This past Friday I was in New York. The city. Ask me if the brights are light. Go on? ... Well they are.

The YPulse Tween Mashup was held at the Jacob Javits Center. If you've never been there, it's this big, long building that houses, among many other things, the Book Expo America.

YPulse is this whole other web site out there in www land. It's also a finger on a pulse (the name is not accidental). It is dedicated to understanding what makes tweens tick. Cuz as it turns out... you're quite an interesting bunch. :)

Hosted by Anastasia Goodstein (YPulse's puppet-master and author of Totally Wired: What Teens and Tweens Are Really Doing Online), the event was a mix of old school practices and the wave of the future. There's a whole lot of both out there. You probably don't remember this, but there was a time long ago when there were no computers. There were no cell phones or emails. No iPods or earmuffs. Nah, I'm just kidding. The world has always had earmuffs.

Here's a question for you: Which do you prefer?
a) texting your friends
b) emailing your friends
c) talking on your cell
d) writing a letter in longhand scripture using a quill and ink before having to walk all around the house searching everywhere for an envelope and a stamp and then having to, after all that work, walk to the mail box or the post office and mail the thing

No! It's a serious question! Leave a comment below. Tell us a, b, c, or d... and tell us why.

But that's what the Mashup was all about. It was a bunch of old folks sitting around in a room, scratching their heads and saying, "Um. Does anyone understand tweens? ... Hello? ... lil' help?"

So have you ever heard the word "tween" before? Maybe sometime 'tween lunch and dinner? Well, it's nothing to be afraid of. It's not a label or a brand name. It's just a way of classifying. Like Gen X or horseshoe burns on a bull's... no, I kid. Here's what the Urban Dictionary has to say about it:

Tween: A word that is used by marketers to describe youths between the ages of 10-13. Although some believe that tweens are actually between the ages of 10-15. Despite the fact that tweens have always existed, marketers continue to lay claim to discovering them. ... No one discovered the tweens.

Ha! Right on. Embrace your 'tween-dom while you have it, friends.

So as a tween, what are your favorite web sites? Keep in mind, this is not a ploy. If you say, "WORD", you will not get a free tee shirt (although we will be flattered). Just curious is all. Tell you what though, if you write up just a few paragraphs about your favorite web site, we just might post your writing here. Put "favorite web site" in the subject line of an email and send it to word@weeklyreader.com. Make sure and tell us why you love it!

YPulse: It's a neat thing. In this day and age, we're all wired. The old and the young alike. We might as well have some dialogue about this cyberspace place... right?

What's up?

Later this week: More from the YPulse Tween Mashup...