Sex Questions from Seventh Graders

I just came across this amazing series of ten questions about sex posed by seventh graders.  I've spent the last few years trying to live in the minds of girls who are only a few years older than these anonymous question askers and exploring these exact topics.  We think of kids being so mature today, but these questions show just how innocent and confused and bashful and honest 13-year-olds can be behind that facade of sometimes-false maturity.  It makes you want to laugh and cry and give them a hug.  (And it makes you want to let them have some real sex ed classes, of course, but that's another story.)

Pregnancy Pact: Conception

A lot of people know the basic story of the infamous (and alleged) Gloucester, MA "pregnancy pact" which served as inspiration for our show.  We've created a story of our own in a world of our own for the musical, but the original story is still fascinating to us.  I'm going to try my best to find follow-ups to the Gloucester episode, but here (after the jump) is the first news item we read in the June 18, 2008 issue of Time magazine that set us on the journey:

PREGNANCY BOOM AT GLOUCESTER HIGH