Two students struggle to describe the feelings of depression and desperation that led them to take a near-fatal step. Children's Express talked with two kids who have been treated by Dr. Kathleen Miller. Both tried to commit suicide. Brian is 17. Wendy is 18. Brian's story "It was probably three years ago. I knew that I didn't feel good, but I really didn't know why. I knew that I needed to ge

Everywhere we look, our lives are surrounded by sex. Madonna writes a $50 book about it, The Bodyguard and other movies glorify it, and Sir Mix-A-Lot's risque song Baby's Got Back bluntly talks about it. Meanwhile, parents and educators encourage abstinence. Confused by these contradictory messages, many teens choose to idolize the beautiful actress and millionaire rock stars and see sex as be

SOUTH AFRICA In the United States, you're still technically a kid when you are 17. But in South Africa, violence forces kids to grow up faster. In the United States, we complain about things such as sharing a room with our brother or sister, getting a cold or hearing racist remarks on the street. But in South Africa, some children must live away from their families just because their house is

Sexual harassment doesn't wait for the workplace. If you're a girl, boys nudging you or saying sexual things to you are just part of life. It doesn't feel like sexual harassment; it's just the way guys grow up. Boys say girls should feel flattered that some guy likes them enough to make sexual comments or to touch them. But the guy doesn't do it because he likes you, because if he likes you,

On a Saturday morning, when most school buildings are empty, Orchard Country Day School on Indianapolis' Northside is busy. From early morning, kids begin to appear in the building. The bells ring and students rush to make it to class on time. To some kids, this might sound like an episode from The Twilight Zone. After American students go home to spend the weekend, about 270 Japanese student

Would you like to see a new sport added to the Summer Olympics? "Soccer." Jorge Perez Verdin, 13 Le Mans Academy Rolling Prairie, Ind. "Football." Chris Sopke, 15 Southport High School Indianapolis "Golf." Jason Sherwood, 14 Barrington Middle School Barrington, Ill. "Bungee jumping." Jennifer Devries, 14 Illiana Christian School Demotte, Ind.

The members of the band Petra say rock 'n' roll music is the best way to get kids to think about God. "For such a long time," says singer John Schlitt, "the church . . . saw rock 'n' roll as a terrible, demonic style of music. And we really didn't believe that. We believed it was a music style that kids our age could relate to. And that's the people that we were trying to reach." The group D.

Bogdon Uzelac and Marina Kovacevic come from different regions of Yugoslavia. Uzelac is Serbian and Kovacevic is Croatian. Both of them now live in Bloomington, Ind., and are affected by the war between Serbia and Croatia. Both have relatives and friends still living in these regions. Kovacevic is a visiting Fulbright professor of Serbo-Croatian languages, teaching at Indiana University. Uzela

Two senators speculate about what could happen in next four years. A short, old man with a long, white beard hopped off the bus. Gathering enough energy, he lifted his tired feet and moved toward the building along with flocks of other people. Suddenly, something caught his eye _ a hill large enough to relax on, rest his feet and catch a nap. Only the old man slept a little longer than he had i

Children's Express recognizes the fact that kids, although they cannot vote, need to have a say and understand the issues in this election, both at the national and state levels. That is why we brought 10 central Indiana students from seven schools together to discuss three issues with the Republican nominee for governor, Attorney General Linley Pearson. Children's Express staff members also

Six jailed youngsters assess the candidates and talk about family issues. Six young people sit in the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center, accused of such offenses as running away from home, burglarizing and child molesting. Children's Express recently interviewed this group, girls and boys, black and white, to listen to their views on family values and presidential candidates. All of the

Playing computer games also can be therapy for eye disorder, doctor says. A lot of kids play Nintendo almost every day for about two hours. Many of them are unaware that doing so can cause eye strain or cause them to lose feeling in their fingers when trying to do simple tasks. But they're also unaware that playing Nintendo has its benefits, too. Nintendo can also help the player's hand-eye c