Weekend at college and hometown blues

[kybearfuzz]

By some unforeseen scheduling hiccup, I managed to snag the day off and drive to my hometown to visit family. I stopped at Berea College on the way down to visit my favorite chemistry professor, Lee, before he left for Chicago (permanently). Instead I ran into my least favorite chemistry professor who was moving the new guy into Lee's now vacant office. Apparently, he left for Chicago two days ago :( So after some awkward chit-chat with least fave (I never bothered to put forth the effort to hide that I don't like him), I went around and took pictures of the campus. I'll post those when I get back to my house on Sunday.

So I made it to Corbin and stopped by Mom's to get caught up on the family gossip, usually involving people and places I don't remember, but that's life when you move away. Well, she dropped a good bomb on me this trip. Apparently, my first cousin's daughter is pregnant. And she's only FOURTEEN!!!! My cousin had to be stopped from hunting the daddy down with his gun (hey, this is KY after all). I don't know how old the dad-to-be is, but if he's 18 or older, I'll call the police myself. I could easily turn this into a rant about the sad state of sex education in KY schools or what stupid parents my cousin and his wife must be for not having the talk with his kids about sex, but ... I'm just too tired and surprised.

Tomorrow is my dad's side of the family reunion. The food is going to be incredible and fried, but it'll also be two hours of unfamiliar relatives telling me that they haven't seen me since I was "this high" (insert flat hand, palm down, about 2 1/2 feet from floor).

Comments

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Wow, being knocked up at fourteen does not surprise me at all and sadly, it's not just indicative of KY, but everywhere.

The way I see it is thus, parents get into a panty bind when they hear that sex ed is going to be taught in the schools, and yet, they can't be bothered to tell their own kids.

And add to that, the sad state of TV Ads etc that promote sexual aggression etc along with the old "you should not do that" and it's no wonder kids today are confused and often go after sex because it seems so "cool".

[rixtur.livejournal.com]

Fourteen?!?! I was a virgin until 22years old, and thats no lie.
Im sure you will be asked many questions at your reunion, like "where are all your girlfriends" and "when are you going to get married".

That's what I hate

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

That is what I dislike the most are those who assume that I'm automatically straight and therefore interested in girls without asking or anything.

[killerjoe.livejournal.com]

The first man I dated went to Berea College. Wow. Small world.

[ursaloco2.livejournal.com]

Don't assume that your cousin didn't have the talk with her.
Don't you watch Maury? :-) There are constant parades of very young girls who are adamant that they want babies. The parents can try their hardest, but kids will ALWAYS do what they want to do. And somehow, that always ends up being a poor reflection on people who, in some instances, did everything RIGHT.
Yes, sex ed sucks nowadays. BUT kids have much more access to information than we did when we were their ages. And, they're able to make more educated, though not necessarily as intelligent, choices.
I work with people all the time, trying to get them to accept some sense of personal responsibility for their actions, so perhaps that's why I'm so "it's not the parents' fault!"
Alas, people still think of someone who's 14 as uneducated and victimized when they turn up pregnant; however, they never think that treating a 14 year-old as uneducated can lead to them acting out in any number of ways, including sexually.

[bleuvalentines.livejournal.com]

Good grief ...

Well, hopefully you'll enjoy the rest of the weekend and fun at the reunion.