Kaylene


 * || Hey! It's Kaylenes page! :) <3 Here I will store my works and stuff like that!

Here is my survey for the utopia research project. Please take it! : []

April 14, 2009 Dear Mrs. Elkins, I have always been happy with the policies that Euclid Middle School has had. I believe that most of the policies here make a lot of sense and are guaranteed to help students grow. The school as always been a school of excellence, and I certainly believe that. I truly do appreciate all that the staff does here to help our students learn and be safe. I understand that many of the past eighth graders have not passed to high school due to their grades and lack of homework being done, and this is clearly understandable to me. The WIN (Work In Now) program is truly helping students move on to high school and earn better grades. However, I do believe that it is somewhat demanding of the students. For instance, I don’t appreciate how the student must stay in the classroom until 4:00. Many of the students in the eighth grade have activities that are sometimes vital to get to. Once, when I had a WIN, I had only missed one question on the homework and I had to stay in the classroom the whole time and miss an important volleyball practice before the game the next day. I do believe that students must be safe and stay in the classroom until the activity bus comes, but if the student has an activity in the school to get to, then the student should be able to go to that activity right after they serve their time in WIN. I believe that if you let this be O.K, then many students would be happier to go to their practice, rehearsal, etc. If the student must stay, then they could miss an important practice before a game, or a final rehearsal before a concert. I continue to appreciate the services at Euclid Middle School. I believe that it would serve the student better if you let them go to their activity if they have one, after they finish their homework. I am positive that you consider this idea. Thank you for listening. Sincerely, Kaylene Wright

MY SHORT STORY FOR LAS: Kaylene 12-10-08 FINAL DRAFT – Short Story

 Chapter 1 - Introduction

My life was never easy. As a dollar bill though, you can never expect much. Many people have treated me different ways, like that old man in Chicago or that pusillanimous girl down in Phoenix. Some people couldn’t care less if I was accidentally dropped in the street, while some people worship me! Either way, I have always been my own self. I am just living my life as any other dollar bill, floating around like a cloud in the atmosphere. But, I am taking my life and putting it under a microscope for people, so they can see how life is for a dollar bill. Even as a six by two-inch piece of paper, I have felt happiness, sadness, love, hatred, distrust, and anger. And yes, I even have a name! You can call me Bill.

Chapter 2 – The Rich Man

Although I cannot remember my actual beginning years, my earliest memories were with a rich man named James Pillsworth. I awoke that fine summer’s day to find I was crammed into a hard, leather wallet. Many times a day the wallet was opened. James would rummage through the bills like a mad man that thought he was going insane. All the other dollar bills would get disappointed when all James needed was a five, or a ten-dollar bill. I stayed like this until about one month had passed. By then, I was crumpled up like a paper in a trashcan. On a rainy April morning, I was taken to an office building. The city was SO enormous, I felt as if I was a spek drifting off in space. We entered the skyscraper and rode up to the ninth floor. By the end of the day, I had been given from James to a woman named Celine. Apparently, it was Celine’s "payday". Celine was tall, brown-haired, and pretty. I felt somewhat happy to transfer from the boring leather wallet to the mollified hands of Celine. This, I was happy to admit; was the last time I would see James.

Chapter 3 – Celine

I was put into a white, furry purse that Celine had. The sweet essence of perfume serenades me, as I am placed next to a cell phone, well-used lipstick, a packet of Kleenex, and some loose change. Celine’s voice sounds so euphonic; I begin to think I’m dreaming. I’ll bet you never thought that a dollar bill could “fall in love”, but trust me, it really CAN happen! I slowly fall into a distant slumber. *  I am jolted awake by the movement of the purse. I can hear Celine talking: “Okay, sweetie. Here’s your lunch money.” Suddenly, the zipper opens. I was pulled out from the purse. In Celine’s hand, I notice fading pink nail polish. The moment is abruptly disturbed when a young girl reaches out and grabs me, as if I was silly putty. The sweet scent of Celine vanishes, as I am shoved into a Hannah Montana backpack and whisked away like Cinderella in a carriage; but this is far from a fairy tale.

