TEEN CONTRIBS ALERT

Kelsi Rivera is the coolest 14-year-old I know. She also happens to be my cousin, but really she is my sister in soul: I am constantly floored by how smart and strong she is, how creative and cool and inventive and empowered and observant. She writes in her journal every day, she loves Wendy O. Williams and Francesca Lia Block, and when she grows up she either wants to be a chef or a writer of music, and she is currently the leader in a band. Whenever I see her I always want to give her little presents: this time I gave her a pink plastic ring with rhinestones in it, and my copy of “Rock She Wrote: Women Write about Rock, Pop and Rap,” because last time I gave her the Trouser Press from like ’99 and she read it cover to cover… then loaned it to her English teacher.
Anyway, she’s going to start doing music reviews on this blog. I cannot wait – she is a shiny sparkling diamond.