Column Lauren Forcella
- Here’s to you, 'Mrs. Robinson'
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Straight Talk: I'm 17 and being seduced by a "Mrs. Robinson." She's a rich, divorced friend of my mom's in her 40s, in great shape and very attractive.
First she offered me good money to do yard work. Then she started giving me wine afterward. ... Full story
- Should Mom share her prom-night story?
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Straight Talk: My daughter, 17, always attends prom. She is curious about my prom experience. I wasn't popular in high school, but right before graduating, a boy I'd just met asked me to his school's prom. I thought, wow — I was making pro... Full story
- Shy freshman mortified about school showers
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Straight Talk: I'm a high school freshman and very private about my body. I can't handle anybody seeing me naked except my sister and my best friend. Not even my mom.
Our gym teacher told us, with hot weather coming, everyone will have to showe... Full story
- Brother blackmailed over condoms
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Straight Talk: I'm 16, sharing a room with my 13-year-old sister because our single-parent mom can't afford otherwise. My sister snooped, found my hidden condoms and now she's blackmailing me. I have to pay her from my part-time job, which barel... Full story
- Do I tell on sibling for Adderall use?
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Straight Talk: After reading the warning signs of Adderall abuse in your March 19 column, I'm 99 percent sure my older brother is on Adderall or something similar. He's paranoid about his grades being perfect so he can get into a top college.
O... Full story
- Getting past a false reputation
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Straight Talk: I'm 16 and my sister, a senior, has the deserved reputation of a "slut." Our mom is an alcoholic who will sleep with anybody, even with my sister and me right in the next room, so I think my sister learned from her example. I am d... Full story
- Hung-up over 'using the facility'? We don't think so
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Straight Talk: I'm 16 with a 14-year-old sister and 11-year-old brother. We live with our mom in a three-bedroom apartment with only one bathroom. Everyone needs to get ready at the same time in the morning.
Our mom says she and her sisters sha... Full story
- Straight Talk: Gay stepsister presents changing quandary
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Straight Talk: I'm 16 with a stepsister the same age. We share a room during visitations and have become good friends. She has confided that she is gay and is having gay sex with a gay friend. She said she is not ready to come out, but needed to... Full story
- Straight Talk: Hover-parented girl needs to find herself
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Straight Talk: My parents have always dominated my life. I'm a junior at a college I hate. I play college sports and a musical instrument I'd rather not play. I've never worked, being too busy being "enriched." I sound spoiled, but I'm actually ... Full story
- Is boss out to lunch regarding wages?
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Straight Talk: My boss keeps telling me young people have it easy today. But I've worked 40 hours a week at $12 an hour for eight months and have been unsuccessful at saving money for college.
I ride a bicycle six miles to work, do not own a ca... Full story
- Abuser seeks help to break pattern
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Straight Talk: I grew up with my stepfather regularly knocking my mother around when he was drunk and being emotionally abusive to both her and me. She would never stand up to him or leave him, and I hated both of them for participating in this ... Full story
- 'Babe magnet' dishes 'advice' for girls
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Straight Talk: As a certified "babe magnet" at a large high school, for all you girls interested in guys like me — and there are a lot of you — could you please be a little harder to get? When a girl lets me have it too early, it is ... Full story
- Girl in love with troubled stepbrother
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Straight Talk: My stepfather has a son a year older than me who didn't live with us because my stepdad didn't have custody. Since we weren't blood related, I had a crush on "Unknown."
I didn't hear much about him for a few years, then in my sop... Full story
- Racism alive and (un)well, to teen's dismay
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Straight Talk: I'm 16. My cousins, adopted from Kenya, ages 14 and 15, are visiting. I never figured my friends were prejudiced, but my best friend says she isn't "comfortable" staying the night "right now" (they are staying in my room).
We oft... Full story
- Does virtual violence damage developing brains?
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Readers: Last week, "Curious Reader" asked if mass shootings are the price of society's insatiable appetite for media violence. A furious defense ensued from the male panelists, who pointed to mentally disturbed individuals as the cause of mass ... Full story
- Can you imagine a world without violence?