Chapter 4 - The Child

The girls name is Marion. She is in fourth grade, Mrs. Dublin’s class. The day is November 4th, 1996. She is not good at math. Bored, I read the graded papers in the backpack. The smell of molding apples and bread fill up the backpack. Tired from the day already, I try to fall asleep but fail due to the consistent movement the vacuous child creates. I hear her talking to her friends about slumber parties, the boys they liked, and how cute Jennifer’s outfit is. By noon, I was getting used to the sweet stillness. The backpack was hung up on a rack, therefore there was no movement. At noon, Marion ran to the backpack and grabbed me out with a dash. She ran to the front of the lunch line like a cheetah, chasing its prey. The girl, I could tell, was famished. As she progressed down the line, she grabbed a chocolate milk carton, a slice of pepperoni pizza, and some french fries. At the end of the lunch line, she approached an old, haunting man. She handed me to him, as he took me without second thought and said “next”. I was shoved into the pockets of his worn old jacket.

Chapter 5 - 0ld Man

My days with the old man were many; for instead of putting me in a wallet or such, he kept me in a dusty box, which he kept in the storage room upstairs. I stayed there for several years, bored, surrounded by darkness and the dull ache of boredom every step of the way. My days inside the dusty box were spent mostly thinking; about the meaning of life, about where my life was now, about how many people I had met and what they meant in my life. Most of all I thought about Celine. I missed her so, but she probably never would have even thought to remember me. After all, do people remember little things in life? Like the last gum they threw away? Like that pencil eraser that they used up in about a week? I never really got to know the old man, because of course, I was in that doggone box. I figured that he was trying to earn a living completely off of being a lunch man at an elementary school, which didn’t sound very enjoyable to me. If I was human, I would be sure to pick a career that I would actually enjoy doing. We all get one shot at life, and I seem pretty unlucky to be stuck as a dollar bill. Oh, how I wish I were human!

Chapter 6 – The Police Officer

Seven years went by while I was stuck in the storage room. Seven whole years. I was awakened by the very bright light of day on April 7, 2003. I was removed along with the other money in the box, and taken to an office. In the end, I was with a police officer named Shelly. She was a fierce woman. Many times I had seen her wrestle burglars and murderers. Once or twice, she had to whip out a gun. It was amazing, seeing action that, unlike movies, you could experience. Her voice had a deepness to it; the kind of tone that had the ability to strike fear into others’ souls. I felt kind of scared even though I am just a dollar bill, just of her herself. I know she was doing her job to help the community, but still, she was fierce. For about three weeks I stayed with her, after all, anyone could say it was better than being thrown into a pit of darkness for seven years of your life. That was just about the worst time of my life. On the next beautiful rainy days of April, I had found out why I was taken out of the tomb of darkness. The old man, had died out of aging. It turns out he had not touched the box of storage ever since he had put me into it, because he had a stroke and had to be rushed into the hospital. I felt a feeling of sympathy; yet anger at the same time. Why couldn’t he have taken me out of the box earlier? But on the other side: Why did he have to die? Confusion sent chills through my Lincoln Memorial, but I decided to not keep dwelling on the past and to live my future to its fullest.

Chapter 7 – The Grandson

I sat in Shelly’s office for a long time, while they were sorting out ‘who I should go to” At the end of the argument, I was sent in a box to the old man’s grandson, who was twenty-one, and lived in Maui, Hawaii. It took about a month for delivery, but it was worth it. Hawaii was beautiful. The air smelt of sea salt and the sun warmed up the land like a fleece blanket. The beach was long and unstopping, with soft golden sand along every shoreline. In his room, I could smell strong cologne and potato chips. He was a tall guy, with brown hair and brown eyes; he wore glasses, but did NOT look nerdy at all. He crammed me into his left pocket and got on the phone with his friend. “Hello?…..Oh cool dude!…..What time?…..Ok…..that works!…See ya there dude.” He hung up the phone and left me on his desk, and left for work.

