38 | OutBoise Magazine | NEWS
OutBoise.com | Issue 5.2 | March 2015
On The O-Zone’s policy of
serving adolescents, Caryn’s
unapologetic logic comes as
a breath of fresh air. “As long
as everyone is respectful, I’ll be
respectful back. They’re just
curious, so I can either stop that
cycle of fear going, or I can let
them come in and be respectful, answer their very simple,
little questions and invite them
back to help ‘em out, or I can
keep them afraid.”
At one point during our interview, Caryn needed to take
a break to assist a customer,
a local high school teacher.
She, the customer, joined in on
our conversation and thanked
Caryn for the service she provides to Boise’s sexually-active
youth. “Abstinence education
isn’t really effective, but those
are the limitations we have
to follow. It’s really great that
these kids have somewhere
else they can go to get this
information.”
“The [sex-ed] curriculum here
is usually going to be interpreted and filtered through the
teacher’s core belief system,
and that’s how it will be shared
with these guys, and that’s not
consistent. Everyone’s got their
own hang-ups and their own
understanding. I just think if
you can stick with fact-based
information, it should be shared
with [the younger people who
ask about it.],” Caryn said.