Kids Write the Darnedest Things

By PAUL GRAY/

When Scholastic Voice magazine decided last spring to sponsor an exchange of correspondence between its U.S. readers and newly liberated teenagers in East Berlin, more than 10,000 young Americans sent in letters. But Scholastic staffers sifting through the outgoing mail sometimes gulped at the messages. "Dear Whoever, My life is full of danger in this small town," wrote a 13- year-old Iowa boy. A young Californian confided that "Los Angeles is a great place if you happen to like earthquakes and smog" and added, "Every one of us lives their own hell from day to day." On the brighter side, there were mash notes: "If you're a girl, send me a picture of you. The girls in our school are immature and physically repulsive." And good old American inquisitiveness popped up: "Well, do you like what's going on in your country, or would you like to keep it the way it is? You know, like Nazis. Whoa dude!"

With reporting by DAVID ELLIS