Rookie

Pages 1 & 2 from Haley.

Last month we asked you guys a really rude question—we requested access to your personal journal pages. We were quickly overwhelmed not just by the sheer number of contributions we received, but even more, by how BRILLIANT all of them are. Are Rookies the best or what?

Pages 3-5 from Ashlee.

Holly

Josie, Toronto

8 & 9 from Kimberley.

10 & 11 from Tuva, Sweden.

Izumi

Lisa

14-17 from Megan in Purchase, New York.

18-29 from Becca.

30-33 from Ella.

34 & 35 from Daria, Russia.

Işıl, Istanbul

Georgia

38-41 from Alia.

Lauren, College Park, Maryland

Heather

44 & 45 from Kate.

Hannah’s third-grade diary.

47-49 from Leah, Australia.

Jamie, San Francisco

Lauren’s diary from 2009.

52-59 from Becky.

60-63 from Julianne, Brooklyn.

Maia, Bath, UK

65-75 from Rocío.

76 & 77 from Jill.

Rosie

79 & 80 from Sarah.

81-85 from Kathryn, Minnesota.

Madeleine, West Covina, California

Maia

J.

Morgan

90-97 from Claire.

Elizabeth

Christian

Elise, Paris

101-105 from Anna.

106-113 from Margaux.

Jasmine

Alanna, Ottawa, Canada

Jenny

117-127 from Mariella.

Molly, Norfolk, UK

Jenny

Nina

131 & 132 from Bethany.

133-139 from Bronte.

From Cléo in San Francisco, who helpfully transcribed the first few paragraphs of this entry:

Mali had heard the headlining band—Ewert and the two Dragons—open for another band she saw in Switzerland. She really liked them, and they happened to be in S.F. while she was. Pretty big coincidence. She played them for us the night before and told us we should join them.
Juliette, Mom and I had seen the Family Crest open for OK Go at the free Stern Grove festival and liked them a lot. And they were opening for Ewert and the Dragons! Huge coincidence! And I was with Juliette, and she could come! “We should totally go!” “No, we have to go!” “Yes, we have to go.” “We have to go!” “We are going!”
And we went. Bottom of the Hill, at 7. We had just the time to have a bite of pizza and put on tights before heading back out. We arrived before the doors opened, and waited in the cold a while, listening to the bands sound check, before being let in. The carder gave us a look and smiled: “You girls aren’t event close to 21.” She drew a big black Xs in Sharpie on both of our hands. (It was an all-ages show, we just weren’t allowed to drink. And we were with Mom, so…) There I was, there we were, at my first “show,” at a club. And it was so great!!

141-145 from Alice, Melbourne, Australia.

146-148 from Sophie.

Camille

150 & 151 from Emily.

G.N., Australia

153-156 from Maisie, North Carolina.

157 & 158 from Molly.

159-162 from Leah Jean.

163-165 from Lara, Bermuda.

166 & 167 from Katharine.

Anna

Claudia

Frida

Lydia

Maegan, Louisiana

173-180 from Caitlin.

181-183 from Hillary.

184 & 185 from Lila, Melbourne.

186-192 from Caroline’s 1998 journal.

Bene, Australia

194 & 195 from Kerry.

196-205 from Kim, New York.

Hannah, South Wales, UK: “Doodle using watercolour and wax crayons, inspired by Frida Kahlo’s diary.”

Iona, Australia

Kelsey

Carla

Sawa

211-215 from Sophie.

216-218 from Kelsey.

Virginia

220-224 from Kat.

225 & 226 from Hanna-Mae.

227-230 from Alia.

Summer

232-236 from Gita.

237-250 from Sarah, Knoxville, Tennessee.

251-253 from Jessica.

254-256 from Katharine.

Amber

258-265 from Vanessa, in Toronto, through the years. This one is from 1991.

1992

1993

1994

1995

And these last three are from Vanessa’s current journal.

Thanks so much to everyone who sent in your journal pages. We are floored by your talent and creativity and your generosity. A few contributions were too small, or illegible, or of poor image quality, so we couldn’t include them in this gallery. If yours was one of those, we’re so sorry we didn’t have time to hunt down a better image from you. But we’ll have a lot more reader galleries in the future, because damn, you guys are inspiring.