Raymond, MS

By Raymond Barranco, Professor of Sociology, MSU One of the most frustrating parts of being a parent is knowing exactly what's going to happen and being completely unable to stop it. Good parents know that punishments should come with explanations. It doesn't do much good to punish a child without explaining what they did wrong. That's how children learn what behavior is acceptable and what isn't. They don't know enough – or have enough experience – to figure these things out entirely on...

By Raymond Barranco, Professor of Sociology, MSU In 1980, a 13-year-old girl named Cari Lightner was walking to a church carnival in California when a drunk driver hit and killed her. It was not his first offense. He had been arrested for drunk driving multiple times before, and at the time he hit Cari, he was already out on bail for a previous hit-and-run, also while drunk. Cari’s mother, Candace Lightner, did something with her grief that most of us never do. She did not just mourn. She...