Nick in Salt Lake City, Utah: Home School to High School

A turbulent year in the life of Nick, a 15-year old who hates school but must somehow learn to make friends.

"If you could give me any advice or give me some potion that would make people my age start liking me, or, I don't know. I just need to know how to socialize or I'm gonna go nuts. As a child I was really happy, and I was really enthusiastic about everything I did. About cello, about my writing, about drawing, about school, friends, about everything. And since the beginning of Junior High, since I've gotten older, I'm not as idealistic as I used to be. I think I see life more as it is now and I'm not as dreamy and creative as I used to be. But, maybe it's just still in my brain, in storage."

Juan in Denver, Colorado: Back to Mexico

In Juan's second audio diary, he travels back to Mexico for the first time since he immigrated to the United States, to visit his dying grandfather

"I search in my pockets and I find, you know, some money and I say: well, you know, now I can help out, you know. And he just laugh. And I say: why are you laughing? He says: well, I never expect you to give me some money, 'cause it's like it was yesterday when you were a kid, and everything. And then, I still remember the smile on his face. He kept saying that he was proud of me. He was proud, you know?"

Melissa in New Haven: Raising Isaaiah

This is Melissa's second audio diary, and her son Isaaiah is now one year old.

"I'm a really selfish person...I want to be treated as the baby, I want to be spoiled, I want to have everything I want, and now it's like, you know, he's got to be spoiled, he's gotta have everything he wants, it's always his way. But it doesn't really bother me. He's part of me, you know, it's like, that's me right there, so I feel like my selfishness is just going towards him"

Brina in Providence, Rhode Island:
Best Four Years of Your Life

Brina keeps an audio journal of her first year at Brown University.

"I have this weird sense that anybody I meet I might never see again, and also that somebody I meet could end up being my best friend for life. And I just don't know it yet."

Ricky in Buffalo Grove, Illinois: What if God...

Ricky's father is an atheist activist. These days, Ricky is beginning his own search for God, and something to believe in.

"Kids at school think that being an atheist, you worship the devil, and you think that the devil is the best thing in the whole wide world. I tell them that an atheist doesn't believe in the devil. And also, I'm not an atheist really. I used to think that I was atheist. Now I'm not really so sure. I'm sorta confused, because I don't know what to believe"