James is 10 years old now, but he wants everyone to know that he was 9 when this interview took place.
My best friend is Judah. I’ve known him since kindergarten. We play Grounders, which is tag, but let’s say you’re it, and someone is on the ground at the play structure, on the wood chips, and you say, “Grounders!” then they’ll be it. You can choose other spots to make you it, but most of the people just go with the name. A lot of time, a bunch of people are on the ground at the same time, so we always have to figure out who’s really it. I don’t know if one of my friends created this game or if we got it from another place.
Hoop Dreams
Last year, and I hope this year, I went to this place called SBBA where you can sign up and be on a basketball team. It stands for St. Brendan Basketball Association, but all of my friends call it Sponge Bob Basketball Association.
[Gesturing toward shoes] They’re a pair of Crocs, but they have claws on them, so they’re called Claws. I wore them to school yesterday. Everybody was like, “Oh my gosh, James! Where did you get those? I want those so bad!”
Picture Perfect
I want a selfie stick. So that when I go to camp and I’m ziplining, I can hold it out and take a selfie. Every summer I go to sleep-away boys camp and I go for half the summer, so I go for five weeks. Most of the time they let you zipline if you’re old enough, which I happen to be. I sometimes see kids and they have go-pros while doing it. I just want a selfie stick so I can bring a camera to camp and take a selfie, smiling as I go down the zipline.
My family is fun, but they’re crazy in their own little loving way. We always do fun stuff together. One thing that I know will definitely be fun — they said that it would be the last thing I would ever think of in the world, but they’re gonna give me a surprise birthday. Not really a surprise, but I don’t know what they’re doing for my birthday, and it might include a friend and it might not include a friend, but I do know that we are driving somewhere. It’s next weekend. That’s when my birthday is, but the surprise might not be on my birthday. I want it on my birthday!
Glad for Dads
I don’t mean to brag or say anything too big about having two dads, but having two dads makes a lot of my friends say, “Oh my gosh, I wish I had two dads!” They love our parents so much because they’re so nice. My dad really is nice. He bought this house for us, he bought me a computer, and he brought me to life. It wouldn’t have happened without them. Like if either dad was with some random person, like someone named George, then I wouldn’t even look this way. I wouldn’t be this fashionable kid. I’m very happy with the way I look.
James lives with his two dads, Bill and Kelly, and his older sister, Elizabeth. He is into basketball, ziplining and visiting his granparents in South Carolina and Portland, Oregon.