The Travelling Journal

March 28th 2020

Okay, I have an idea. I am going to write in this journal, and then hand it to someone else. The idea is that the journal will visit many places and many different people. I don’t plan on getting it back. I just want everyone to have a new perspective. These are the guidelines. Please write about yourself. There is no minimum or maximum. You can make it as personal as you want. When you’re finished, please pass it on to someone you don’t know, someone random. Good luck! I, obviously, will start. My name is Charlotte, and I am fourteen years old. I am an only child, but I have a poodle, Winston. We live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. My favorite subject in school is social studies. I love learning about the world around me! My hobbies are trumpet and tennis. My dream is to travel the world. Lots of love, Charlotte

march 31st 2020

i don’t know what im doing with this. some girl just ran up to me and shoved it into my hand. she said there were instructions inside. well, ive read it all, and i still dont know what to do. she says to write about myself. what? listen, im not good at writing aboot about myself. i cant let the girl down though. here i go. my name is liam, and i’m 15. i go to the school opposite the girl’s. i saw her run out the door straight at me. at first i thought she was running at someone else. nah. that would be too easy. i have four brothers, henry, william, andrew, and matthew. mom says we’re a handful. i don’t blame her. she’s always driving one of us to hockey or, in the summer, baseball. Those are my two favourite sports. the school board is stupid not to include them them in the gym cericulum curriculum. like, let’s be real: we do track and field, but not baseball? you’ve got to be kidding me! tonight mom is going out to dinner with some friends. i think im going to ask her to give this to one of them. thank you charlotte, liam

April 1st, 2020

Carrie gave this to me last night. She said Liam wanted one of Carrie’s friends to have it. Carrie said she thought it would be best if I dealt with it. Carrie said she didn’t even look inside. I am very excited to be a part of this thing Charlotte organised. Just a fourteen year old girl, and already running big social experiments! I’m proud of her. I hope my two daughters, Celia and Abigail, will grow up to be like that. My name is Brenda. I live with my husband, Sean, and two daughters. They mean the world to me. Tomorrow, we are going to Disneyland! We are all so excited. Celia is four, and Abigail is seven. I wanted to take them when they were younger, but Sean said that we have to wait so that they will remember more things. Now that we’re going, I think he was right. While we’re there, I plan on giving this to someone. It will be good, because it will take it out of this country, like Charlotte wanted. I will do anything for that girl, and I've never even met her. Enjoy your day, Brenda

April 4th, 2020

Hello! My name is June. I am a twelve year old girl. I am more than a little crazy. Really, I can’t believe Brenda would give this to me! I was at Disneyland, pulling on my older brother Josh by the hand jumping and twirling in mid-air. “June, slow down!” Josh called. I didn’t slow down. We’ll have lots of time to rest in the line-up,” I said. I wanted to go to Space Mountain, the best ride in the park! So anyway, I raced to the line. We had a FASTPASS, of course, because we actually want to use our time here. I pulled Josh through the line. In front of us, a woman clutched a young girl’s hand, who I assume was her daughter. The girl looked around seven or eight years old. The mom glanced around, and saw us. She did a double take. I looked behind me, searching for the person she was looking at. No one there was taking the slightest interest in her. The woman’s eyes were on me. “Yes?” I asked quietly, but with command in my voice. Beside me, Josh didn’t suspect a thing. He was on his phone. “Yes?” I asked again, stepping closer to her. “Come here,” she muttered. She reached into her bag and pulled out a black notebook of sorts. “Take it,” she whispered. “What? It isn’t mine.” The line workers were now guiding her and her daughter away from us. “I said take it!” she cried. The line workers now shuffled us into a seat. I shoved the notebook under my sweater, and climbed in. The whole ride I was terified terrified of it slipping out. When the ride was done, Josh and I ran outside to our waiting parents. “Did you have fun?” Mom asked. “Yeah,” I said distractedly. “Mom, I’m just running to the bathroom,” I said. There. I pulled this out. I think it is so cool Brenda gave it to me. Me! June Mercia! Out of around 44,000 people there, it was given to me! I kept it tucked safely in my bag until we got home, and then wrote in it. That’s my story. -June ;)

