TresSugar

There's a Google Ad For Just About Any Problem

GiggleSugar — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:02:00 -0700

As if banking on the irresponsible misdoings of young teens during prom isn't shameless enough, the url provided (StrollerGalaxy.com) takes users straight to - a crisis hotline? Planned Parenthood? A support group website? Click here and see for yourself.

Source

Pretty and Cheap - Proms Get a Budget-Friendly Makeover

CitizenSugar — Thu, 22 May 2008 09:00:52 -0700

Though Cinderella might have been the quintessential rags-to-riches story ending in a lavish ball, the current mean-stepmother economic reality has many prom-goers tightening their cummerbunds, and embracing a cheap and charming alternative.

It hasn't been uncommon for modern teens to spend anywhere between seven hundred and a thousand dollars on just the prom dress - a lavish spectacle egged on by shows like MTV's My Super Sweet Sixteen - but as more and more families are finding it harder just to pay rising fuel and food costs, the clock is striking midnight on luxuries like pricey prom-wear. To see how proms are getting an '08 budget makeover, read more.

Several foundations offer lower cost ball gown alternatives, like the Chicago-based Glass Slipper Project. There's big demand for their rainbow of donated dresses that go to those who can't afford first hand gowns. (Not to mention that the reuse has a positive impact on the environment as well as wallets.) San Francisco’s Princess Project is also seeing a big surge in the numbers of people seeking low cost prom dresses. Yvette Nichols, board president said: “Girls are traveling two hours, just to come and find a dress.”

Historically teens might have been embarrassed to shop second-hand for such a milestone outfit in an American adolescent’s life, but many are finding this situation as a nice break from the pressure of spending more than your peers. The penny-pinching is having a positive effect on budding values systems. A senior at a high school in Arizona said: "It is kind of a bragging thing. . . to spend $300 on a dress, but for me, it’s almost embarrassing to spend that much.”

Are the leaner economic times inspiring a return to sanity? Could this be the reality check that's just the antidote to an out of control consumer culture? Will organizations like this make it trendy to be thrifty?

Source

Teeny Prom Dress Earns Girl Accessories: Handcuffs. Fair?

CitizenSugar — Mon, 12 May 2008 09:00:09 -0700

Prom night in Houston brought out the corsages - and the controversy. One high school senior came decked out in a dress that school officials thought was less than suitable. Yellow criss-crosses of fabric made up the top portion of her custom-made frock. She said, "I actually like the dress. Everybody else likes my dress." The dress code did not approve.

She was stopped at the door by a school official. The hopeful prom-goer said, "she shook her head, she was like you are not getting into this prom. We were arguing back and forth because I wanted to know why I can't get into my prom.” The dance of wills escalated from there. Even after offering cover up, she was still denied entrance.

The school principal said, “It was revealing in such nature it was not appropriate for the prom." The student became furious and demanded entrance or a refund - the next thing she knew, the cops had been called and the tiny dancer was chauffeured away in a squad car. She says, "They didn't give me any options, but to go to jail or go home."

Even the morning after, she still loves her prom dress. Was the school out of line? Should she have been allowed to cover up and dance? Was the dress and resulting argument too hot for high school?

Source

"That Guy" Sees Dead People

GiggleSugar — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:00:00 -0700

That's actually his ex. He is so over her.

Thanks, College Humor!

Prom Night(mare)

GiggleSugar — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 08:00:00 -0700

And now, we interrupt your regularly scheduled programming for...Dancing With The Dogs. Or, more precisely, Dancing With The Oversized "Harlequin" Dane On Steroids. The man pictured stands 6'5" tall, while his "date" (the world's tallest dog) is 7 feet long. Yowza.

Source

Will You Go To Prom With Me?

GiggleSugar — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 09:40:28 -0800

Oh, the perils of high school dating...and thanks to YouTube, it's all become even more unsettling. This next video is some gal's narcissistic way of inviting someone to the prom. Call it a hunch, but I think a card would have sufficed, or maybe a few cheesy flowers...but the up close and personal visual of her screaming face, coupled with her granny back-up dancer, just didn't seem to do the trick.

Headline of the Day

GiggleSugar — Tue, 20 May 2008 04:02:00 -0700

Wrapped Up: Wayne Teen Makes Prom Dress From Gum Wrappers, Duct Tape

Scarlett O'Hara made a dress out of curtains, so why can't this Maine teen make her dress out of Wrigley's gum wrappers? Vanessa Randall, 17, started saving up gum wrappers with the help of friends and family about three years ago. She made this amazing gum-wrapper dress (reinforced with duct tape) from her own sketches for her high school's Japanese-themed prom. I wonder if it has pockets for gum! Click here to read more.