*   On the phone, it turned out that John (the man’s name) was headed over to a party at his friend’s house tonight. As the night approached, I was put into his pocket and kept there, for a long time as he wandered off to the party.

Chapter 8 – The Party

It is a calm night on the island of Hawaii, the blue ocean rests like a sleeping baby. Inside the house, though, things are not at all sleepy. John attended the party with his two other friends, Ryan and Lukas, and they invited **many** friends. Over viewing the party, I can see that most of the people want to make a complete ruckus of things; noisemakers and beer sit on the nearby tables, and people dance around with a disco ball. Music videos are being shown on the wall, as people listen. At 10:00, people are starting to get drunk. By 11:00, everyone is drunk. People run around like mad flies; tearing down decorations and knocking over tables. Many people fight and break glasses and such, while some man runs over to me and snatches me up, and rips me in half.

At that moment, my whole life flashes before my eyes. When I was first with James, how I felt about Celine, that kid who had the Hannah Montana backpack, the old man, my seven-year pit of darkness, Shelly, John, all the way up to this very moment. I lay there, the lights and music fading, slower and slower until I enter that cave of darkness I told you about, only this time, it is forever.

Chapter 9 – Aftermath

Bill’s life ended rather suddenly; as a drunk kid ripped him apart for no reason whatsoever. Although the life of a dollar bill seems pretty obscure to even consider, Bill’s life was just one of a trillion more out there. If you open your mind, anything can have a life story. Like that chair you sat in yesterday, or the pen you are using to write your name on a paper. And the next time you pick up a dollar bill, there’s no shame in saying: “How’s it going, Bill?”

||  || THIS IS MY GAW BIOGRAPHY FOR LAS: Louisa May Alcott (November 29, 1832-March 6, 1888), best known as the author of //Little Women//. Her stories, novels, and poems helped to support the Alcott family, and most have now been published.  Louisa was the second daughter of Branson Alcott and Abigail May. Her family feared that Branson did not have enough money to take care of the family, but they knew she loved him. They were married on May 23, 1830. The couple moved to Philadelphia, where their first daughter Anna was born. They lived in a smal town. Louisa arrived on November 29, 1832. Before Louisa's second birthday they returned to Boston for the opening of Bronson Alcott's Temple School, which lasted almost five years. Elizabeth was born in June, 1835, and Abby May five years later. By that time the Alcotts were living in Concord, Massachusetts. The girls were mostly educated at home. "I never went to school," Louisa wrote, "except to my father or such governesses as from time to time came into the family. . . . so we had lessons each morning in the study. And very happy hours they were to us, for my father taught in the wise way which unfolds what lies in the child's nature as a flower blooms, rather than crammed it, like a Strasburg goose, with more than it could digest. I never liked arithmetic nor grammar . . . but reading, writing, composition, history, and geography I enjoyed, as well as the stories read to us with a skill peculiarly his own." When Louisa was ten the family, now under the influence of Bronson Alcott's English friends Charles Lane, moved to Harvard, Massachusetts. On a hillside farm they planned to establish a small community, Fruitlands, making use of no animal products or labor except, as Abigail Alcott observed, for that of women. She and her small daughters struggled to keep household and farm going while the men went about the countryside thinking of ideas to expand on. In a few months people came, and winter ruined their ideas. Fruitlands had failed. The family went to Concord and for the next three years lived in a house they called Hillside, a relatively happy period preserved in the first chapters of //Little Women//. Her first book, Flower Fables, was written for Ellen Emerson, her best friend for a long time. In a few years, Louisa became religious. "A very strange and solemn feeling came over me as I stood there," she wrote in her journal, "with no sound but the rustle of the pines, no one near me, and the sun so glorious, as for me alone. It seemed as if I felt God as I never did before, and I prayed in my heart that I might keep that happy sense of nearness all my life." In adulthood she wrote: "When feeling most alone, I find refuge in the Almighty Friend. If this is experiencing religion, I have done it; but I think it is only the lesson one must learn as it comes, and I am glad to know it." Over the next few years she read Plutarch, Shakespeare, Milton, Dante, Goethe, Schiller, Bettine Brentano, Mme. de Stael, Emerson, Charlotte Bronte, Carlyle Margaret Fuller and George Sand, among others. Reading these, she got inspired and started writing in her teens. Her first story, "The Rival Painters, A Tale of Rome" was written at the Hillside house in 1848 and published four years later in Olive Branch. By that time, the Alcotts were back in Boston, where they lived at five different times between 1849 and 1852. The two older girls contributed to the small family income by teaching. She continued to write, gradually learning how to produce what would sell. On her own in Boston she also took in sewing and served sometimes as governess. As much as possible, she sent home almost all the money she earned. Her books were extremely popular and were bought for more of her work. In December she published two more books, and her dramatization of "Scenes from Dickens" opened in Boston as a benefit for the Sanitary Commission.

