101 Things About Me

1. I talk to traffic lights as I drive, saying "Please stay green, please stay green..." and when the lights stay green I say thank-you. When they turn red, I reprimand myself for being so crazy.
2. Mornings are my favorite time of the day.
3. I was born on the cusp of Gemini and Cancer, but I have more Cancer Characteristics.
4. I am backpacking Europe in Summer 2018.
5. I am a terrible liar. If I lie, it's written all over my face.
6. I look forward to my cup of coffee in the morning.
7. My favorite color is White, but all of my friends tell me that white is not a color.
8. I have a little sister and an older sister who I love.
9. My older sister has a baby on the way due in September 2017.
10. I get cranky when I'm hungry.
11. I drive a Jeep Grand Cherokee
12. I would love to write a book, but I can think of nothing to write about except myself. I figure no-one would want to buy it, so why bother.
13. Saturday is my favorite day of the week.
14. I am a terrible speller.
15. I sort my clothes by color, starting with white and ending in blue.
16. I sometimes fear that I will not live long enough to do all that I want to do.
17.  I eat when I am bored... and when I am happy... and sad... and stressed...
18.  I believe that practice makes perfect, but I want to be good now.
19. Fall is my favorite season.
20. Sometimes I have cereal for dinner, and I am completely okay with that.
21. I wear glasses.
22. I used to watch Americas Next Top Model, while eating a tube of cookie dough.
23. I love to go skiing, I am a snow bunny.
24. My cousin is Cat Zingano, aka Alpha Cat, one of the top female fighters in the UFC.
25.  I love storms but thunder can scare me at times.
26. I love the smell of rain, fresh cut grass, and the beach.
27. I have an unhealthy addiction to reality TV.
28. I had a pet rat when I was little...
29. ...His name was Rutger.
30. I love Christmas time, except for when I get trampled at the store, and then I dream of summer.
31. My first concert was Uncle Kracker, he was my favorite growing up.
32. The first time I saw the ocean was in Cancun, Mexico and I have loved the tropical life ever since.
33. I am capable of forgiving, but never forgetting.
34. I'd do anything to help a friend.
35. Carbs are my weakness.
36. I would love to be able to speak Spanish fluently.
37. I lobe hiking, and camping, and being in the woods.
38. I love grocery shopping and cooking.
39.  I am going to MSU next year...
40. ...and majoring in cell and molecular biology...
41. ...I then want to go to medical school at University of California San Diego...
42. ...and become a Plastic Surgeon...
43. ...eventually I want to open my own practice.
44. I have had 5 surgeries.
45. I want a Pomsky more than anything.
46. I can be very stubborn, especially when something is very important to me...or I don't get my way.
47. I would much prefer working out in the morning. No better way to start the day than with a good sweat.
48. Someday I want to hike the Camino trail in Spain.
49. Amusement parks, and fairs make me happy.
50. Road trips are the best.
51. Number one on my bucket list is to Sky dive.
52. Number two is to hike Machu Picchu.
53. I actually enjoy airports, and flying. It means I am going somewhere.
54. Sparkly things make me happy.
55. I love watching HGTV.
56. I always over pack when getting ready to go on a trip...
57. ...and put off unpacking for a couple of weeks.
58. I am the type of person who can never find anything to wear, but I have a closet full of clothes.
59. Mexican food is my favorite.
60. Chinese and Italian are close seconds.
61. I absolutely love going to farmers markets and buy fresh orgainc produce.
62. I imagine many people are getting bored by now and thinking of skipping ahead. I know this, because it's the sort of thing I do. Despite this, I never jump to the last chapter of a book - what a waste of a good journey!
63. If I could pick one super power it would be teleportation, because I think it woiuld be so cool to be able to go wherever you wanted to go, whenever you wanted to go there.
64. I only wear socks in my running shoes, rarely in other shoes.
65. I have a hard time saying no, working on this currently.
66. I took piano lessons for 8 years.
67. I went vegetarian for 6 months once and vegan for 2.
68. I am a tea junkie, all types of tea.
69. I am a middle child.
70. I want to live in the UK when I am older.
71. I want a couple of tattoos when I get older, all small and all carrying an important meaning.
72. I love doing calligraphy. I spend hours working on a design, it calms my nerves.
73. I have friends that live all over the world.
74. I hate folding laundry.
75. I love reading, and can get lost in a book for hours.
76. I always get the Snow-monster, when I go to Andy's.
77. I cannot live in a small town. Springfield is too small for me, and I cannot wait to move out after college.
78. I love watching movies, all types of movies.
79. I learned how to use chopsticks when I was 9. My dad taught me.
80. I want to do volunteer work in Ethiopian orphanages one day. 
81. I have amber colored eyes, and I've been told when the sunlight is directly on the they are bright green like a cats eyes.
82.  My first paid job was working for a bouncy house company when I was 14
83. I mentally re-decorate literally every room I go into. 
84. I love the idea of just getting into a car, and driving. 
85. I will always choose a fruity dessert over a chocolate one. 
86. I speak with a funny accent...
87. ...I am from America but I say my O's as if I was born somewhere else...
88. ...Some people say that I sound like I'm British, others Australian.
89. Hydrangeas are my favorite flower. 
90. Sometimes, when I start eating ice cream I struggle to stop.
91. I was born in 1999...
92. ...And I want to live to be a 3 century woman. 
93. Usually I don't tend to care about what you think of me, unless you are someone very important in my life.
94.  I detest using pencils as bookmarks, dog-earing pages, or even carelessly marking lines without a ruler.
95. People who don't know me think I'm shy, and people that do know me wish I were!
96. I can go on for the day with just breakfast and a cup of coffee.
97. I have a serious obsession with collecting coffee mugs, I have over 30 in my collection currently.
98. I can't go to bed without reading part of my book.
99. I love wearing oversized sweatshirts, I could spend the rest of my life in them. 
100. I love to day dream.
101. FINALLY… I love the journey, but I get a certain satisfaction when I reach the destination.

