youth

Matt Schmitt offers a love letter to Title IX--and the social transformation it ignited, far beyond what was originally envisioned. Schmitt's eight-year-old daughter catches on a Little League baseball team; she's the only girl on the team, she was voted Most Valuable Catcher by her coach last year, and she wants to play for the Major League someday. Because, she just discovered, there's not actually any rule or law to keep women from playing pro baseball. It just hasn't happened yet.

A few weeks back I was tipped off to the Curious Case of Justin Bieber. If you are not one of the 80 MILLION people who have watched Bieber's videos on YouTube, there are just a few things you need to know. One, Bieber is 15 years old and looks, in traditional adolescent boy style, even younger. Here he is, in all his backwards-hatted glory:



The second thing to know is that Bieber is rapidly making a name for himself as a pop musician who sings songs about loving girls and having fun and being romantic. The last thing that is important to keep in mind is that, apparently, our nation's youth are OBSESSED by this pint-sized popster. He doesn't even have an album out yet and he is all over the place. (And by place I mean the Internet, the Billboard Top 40 Chart, the talk show circuit, and probably your younger cousin's bedroom wall.) Usher and Justin Timberlake had a bidding war over this kid, for Pete's sake.

Bieber appeared on Ellen this afternoon (video after the jump) and watching him got me thinking, What the heck is going on here? Why are America's youngsters losing their shit over this guy? And why is Justin Bieber making me feel like such an old lady?