Researchers, writers analyze state of Jewish boys.

Zach Feinberg, Danny Jackson and Eliav Ehrenkrantz of Philadelphia spoke about Jewish life at Moving Traditions.

A

t 15, Apollo Lev was the physical
embodiment of healthy, rosebud
youth, with cherubic features
— bright clear skin, plump lips, a faint

smudge of pale cherry pink on each cheek.
Despite his disheveled clothes — hood-
ed sweatshirt and jeans frayed within an
inch of their existence — author Malina
Saval never guessed that her teaching
assistant for fourth-grade Hebrew school
was a recovering drug addict "who spent
much of his early teens scoring speed in
the alleyways of Hollywood's boutique-

laden Melrose Avenue."
Saval, a journalist and screenwriter who
taught Hebrew and regular school between
gigs, was fascinated by Apollo (not his real
name, to protect a minor). How could this
self-reflective, hyper-intellectual, cultur-
ally aware, music- and fashion-obsessed
nonconformist have gotten into drugs at
such a young age?

"With his unique insights and cheeky
witticisms, Apollo acted as my conduit
into the thorny world of adolescent pop
culture Saval writes in The Secret Lives of
Boys: Inside the Raw Emotional World of
Male Teens (Basic Books, 2009). "He often
functioned as a teen culture consultant,
even drafting a glossary of terms and defi-
nitions."

September 17 ff 2009

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