“It’s always been there, but like any fad, it takes awhile to catch on,” she said. “In the last three months, I have gotten more phone calls from parents. Great parents from wonderful communities. This crosses all borders. I think parents are just freaked out.” This was some expert talking. Apparently she spoke to parents about it in her school district. About sexting.

“It’s always been there?” The New World Order. Oh those “Once upon a time” stories. Back in the 1990s. Those kids had grown up.

The 1990s. It was about 10,000 points of light. Those 10,000 points of light. Now with cell phones and genitalia.

As their parents have fumbled and stumbled along with them, the new young generation has grown up. This was the New World Order. Those 10,000 points of light in cell phones. With cameras. Who were the supplies of phones for these 13 year-old?

About that sexting. State legislatures were getting into the act. In the New World Order, these state legislatures stayed in sessions too long composing new laws in a world that they themselves don’t understand. In a misguided attempt at protecting the public health, unable or unwilling to address the fiscal matters of budgets, they were trying to establish laws about sexting. Soon everyone would be a registered sex offender, for acts committed at the age of 14.

If you had not heard, sexting is the art of sending graphic images and videos text. Yeah, it was an art form. During the days still of the declared War on Terror, when you were not looking, a New World Order had cropped up.

This state had entered a new era for registered sex offenders. And these sex offenders. were our kids. The registers would be filled with young kids. It was a new generation that did not trade baseball cards. Like sexting, without the bubblegum. There had to be a song in all of this. This public register of sex offenders was growing too big. It was politicians fumbling and stumbling, generally coming to grips with fear, trying to balance an office for the public register of deeds, without surveys and Platt maps, and without a Torrens system of registration of title to land.

Under the current law in Vermont, teens who text message explicit photos could be prosecuted as sex offenders. So the Vermont legislature currently had a proposed bill which would make sexting legal in Vermont for 18-years old and younger. It was a bit of a reversal of the logic used regarding the requirements for drinking. But composing new laws? This state had entered a new era for registered sex offenders. And these were our kids.

All this while take your daughter-to-work day quietly bit the dust. Out of some new fear? It used to be in April. I think the nation was afraid what would happen with sexting. It used to be legislatures passed some kind of budgets, before going home for the year. Legislation and legislators never quite worked the way it all was intended. In the Too Big To Fail era.

Father-daughter dance, mother- son breakfast, had been replaced by cell phones. For safety. For peace of mind.

In the Too Big To Fail generation, fumbling and stumbling in Vermont, parent turned legislator, not really knowing what to do. With sexting. State legislatures wanting more control over the world, but not knowing how.

“So what are you in for?”

“I was found guilty of possessing child porn. I will be registered as a sex offender for life, when I get out. When I get out, I will be 17.”

A Readers’ Digest of the news in 2008. 

?