Music To My Ears

1) It depends on what type of music I am listening to. Typically when I'm with my girls, we listen to music to hype us up, music that we can scream at the top of our lungs. When I am by myself I listen to music with meaning, music with lyrics that move you. And other times I listen to feel good music, music to make me happy
2) My favorite song is the first song that I can remember being my favorite. It is drift away by Uncle Kracker. He was my first concert, I love his songs, and he holds a sentimental place in my heart.. He is the person that started my love for music. I will forever be grateful to him. 
6) Without music, the world would be lonely. It would be silent, and cold. Music brings happiness and belonging to a lot of people in the world. No matter your culture or ethnicity, no matter where you are from or how you are raised music brings us together. It connects us all, it is something we all have in common, something we can all share. 
9) An event that sticks out to me when it comes to music, is a series of events. When I was little my mom and I had two songs, 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' and 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough'. Every night my mom would sing 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' to me, and every time we were in an elevator we would sing 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' together. 
15) Ever since I was a little girl, when someone would ask me what I wanted to do when I was older I would reply by saying that I wanted to be a famous singer. I have always had a love and passion for singing. If an opportunity came my way, or I am unhappy with what I choose to do in the future I will jump at the chance to sing professionally. 

Food For Thought

Food for my family has always been a weird topic. We go through phases of healthy eating and cheating. It is a constant cycle for us. I was told things like "forever on you hips a second on your lips," or "it doesn't taste as good as skinny feels" all my life. Hearing those things made my relationship with food a little different. I? always hid when I ate food, and I still do because I am afraid I will get judged or that my mom will say something to me about how I am gaining weight. I went through a bad phase of starvation and then binge  and sometimes I would even purge or use a laxative because I was so afraid of what my mom and people would see if they saw me eating food, and bad food at that. I thankfully have gotten past that, and am working on getting better with my body and who I am as a person, thankfully I have some really great friends that have helped me and are still helping me to this day. I am still working on my body image and my body but I am doing it in a healthy way with exercise and a good diet. My friends and I go to workouts together and go on clean eating challenges, and support and help each other. I have come to find a love for food and working out and I am becoming a happier, healthier, and more pleasant person in my life and other peoples.

Children's Story Draft

Pretty Penny Penguin and the Recess Queen



It was a usual sunny day in the north pole and Pretty Penny Penguin went out to play 

She climbed, and swung, jumped and hung, running around the playground

She was about to get onto the monkey bars when she was shoved out of the way

She whipped around and standing before her was Susie Seal. Penny yelled out "Hey!"

