Articles in this theme issue explore the state of children and youth at the end of the millennium. Imagination and the arts, ethnographic and interpretive exploration, and traditional social science investigations are used to consider the meaning of childhood and what life is like for children today. The articles are: (1) "Children at Risk/Children of Promise: Youth and the Modern Predicament" (William Ayers); (1) "A Whole Different Story: The View from the Far Side of Success" (Mark Larson with Vernon Hill and Mary Unger); (3) "To the Honorable Judge Green" (Lisa Kenner); (4) "Poetry" (by students); (5) "Like a Tree Standing by the Water: Urban Gardeners Shall Not Be Moved" (Melody Ermachild Chavis); (6) "La Silent: What Is To Be Done?" (Rick Ayers); (7) "Bad Boys" (Alice Brent); (8) "Dangerous Minds: Experiences in Chicago's West Side High Schools" (Jennifer Smith); (9) "And Ya Don't Stop: Using Hip Hop in the Language Arts Classroom" (Wayne Wah Kwai Au); (10) "Give Children the Vote" (Vita Wallace); (11) "False Assumptions" (Greg Mitchie); (12) "Time To Change the No-Pager Law in Chicago Schools" and "What's All the Fuss over South Park" (Elizabeth Jennifer Small); (13) "Poetry" (by students); and (14) "Evolution" (Byron Mason). (SLD)