- "Eighteen-year-old adults can run for office, go to strip clubs, be sentenced to life in prison, and volunteer to go to war or be drafted, but as of last December, they cannot vape or smoke tobacco products."

- I believe that this is true, as said before, the legal age and the mental age do not correlate. This is because one may be at the legal age, but they may not think or do things like an adult would. Even saying "like an adult would" is sort of a reach because what an adult may do correctly is visibly different to everyone and anyone. 

-“The quinceañera is a symbol of status and recognition,” Ms. Bejarano, the magazine director, said. “Families want to celebrate big. But it’s these strong ties to tradition that distract parents from thinking about how they will pay for their daughters’ future education.”

- I believe that this is true! As someone with Hispanic heritage, celebrating something, for example, a birthday... it does not determine how close to adulthood or how mature someone may be. 

-"The rights explained in this booklet are important. They are your LEGAL rights. It is also important for you to know and remember that ALL the laws that pertain to your rights cannot be listed in such a short guide. It is our purpose to give you these guidelines to make you aware. Please remember there are exceptions and special circumstances that also affect your rights and responsibilities. NOW YOU ARE 18 is your basic guide. We hope it will be helpful in your understanding of your rights and responsibilities as an adult."

- I believe that while this is true, one's mental maturity isn't determined by age. For example, a young adult (teen) may be carrying the responsibilities of an adult whilst a grown adult may be tackling the responsibilities of a teen! 

- Using what I know about the themes and messages from Dear Martin, I know that racial profiling and friendships/relationships are a huge part of a young adults' life. For example, throughout the entire novel, Justyce (Jus) Mcallister and Emmanuel (Manny) Rivers are two boys in highschool (juniors/seniors) ((young adults)) that realize that their friendship should not be interfered with by racism and profiling by people who were supposedly Manny's friends.
-This connects back to the theme of "adulthood isn't determined by your legal age, but it is determined by your level of maturity" because it shows how Manny realizes that his childish, racist, and rude, friends are not what he wants for himself AND Justyce.

- Using what I know about themes and messages, I know that friendships/relationships and self-esteem are important to a young adults' life. For example, in The Absolute Diary of A Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, Arnold (Junior) Spirit Jr. is a young teen who goes through many different racial profiling situations but then chooses to worry about self-reputation than his family and friends. This causes Junior to later realize what family truly means to him and that he shouldn't care more about silly opinions over his family and friends. This is a sign that Junior is maturing throughout the story. He takes the situation and moves on past it, learning from his mistakes. He knows that his friends and family do matter more than opinions from fellow students at a school.
- This connects back to the theme of "adulthood is not determined by legal age but it is determined by level of maturity" because Junior grows past his mistakes of choosing school/reputation over his friends and family. He later realizes that he made the mistake when he goes through lots of loss (family, friends, etc)