"Watch it Penguin, better be careful,  or someone will come and getcha!"

So Pretty Penny Penguin left the monkey bars and went to the slide when she tripped over a foot and fell down the slide head first 

From the top of the slide Susie Seal yelled " watch it penguin, better be careful, or someone will come and getcha!"

Penny ran from the slide crying and went to the swing by herself when she was swinging back and forth someone came up behind her and  pushed her hard off the swing. 

She went flying off the swing and landed with a hard thud on the ground 

And Susie said "Watch it penguin, better be careful, or someone will come and getcha" 

Penny had, had enough! "Susie Seal, stop being mean you are not the recess queen. You cannot push, and shove, trip, or speak of these hurtful words. We can share the playground! You and me, we can have fun just you wait and see!"

The next day Pretty Penny Penguin and Susie Seal went to the monkey bars together, laughing and skipping all across the playground. The recess queen had found a new friend!

Author Bio

Madison Albert is an new children's book author, but has already got her foot in the door. Growing up she loved to ready Judy Blume and Robert N. Munsch. Some of her favorite books include, If You Give a Mouse A Cookie and Love you Forever. She grew up in Springfield MO, and graduated from Kickapoo High School, continuing her education at Missouri state University. She hopes to become an established author and create her own line of popular children's books. Her books are based off of lessons that she learned throughout her childhood.

Books For Kids

Caps For Sale by: Esphyr Slobodkina

Esphyr was a talented painter, sculptor, designer, author-illustrator, teacher, and amateur architect. On the cover a man is sleeping on a tree with a stack of caps on the ground and monkeys peeking out from behind the tree. There are 39 pages. The setting at the beginning is of a small town, the story ends at a tree. The book is about a man who is having a hard time selling the caps so he takes a nap. Then monkeys take his hat and he wakes up and tries to get them back. There are animal characters in the back, a lesson is being taught, there are adult characters, and lots of illustrations with color, there is one phrase that is repeated 'Caps! caps for sale! Fifty cents a cap! The book is targeted around toddlers. I used to love this book as a little kid.   

Childhood Questions

4. I always had my best friend by my side growing up. We had been best friends since we were born. She was a day older than me. We went to preschool together and when we started elementary school we still hung out all the time, we were inseparable. We did everything together. Then middle school came around and we started to drift apart and get closer to the friends that we had made. I was a cheerleader and she did swimming. But we still hung out and did things together. Now its high school, and I can't remember the last time that we hung out, it has been forever. When we see each other in the hallway we say high and catch up a little. She is a life long friend she will always have that history with me that I can't make with anyone else. She is going to the same college as me so who knows maybe we will we kindle our friendship there?

9. There are lots of things that I know about my family that I wish I could pretend that I never found out, and still live in harmony. As a little kid I always could tell that something wasn't right. My mom and dad acted different than other parents. They were always drinking, but when I stayed at other parents houses I didn't see them drink. It's funny the things kids pick up on but parents think they don't. I wish I didn't know how crooked and messed up my grandparents were, both sides of grandparents. I wish I didn't know what it was like to lose a family member, even though they didn't die.

13. My favorite toy was a doll I was given when I was born. I named her after my big sisters best friend Tessa. I carried her around everywhere. She got so worn out and tattered that one day her leg fell off and we had to sew it back on. I took that doll to church, the grocery store, preschool, road trips, and I slept with her. That doll did not leave my side. 

21. As a child I was the happiest thing, I always had a smile on my face. I would wake up with a smile on my face, and it took a lot to make it go away. Now I have had some pretty bad things happen to me in my life that have taken my innocence away, I still smile all the time, but I have my days that will remind me of my past and what happened in it and it can easily upset me. I am more afraid to do things because I'm worried about what might happen, I am insecure, and I have a really hard time trusting people. I am trying, and have dedicated this year to be the year that I try and move on and get back to the person that I use to be. I miss t

Inspired Artist's

I enter into the gates of heaven

unsure of what is to come up ahead, I walk forward

A shining light shines in the far distance and a sound of beautiful angles singing in the choir

As I approach the light I see a rainbow and a throne

upon that thrown is he sits

all powerful he is glowing, almost to bright to look at 

I have made it

I kneel to the ground prepared to answer the questions he has

But he doesn't ask any instead he stands and approaches me

before telling me to return to my home, today it not the day I enter heaven 

The princess has been locked in the tower

The same tower as the big red dragon

If she wakes the dragon no good will come of it. 

