An excerpt from my assigned sixth-grade journal

If I could be any age I would be 21. I would be 21 because I would be able to drive, I would be an adult and I can live on my own.

The only downside of 21 is you are grown-up and so are your friends, so you might not get to see them as much as when you were a kid. Plus you have to make an important discision of what you want to be when you grow up. I want to be one of the following: singer/songwriter, author, actress, teacher, journalist, photographer, or acting coach. I COULD be all of those things, but not really. My friend Maureen wants to be a pharmisist. She wants to be Maureen the famous pharmisist. We always joke about it.

I want to be a singer/songwriter, or author. I want to create books or songs about racialisum, drugs, alchol, disease, and world peace. I think maybe people will listen to me, because I am famous. I think its a stupid reason for someone to listen. We should listen to everyone.

These subjects (prejudice, drugs, achol, disease, and world peace) are very important to me and then after I am famous, I'll create commercials so people will send money to a special organization for disease and cancer. Alchol is an important issue because of drunk driving. I want to do commercials about drunk driving to prevent people from driving drunk. Its almost impossible to prevent prejudice, but drugs I would give money to programs like DARE.

I think I like being a kid more then an adult, when you grow up you can't do a lot of fun things or anything. Yes, there is a downside to not being able to drive and having a bed time, and not being able to see rated R movies. But being grown up is worse. I would like to be my sisters age (19) because she told me when she is at college she can do almost anything she wants, but she must wake up really really early. I think its also KIND OF cool to be an adult because you can have kids and get married. I guess thats also kind of cool.