THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 27, 1996 TAG: 9609270069
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By KIA MORGAN ALLEN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 68 lines
YOUR PROBLEMS are an earful of treasure to one of the new kids on the advice columnist block.
Actually, Lamont-Deangelo Ferebee is not a kid. He's a 22-year-old with an advantage: a youthful yet mature mind.
``Ferb,'' as he prefers to be called, is an English major at Norfolk State University and applied for the advice columnist position even though he wasn't the high school senior editors were looking for.
But he wrote a letter asking Teenology editors to give him a chance and the editors said they were impressed with his application. With age no longer a factor, he fit the bill.
Ferb, in silver-colored specks and a black Kangol hat, said he sees himself as ``not an adult and not a child.''
``I can do this (write columns) because I'm the older teen, not a teen-ager,'' he said.
``They (teens) need somebody they can relate to. They don't need somebody too serious or the brother-type or too formal.''
Ferb said his life experiences will be the key to advising today's youths.
He grew up with his mom in Norfolk's Park Place and was a sickly child with epilepsy. Ferb was raised as a Jehovah's Witness, and his religion and illness, he said, made his mother overprotective. By age 14, he ran away from home and returned only to run away again. He lived with a friend until recently.
``I had a spiritually minded, good family, a strong family bond,'' he said. ``I think I got tired of being protected.''
In retrospect, he said he realized that he gave his mother a hard time and now lives at home with her.
Ferb comes from an eclectic family of writers and musicians. His mother, Lorraine Carter, is a lyricist and his brother, Michael, also known as ``Sincere,'' is a rapper. His father, Thomas D. Hunter, is a musician who once had a rhythm and blues band called ``Hunters.'' He has a sister, Angela, who isn't a musician or writer.
He's musically inclined as well, thanks to his junior high school's instrument policy,
``In junior high school, we played instruments for three weeks and switched if you didn't want to pay for it,'' Ferb said. ``My mom didn't want to pay for it so I ended up with a different instrument every three weeks.''
The 1993 Maury High School graduate no longer plays instruments but he now channels his creative energies into writing poetry in his spare time.
A sophomore at NSU, he plans to become an English teacher when he earns his degree.
But for now, Ferb said he will try to help his teen advisees by offering encouragement and prodding them to think for themselves.
He should know and now he's ready and willing to dish out some helpful advice to others.
``I'm telling you,'' he said, pointing to himself, ``Talk about advice, you're talking to him.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
BILL TIERNAN/The Virginian-Pilot
FERB
Graphic
SPEAK UP
Karen Perreault and Lamont-Deangelo Ferebee's column will appear
biweekly in Teenology. You can ask questions by calling INFOLINE at
640-5555 and entering category 8335, or write to them at Listen Up!,
4565 Virginia Beach Blvd., Virginia Beach, Va. 23462.
KEYWORDS: TEEN COLUMNISTS by CNB