Suddenly a gust of fire is seen from the top of the tower. 

The Princess is in trouble! Someone has to go up and save her

I rush to the top of the tower to see her in the had of the dragon

I fight with all of my might, poking and prodding at the dragon with my sword

It starts to get tired and weak 

I go in for the kill and I stand on top and spear him once and for all

I have defeated the dragon and saved the princess

Hopper-Inspired Writing

Driving away. Speeding out of town, as far as I can go. Not knowing where I want to go I just drive straight, trying to forget what I'm leaving behind. Looking at the ring on my finger I slide it off and set it in my cup holder, as a tear rolls down my face. He doesn't love you anymore I told myself, he cheated on you. he loves her, you are not in his life.

I pull off into a nearby gas station to calm myself down, tears are streaming down my face. I go inside to get some food and drinks for the trip I'm about to take. When I go to check out I get a look of pity from woman behind the counter. I quickly grab my items, throwing the cash on the counter to cover the cost, and rush to my car. Throwing it in reverse I speed out of the gas station and get back on the road, not anymore emotionally stable than I was before.

I drive for a couple more minutes when I pass the sign "Welcome to California," it says. I had made it, there was no going back now. I reach over to open my package of peachio's when out of nowhere I hear a car horn. I whip back up to the wheel but all I can see is headlights headed straight toward me. Then everything goes black.

Straight ahead I see a house

dark and cold

seemingly vaccant, no one emerging.

Dogs playing in the yard to my left

Barking in excitment towards their owner

running down the sidewalk past the window.

Today everything is gone

A bush grown up from being neglected and unkept

blinds me from the outside world. 

The lights are always off in the house across the street.

She finally emerges from the empty house,

she lives in alone, to place a lonely Christmas wreath on her door 

before hiding away until the season is over.

To my right a new neighbor is moving in, 

maybe he will add a little light

or maybe he will take a little more away

Artist Profile: William Blake

William Blake was born on November 28th, 1757 in Soho, London. He was the son of James Blake and Catherine Blake. His father was a hosier while his mom was a stay at home mom. He had 7 siblings, although 2 of them died in infancy. 

In his early life William went to school until the age of 10, and then decided to stay at home and have his mom teach him the rest of his schooling. He later on took drawing classes. 

William Blake dabbled in poetry, visual arts, and engraving. His main medium was watercolors. He was in the romanticism era during the prime of his career. Some of his most famous work was The Angels Hovering Over the Body of Christ in the Sepulcher, The Ancient of Days, Adam Naming the Beasts. My favorite are the Pity which is of an angel on a Pegasus holding a baby looking over a lady. My second favorite is The Four and Twenty Elders Casting their Crowns before the Divine Throne which is of a rainbow and ghosts with god. 

Throughout his career he faced many challenges one of which was that he though he saw gods head in the window, he had trouble dealing with authority, and he was cheated out of a deal with Stothard. In the world The Revolutionary War in the US was going on, Britain and the Netherlands signed a peace treaty, London Regent's canal opened, Antarctica was sighted, and NY stock exchange was founded. 

In the News [Papers]

Positive Experiences 

Everyone does what they can to make sure that people have positive experiences when they are around them. Whether its simply by showing someone a smile, or buying someones groceries because they don't have the money to do so, it's always important to spread positive experiences.

Whenever I travel and see people sleeping underground by the subway, or sleeping in a park, I will take my leftover food from the restaurant I was eating at and give it to them to help make their day a little better.  

My dad one time on Christmas Eve was leaving the grocery store when a blind elderly man was trying to leave at the same time. He was walking out and in the chaos of the parking lot when he almost got hit. That was when my dad rushed over to get him to safety and he ended up taking him home, because he was going to take a taxi 

Positive experiences are what make up the world. The simplest thing can make such and important impact in someones life. 

