family

[Jo B. Frost]

Hey there all,

At the heart of most cynics is a diehard romantic. Are we not continuing
some teen-age surliness into our "more mature" discussions?

Your information about suicides, as far as I know, is not all that relevant
to the S&M anecdotal statistics. However, the main burden of prevention
lands on the RA's and dorm-life people who must watch constantly for signs
of depression and/or despair. Brian, I think you said that these people are
not going to reach out for help--almost any psychologist in a first year
class will tell you that a suicide attempt is the ultimate cry for help.
They might feel closed off and the word that comes to mind again is despair.
An attempt at networking with these kids provides them with one more
opportunity to have a link, whether they use it or not. When the alumni came
in for career day, the students that came were excited about the event. You
are right though that during the first year,  probably less than 10%
attended and I suspect that a person working with teens would say it was
uncool. The second year was much better attended and there was a lot of
eagerness from the students to see where alumni were going. I dealt with
some very frank and honest questions.

Man, I am so naive, I never thought about dating my little bro's or big bro.
And you are right, the connection dwindled over time. However, both of my
little bro's came to me at different times and I was one of the people that
noticed a long absence or some kind of abrubt change in their routines--I
was almost always there for them, although by the end of their first year
they had their own network, too. (Let's face it, I didn't date very much
anyway and don't now--leave that to the cynics.)

Again, in defense of Therese, alumni meetings were held with speaker phone
in place so that those who coiuld not be present were involved. For me,
living four hours away, an evening event is convenient. I can miss a 1/2 day
of work, attend an event and be back by mornign for child and work with a
little fun in between. Having an alumni event in October is not worth it for
me, just as over a school break would be inconvenient since son would also
be out of school. Some kids are not all that conducive to socializing with
adults--I was one and my son is one.

Did I get it all? Oh yeah, HEY Marci, and DeAnne, what was that address you
sent to me for my lovely Yule card. Are you harboring SECRETS?
Best, Jo