Patrick Roberts, age 19

Lawrence, KS

When my parents got divorced I was about ten years old. The reason they got divorced was because my mom was, or decided, or found out, she was a lesbian. I'd say that's one of my most influential moments. It just changed the way that I looked at things, and caused me to try to grow up faster, to mature, or at least to look at things from a perspective that a lot of my peers and classmates weren't looking at things at that point.

I was raised in the Episcopal Church and when I was about fourteen, to be honest with myself, I had to admit the lack of interest I had in Christianity. Not only the lack of investment I felt but also the large number of questions that I had about it. I felt I didn't want to be sucked into something just because it was tradition or something that my family believed.

I think my biggest fear is sex. It scares me because to me it compromises my independence, and also the idea of having a child really terrifies me.

Right now I'd say no, I won't ever get married. That's largely due to the fact that my dad is now on his third marriage, my mom is on her third partner or relationship (you know, long term relationship). That, along with the way I see marriage as a institution in the US, made me become a little disillusioned toward marriage. I think that maybe it's overrated to a certain extent and I don't think it's necessary today. People do it because they're expected to. I would like to have a child some day but I'd like to try raising a child without being married to someone, maybe with someone, but not necessarily married to them.

Recently, I think I feel lonely, if that's a legitimate emotion. I feel like I'm looking for something, something that I can't find. I don't mean a girl or a boy or something. I just mean something that makes me feel lonely, kind of.

The person I respect the most is my older brother Andrew, because he is the most selfless person I know, and I think I'm the most selfish person I know, and I always try to be more like him in that way.

The American political system is pretty fucked up right now, and I hope that sometime in my lifetime I will see a pretty dramatic change in that. I would like George W. Bush to be long gone. The war in Iraq is ridiculous and I think it's embarrassing to Americans. I think George Bush is an embarrassment to Americans, too, not as an individual, but as a representation of the lack of information and the lack of awareness in America.

The easiest thing about being a teenager is still having a sort of romantic perspective or outlook on the world: not being jaded or disillusioned; and knowing—hoping—that you have time to do what you want and to achieve what you want.