A circle of teens from Carrollwood to North Carolina documents the ups and downs of adolescence in a special notebook that travels.
By SHERYL KAY
Published October 3, 2003
CARROLLWOOD - As an International Baccalaureate student at Hillsborough High School, Elana Bobo often hits the books well into the night.
But every six weeks she opens yet another book. She retreats to her bedroom for a solid week, scribbling in it, completely by choice.
Bobo, 17, is part of a circle of girls who are documenting the ups and downs of adolescence in two states. Three write from Carrollwood; the other three in Greensboro, N.C.
"It's a way for all of us to be together and to know about each one of our lives during the school year, even when we can't be together," said Alyssa Samet, 16, an 11th-grader at Grimsley High School in Greensboro.
The girls met several summers ago at Camp Ramah Darom in Clayton, Ga.
Last year they decided to keep "The Notebook," a classic composition school notebook, which each girl gets for one week at a time. In it, she can write on any topics she chooses - daily activities, thoughts on school, friendship, parents, and boys. She then passes the book to another friend, who gives it to another, before mailing it off to the other three.
"Sure we all have phones, e-mail, I.M. (instant messaging), and they're all nice, but we all have extremely busy lives and sometimes it's hard to coordinate them," Bobo said. "Writing in the book is therapeutic - especially because you have it right there, right then. It's an outlet for my anger, my upsets, and sometimes it's easier to write something down if you have a problem than it is for you to say something about it."
Samet, 16, took the idea from the book, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which tells of a group of friends who, while separated during the summers, share a pair of pants and write messages on the garment.
"Since it's a group of us, and we're all best friends, I thought the notebook could be for everyone," Samet said.
The Carrollwood rotation begins with Bobo, who then passes it to Orli Shull, 16, who in turn sends it along to Sara Schonwetter, 16. All three attend the Hillsborough High IB program. And Samet attends school in North Carolina with co-authors Rachel Kriegsman, 16, and Melissa Attias, 15.
Attias takes the final turn in North Carolina before shipping the book to Bobo. The girls are now finishing up their second volume.
"I write about anything and everything, from how I did on a test, to how I feel about the stress of school and life in general," said Shull. "I can get my emotions out, and my friends won't judge me by what I think because they're there for me no matter what."
The book was especially important this past summer, because Shull did not attend camp with the other girls. Shortly before summer, she said, "I wrote about how much I wished they wouldn't forget me, and I told them I wouldn't forget about them."
Bobo found the book helpful when she broke up with her boyfriend. Of the 23 pages she filled during her turn with the book, 10 were devoted to the breakup.
"It really helped me feel better," Elana said. "I love my mom and I love to talk to my mom, but I really don't feel comfortable talking to her about those kinds of things.'
No one can say how long this tradition will last. But for now, all six teens look forward to receiving the book and, through it, strengthening their friendship.
"I don't ever see an end to the book," Bobo said. "The end of the book is when we start to grow apart, and I hope that never happens."
