Sally James

Seattle Science Writer

Year 12

Do you remember anything about the year you were 12 years old? I’m working on a fellowship with the nonprofit Town Hall Seattle. I’m going to interview some brain experts about why our brains grow and shift around that age. But I’m also hoping to collect stories.
Maybe you remember a national news event that hit you extra hard during your Year 12. Maybe you got braces. Maybe you changed neighborhoods or moved to a different country at that age. Maybe your parents divorced, or got evicted.
For some of us, that year can be a pivot. It can shape how we see the world because we marched in a protest or saw a forest fire or smelled an oil spill.

WNYC Radio Series link
WNYC radio produced a series about “Being 12” in 2015. You can listen to that series here, which includes interviews with educators, brain scientists and young people.

Recent events
April 28 at Town Hall – I interviewed psychologist Laura Kastner on stage at Town Hall about the brain changes of this year. Listen to audio here.
May 30 – I was on stage again at Town Hall with stories gathered during this project. See their events page here to listen an audio recording of the event, or watch via the video link below.

Resources
Resource one – Blah blah blah blah downloadable link
Resource two – Blah blah blah blah downloadable link

Year 12 blog posts

Excerpts from stories
- Year 12 writer whose year was 1972
- Year 12 writer whose year was 1977
- Year 12 writer whose year was 1964
- Year 12 writer whose year was 1989