I'm back in my small dorm room, listening to music around 9:00pm. I had thought about doing something exciting tonight (since it is Saturday) but I have too much studying to do. Maybe around 11:00pm I’ll go over to the dorm next to ours and watch a movie with some people, if I get my stuff done.

A mournful ocean breeze carries salty spray over the bluff. All round, grassy fields dotted with gnarled trees and weathered buildings stretch to the horizons. Windward stands a row of trees, dark and silent as shadows. There, the ground drops away sharply to a beach hundreds of feet below.

An interview of Paul for Apricotpie about toys

Let’s talk about toys. What are some of your memories of the first toys you played with?

My grandmother said, "Sweet 16". I’m not so sure. I’m not so sure I want to be 16, that I want to be more independent, want to be what everyone says being a teenager means. "Okay," you say, "she’s just one of those weird, immature home schoolers." Am I really different from everyone else? Nobody else really played as a child plays? Nobody else really sobbed as a child sobs? Nobody else found answers to everything from their parents, as children do? Part of me just longs to go back to all that. To be dependent again, and unconscious of the world.

Achilleus agrees that Dr. Baldwin told Aristotle that Thomas Jefferson thinks Profesora Rosenstiel likes Plato, I tell you. Life is full here at college. I’m reading more than I have ever read before. I’m writing more, talking more, thinking more. New and old ideas are coming together and forming something new in my head. Could this be called an education?

I’m twelve years old. I’m smack in the middle of three sisters and one brother who’s arms and legs older than me. He’s six years older to be precise. My littlest sister’s a tyrant. The other two are fine. My littlest sister has me talking left and right for characters from movies like “Lion King” and “Toy Story” and shows like “Arthur.” Maybe she is training me to be a better actor ( - ; !

You ask me why I am homeschooled. You ask me how I socialize. You tell me that I need to go to school to be in the real world. You think I'm sheltered. You think I will grow up not knowing the "facts of life." You think whatever you want to think. I know.

Updated a little April 2002....

I’m 15 ½ and going into tenth grade at my school. My schools name is Home, my P.E. is walking the dog, and I have a full-time job as big sister. I’m the second oldest of 5, and my youngest sibling is 4. I was born in Cleveland OH. We moved to London, England when I was about 5. We lived there for 3 ½ years, and then moved back to the Cleveland area. It was really a wonderful experience living abroad, even if I mainly remember things like playing dolls, and eating cucumber sandwiches, and chocolate with the girl across the street.

"Masquerading Objectionable and Vile Ideas as Entertainment"

When did you last go to the movies? What did you see? No doubt you left the theater feeling spiritually refreshed. Sure you did. In this day and age, movies have become nothing more than a means of shocking your senses. After the Columbine shootings, filmmakers vowed to use more discretion in producing movies. Now, less than one year later, we examine the results of their promises and can only come to one conclusion: The films have gotten worse.