From Boys to Men
I don't think any publication in America reports on what it's like to be an adolescent boy better than The Baltimore Sun does. I keep seeing stories in the Sun that probe deeply and insightfully into the lives of boys who are climbing the path to adulthood.
Last week the Sun's Kevin Van Valkenburg and Lem Satterfield profiled the boys on the Edmondson's Red Storm football team as they prepared for a game against their arch rivals. To report "The Big Game," Satterfield and Van Valkenburg visited players' homes, drove to school with them, sat in on classes and attended practices. And of course they watched the big game itself. The result is the kind of nuanced portrait of high school athletes that we rarely see. http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/bal-edmondson,0,2146889.special?coll=bal-home-utility
In another gem, the Sun's Abigail Tucker writes about two brothers, ages and 17 and 15, who watch out for each other after their parents die. "Two Brothers Make a Family" is a special kind of love story about how deeply two boys can care for each other. Thank you Brian Summers for suggesting this one. http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/lifestyle/bal-te.to.brother31dec31,0,5215651.story
Last May I featured another beautiful story by Tucker, "Rapping about a Lifetime of Pain," about two brothers who together "dreamed about riding in a limousine to somewhere that wasn't a funeral" but ended up making very different choices in life. Unfortunately, the Sun's Web site requires payment to see the full story.
One of my earliest News Gems highlighted "On Their Own" by reporter Liz Bowie and photographer André Chung of the Sun. Chung and Bowie spent much of a school year with high school seniors Iven Bailey and Gary Sells, two of 2,289 homeless students in Baltimore. The series is a moving tale of two young men trying to find hope while struggling with little help from their families against desperate odds. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-ontheirown,1,7025182.special?coll=bal-home-utility
Do you know of any other publications or outlets who are doing a great job of covering of covering American youth? Leave me a comment if you do.