Emily in Maplewood, Minnesota: Teenage Days

Emily gives an inside look at "sportos," "krusties," "krinkles" and how being a teenager isn't all it's cracked up to be.

"I always wanted to be older when I was little. 'Cause it was cool. You know, go to the drive-thru and order hamburgers, like on Happy Days. You know, getting in fights with your parents and getting grounded. You just thought it was the coolest thing. I mean, you need a goal when you're little. That's your goal: to grow up and be a teenager."

Randy in Tchula, Mississippi: Remembering Ozell

Living on a farm in the Mississippi Delta that was once part of a slave plantation, Randy searches for clues about the life of his great-grandfather, civil rights leader Ozell Mitchell.

"My great-grandfather dies two weeks before I was born and I never got to know him personally. A lot of people know about Malcolm X , Martin Luther King, and all the others. But most people my age around here today, they don't know that Civil Rights really started right across the fence or down the road.'"

Amanda from New York: Girlfriend

Amanda's family is Catholic. Amanda is gay. And she's having a hard time getting her parents to understand that this is not just a phase.

"When I was in the first grade, I remember one day we were playing a game that was kind of like Sleeping Beauty where like the prettiest girl on the block fell asleep on a picnic bench. And you know, somebody had to go and wake her up, to like, kiss her and revive her and it would always be one of the boys. And I always felt like I wanted to go and revive her"

Josh in New York City: First Kiss

In Josh's second diary, he packs his tape recorder for his first summer away from home.

"What I have here is an envelope on which this girl Nicole wrote down instructions on how to kiss. It says: 'pucker lips, slowly open mouth, slowly slide tongue in, repeat steps 1, 2, and 3.' She made that list for me because I made out with her and she said I was doing it wrong. So I guess that's the main thing I learned this summer."

Frankie in Mentone, Alabama: Football

Frankie's second audio diary follows his season playing running back for the Valley Head Tigers.

"In the seventh grade, I was real little, probably weighed 75 pounds. Everybody used to pick on me all the time. They picked on me and beat the crap out of me everyday...Then one day, my ninth grade year, I decided to play football. Now, at school, I can't go out in the hall without somebody touching me and saying, hey Frankie, good luck tonight. I mean it's just crazy. I can't believe everybody likes me as much as they do. It's like the old me is dead and then I was born again or something."