Why I Am Not Your Average Teenager: By Alex Clark

I am often honored and impressed with the teenagers who email or write comments on my blogs. They are often thought-provoking, interesting and quite clever. Because of them, I decided to dedicate this week on c jane, dear c jane and c jane's Guide to Provo for their wit and thought. Besides, we are all eighteen inside anyway.

It all starts off with my nephew, the natural satirist, Alex who turned eighteen in February and who will be a freshman at BYU next year:

When Cjane asked me to blog about how I was different from the average teenager, many reasons popped into my head. Not to say that I think I’m better than everyone else, but I definitely wouldn’t call me just an average person. You can take a look at some of my accomplishments from this list, and then you’ll understand. (And I only made two of them up.)

• I performed a moving rendition of Funny Feet in my Kindergarten assembly
• In third grade I won this one reflections contest
• I ran a three minute mile once
• In the Clark family we have this thing called the “Human Spirit Award” which some deserving person is awarded each July. The HSA score currently looks like this: Me: 1, Jesse: 0. Oh, and I was 12 when I won it (but who’s really keeping track?)
• One time I listened to the “we are the world” song without shoving pins in my ears (I’m still not convinced it isn’t an SNL digital short)
• I might be the first person in the history of this blog to jinx the Lakers and cause them to lose to the Suns (it’s definitely worth a try)
• I’ve never drank soda in my life. Ever.

Some of you may also know me as the nephew that (regrettably) would leave comments about Subway’s “5 dollar footlong” and 2% milk. I say regrettably because once comments were temporarily deleted, I had to sign up for the BlogFrog to keep commenting. To this day I am still haunted by the BlogFrog, which relentlessly sends me emails suggesting I blog about motherhood or flowers. I think it’s safe to say that I’m the only male teen on earth who receives emails from the BlogFrog. GO AWAY BLOGFROG!! NO, I DON’T WANT TO ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN FREE HOUSECLEANING FOR A MONTH! (Hopefully they’ll see this.)

Another thing that separates me from the rest of the pack is that I always try my best, but never let worldly or unimportant goals get in my way. Here is an actual excerpt from my chemistry journal, which is a response to the question: “What is one thing that you want to be remembered for? Why?”

“I want to be remembered for being a good student and for always trying my hardest. And for my awesome abs. Every day before I got to bed I do 200 push-ups with my perfect push-up, then I do 300 sit ups and ab crunches. So I hope you are noticing.”

But when I really think about it, I don’t know what makes me different from an average teenager, because I don’t believe there is such a thing as an “average teenager.” We all have our strengths and we each bring different things to the table. For me, one strength that I have is the ability to write. I especially enjoy the field of sports writing, and one day I hope to be a sports writer. But I still have a long way to go, and a lot more to learn.

Like how to write good endings.

On My Other Blogs Today:

dear c jane:
Nephew Clark Checketts tells you about the ski boots you must have.

c jane's Guide to Provo:
Clark Checketts tells you about a Provo spot you must try.

I am c jane and I taught Alex everything he knows . . . and doesn't know.
I am also speaking this weekend:

contact me:
cjanemail@gmail.com