I wanted to weigh in on the readings for March 10th since I wasn't in class-I know that as a long retired young adult my opinion doesn't count anymore but I have to congratulate myself on finishing the book Paranoid Park because it was a struggle. The problem for me was an inability to to connect to any of the characters-the nameless character and his whiney girlfriend failed to engage me (the plot developed while leaving the main characters behind) and even as what should have been an intriguing plot unfolded I was simply bored. I have not read any other works by Blake Nelson so it's not totally fair to judge-but I just wondered how would a teen stay interested in such a slow moving story? Anyway, one aspect that I did deem from this book (and the unresolved ending leaves a lot of openings for further discussion) was that a parent/teacher/librarian could use it as a tool for a conversation about responsibility. I believe that Paranoid Park raised important issues regarding a young person's struggle with independence versus asking for help-who do I ask, who can I ask, what are the rules or consequences-and perhaps a teen could relate with the skateboarder character's dilema to make the right choice in a difficult and unguided situation.
The subject of responsibility is tied too with the readings about copy written material and secrecy within on-line social networks. I think a similar (remove the death from the equation) dilema is posed to teens when confronted with endless opportunities to access on-line content which meets their wants and needs but do not quite understand the boundaries of legality-why is it out there if it's not allowed, other people do it so why shouldn't I, lots of adults do it too- it is a hard and confusing choice to make.
The same rings true for teens facing responsibility issues in their social networks on-line. The boundaries are fuzzy and although the companies claim to "put the power in [their] users' hands to make choices about how they reveal information" (Chris Kelly, DOPA) the consequences of good versus poor choices made concerning privacy and safety by even the most savvy teen given so much responsibility can haunt them for the rest of their life---see Paranoid Park for details.
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Very interesting. One thing kept coming to mind when I read your post - what would teens say about your ideas related to social networking and Paranoid Park? I love talking to teens about social networking because they sometimes think our ideas are really whacked.
What would a teen who read Paranoid Park say about the protagonist, his dilemma, and his future? Hmmmmmm.
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