When my little sister asked me to interview her for an article, I said, "Why? No one really wants to read about a 13-year-old." But then I realized that, maybe, people should hear the voice of a 13-year-old girl who is just trying to find her bearings in the world. Her generation will be ruling the nation one day, so I figured I would ask her some questions about life, politics and just being a human being.
1. What do you want to be when you grow up?
"An orthodontist. I don't know why."
2. What do you think about middle school?
"What do you mean?"
Like, your friends, your workload, getting ready for high school.
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"I think it's easy. Um, I pretty much know what high school I'm going to. It's not that much work. As long as you do your homework, it's easy. "
Is there any drama?
"Um, middle school has a lot of drama, but everyone always has drama. Me and my friends, like, aren't part of that. It's mostly just a few kids. Like, not inviting people over to their house, not talking to people during recess, not being partners for projects. Next question."
3. Do you talk to boys?
"Like, not really. there's boys who are in our friend group, but not really."
4. Do you like being a kid?
"Yes. Because it's not that hard and you don't have to deal with adults because they're really annoying, Not all, but some. I don't want to go to college because that's a lot of work. So is high school, but not really. You basically get everything handed to you when you're a kid and the hardest work is school."
Don't you want to be able to drive and do things by yourself?
"Yeah, I wanna drive, cause I think I would be better than my siblings. And I have a good sense of direction."
5. What do you think about American Politics?
"Um, I don't really care because it doesn't effect me. It's just a bunch of old people arguing."
What do you think about Obama?
"I think he's a good president. His skin color doesn't matter when he's president. Being black or white doesn't automatically make him a good or bad president."
6. Who would you vote for if you could vote?
"Bernie Sanders"
Why?
"I don't know, He seems the least crazy. Donald Trump is just too ugly."
What do you know about Hilary Clinton?
"Her husband was a bad man. He had a sex scandal. But I don't really know what she stands for because I don't really follow politics."
7. Do you feel like kids your age spend too much time using electronics?
"I think that, yes, certain people do. But just because we're younger, or just cause we're kids, doesn't mean we're on our phones 24/7."
8. Have you been listening to or reading the recent news about Brock Turner?
"Not really. I kinda don't even know what it's about. It's like how this really good swimmer, or something like that, yeah, he raped a girl and he isn't going to jail for a long time because he's white and a good swimmer. And, like, how he's claiming he didn't rape the girl because he was drunk, but that's not a good excuse."
9. Did you hear about the shooting in Orlando?
"Yes. Well, I don't think that because someone is gay is, like, reason to kill someone or cause damage to them. And the shooter's wife is going to jail, I think, because she knew he was going to do it. I think everyone should be treated equally, all those in that club, it isn't right to kill people because they're gay. It's not fair to do that."
10. What's your opinion on gay marriage?
"I think that, um, they should be able to get married. Well, cause, like, they should have equality and if they want to get married, they should. But I do get how some people could be against it. I don't know, I think people should be able to do whatever they want. But I don't think people should be allowed to not serve people because they're gay. There's that law that says people can refuse service to gay people and I don't think that's right because if they're people, too, they deserve to be treated normally."
11. Would you call yourself a feminist?
"What does that mean?"
It means that you want equality of the sexes.
"Yes.I think that if a woman does equal amount of work or anything they should get equal pay and people shouldn't be disregarded for jobs because they're a girl. Or, people always think that girls couldn't do something, but I think they can do whatever they want cause, like, I don't know."
12. Do you think America has a problem with racism?
"Yeah, well, yes, because, It's not as bad as it used to be, but there's definitely things that are still going on. Like, there's racial stigmas put on people, like people label others with darker skin as bad or terrorists."
13. If you could send one message to all of the adults in America, what would it be?
"To listen to your kids. Just because we're younger doesn't mean we don't have good ideas or don't know what we want. What else. . . And to let your kids do whatever they want and don't be so strict."
