure of the weekends. He waits 'til the last possible minute before he decides to do his homework-- even though he's had a very close call. (February 5 on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday)

Race Relations and MLK
South Los Angeles Area New High School #1, known by its students as Santee High, is 92% latino, 7% African American and 1% students of other ethnicities. Last month, the school experienced two days of rioting between black and Latino students. Weeks after a spike in racial tensions and days before a holiday celebrating the legacy of the late civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, we wondered what the atmosphere was like. We asked Youth Radio’s Jennifer Obakhume to find out. (January 16 on NPR's Day to Day)

Growing Up in a Coal Community
For people in Letcher County Kentucky, the media coverage of the mine disaster in West Virginia brings back many of the same images that they saw broadcast in 1976 when they had their own disaster at their local Scotia Mine. Youth Radio's Natasha Watts is a college student who lives in the area, and although she wasn’t alive during the 1976 disaster, she’s grown up seeing the ripple effects on the community. She describes what it’s like to live in a community where coal is your life, and sometimes your nemesis. (January 10 on NPR's Morning Edition)