Druggie, gang-member teens suck pacifiers
Sarah Skovronsky
KIDS SINK THEIR TEETH INTO A NEW FASHION TREND--COLORFUL PACIFIERS
by Jeff Donn
The Associated Press
SPRINGFIELD, Mass.--Yesterday's rebel without a cause wore a leather jacket
and white T-shirt, James Dean-style. Today's sucks a pacifier.
In the tradition of bobby sox, madras shirts or "X" hats, pacifiers are
becoming the latest teen craze in some places.
The pacifiers are worn on a string or chain around the neck and are traded
like class rings or friendship bracelets.
Some educators worry the baby accessory is really a way of advertising
gang ties or drug use. Others see it as a harmless--and largely pointless--
craze.
"These kids need to create symbols of a belongingness to a social . . .
group, and this is another one of those," said Jim Peters, principal of
Greenfield Middle School.
He said about 20 of the school's 590 students tote pacifiers.
Among them is sixth-grader Colin Drouin, who said the mouthpiece helped
him kick a pack-a-day smoking habit.
"You have something in your mouth. It just does it," Drouin said.
Some are alarmed by the fad, which developed after the release of the
movie "Boyz N the Hood." The film about Los Angeles-area gangs includes a
character who sucks a pacifier.
Sage Valley Junior High School in Gillette, Wyo., banned the pacifiers
last year and sent a notice saying: "Pacifiers are associated with drugs,
gangs, and infants. None of these associations is appropriate for junior
high school."
"It's just a distraction in class," said Principal Dan Espeland.
"You're trying to get a question-and-answer session going, and you have
students with pacifiers in their mouths."
Some aficionados say pacifiers help them relax.
Jon Unaitis, an 11-year-old at North Parish Elementary School in
Greenfield, was quoted in the Springfield Union-News as saying he just
likes "how it goes 'cheet, cheet,'" when you suck it.
Daniela Alloro, a psychologist who counsels teen-agers in the Los
Angeles suburb of Downey, said pacifiers among teen-agers are "a regression
and a way to be cool" at the same time.
"The youngster . . . needs to separate from the parents emotionally,
but it's still a transitional phase, so he still needs to go back to the
parents for emotional support," she said.
"I think this fad of the pacifiers reflects this ambivalence. When
there is a problem of stress, the adolescent regresses to earlier be-
havior," she said. "But he can be cool."
[end of article]
This was clipped from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Wednesday Jan. 6,
1993 edition. There is a picture of a "cool" teenage girl sporting three
pacifiers (in her hand). The caption: "Pacifiers made of hard plastic
in bright colors are becoming the rage among many young people."
Personally, I don't know who's weirder--the kids or the psychologist
quoted above...
Sarah "Babes N the Hood" Skovronsky
--
************************************************************************
* Sarah Skovronsky star...@u.washington.edu *
* Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball. *
**********fnord!********furrfu!********hi-keeba!********meep!***********
David Iverson
I just can't wait 'til people start killing over pacifiers.
David "Tell me once more why I want to teach high-school." Iverson
Jack Campin
> KIDS SINK THEIR TEETH INTO A NEW FASHION TREND--COLORFUL PACIFIERS
> by Jeff Donn
> The Associated Press
> SPRINGFIELD, Mass.--Yesterday's rebel without a cause wore a leather jacket
> and white T-shirt, James Dean-style. Today's sucks a pacifier. In the
> tradition of bobby sox, madras shirts or "X" hats, pacifiers are becoming
> the latest teen craze in some places. The pacifiers are worn on a string
> or chain around the neck and are traded like class rings or friendship
> bracelets. Some educators worry the baby accessory is really a way of
I wondered about this one for a few days when I first saw it catching on
here. Then the penny dropped. One of the side-effects of MDMA/Ecstasy is
compulsive tooth grinding. A dummy might well help that.
[Crossposted to alt.rave in the hope that somebody there can confirm or deny.]
--
-- Jack Campin room G092, Computing Science Department, Glasgow University,
17 Lilybank Gardens, Glasgow G12 8RZ, Scotland TEL: 041 339 8855 x6854 (work)
INTERNET: ja...@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk or via nsfnet-relay.ac.uk FAX: 041 330 4913
BANG!net: via mcsun and uknet BITNET: via UKACRL UUCP: ja...@glasgow.uucp
Sarah Skovronsky
[the "kids suck pacifiers" story I posted deleted]
>I wondered about this one for a few days when I first saw it catching on
>here. Then the penny dropped. One of the side-effects of MDMA/Ecstasy is
>compulsive tooth grinding. A dummy might well help that.
