Last modified: Sunday, June 7, 2009 2:12 AM EDT D'ARCONTE: A little hug goes long way I have to confess that even though I was raised Italian, I didn't hug much growing up. I hugged my mother and father, my sisters if I had to, my grandparents when told to, even though they didn't want to be hugged. My father was a barber, and one day after getting my weekly crewcut, I held out my hand instead of hugging him. We shook. He told me later how crestfallen he was. He was proud that his son was growing up, but devastated all the same. Mostly because he didn't expect it. I was probably 13. Later, in college, I met this Italian kid, Jim, and he hugged me. He hugged everyone. He showed me that it was OK. In fact, a cultural thing. So I started hugging. Now I hug everyone, if they want me to. The big lugs don't want to be hugged, but you hug them anyway, to show them you're a man. Women you hug, if they hug you first. A shake's OK. All this said, our children and grandchildren today think we're nuts. Nuts if we don't hug, that is. Hugging, I read the other day, is a very common thing among high school kids today. Boys hug boys, girls hug girls, and boys and girls hug each other. Sometimes three at a time. Hugging among teens is so prevalent some schools have prohibitions against it. Some have banned it on school grounds. Others have a three-second rule. I had to learn hugging. But now I hug my kids. And my grandkids. And anybody else that wants a hug. Which is most of us. The older folks, of course, are not so at ease with it. "Witnessing this interaction always makes me feel like I am a tourist in a country where I do not know the customs and cannot speak the language," writes Beth J. Harpaz about teens hugging. She is the mother of a teen and a pre-teen, and a parenting columnist for the Associated Press, and has written a book, "13 is the New 18." I'm a good hugger. I know that because people tell me. I don't have a family member or friend I don't hug when I'm leaving, and usually when I'm arriving. "It gets to that core that every person wants to feel cared for, regardless of your age or how cool you think you are," says Carrie Osbourne, a sixth-grade teacher. Hugging is a grass roots phenomenon, not something started by a reality show, or anything else on TV or in the movies. And, hey, we could do a lot worse. Thanks for the papers "We spent a week in Denver to attend the annual Ducks Unlimited convention," write Don and Laura Ouellette in a note with a copy of The Colorado Statesman. "A tour of the state capitol building was one of the highlights of our visit. We picked up this newspaper there. Enjoy!" Thanks to Sue and David Parmentier, formerly of Attleboro and Woonsocket but now living in Oahu, for a copy of The Honolulu Advertiser. Sue is the daughter of Ray and Gwenn Amadio of Attleboro. Quote of the week "A free press is the unsleeping guardian of every other right that free men prize." See you next week. ORESTE P. D'ARCONTE