April 7th, 2020

Why hello there! This is Steve, at your service, although my students know me as Mr. Berthelot. However, you may call me Steve. I teach gym at St Timothy Middle School in Connecticut. My close friend, Tom, gave this to me last night. He said one of his students gave it to him, and he was supposed to give it to someone. I thanked him. As I said, I teach gym at Saint Timothy Middle School. I love working with kids, and gym was always my favourite subject growing up. Lots of people say gym doesn’t count as a real subject, but we can agree to disagree on that one. Without gym, the students wouldn't succeed nearly as well in their other courses. It is proven that physical exercise gives us both physical and mental boosts. My friend Tom is a math teacher, and he says he gets the kids to do squats before their tests. They have done experiments, and it actually works. So anyone in the future, this is helpful! Sincerely, Mr. Steve Berthelot

April 8th, 2020

My name is Greer, and I am very, very old. I am eighty-one. I have three children and eight grandchildren. I am hard of hearing, and my eyesight certainly isn’t what it used to be. However, I could hardly miss a man standing right in front of me. “This is for you.” he said. He placed this journal in my hand and walked off to his family. I stood there, dumbfounded. My husband, Mark, came up. “Ready, Greer? It’s getting cold.” We were taking a walk in the park. His eyes spotted this notebook. “What’s that?” Mark asked. “I have no idea. Come on let’s go home. You’re right, it’s cold." We went home and read it. Mark said I could have the honour of writing in it. I thanked him. I’m writing this because I want you to have a bit of a peephole into my life. I want all you youngsters who will read this in the future to know that life will keep on giving you surprises until your last breath. Thank you to the five past writers, as well as people in the future. Granny Greer

APriLL 10

me BryNN. I fiv. LIkke dRaw. BYe!

April 11th 2020

Brynn is such an adorable little girl! I was walking to school, when a girl came up to me with her mother and older sister. Brynn handed me this notebook, cried “happy birthday!” and ran away. Her mother smiled kindly at me, and the sister winked before turning away. “It’s not my birthday…” I started, but they were gone. Now here I am, that evening, sitting on my bed. I had an awful day, as usual. I am a fourteen year old boy, and dance is my favourite sport. I do it competitively. It isn’t exactly the best way to get popular in middle school. Ninth grade boys are supposed to like things like hockey and lacrosse and baseball. Ninth grade boys aren’t supposed to like dance. I try to hide my dancing, but I can’t because I need to miss school to attend competitions. People talk behind my back and say I’m weird. They say dancing is for girls only. Because of this, many people call me transgender. People have such narrow minds! Sometimes I want to quit dance just to fit in, but I wouldn’t be happy. When I dance, I feel like myself. I never telll tell anyone I dance, but I’m telling you because I know you’ll never meet me. If you are someone who is mocked for what you love, just keep doing it. You’ll be happy you did. Love, Jordan

April 18th 2020

Another long day. I work at Walmart, and there was a stream of customers as usual. “How’s your day going?” I ask. Normally people don’t answer. I honestly do want to know what they say. I care. No one seems to care about me though. When they do say something, it’s when they argue about the price of the item, tell me that they forgot their wallet in the car, or ask if they can use their expired coupon. It’s exhausting! This teen boy came up and I braced myself for the worst. Instead, he talked to me like an actual human! When I was bagging his items, he cast a glance around and said that he had something for me. He gave me this journal! I was so happy! My name is Isaac, and I am 33. As you know, I work at Walmart. I have two older sisters. It is my dream to one day have a family, but not yet. It doesn’t bother me though. I don’t want to have a family if it isn’t with the right person. Thank you for giving me some joy, Jordan, and everyone that came before him. From, Isaac. 

April 20th 2020

Dear Jordan: Thank you. I had the opposite problem: I am a seventeen year old girl, and I live to surf. I do it all the time. I live in California. Both boys and girls made fun of me because surfing is a ‘boys only’ sport. For a while, it really got to me, but now, after reading your letter Jordan, I don’t care. They can say whatever the heck they want. I am a surfing girl, and I’m proud of it. -Lucy