Memorable Passage

“She doesn't have a ring on each finger, or a big diamond on each ring. 
She doesn't wear a gold watch that costs as much as a fancy car. 
In fact, she doesn't own a fancy car. 
She doesn't carry an enormous designer bag. 
But she might have a newspaper under her arm. 
She might mention Sartre or Foucault in a conversation. 
It's her personality that sparkles and nothing else: the signs of intellectual wealth.” 
-How to be Parisian Wherever You are

I love this passage and it always sticks in my head, because it talks about how material items are not important. It's about what's on the inside. I know the theme of this passage is kinda cliche but the way it is said makes it so elegant. talking about how she doesn't have all of these fancy things, she doesn't have the nicest car, or the most money, but she has a shining personality and that is all that matters. She is wealthy in knowledge and happiness. She doesn't need to have all the material things. 

To me personality is very important. You can have all of those things mentioned in the passage but if you don't have a good personality then it's not worth it. Personalities are what make a person. They shape you and those who are around you. Surround yourself with people who also have good personalities because they will help transform your personality for the better. This passage has always stuck with me because it relates to my morals. I believe that before material things, personality should always come through.

Writers as Readers

1) When I read I like to be warm, my hands and nose specifically. I like to be e

either sitting on my couch or up against my headboard. I can't be laying down because my arms will start to fall asleep. I like to be sitting up but comfortable enough that I can put my legs out in front of me. I like to surround myself with lots of pillows and blankets so that I feel cut off from the outside world, while I enter a new on with my book.

5) When I was reading forged by fire, I couldn't put it down. I would stay up until the wee hours of the night reading the next chapter. always saying "just on last one" I would get in trouble in class because I was reading the book instead of focusing on the task at hand. From the very beginning there was always an exciting ending to the chapter that left you with wanting to know what happened next.

10) I do think people can partake in actions they were not interested in before reading a novel. People like to have role models, and someone to look up to. For some those people happen to be book characters. This could mean that they want to try and live the lives of the character they look up to or they want to do the things that happen in the book. If that is what makes them happy then I am all for it. I do not think that a book should be boycotted just because someone wants to adapt the lifestyle of the book. 

12) I do think that we write like we read. We write with the same sentence structure, vocabulary, and themes as the books we like to read. its what we enjoy reading so its what we are going to enjoy writing.  

4) My favorite memory connected to reading, is in 6th grade. During lunch everyday I would come into my 6th grade English teachers room and discuss the different books we were reading and what books we should read next. She is my all time favorite reader. 

6 Word Memoirs

• Installing my future please wait patiently 
• Car rides with the radio blaring
• Leaving my past behind me
• In the end I have myself

Keeping it real (like Dan)

11. I had the best hiding spot for hide and seek growing up. No one could find me, and I would sometimes just end up falling asleep. We have a storage room under our stairs, and in the back of the room, there were about 100 stuffed animals in the very back. I would crawl under them, and surround my self with stuffed animals and no one would think to search under the animals, or to even go back that far.

12. Illicit love has a sort of attractiveness about it that seem to be something people go after. Like people who are currently in a relationship, or the girls always like to go after bad guys because they think they will be the girl to change them. I have only had one incident where it was an illicit love kinda thing. He was in a relationship and I started to develop a crush on him because we spent so much time together. We ended up snap chatting and talking for a couple of weeks until his girlfriend found out, and then it started to get a little complicated. It ended shortly after that.

13. I personally do think that people who are well traveled can be more interesting. At least to talk to. They have experienced so many different cultures, witnessed so many different things and see so many different places. The stories that they could tell could probably go on for hours, never getting boring. I would love to just sit down and talk to someone who has traveled all of the world.   

17. My perfect day would start with a hike up to the Hollywood sign. After that I would go grab a recovery juice at the Nekter juice bar. After that I would then go grab my bathing suit and my friends and go hit the beach. A couple of hours later I would go home and go get ready for that night where my friends and I would be going out. We would go get some food and then go find some place to hangout and just have fun. Then I would go home and get lots of sleep.

 
24. A nickname that I was called growing up was Fat Albert. I was always a little bit chubbier than the other kids in my class. One day this guy who used to bully everyone else started calling me Fat Albert and he got all his other friends to call me it too. I have always been self conscious about my body ever since then, but I try to accept and love myself.

25. I definitely don't think love is an ability, because if that was true then you'd be able to get over someone very quickly. If you can be able to love someone then you can be able to stop loving someone too, and I truly don't think that that is possible sometimes. Love is something that makes you vulnerable, afraid, and happy all at the same time. It takes you over and you can't control it. It is a feeling. 

