The birds and the bees and the 10 year old boys

I really felt impressed by this paragraph due to its ability to change perspective so fluidly and encompass so many details about Collin's environment, making the profile a very rich one. Orlean makes a break in the writing style by suddenly jumping into this academic tone, unfitting of children. You don't get bored of one person's voice in this story. It felt like I was snapped out of Colin’s world and forced to judge him from this psychological view point (which Orlean later parodies). Later, the change to the short sentence style starts to relay the facts (and make me think less), especially when she writes ‘he preferred guns’, introducing a bit of comedy by stating the obvious. Even while discussing such serious matters, the writing remains in motion, much like a 10 year old's life.

The abundance of active verbs from 'cleaning' to 'prancing' illustrates the busy life of the parents running after these kids, almost like a snapshot from a TV series. I felt thrown right into the center of this bustle. Orlean could have just said that Collin hasn’t grown up in an old fashioned neighborhood, and most of the parents have progressive ideas about gender. However this would have been a lot less interesting.

The last part about beating up girls is really the crème de la crème, which Orlean skillfully lists at the end. It's mean, but we can laugh about their antics rather than worry like the adults, because we see the futility of trying to raise these kids differently in American society. The stigma about beating women has not phased the boys yet whereas things like money and AIDS have started to, Collin is still a little boy in a lot of ways, although a mature one. It's amazing to think I can see all these intimate details so organically due to Orlean effectively showing Collin's life as much as she is describing it.