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This isn't politics, but it's terrifying nevertheless. The most saddening part is hearing a teenager in high school argue that throwing down some liquor is the only way to unwind after a hard week. How many harder weeks and months and years have some of us brought on ourselves by thinking like that?

I'm not as shocked by the idea of teenage drinking as I am by the professed attitude, expressed at such a young age: that alcohol is a routine comfort, and sometimes the only comfort.

I never believed in the scared straight bull. It surely never worked for me. But, damn, I'm sorry for some of these kids. There's a big world out there waiting to smack them around for no discernible reason during much of the next 70 years of their lives, and they talk as if they're exempt from the sorts of tragedies and miscalculations that we bring on ourselves.

Anyway, read for yourself:

High School Students Say Drinking Safe, Strictly Social

I know, I know. Richard Florida's work on the so-called "creative class" has been one of the most over-used studies of the year. But he does have some good points. And one of the facts he most likes to put out there is that diverse regions with tolerant attitudes towards minorities. Our area became that much more appealing to gays last year when it became harder for the state to enforce laws that restricted what citizens could do in the privacy of our homes (Lawrence v. Texas). However, that could all change when/if the state legislature and voters pass a bill to further encode the discrimination by the state of gay people? That might just happen. There are 67 co-sponsors on a proposed amendment in the house that would not only ban gay marriage, but might also restrict the rights of municipalities and even private companies from offering benefits to unmarried partners. I wonder what the economic impact of such a move would have on some of our major cities?

I can't find any information online about WCHL's "2004 Chapel Hill-Carrboro Orange County Forum: A Sustainable Community." This is supposed to be some kind of Great Community Discussion, too bad they forgot to tell the community. Why isn't there any information about it in the local papers or even on WCHLs website? That's a real failure to be relevant, right there.

Here's the schedule:

8 am Growth - Town-Gown 2004, the Last Year, The Next Year and After
10 am Downtown - What to do about "The Gap" Gap
11am IFC Homeless Shelter Location - Homeless in Our Town?
12 noon Future of Downtown Carrboro
1 pm Violence and Crime - Has Crime Increased in Our Village?
2 pm Civil Rights - Is There Discrimination
3 pm Seniors - They Outnumber Our Kids!
4 pm Public Schools - Are Our Schools Good for Our Kids
5 pm What is a Sustainable Community (How Do We Build One?)

Update: the Today's Schedule page at WCHL was just updated while I was typing this. :(