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From The Berkshire Eagle, November 19, 2003:
"There are many reasons why Pittsfield, and similar struggling post-industrial communities, find it difficult to get at the problems that plague them, and one major reason is that those who suffer most from social and economic ills have no voice. Pittsfield's growing class of teenage mothers get that voice in the new book, Growing Up Fast and they should be listened to... While their stories are discouraging and won't please hear-no-evil Rotary Club types, they clearly articulate the extent of the problems the city, and by extension, much of America faces."
- David Scribner, Editor-in-chief


From The Berkshire Eagle:
"Pittsfield is a microcosm of many facets of American life," Lipper said in a telephone interview from her New York office Thursday. "And there are so many communities all across the country now that are losing their manufacturing bases....I was really listening without judgment and trying to hear what these young women and men had to say. I wasn't interested in writing a book from my perspective, which is that of an outsider. I was interested in writing it from their multiple perspectives," she said...

The ghost of General Electric haunts many of the people in the book. Once the dominant employer here, GE's departure has left behind a legacy of poverty and disappointment that, for some of Lipper's subjects, is passed down through generations....

"Growing Up Fast casts some light on what is happening in areas that become economically depressed when businesses pull out... It is not unique to Pittsfield alone, and I hope that when people read it, they recognize that this is happening all over the country..."

Note: One day after the story above ran on the front page of The Berkshire Eagle, $66,362 was awarded to local agencies to prevent teen parenthood in Pittsfield.


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