I'm going to comment on this as a woman who was just like that girl. An ADD child grown up to be an ADD adult, prone to fantasy, a dreamer. When I was in Junior High, at just 12 years old I wrote my first novel. Or at least to me it was a novel, at 95 handwritten pages, in just a few months. I made something of my dreams and fantasies. I wrote them down.

There is so much truth to what you wrote here but I want to warn against assuming that there is something better about the boy's way of being. Those stories you write about, the stories that get told to empower and to change the world. The myths, legends, fairy tales, both the good and the bad. Those are dreamed up by the people like Nina. As an artist, writer, and all around creative, my dreamer tendencies are the one part of my ADD that I consider a true strength. Without them I can't write, I can't create, I don't come up with ideas for my next project. They can go too far when things get stressful for sure, just as Billy's actions can go too far, but don't mistake this tendency to fantasize and dream as a flaw created by society, something that needs to be rooted out so that girls like Nina experience "Aliveness". Nina might just become the next Anne Rice with her dreamer nature, and that is a form of aliveness, if an introverted one. There was more to tribal hunter and gatherer life than hunting. There were stories around the campfires. There were the rituals and the shaman. The dreamers like me and Nina have always been around. If you want Nina to feel better about herself, start by recognizing the positive side of the introspective dreamer side, nurture it, give her ways to make something with it. For sure, when I do something with that part of me, I thrive. When I don't, I go crazy.

There is the danger of getting hooked on other people's fantasies, as many of us are prone to latching on to video games, movies, TV, books, etc. to the point that our lives start to suffer. But if children like Nina get a chance, they will be the authors of all those movies and books, and they will be the storytellers.

The rest of your essay is spot on, and hopefully girls like Nina can also be taught this stuff so that they won't tell new stories that perpetuate the same Cinderella myths.

I know I'm commenting on an essay that is many years old but I just found this article searching for other stuff :)

Wow DAnne, I think it is time to put down the "blunt" and get the license plate of that truck that just ran you over. I think KW thinks you smell like a fish.

DAM - I have tried to stay away from Hartmann's blog and not comment on the stupid remarks made by you and others who have a neurotic compulsion to voice your ideas, even when they show you will make comments on subjects that show your lack of understanding in the present world we now live in. The world you have this need to reference to no longer exists and to try to make reference to the era of our fore-fathers in most part is ludicrous when applied to our need of privacy. Who is going to monitor that element out there that declared war on America if our Government doesn't? I have tried not to comment on your statements because you truly bring out the very worst in me, and I do not wish to be arrested for making threats that I may or may not carry out. You my friend have used this blog as a soap box to make your comments into monologues that have very little relevance to the subject at hand. After reading your comments on this subject, it takes all my strength not to state the level of loathing I have for you and your statements. Let's just say if we both entered a bar, only one of us would leave and that is the level of distain I have towards you and your statements. It is like listening to someone who has the deep needed desire to be heard, yet has nothing of value to say. You’re afraid to state your name or show your face, yet attack others for not coming forth with more information on which they may be. You sir are a coward of the highest ranking and hide behind a mask of unimaginable stupidity.

Those of you who do not want the Government checking on social media sites or on phone calls will be the first to cry out the government has failed to protect us when the first nuke or biological weapon goes off on American soil. You cry out that a foul is being committed against our rights without mentioning any other recourse the Government could employ to keep us safe. Instead of crying like children, why don't use except the fact we no longer live in the age of our ancestors and we as a nation face a multitude of threats from a very varied source of enemies from Red China to Al Qaida and one form of protection may not apply to all threats. As stated in a comment earlier on this subject, the Terrorists who killed and maimed Americans in Boston were only apprehended because of their own stupidity and lack of sophistication. And you can be reassured the next attack, and there will be more to come, will not lack the sophistication these home grown Terrorists were without. Instead of telling us how evil our Government is and cannot be trusted, please illustrate how you would prevent the next attack we will face. I am afraid the cowards who use this blog page to demonstrate how our big bad government is spying on us have no inclination of what may have been stopped by the so called domestic spying that our Government feels is necessary to protect us. People like DeAnnMarc and that Canadian Kend can do nothing more than illustrate how the government spies on us, without even mentioning a way to combat modern day terrorism we face today. To me they are simpletons who cry out in the night against those who are attempting to keep us safe from attack, while gloating in their attempt to show how brilliant they are. Again I repeat my sentiments, they are cowards who are neurotic to the point they have a need to comment on something they can only condemn without giving any logical solution to the threats we face as a nation today.