 When the war ended, she spent a year in Europe.Her return to Boston was the beginning of a new phase in her career. She accepted the editoring of a children's magazine, Merry's Museum, and became its major help. In September, 1867, publisher Thomas Niles asked her to write a book for girls, but it was not until the following May that she could bring herself to this task, not one of her own choosing. She then went into her usual writer's “inspiration” and, in mid-July finished Part 1 of Little Women for fall publication. It was an immediate best seller. Readers wanted a sequel! Part 2 was published the following spring.

Alcott and her widowed sister Anna Pratt bought a house on Concord's Main Street and moved their mother into it only a few days before her death. When Branson Alcott started his School of Philosophy, his daughters saw to it that lecturers and their audiences were cared for and fed. Asked for her definition of philosophy, Alcott replied: "My definition is of a man up in a balloon, with his family and friends pulling the ropes which confine him to earth and trying to haul him down." Alcott gave her energy to reforms, women's rights and temperance. She attended the Women's Congress of 1875 in Syracuse, New York, where she was introduced by Mary Livermoor. She contributed to Lucy Stone's Woman’s Journal while organizing Concord women to vote in the school election. "Was the first woman to register my name as a voter," she wrote. "Drove about and drummed up women to my suffrage meeting. So hard to move people out of the old ruts." She continued to produce her stream of children's books and wrote an adult novel//, A // Modern Mephistopheles, published in 1877. Spending a long time in Boston, she sometimes shared her rooms at the ‘Bellevue Hotel’ with her sister May and also gave her art lessons. They went everywhere together, and May was able to establish herself as an artist in London. She married Ernest Nieriker and settled with him in Paris but died a few weeks after the birth of a daughter named after Louisa. She left the baby to Alcott. In September, 1880, "Lulu" arrived in Boston and gave Alcott's life a turn. She delighted to watch the child grow, told her stories and published them as Lulu's Library. As Alcott's health continued to fail, she tried various doctors and "cures." When her father suffered a stroke in 1882, she established a home for him with Anna, her two sons and little Lulu at 10 in Boston. She herself moved from place to place in search of health and a place to write, settling at last in a Roxbury nursing home. Although only in her mid-fifties, she realized that death might come at any time and legally adopted Anna's son John Pratt. She willed her trust to him, giving him the income be shared by Anna, Lulu, John and Anna's other son Fred. On March 1, 1888, Louisa visited her father for the last time. Branson Alcott died on March 4, and Louisa May Alcott on March 6. She was buried in a cemetery in Concord. Her grave has a Civil War veteran's marker.

GAW Bibliography for LAS: ** GAW Bibliography ** Kaylene

= Bibliography = Showalter, Elaine. __Louisa May Alcott.__ 9 January 2005. 8 December 2008 <[]>. Goodwin, Joan. __Louisa May Alcott.__ 2005. 8 December 2008 < [] >

Saxton, Martha (1977). Louisa May: A Modern Biography of Louisa May Alcott, Houghton Mifflin. ||