Source

Prom Pretty

DearSugar — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 08:11:07 -0800

Dear Sugar
I'm going to prom in May and I normally wear makeup normally to school, but I want to go all out for prom. I work at a pharmacy, so I usually just buy drugstore brands like Physicians Formula, Maybeline, and Revlon. I was thinking of spending some extra money on a good foundation and mascara, but don't know what products to buy. I want to have a light coverage foundation, because I like my freckles, but I also want to cover up dark spots and the occasional zit. I'm looking for a lengthening mascara and was even thinking about false eyelasheshes for the big night. Do you have any idea what products I should be buying? Make Me Hot Hattie

Dear Make Me Hot Hattie
Clinique is a fantastic line for young women. Another reason why I think it would be great for you is because they also have a product specifically to fight and cover under eye circles and they have excellent mascara. There products are created for sensitive skin, and they don't clog pores (which is a common problem among teens and young adults). Clinique is priced well and they are a step up from drugstore brand quality. They've come a long way since my Prom - but that's what I wore! For false eyelashes, you've got to try Scott Barnes. This is what J.LO wears! They look natural and you'll have them for a long time. There are 2 choices, Mon Cheri or The Marissa. Scott's line is only sold at Saks right now, so if you aren't close to one, you can buy the lashes online.

Student Fights For Right to Wear Confederate Clothes

TresSugar — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:00:00 -0700

South Carolinian teen Candice Hardwick believes her freedom of speech was violated when school officials forced her to change her clothes and turn shirts inside out because they featured the Confederate emblem. Candice, whose state still flies the Confederate flag at the state house, was even suspended from her middle school for continuing to wear the controversial logo. A federal court ruled that the school district could prevent her from wearing the clothing, but now Candice is appealing the decision.

Candice's family says she's not celebrating a past of slavery and segregation; she just wanted to honor her heritage since her family members fought for the South during the Civil War. But for many people, this argument is a smokescreen. To them, the Confederate flag unequivocally represents nostalgia for a disgraceful past, and it's not incidental that the KKK and Neo-Nazi groups use this emblem to represent their views.

If the Confederate emblem is a loaded symbol everywhere, its racial repercussions couldn't be felt more than in Candice's school district, where schools were segregated until the 1970s and separate proms were held for blacks and whites well into the 1980s. Despite Candice's arguments, the lower court ruled that Confederate clothing could disrupt learning in racially diverse schools. We'll have to wait to find out what happens on appeal. Should public schools be able to ban students from wearing Confederate clothing?

Prep Talk: Justifying Hazing at Boarding School

TresSugar — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:00:00 -0700

High school girls have many ways of punishing each other, the silent treatment being a classic tactic. But what about seniors marching through dorms with the precision of the gestapo, lining up freshmen, yelling at them, making them perform chores, and forcing them to count to 100 in German? It's not reform school - it's an annual ritual at Miss Porter’s, an all-girls boarding and day school in Connecticut where Gossip Girl-sounding names are as common as class rings.

Since Miss Porter's students, graduates, and even the administration are a secretive brood, it’s hard to know which rituals continue today, but we do know traditions die hard on the leafy-green campus. The school even has its own Skull and Bones group named the Oprichniki, after Ivan the Terrible’s secret police. And while Miss Porter's denied its existence in a March New York Times article, 2007 graduate Blair Clarke confirmed it in July's Vanity Fair when she said she “crash-studied German” to join the Oprichniki.

While we can let our imaginations go wild trying to figure out what really goes on at Miss Porter's, we do know this: Tatum Bass, a former student who was expelled, is suing the school for not intervening when she was harassed by the Oprichniki. Why would an otherwise popular senior in student government earn the infamous group's ire? According to Tatum, it started after she suggested the school participate in a multischool prom. As a breach in Miss Porter’s tradition, it was a major faux pas. The taunting, she claims, led to her skipping class and cheating on a test, which led to her expulsion.

What’s shocking is not that she was expelled or that a secret society exists, but that the reaction of students and alumni was, more or less, "Buck up, Bass!" To find out how they reacted, read more.

The ability to tough it out and not go crying to parents is a quality the school proudly instills in girls. So it's no surprise that students and alumni were appalled that Bass used taunting by classmates as an excuse to cheat. Cheating aside, how is it that adults justify teens abusing teens? I found my answer in both the Vanity Fair and New York Times pieces.

Blair Clarke, the confirmed Oprichniki member, said the group never inflicts real pain, just the anticipatory fear of it. Sarah Hart Hansen, a 1974 graduate, told the New York Times, “Maybe there’s nervousness in the beginning, but it’s a bonding moment.” Ah-ha! So it’s not hazing if there’s no physical pain? What a great definition that will create loopholes for underground societies, sororities, and fraternities everywhere.