Another commenter states that the only reason we are trying to implement these measures is for monetary gain. DDAAAHH! Of course someone will make a profit if they can supply the goods and technology needed to help prevent the next attack in the war we find ourselves in. These morons seem to think if we hide our heads underground the bad guys will all go away or if we act in a different manner politically, and we all know it is all our (America's) fault, those who wish to harm us in all manners will simply go away. Do you idiots not understand those who would do us harm could care less about how we handle ourselves as a nation, it is a holy war to some and to others they wish to simply have the upper hand in the military strategy as in the case with Red China and their constant attempts to steal our military and commercial secrets. Will you cowards please wake up and realize this is the 21st. Century and not 1776! Yes we need to keep a watch on what the Government is doing and we need to keep an ever diligent eye on those who would do us harm for whatever gain they may have in mind! One of my biggest fears is that more people will fall for your phony wolf cries that our Government is trying to harm the American Public through the attempts to know what we are doing. Anyone who uses the Internet or uses cell phones can be spied on by almost anyone with the technological know-how, so if you’re afraid of your privacy being violated, start using the pen and paper method and send all your information to others via certified mail and wait the time it takes to arrive. Or you can face up to the fact the internet and cell phones do not afford anyone privacy in this era we now live in! K.W.

The collection of piles of information has been going on for a long time. Nothing really has changed because the government and the companies who collect the data have asserted their right to do so and have never been challenged. Is this data mining necessary? Is it even a good thing? What would happen if we DIDN'T collect all this data? AND, most important of all, WHY do we collect all this data? ..... I cannot even come close to answering any of those questions. But do we ever hear a dialogue about it that makes sense or brings light to the topic or leads to some kind of resolution? I'm clear on that one. The answer is NO! .... My opinion is that our global war on terror has given birth to so many new "necessities" that are so very expensive and that are making so many people rich- ER, that I suspect that the biggest reason for any of this is: it's just another way to get the tax money flowing into the hands of people who make the gadgets and do the jobs that collect the data. Later, when we start to see how they are going to USE the data AGAINST US, then THAT will probably be making some folks rich-ER, too.

I noticed your President was in China I wonder if President Xi Jinping was asking Obama for spying advise. LOL

i am sure as a normal everyday citizen you nothing to worry about. Besides does anyone believe that what you do with your phone or computer is confidential. I sure don't.

You don't really know if you know better than to say stupid or dangerous things on the internet. You have no idea what someone might decide to look for. We're not talking about future jobs or relationships: we're talking about your freedom to say what you want on anything without your voice being stopped or your life or livelihood put in danger. Human brains aren't fully developed until people are in their 20s. I don't think that's what this is looking at.

It has been alleged that Twitter is not among the listed "contributors" to the NSA. Is that because it said no? A few no's to the congress and the security state by American citizens might have a real salutary effect. (See Klein's piece on Common Dreams this week)

Quote historywriter:I don't know if the Espionage Act is still in force, but it doesn't need to be. Now we have spying on everyone on a 24-hour basis that is infinitely more effective thanks to a variety of technological "advances."

My mother probably would have been safe; she could never quite figure out the internet, and never said anything on consequence on the phone.

Yes, my friend, the Espionage Act is still in force. It has been changed several times since originally enacted in 1917, but it is still being enforced. Daniel Ellsberg and Bradley Manning are the latest victims charged with violating the act. The Sedition Act of 1918 which was a set of amendments to the Espionage Act meant to expand its meaning to include restrictions of freedom of speech was repealed in 1921; but, unfortunately, the Espionage Act remains. It along with the Patriot Act, and the 'War on Drugs', should all be repealed as unconstitutional.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espionage_Act_of_1917

By the way, your mother sounds like mine. My mother used to always say, "If you don't have anything good to say about someone, don't say anything at all." Sound advice when talking about family and friends. However, I think that concerning social issues and the Government, the worst thing you can possibly say is not to 'say anything at all.'