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Straight Talk: This generation is not just born and bred on the Internet, but on an insatiable diet of violence in movies, video games and rap. The other thing uniquely part of their world is mass shootings. If these shootings were terrorist att... Full story
- Panel weighs in with safe schools solutions
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Readers: The best "in-school" solution I know to make schools places where kids are welcomed by their peers, versus places of harm, is the Safe School Ambassadors program. The program works with human nature: Kindness is contagious — if a ... Full story
- My friend might have a drinking problem
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Straight Talk: I think my friend "Tamara" has a drinking problem. I realize she's not much different than 10 other people I know, but she strikes me as drinking not just to have fun but to numb out problems with her father and other awkward thin... Full story
- Young people envision a better 2013
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Readers: Youths are society's truth serum. Every year during the symbolic time of the holidays, I ask the panelists what they wish for the world. Reaching out to others and the Earth, the need for community mind over individual mind — thes... Full story
- Gift-giving in blended family not complicated
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Straight Talk: My friend thinks she doesn't need to get her stepdaughter much for Christmas. She says "Emily" will get gifts from her own mom, and her kids won't get anything from their dad, so buying less for Emily only balances things.
I see ... Full story
- Why has my teen started lying to me?
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Straight Talk: As a parent, I find your column very helpful. I have a situation I've not read about. Over the past two weeks, I kept asking my youngest about his homework assignment, and he kept saying he had it handled. It turned out he had bar... Full story
- Brother’s ‘disgusting’ diet worries sis
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Straight Talk: I am 21, my little brother is 15. We are very close. The problem is he lives with our dad and my dad and his wife aren’t food conscious like my mom, who shops organic. They let him eat candy, fast food, and drink Cokes on a ... Full story
- Holiday gift ideas for teens, young adults
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Readers: Here it is again, folks — the "Teens-n-Twenties" shopping list that's direct from the source. I probably sound like a broken record, but I continue my progressive advice to think outside the box (or, in this case, the flat screen)... Full story
- Daughter is falling for high school bad boy
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Straight Talk: I have full custody of a talented, intelligent, 15-year-old daughter. She just started freshman year and is moving fast toward having a senior, poor-student, drug-using boyfriend. Obviously, I'm not thrilled with her choice.
We'v... Full story
- Kids in hard-hit family not pulling weight
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Straight Talk: I have two daughters in college. Due to the recession, our economic situation has changed drastically since they were in high school, when they enjoyed private schools, lessons, cars, trips abroad, etc. How do I get through to the... Full story
- Don't discount creepy feeling from leering stepfather
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Straight Talk: The problem is my stepfather. He doesn't walk around in the nude, like some parents, but he looks my sister and me up and down, staring at our breasts and crotch in a way that makes us very uncomfortable.
If it was just me, I mig... Full story
- Culture-mocking Halloween costumes a bad idea
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Straight Talk: I'm in college and my very nice roommates are talking about dressing up as Muslims for Halloween. One, who is buff, is even talking about putting on blackface and going as Muhammad Ali.
I think both the blackface and turbans are ... Full story
- Is cursing at parents normal?
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Straight Talk: A dear friend of mine struggling with single parenting called to tell me that his daughter said "F— you" to him at dinner. She is 14. I burst out laughing and told him welcome to raising teenagers. He is still mad at me. Wha... Full story
- Don't just vote: Get informed first
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Straight Talk: In 1787, our founding fathers gathered behind closed doors to decide what form of government the fledgling United States would have. The newly freed colonists held their breath.
When the delegates finally emerged, someone asked B... Full story
- Son needs his dad – and fast
- By Lauren Forcella/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Dear Straight Talk: I separated from my wife last year after much unhappiness. Our youngest, "Jon," age 16, is living with his mother because she allows a no-rules environment — plus he blames me for the divorce.
Last year his grades sank, and... Full story
