"Don't Print That" is a collection of stories about L.A. Youth, a Los Angeles newspaper written by teens that existed from 1988 to 2013.
Author Donna C. Myrow, who founded and ran the newspaper from its start to to its finish, takes us behind the journalism to give us glimpses into the lives of the teens that worked on the paper. As Myrow describes them, many are poor and many are struggling with problems at home and at school.
Myrow encouraged the teens to write about issues important to them. That meant L.A. Youth, unlike typical high school newspapers, ran edgy articles about dating, drugs, school, crime, homelessness, perceptions of racism, sex, teen pregnancy, and other serious topics.
In "Don't Print That," Myrow offers up a cornucopia of interesting stories, most of them only a page or two long.
There was the girl who wrote a first-person story about being labeled by therapists as "emotionally disturbed" and "out of control." Another teen wrote about the complications of being half-Chinese and half-Jewish. Another wrote about how the cafeteria at his school was effectively segregated — different racial groups isolated themselves in different parts of the space.
Through such stories, "Don't Print That" offers a window into a world most of us don't see.
The one weakness in the book is that Myrow's short stories are unable to take us very deep into the teens' lives. The reason: Teens cycled in and out of the newspaper program rapidly, rarely staying for very long. Myrow would just be starting to get to know them when they'd move on.
The only continuing character is Myrow herself. She describes the non-stop challenges of running this shoestring operation that was constantly in need of money and staff, and frequently battered by criticism from parents or teachers over a story someone found offensive. It's amazing she did this for 25 years.
While stories of the teens dominate the book, I did enjoy Myrow's chapter on the complications of fundraising. One takeaway: Even in Los Angeles, you can't count on celebrities to show up to a fundraiser.
"Generally speaking, they (celebrities) are self-centered, make costly demands, and prove to be utterly unreliable," Myrow writes. "If an actor agrees to be the honoree and promises there's nothing on his schedule around the time of the event, don't believe him."
Given the heavy material that fills much of the book, I liked one lighter moment when Myrow steps away from a fundraiser in a hotel and inadvertently crashes a different event — where she won two free dinners to a Beverly Hills restaurant in a raffle.
