Columbine Packet Readings
The discussion assignment for Week 11 includes an electronic packet of articles
written in the wake of the highly publicized 1999 shootings at Columbine High
School in the predominantly white and upper-middle-class Denver suburb of
Littleton, Colorado. These articles are brief, and together they are designed
to provide a sampling of the media coverage, political responses,
"expert" opinions, and youth perspectives on the incident. The links
should take you directly to the articles; some are multiple links.
"Lessons of
Littleton"
Article in MacLean's, May 3, 1999, providing a narrative of the events
and also analysis of "why?"
"Learning
from Littleton" (Part I)
"Learning
from Littleton" (Part II)
"Learning
from Littleton" (Part III)
Salon.com article by Fiona Morgan, April 27, 1999, includes interviews
with experts and pundits (in three parts)
"The Secret
Life of Teens"
"How Well Do You Know Your Kid?"
From Newsweek cover story, May 10, 1999 (in two parts)
"The Media
Distorts Teens"
By Gohar Galan, 18 year old high school student in California, in LA Youth
magazine
"Littleton,
Then and Now"
Column by Stephen Schiff, who grew up in Littleton, in New York Times,
April 22, 1999
"Levittown
to Littleton: How the Suburbs Have Changed"
By Christopher Caldwell, in The National Review (conservative weekly
magazine), May 31, 1999
Federal Trade Commission
Report: "Marketing Violent Entertainment to Children"
Press release of the FTC report, requested by President Clinton after the
Columbine shootings, released Sept. 11, 2000
"Columbine:
Whose fault is it?"
Marilyn Manson's response, reprinted from Rolling Stone, June 24, 1999
"School Shootings
and White Denial"
Column by Tim Wise in Alternet.org, March 6, 2001
"Grownups, Get a
Grip" (June 1999, Youth Today)
"Why Demonize
Healthy Teen Culture?" (May 9, 1999, Los Angeles Times)
Two Editorials by Mike Males, sociology professor at UC-Santa Cruz
"Kill
Mankind. No One Should Survive" (Part I)
"Kill
Mankind. No One Should Survive" (Part II)
Salon.com article by Dave Cullen, Sept. 23, 1999, discussing the diary
of shooter Eric Harris (in two parts)