I suspect that perhaps a small fraction of the pacifier-sucking kids are
involved with drugs, and the rest just do it cause it's "cool." Not that
I claim to understand the kids that think looking like a baby is way nifty
neato, but I think the actual drug-users in this group, if any, are few.
>[Crossposted to alt.rave in the hope that somebody there can confirm or deny.]
--
************************************************************************
* Sarah Skovronsky star...@u.washington.edu *
* "Introduce point (x,y), a random act of kindness to that circle." RB *
**********fnord!********furrfu!********hi-keeba!********meep!***********
Brian Hostetler
>ja...@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (Jack Campin) writes:
>I suspect that perhaps a small fraction of the pacifier-sucking kids are
>involved with drugs, and the rest just do it cause it's "cool." Not that
>I claim to understand the kids that think looking like a baby is way nifty
>neato, but I think the actual drug-users in this group, if any, are few.
2 years ago my roommate turned me on to acid. He had a 'binky' (brand
name of his pacifier). We all thought it was cool and everyone got
one. Frankly, I'm disappointed to see 2 different articles making
reference to it in Newsweek in December. I thought it was a *very*
local phenomenon--not some crazy/out_of_control/rich_kid/freak thing
that is big enough to make Newsweek a couple of times.... I love my
nuk-nuk to death, but now I'm just a 'normal kid' in Newsweeks eyes!
--
-brian
bhos...@ucs.indiana.edu | "Even if the brain is removed,
bhos...@silver.ucs.indiana.edu | the insekt continues to live..."
Lance Franklin
}Now, I KNOW this must be true, because my mom mailed me the newspaper article:
}
}KIDS SINK THEIR TEETH INTO A NEW FASHION TREND--COLORFUL PACIFIERS
}by Jeff Donn
}The Associated Press
}
} SPRINGFIELD, Mass.--Yesterday's rebel without a cause wore a leather jacket
}and white T-shirt, James Dean-style. Today's sucks a pacifier.
Interestingly enough, the article goes on to completely ignore what is
probably a big factor in the popularity...a certain character in a
quite popular cartoon series on Fox, who's almost never without one of the
little suckers.
Jeeze, and the article originates from Springfield, too. Coincidence?
I think not!
Lance "Thin Knot" Franklin
--
Lance T. Franklin +----------------------------------------------+
(l...@ncmicro.lonestar.org) | "You want I should bop you with this here |
NC Microproducts, Inc. | Lollipop?!?" The Fat Fury |
Richardson, Texas +----------------------------------------------+
Sarah Skovronsky
>star...@stein.u.washington.edu (Sarah Skovronsky) writes:
>}Now, I KNOW this must be true, because my mom mailed me the newspaper article:
>}
>}KIDS SINK THEIR TEETH INTO A NEW FASHION TREND--COLORFUL PACIFIERS
>}by Jeff Donn
>}The Associated Press
>}
>} SPRINGFIELD, Mass.--Yesterday's rebel without a cause wore a leather jacket
>}and white T-shirt, James Dean-style. Today's sucks a pacifier.
>Interestingly enough, the article goes on to completely ignore what is
>probably a big factor in the popularity...a certain character in a
>quite popular cartoon series on Fox, who's almost never without one of the
>little suckers.
Guess the kids got tired of saying, "Eat my shorts," huh?
>Jeeze, and the article originates from Springfield, too. Coincidence?
>I think not!
Hey, the theory's as good as any *I* came up with...
--
************************************************************************
* Sarah Skovronsky star...@u.washington.edu *
* Vote Cthulhu--why settle for the lesser evil? *
**********fnord!********furrfu!********hi-keeba!********meep!***********
Alan S. Ferrency
>>involved with drugs, and the rest just do it cause it's "cool." Not that
>>I claim to understand the kids that think looking like a baby is way >>nifty
>>neato, but I think the actual drug-users in this group, if any, are few.
>
>2 years ago my roommate turned me on to acid. He had a 'binky' (brand
>name of his pacifier). We all thought it was cool and everyone got
>one. Frankly, I'm disappointed to see 2 different articles making
>reference to it in Newsweek in December. I thought it was a *very*
>local phenomenon--not some crazy/out_of_control/rich_kid/freak thing
>that is big enough to make Newsweek a couple of times.... I love my
I didn't know this was big enough to make newsweek, but I know it's not
a local phenomenon. I remember a gathering I went to during January of
1991 I believe... One huge thing there was pacifiers. Another was
Moxie. So together, you got a bunch of silly people drinking Moxie out
of baby bottles. I'm not sure about pacifiers, but Moxie is definitely
still in with that crowd (although I'm not... I never really was, come
to think of it...)
-me