TribLocal and The Mash, the Chicago Tribune’s weekly newspaper and website serving teenagers in the city and suburbs, recently asked area high school students about the most pressing questions they have for members of their parents’ generation. As part of the regular Back Talk column, we’ll pose these questions to TribLocal’s parent bloggers, who are able to draw on their own experiences raising kids in the suburbs.

Kaylah Sosa, junior, Homewood-Flossmoor

QUESTION: As a teen, what is the biggest freedom (drinking, voting, smoking etc.) that you wish you legally had? Why?

You know what really bums me out?

No, not the Iraqi political crisis (although that’s pretty rough too), the fact that 2012 brings with it another presidential election that I, as a 16-year-old, cannot participate in.

Sure, you might say that I’ll get my opportunity to voice my political opinion in the 2016 presidential election, but by then I’ll be 20 years old. People two years younger than me will be voting in that same election, and that really grinds my gears.

Out of all of the freedoms that I can’t participate in as a minor, such as drinking, smoking or getting into clubs, this is what irritates me the most. Because my parents lacked the foresight to have a child two years earlier, I can’t vote this November.
Drinking, smoking and clubbing don’t interest me. Call me a nerd, but all I really want to do is exercise my right as an American to vote.

Oh well, no use in griping about it, I guess. Just four more years, right? Four more long years.

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Tyler Davis, senior, Huntley

Oh, the joys of being a teenager. Puberty, poverty (what kid has an abundance of cash?) and a lack of privacy.

I know how to solve one of those problems. Turning 18 recently, I have been exposed to the joys of the lottery. I played thrice on my birthday, and surprisingly, I’m not bathing in the moolah yet. But if I’d had the right to squander my hard-earned cash for the last 18 years, oh–I’d be rolling in it! I mean, if you play the lottery for 18 years, what are the chances you won’t be a millionaire by the end of it?

Realistically, what’s the harm in letting kids with no concept of that dreaded three-letter word (j-o-b) spend all of mom’s money on the Lotto? Just keep an eye out for the Lotto curse, kids.

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Julianne Micoleta, senior, Elk Grove

I consider myself to be an anomaly of the teenage species. Instead of the usual pop culture obsessions that kids my age have, I’m obsessed with politics. Though not many teens are like me, many teens still want the chance to make a difference.

It’s an election year and a freedom that I wish I legally had is the chance to vote. There are numerous issues ranging from education, college tuitions and student loans, to jobs on the market that are going to directly affect us, and being given the chance to vote will allow us some political clout to make any sort of difference.

Voting is a habit that needs to start early. Getting teenagers in the habit of voting will turn them into lifetime voters. The sooner the better. The more voices the better. It is my generation’s voice that needs to be heard because we are the future of this country.

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Maria Castellucci, senior, Plainfield North

As teenagers we sure do have a lot of restrictions. From the rules at home and at school, sometimes I can’t help but feel a little frustrated. And I often find myself wondering, what if I had all the freedoms adults had?

I thought of the simple ones like smoking, drinking, marriage–but none of those really made me feel super-excited about being an adult. But then I thought of the one that is the most impactful: the right to vote.

It is, after all, a right that people have fought to have for hundreds of years, and it is one of the many representations of freedom America was built on. But most of all I thought of how it would impact me. To have the choice to vote for people who I feel will represent what I believe and who will do what is best is gratifying.

It’s easy to watch the news and blame all the horrors of the world on other people. But instead of just complaining, voting is the power one has to change the world. It’s a tool in which adults have to act and have a voice. It has a major impact on everyone, and to be a part of it is fulfilling.

To have freedom is power, a power I will surely take advantage of when these teenage years are over with.

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Emilia Discher, senior, Wheaton Warrenville South

I’m not into drinking or smoking, so those laws don’t really affect me. However, I wish that I legally had more freedom when it comes to driving and curfew.

I understand that curfew and one-passenger laws are put in place with the goal of protecting teenagers, but I feel that they are more restricting than anything. (To be honest, most of my peers have broken these laws anyways.)

I wish I had these freedoms so I could spend more time with my friends and stay out later with them. A lot of the time it’s hard to find time to hang out with my friends between school, sports, clubs and work, and sometimes late at night is the only time to do that.

Although the one-person law no longer affects me, when it did I felt that it complicated carpools more than anything. If we wanted to follow the law, we had to find a lot more friends whose parents would let them drive. If that wasn’t possible, our social time would be limited once again.

Friends are a big part of a teenager’s life and we need that hang-out time to keep us sane in between all the stress and pressures of school and growing up in general.
Parents seem to always nag us about texting and social networking. Although I agree that it isn’t ideal, these forms of communication can sometimes be the only means of connection to friends.

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Sara Angel, senior, Whitney Young

The biggest freedom I wish I had legally is going out without a curfew. The new curfew laws are really prohibiting and there are more important things for police to worry about than the teenagers who are coming home from a party or event.

Sometimes parents don’t have time or simply can’t pick up their child, and the kids have to get home on their own. Not everyone out at night is up to no good.

If police were better at keeping actual criminals off the street, curfews wouldn’t even be needed.

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Find out more about The Mash at facebook.com/mashchicago or http://www.themash.com/about/. Have a question and want a straight answer from a teen perspective? Write to themash@tribune.com or tweet your question to @mashchicago with the hashtag #backtalk.