Quote BMetcalfe:What I say, personally, doesn't jeopardize me. I know better than to say stupid or dangerous things on the internet. Apparently our teens and young adults who have grown up in the information age, have no idea how much they are jeopardizing their future jobs, relationships, healthcare, etc.

Isn't that precisely the point in question. All this collection of data is reminiscent of J. Edgar Hoover, the former head of the FBI, who did exactly the same thing and used that information to blackmail anyone--including Presidents of the United States--into doing anything he wanted. Everyone should listen to what BMetcalfe is saying--just because this poses no threat to ourselves doesn't mean it won't come back to bite our children in the future. Imagine a J. Edgar Hoover today in the digital information age. That's blackmail on steroids! Imagine a future where our grandchildren are participating on a blog such as this and are afraid to say anything that isn't positive about the government. I heard one story on a recent documentary on the History channel that once a newspaper reporter did a story critical of J Edgar Hoover. The next day all the competitor newspapers received in the mail high resolution photos of that reporters wife engaging in sex in a car with someone else. It is believed that was to send a message to the other papers not to repeat that mistake in the future. Now imagine the power if that same message could have been sent out with a simple email. There is a good reason that the founding fathers wrote privacy into our Constitution. They understood the vital importance of privacy to the security of the nation.

Quote Laura Enright:What I don't understand is where was this passion about being spied on when this stuff was implemented in 2005/06.

The media downplayed the passion, but it was there. It is still there as is evident by this topic. Don't you remember that in 2008 we elected the first black man in history to the office of the President of the USA? Is it no coincidence that this same black man had the background of a Constitutional scholar. Do you think a black man with a PHD in economics would have won? I think not. I think it was his background in Constitutional law and the fact that this country was experiencing a Constitutional crisis and cried out to the best qualified person to fix it. I think people were more concerned about the fate of the Constitution than their own economic plights. That is how much passion the people of this country have about the Constitution. It makes them color blind.

Quote Jussmartenuf:All this talk about invasion of citizen privacy is Faux news stuff.

That's the most compelling argument I've heard yet. Apparently you are more than Jussmartenuf, Jussmartenuf. The media has been smothering this story now for 7 years. Now they are jumping on it like its breaking news. Obviously, they have ulterior motives in acknowledging this Constitutional travesty. Perhaps to simply spearhead an attack on Obama to prevent him from talking about his current agenda. Fine! They couldn't have picked a better smoke screen. This topic is far more urgent than any matter that the President has in his agenda anyway. It is the precise time that this topic needs to be addressed as well; for, only with this President do we the people stand a chance at getting this bogus unconstitutional legislation removed. After all, that is why we elected this man in the first place isn't it? Faux news stuff, indeed! Let us also pray it is a huge Faux news error in strategy as well.

On this Credo website you will find a petition you can sign to pressure President Obama into providing full justification for his spy program. It doesn't solve our problem; but, it is an excellent start:

http://act.credoaction.com/sign/nsa_spying/?sp_ref=2472429.4.162.o.1.2&referrer_akid=8115.6860497.JufbfP&source=clickcopy_sp

It's time!

Why should i believe what Think Progress has to say over what the National Security Council has to say? Facebook, Google and Apple all say it is not true they allow monitoring of their sites.

All this talk about invasion of citizen privacy is Faux news stuff. Don't you remember the Boston bombers were U.S. citizens? The Yemini creep was a U.S. citizen. There are traitors in our midst as witnessed by these events. The non invasive monitor of honest peoples phone records, which every phone company has. The records held by every credit agency, every bank etc are an invasion of privacy but i hear no whining about that.

Time to get a life and off the Right wing band wagon. After all this was all started during the Bush/Cheney lying fiascos.

I second your comments