guessed, I am Asian (Japanese-American), and so are both of my parents.

My father is a partner in an investment firm inStamford, which is the city nearest to our town. Don't ask me what he does, exactly, because I've never really understood it. It has something to do with money and numbers, that’s all I know. My mother is the head librarian at the Stoneybrook Public Library. And my sister, as I told you before, is a genius.

Janine has always been smart. For example, she taught herself to read before she went to kindergarten. And now, even though she's only sixteen and a junior in high school, she takes classes atStoneybrookUniversity. Classes like physics and chemistry. And she gets all A's.

I get A's, too. But not in classes like English or social studies. I get A's in art. I'm not going to tell you my other grades, except to say that they're not so hot. Ifs not that I'm dumb. My teachers — and my parents — are always telling me that I have great "potential," and that if I "applied myself" I could do better in school. But I'd rather "apply myself" to a painting in progress, or to a new sculpture technique.

I mean, so what if I can't spell too well, or tell you what happened in the year 1016? Did Van Gogh know how to calculate what x equals? Probably not, and it sure didn't affect his painting. I've tried to get this point across to my parents, and I think they are beginning to understand. They are very supportive of my interest in art. Still, I know they wish I would do better in school.

They also wish I would a) stop eating junk food and b) stop reading Nancy Drew books. They don't like me to eat junk food because they say it's bad for me, but I have to say I haven't noticed any problems with my health. I can eat Chee-tos and Milk Duds all day long, and I never gain weight or get pimples. I'm just lucky, I guess. As for the Nancy Drew books, my parents think I should be reading more "challenging" material. But I love mysteries, and that's all there is to it. So I hide my chips and candy and books all over my room, and I figure what my parents don't know won't hurt them.