Krista Ramsey "Children Need Puppy Kisses, Not Beepers"

In short, this column goes through the story of a young girl who is given a "beeper"(the equivalent of a cell-phone) for he birthday and wished to trade it for a puppy. Her request is denied by her parents, and enforces the message that we are forcing our children to grow up to fast, and taking away an important part of their lives they will never get back--childhood.




Read Column Here




The line I have chosen from the column that I personally believe to be the best would have to be the following: "She is of medium height and slight build, with hair that refuses to take orders from a barrette. She talks softly and hunches her, the kind of girl who hides behind others in school pictures." I absolutely love this line. It was the first line in the column, and matter of fact the first line I read in any column by Krista. I was drawn in immediately. Her diction and syntax are on point for her audience. She uses personification when she states "with hair that refuses to take orders from a barrette". This figurative language helps us to really visualize this girl in our head and even relate to her. Rather than just saying "the girl had messy hair" we get a real feel for not only the girl's appearance but also personality. Also, we see casual diction used to attract an audience of your normal day-to-day people who are skimming through the paper to see if anything catches their eye. We see other examples of figurative language and diction strategies in this line as well. Overall, it is very well-crafted!


Ramsey's writing style as a whole could be described as very casual and relatable. She is very persuasive throughout her stories, and really wants you adopt her viewpoint on any particular issue. She uses a lot of creative writing styles to make her pieces more interesting, and they are more like a narrative than a newspaper article. I think he way she writes about such relatable topics in such a down to earth way really draws in a great audience of readers.


Three Questions for Ramsey:
What makes you notice things like this little girl one day at Kroger? What prompted you to question her?
For the purpose of understanding the message better, was your childhood one like the ones you described as "useless, tail-wagging, double daring, bubble gum-blowing fun" childhoods, or was it like the "being trained at seven to attend an Ivy League" childhood?
If you could suggest one thing to make a difference in the way our society parents their children, what would you suggest?