The Buzz

Back in the olden days, when I was much younger and had more energy, I was the adviser for the teen section. It was called Teen Tempo or something dumb like that. It was written for, by and about teenagers.

We had a "staff" of kids who would come in once a week, discuss topics they wanted to write about and turn in stories that they had agreed to do the week before.

It was great fun for me. I'm not sure if they had fun. But I do know that two of them stayed in journalism. One's in Texas, where she's the executive editor of a small-town newspaper and the other is a graphics arts in Boston. Both are outstanding young women. Another started in the newspaper business, but switched to public relations and now is working at TSYS. Two are lawyers. One is a doctor. There are still others who still keep in touch with me.

Then I got old and tired and the teens graduated and the next crop of kids just weren't as dedicated to journalism. So we dropped the teen section.

A few years ago, it got started again, but I wasn't part of it. It got discontinued not because the kids weren't interested, but because of economics.

Now, Carmen Williams (she's the pretty girl on this page), who was on the staff of the last incarnation of our teen section, wanted to start the Buzz again. Carmen is a rising senior at Columbus High School.

She met with Ben Holden, the executive editor, and Ben decided that it just wasn't cost effective for us to print it. But that she could do an edition online.

I was asked to help guide Carmen and the other teen journalists and that's what I've been doing, along with my colleague, Sonya Sorich. Sonya's much closer in age to these kids than I am, but I've been working with teens ever since I started working here.

So the first Buzz online will go live sometime this week.

Carmen has written a column called "The Buzz Is Back."

There are book and movie reviews. There's a story on how to take a T-shirt and make a purse out of it.There's a story about how to save gas. And there's a story about suntans and if they are healthy for you.

I can tell you that these kids are smart and committed and I think you're going to like what you see.

As soon as I find out where to find the Web site, I'll let you know.

Carmen is waiting for the kids who are illustrating the stories with art and photographs to get their work to her so she can add them to the stories. She's hoping to get the Web site up and running this week. For right now, she'll be updating the site once a month. When school starts, it might be a weekly thing.

If you have any ideas or stories you want to read or you want to join the Buzz staff, write to Carmen at cawbuzz@yahoo.com

We have plenty of kids from Columbus High School, and several from Northside and Hardaway. We really need input from the other schools, particularly Carver and Spencer, along with schools in Russell and Lee counties in Alabama and Harris and Chattahoochee counties in Georgia.

The next meeting is at 1 p.m. Saturday. Come join us!