So, you have a horse. It’s gorgeous. You ride it everyday. You’ve come to love it the way you love a best friend. One night you put her—we’ll give her the name Chantrelle for the sake of argument—in the stable, toss her a carrot, and then you’re off to bed. You wake up the […]

ON FREE TIME: “I hang out with my friends a lot. I have a lot of friends. I go out a lot. Go play pool. Get my mind off home.”

ON DIVERSITY: “I am very open minded and willing to learn about all kinds of things.”

ON ARGUMENTS: “If they tell me […]

Alive Day, http://www.hbo.com/aliveday/, profiles ten soldiers and marines in an HBO documentary produced by James Gandolfini. The term “Alive Day” refers to the day they nearly died while in service, and the film highlights their thoughts about not only what happened, but also their futures.

Bart swerved his Humvee to miss an improvised explosivedevice (IED) in the roadway outside Baghdad. A near miss, but only for amoment. Seconds later anotherdevice exploded outside his vehicle, taking his arms with it. Though he survived, thanks in part tothe decades of advancements in body armor and Humvee reinforcement, his lifechanged forever. […]

ON THE FUTURE: “I want to be a doctor and find a way to help with breast cancer.”

ON BREAST CANCER: “On my mom’s side of the family there’s a high risk. My grandma died of it. If my mom ever had it, I’d want to be one of the people to help save […]

“With a high school diploma you can’t do a lot,” Janai, 16, of Michigan said. However, she has no plans to stop at high school. Janai wants to go to college and then to medical school.
According to the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, only 1,869 African Americans earned doctorates in 2004. If […]

Josh would appreciate their efforts.

Jimmy Buffet has Parrotheads. The Grateful Dead has Deadheads. But neither of them has what Kiss does—an army of fans that dresses in full costume and face makeup weekend after weekend.
Unless you do it, you probably don’t get it. Only in full makeup and costume do you understand. Josh, 17, of […]

MONEY OR FAME?: Both. Money is probably more important. You can be famous, but you’re not gonna have the money to stay famous. If you have the money, you can buy fame.”
ON MYSPACE: “Myspace is pretty much like a whole other planet. You can go on there and find people […]

Tent cities don’t exactly provide a real roof over your head, but they are desirable alternatives for people who are accustomed to sleeping under bridges and in doorways. But aside from those without a home, canvas communities draw young teens that desire to escape unhealthy and oftentimes abusive home environments.
Bethany, 16, embraced “tentopia,” […]