April 21st 2020

All girls care about is their image! I am soooo sick and soooo tired of hearing my classmates wail about their eyes, nose, mouth, hair, height, weight, skin,...! As a thirteen year old girl, I probably should be worrying about those things, but I don’t. I just feel like I have waaaay better things to do! I mean, I could be drawing instead of curling my eyelashes. I could be doing schoolwork instead of weighing myself (again!). I could be going for a run instead of applying foundation. And that’s what I do! More girls need to think like this! Drawing is my hobby. It’s nothing more than a hobby (I don’t enter contests) but it is a hobby that I love very much. I wish I could have a dog, but Mum and Dad say it’s too much work. Personally, I think this is ridiculous. Tell that to Emma, a girl who spends her life applying makeup, but somehow has time for three dogs! Tell that to Sabrina, who spends her life curling her hair, but lives on a farm full of animals! My life consists of waking up, asking my parents for a dog, eating breakfast and get reading for school, going to school, discreetly rolling my eyes at everyone who is giggling with their friends about cute boys or new makeup, going home, asking my parents for a dog, doing my homework, going for a run or bike ride, having dinner, and going to bed. It is not the most exciting of days. OK, I’ve written waaaay too much. Bye, Kara

April 23rd 2020

I am Peter E. Brown, and I am ten years old, but I am in seventh grade, and of course you already know this. I am sort of a child prodigy. Which you also know. This isn’t something I normally tell people, because they will immediately just think of me as ‘the prodigy’ or ‘the brainiac’ or ‘the smart kid.’ Yes, I am all of those things, but I am so much more than that. Once people know who I am, ‘the prodigy’ is all they can think. They can’t open their minds to the other sides of me. In fact, I don’t tell people my name is Peter Brown. Not even Peter. When people ask me my name, I use a fake one that I change now and then. I’m not going to tell you what my current pseudonym is, for obvious reasons. Many people wish they were prodigies, but I’m telling you that it’s not all what it’s said to be. People gaping at you on the street. Listen! I’m just a ten year old boy! I never asked for any of this! But the whole world knows my name and what I look like! One of the reasons I wear a disguise whenever I leave the house. If Kara had known who I was, even Miss Above It All Kara would have dropped to her knees and begged for an autograph! I know it! So please, stop staring at me like idiots whenever you figure out who I am. Best regards. P.B.

April 24th 2020

Wow! That was Peter Brown? That is amazing! OK, I am not going to spend my time like that. I am much more practical than that. My name is Riley. I own a fishing company with my family. I live in a very (very) small town in Florida. Our fishing company, John’s Fishery, has been a family business for ages now. John was one of my ancestors who created our company. I’ve been trying to figure out for many generations back he was, but no one knows. In our family it is very normal to have lots of kids, because we need enough people to keep the fishery running. I have six siblings, and my wife Sherry and I have five kids. It would seem like there would be too many people, with seven of us siblings and then each of us having quite a few kids, but no. A few of the family leave to live with their husband or wife, but that was never an option for me. I was staying at John’s fishery, where I was raised. Thankfully Sherry was perfectly happy coming to live in our big mess of a family. She loves all the kids. Sorry, but Grandma Millie is scolding me for not helping with dinner. I have to go. Take care, Riley

April 27th 2020

My name is Leon. I know it’s very old fashioned, but that’s OK because I am very old! I won’t say how old. That’s personal and rude to ask so keep your nose out. I have twin grandchildren. Their names are Bernadette and Patrick. They are adorable! I am very blessed to have grandchildren. Thank you, and best wishes, Leon

April 29th 2020

Hello there! I am a fifth grade art teacher and I love it! (The kiddos do too!) For a while, we didn’t have an art programme at our school because we couldn’t afford it. Now however, our art class is thriving! We have art shows twice a year, where the kiddos show off everything they’ve been working on! It’s so much fun! Parents come and tell me I was born for this job! When I was growing up, though, I thought classes like art, gym, and band were a total waste of time. My dream was to become a lawyer. However, after being in that industry for just a few years, I realised that it was not fit for me. I tried a couple of other jobs before finally discovering that art was the way to go. It was so totally worth switching careers that many times. Go after your dreams! See ya later alligator, Alicia

May 2nd 2020

My familly fammily family and I were playing tag in the park near our house. It was a very pretty day. My cousins were there too! The moms and dads were standing and talking in the shade. There are eight of us cousins in total. I was getting tired so I went to go sit on the bench. There was this black notebook. I loooked looked around but there was no one. Someone must have forgotton forgotten it. The moms and dads seemed very busy talking and the cousins seemed very busy playing. I picked this up and opened it. I read the very first entry by Charlotte, and I thought it was so cool. I read all of them. Charlotte, Liam, Brenda, June, Steve, Greer, Brynn, Jordan, Isaac, Lucy, Kara, Peter, Riley, Leon, Alicia. And now there’s me, Theo Each and every single one of these people are spechial special. They each have something. I love them all. Goodbye to you all, Theo, age 8