| Am I Mature Enough To Become A Parent?
Dear Dr. Levister: I'm 14 and pregnant. My mom says I'm not mature enough to be a parent. I say I'm not too young to love my child. L.E. Dear L.E. It's noble to say your child will be loved but love alone won't put food in its mouth nor will it pay for your child's college education. Parenting is hard work that requires more than just love. It's pathetic that our schools don't require classes in what is probably the most important legacy you'll leave behind. Becoming a parent means being an adult 24-7. Becoming physically mature means you'll need to mature emotionally and mentally too. A parent has many responsibilities. When it comes to child rearing, providing food, shelter clothing and medical care are just the beginning of what is expected. A child needs mature guidance.
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
TODAY | CHUCK HAUGEN CONSERVATION FUND EVENT, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Quail Meadow Group Area, Toro Park, Highway 68, Salinas. Children's activities and games, food, hikes, ceremony, live music and more. 383-8635. TODAY | SATURDAY EVENING PROGRAMS, Fremont Peak, off Highway 156, 11 miles south, San Juan Bautista. Open from 6 p.m. to midnight, program begins at dusk. www,fpoa.net. .
Hostel: Part II
Case in point: "Hostel: Part II" (Lionsgate) is a repellently sadistic story of three American girls, Beth (Lauren German), Lorna (Heather Matarazzo) and Whitney (Bijou Phillips), kidnapped while traveling abroad.
They are lured to a Slovakian spa by a glamorous model who had posed for them in an art class. The resort's sole purpose is to allow wealthy international clients, including American businessmen Stuart (Roger Bart) and Todd (Richard Burgi), the privilege of bidding for, and afterward, torturing and slaughtering their prize.
Eli Roth's film has a glossy look and is not without style and even a smidgen of substance, in that there's a small attempt to give some psychological motivation to the clients. Inasmuch as human sex trafficking is a very real problem on a global scale, with victims actually sold in auctions on the Internet (as indeed these victims are), there's a chilling verisimilitude to a canny montage showing the various well-heeled clients getting notice of the latest victims for sale.
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