28. I used to live next door to a guy who became my best friend. A year later he moved to South Carolina, and eventually California. We still stayed in touch, and everyone thought he would be the one that I ended up marrying. I never believed them because I was so young I was a junior in high school, I have my whole life ahead of me. Well we started to go past the friendship zone, and start admitting that we had feelings for each other. Over Easter weekend he came to visit me and when I went to pick him up from his hotel he sexually assaulted me. I have never run so fast in my life, but I sprinted out of that hotel, like my life depended on it, because I thought it did. He is married now and seeing him on social media still shakes me to my core. It was really hard to get over, especially because I trusted him. 

29. I would like to have a vacation home in Italy. I would want it to be on a wine vineyard with lots of land, kinda isolated. There would be a beautiful pool in the background with a patio/entertaining area with a fire pit, so we could sit outside and night for hours. 

"Reely" Good Quotes

"Anyone who ever gave you confidence, you owe them a lot" -Breakfast at Tiffany's

"Oh yes, the past can hurt. But you can either run from it, or learn from it." -The Lion King

"Why are you trying so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out?" -What a Girl Wants

"Don't let anyone ever make you feel like you don't deserve what you want." -10 Things I Hate About You

"Reel" Life

1) My favorite movie is Breakfast at Tiffany's. I watch this movie any time I am sad, or have hit a hard spot in my life.. I used to watch it because I love the poise and grace that Audrey Hepburn has even though she doesn't always mean to have it, it just comes naturally to her. She lives her life the way she wants to live it. Now I watch it because it gives me a sort of comfort. It's reassuring when I watch it because it has helped me through so many problems and situations in my life. It's my version of a baby blanket.

2) Usually the movies that I don't care for are the old country western movies. Those movies really seem to put me to sleep. They never catch my attention. My mom loved watching Elvis country movies and would force me to watch them with her as a little kid, but I never really liked them.

3 & 4) I don't get to watch movies very often. I never usually have time, so when I do get to watch one it's usually on Netflix on my bed. I gather a bunch of snacks and drinks so that I don't have to get up in the middle of the movie. I usually surround myself in a big pile of pillows and blankets and just get comfy for the next hour. When I get a chance to watch a movie I typically watch a bunch at one time.

5)The survey says that I am 100% extroverted, Extremely agreeable and open to new experiences, and about 50% emotionally stable, and conscientious. This is definitely me through and through.

6)If I were to have a movie made after me I would Zoey Deutch would play me. She and I share some of the same personality traits. We are very sarcastic and spunky but also super caring. We both work hard to get where we need to get and enjoy the journey it takes for us to get there. In my movie it would showcase me growing up and what it was like to live with an alcoholic. It would also showcase me graduating high school, and starting college. And then it would showcase me finding my true passion in life and pursuing it.

This is...

This is my family

Listening to each other

Loving one another

Ready for adventure 

This is my mom and dad

Telling me everythjng is going to be okay

Assuring me that I am safe

That they will be waiting for me at the bottom 

This is me 

Terrified to move

Afraid of what's below 

Trying to believe what my parents are saying

This is us before we jumped over a 50 ft. Cliff 

Flea Market Photos

Charles Ellis is a husband and father of two children. Born August 14th, 1880 in Galena Illinois. Growing up in a poor farm family. Charles had many dreams for himself and his family one day. After studying hard in school, and working his way through college, Charles makes it into the steel production industry. Still stuck to his roots, Charles runs a small farm next to his house, his son and daughter are helping hands with the animals while he is at work. Charles has dreams of one day being able to own his own steel factory. Margaret Ackerman was born on October 11th, 1884 in Douglas, Michigan. In 1904 after graduating College she moved down to Galena to pursue her career in teaching. There she met her soon to be husband Charles. They were wed in 1908 and since then have had 2 children. Margaret knits in her free time, and only dreams that her children will grow up healthy and live a long prosperous life.

