During the last several years, Double Take has examined a number of issues. This week we’d like to invite readers to share some of their own stories on several specific topics we believe to be at the forefront of teen and parenting experiences. We’d like to see letters of 100 to 200 words on readers’ experiences with the issues we’ve listed below. Parents are free to write their accounts of how they are struggling with any of these issues, but we’re especially interested in the thoughts of teens. As always, everything is strictly confidential. Given some of the topics, if you’re especially concerned about privacy, you can send an anonymous letter directly to my office or the Journal-World. The only rule is that the story has to be true. Here’s our list of issues we’d like to hear about:

• Bad Internet experiences. As Vanessa Hudgens and Coach Mangino can tell you this week, the Internet giveth, and the Internet taketh away. Our perfectly wired world can get anyone into trouble, without much concern for ethics or humane behavior. Nowhere is this more apparent than among teenagers, who forget that once an image is recorded or an e-mail sent, it literally takes about three mouse clicks to make it everyone’s business. We’re looking for letters not only on bad picture postings but of ways in which the Internet has been misused to bring harm to teens or by teens to harm others.
• Drugs in our schools. Several years ago before she was a Double Take author, Marissa Ballard wrote an article in the LHS Budget regarding drug use and distribution in the schools. In general she found that school personnel underestimated the extent to which drugs are a part of everyday life at school. I hear this myself from time to time. We’d like to invite true and candid observations about drugs in the schools. The writer can express whatever position he or she wishes about this situation. In fact, we’d be particularly interested in first-person accounts by current or recent (last 2-3 years) students who have participated in drug use at school or just off-campus during school hours. We often hear a lot in the media about what adults think about this issue, and we invite those comments, too. However, we rarely hear teen voices. This is your chance.
• Under pressure. Since beginning Double Take, we’ve heard that teens feel increasing pressures to perform in school and in life. When adults think of the teen years, they often imagine the old “sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll (or rap)” stereotypes or perhaps even a scene out of “Grease.” Today, there’s plenty of anxiety, pressure and fear. We find sixth-graders worrying about what college they’ll get into and a substantial increase in teens on medicines that are intended to keep them hanging together in the face of such pressure. What are your views? What do you think about the pressures of adolescence? What is stressing you out the most: family, friends, the future, war, jobs or joblessness?
• Religion. How does religion influence daily life among teens? Does religion create conflict or comfort for teens? What about tolerance of different religious beliefs? Do teens without religious beliefs find themselves being discriminated against? Which brings us to our final topic …
• Stereotypes. How have stereotypes about cultures, ethnic groups, wealth and poverty, gender, etc., changed among teens and their families? We’re interested in stories about how interracial or same-sex friendships or romance are being treated by parents and peer group.

We look forward to receiving some good, thoughtful and even provocative commentary on these topics, or if you have one you think we should be dealing with but haven’t mentioned, don’t hesitate to write. It’s a rare letter we don’t publish.

Next week: A teen asks how to help her pregnant 14-year-old friend.

Dr. Wes Crenshaw is a board-certified family psychologist and director of the Family Therapy Institute Midwest. Julia Davidson is a Bishop Seabury Academy junior. Opinions and advice given here are not meant as a substitute for psychological evaluation or therapy services. Send your questions about adolescent issues to doubletake@ljworld.com. All correspondence is strictly confidential.