Photohunt + Captions + Hashtags

OH NO! Please do not plug it in! I beg of you. Spare my life. It's all that I ask of you. #FrightenedFace  

Throwback to my 6th the grade locker number 666, what a terrible number. Covered it up with tape and made a new number! #Notaboutthatlife

Mrs. Nance is such an amazing person. I wish to one day be as kind as her. She has a lot of compassion. #Whatalady

This was the first thing I noticed as a freshman at Kickapoo. To this day I still don't know what it means #Randomdinohead

I was scared as a freshman that I would get beat up if I stepped on this head. Still won't step on it 4 years later #Chiefkingdom

I remember the day that we finally got to see the year long project...our new cafeteria. It's such a beautiful addition to our school #Allgrownup

Mr. Broaddus will forever have a place in my heart. He has taught me so much about life and how to live it. I am so thankful to him for all the lessons he has taught me #FavoriteTeacher

Ignoring the water bottle in the window, this is an angle not everyone gets to see at Kickapoo. It's the windows at the very top of our cafeteria. #NewHorizons

Always keeping a smile on my face. Whether she means to or not, Madi Pearl is hilarious 24/7 #lotsoflaughs

Not a nature picture from kickapoo but such a beautiful picture I took in St. Croix. You'd never know that the waves were furiously crashing behind me #Scarywaters

Photos of the Millennium (so far)

This Photo is of a tiny child assisting an elderly woman after the effects of Katrina. This photo really affects me, not because I was personally affected by Katrina, but because as soon as this happened I began my life of community service. When I was little I wanted to help the children in New Orleans by sewing them clothes. My mom got me a sewing machine and I quickly got started sewing. I wasn't too good starting out, and I quickly realized that I wasn't going to be able to do much to help the ones in need in New Orleans. So my mom did some research and found a local charity in town that I started to volunteer for. The organization is called Newborns in Need. It is a local not for profit that creates care packages and emergency packages to be delivered to hospitals in Springfield and surrounding areas. I was 6 years old when I started and since then have received many awards for my volunteer work. I am very proud of my family and I for the amount of people we have touched by just donating our time to help those in need. I want to further my volunteer work out into the world in the years to come.

Caged Bird-Inspired Piece

I sing of happy endings

on a bright and summer day

I sing of sunshine

when the rain won't go away

I sing of warmth 

when it is snowing outside

I sing of confidence

when I don't want to hide

I sing of love

when I am feeling alone

I sing of family

when I am missing home

Writers Dreaming

4) I wholeheartedly agree with the statement that dreams "tell the truth." I believe that dreams reveal things to us that maybe we aren't quite ready to admit to ourselves. I think that dreams show what is truly going on in our brain. Things we are thinking, things we are feeling, things we forgot. Dreams bring to mind the important aspects of our lives that others don't know about us, things that maybe we don't even know about ourselves, or maybe things we are trying to deny ourselves. I know i had a dream where I was naked in public, which in turn told me that I actually was nervous and vulnerable about a situation that was coming up, I just tried to tell myself that I wasn't. My dreams told me otherwise though.

5) I don't think I could go as long as Maya did without talking. I do think that I could go a couple of days without talking, I've done it before. I definitely talk too much, I really need to listen more. I listen when it counts, but if I listened more I could learn so many interesting things about the world and the people in it. I'm very quiet when I first meet someone and then after we've been talking for about 10 minutes I just can't stop talking. My friends tell me I am a good listener though, when I do listen my full attention is on the person that is talking to me. If I talked more I could learn to teach, not just myself but those around me. I could teach about my experiences and how I overcame them and how others could overcome the same or similar circumstances.

11) I have always hated the saying "You can't teach an old dog new tricks" The older you are the more you learn, I feel. When you are younger you are learning everyday, making mistakes that stand out and people remember. When you are older, you still learn everyday, whether you are learning how to live life now that you are 60 or if you are learning how to explain to your grandchild that you can't throw your toys at cars that pass. Everything you do is a new chance to learn no matter if you are 18 or 80 everyone can learn and everyone can learn new things and new ways of life.

3) "Talking about bad dreams gives them too much power" That is so true. When you talk repeatedly about something bad that happened to you or happened in your life you let it take over your mind, which in turn takes over your mood, and those around you it affects them too. It starts to control your life. The best thing that you can do with 'bad dreams' is to admit that they happened, learn how to avoid it from happening again, and them let it be the past. If you can just let it be once it happened then you can go about the rest of your life knowing that you learned from that 'bad dream.'