Chris Van Allsburg was born on June 18th, 1949 in Grand Rapids Michigan. As a child Chris’ family moved three times, although always staying within Grand Rapids. The last house he lived in with his parents and sister was a Tudor style house in East Grand Rapid, which would later become the inspiration for the cover illustration of The Polar Express. Although Chris never studied art in high school he got accepted to the University of Michigan college of Architecture and Design as an art student. It was there that Chris would meet his future wife, Lisa Morrison, a fellow art student who was also obtaining her degree in education.…
Trent Parke was born in 1971, he was raised in Newcastle, New South Wales and is the first Australian to become a Full Member of the renowned photographers’ cooperative Magnum Photo Agency. When he was little he use to use the laundry room as a dark room. He had began taking photography’s at the age of 12. Today he now works as a street photography and therefore received many awards such as the World Press Photo Awards- 1999, 2000 , 2001 and 2005. In 2006 he was awarded the ABN AMRO emerging artist award. He has also received the prestigious W Eugene Smith Award for humanistic photography in 2003, for his epic road trip around Australia, “Minutes to Midnight”. Trent Parke also gave an inspirational speech about the early stages of his life at the Fremantle Arts Centre, he talked about his cadetship at the Newcastle Herald while after also moving to Sydney years later where he had covered Australian cricket for News Limited for more than five years. At the same time he was still not that sure on what her wanted to do with the rest of his life, so he…
Paul Rusesabagina saved more than 1,200 refugees in his hotel, what was the world doing to help refugees during the genocide? Nothing, the UN hardly helped at all during the entire genocide. Paul was the hotel manager for the hotel Diplomates, a high end hotel where foreigner government officials stayed. Another hotel, hotel Mille Collines, was another hotel Paul had access to. During the Rwandan genocide Paul kept over a thousand Tutsi and moderate Hutu save in the walls of the Mille Collines. He kept these people safe with words, drinks and lots of phone calls. While Paul and a few other’s tried to save people in Rwanda the whole world turned it’s back on the small country even though they knew what was going on and then decided to beat…
Silas Deane was a man of promise, he came from humble origins, but he rose to great heights. However, he did fall from respect, and lived out his life thought to be a traitor and a cheat. He died in an unusual manner, however. On the deck of the ship that would bring him back to America for the first time in over a decade, he fell extremely ill and died. Silas Deane was murdered by a certain Dr. Bancroft. This is not definite by any means, but it is the most probable cause of his death. The murder of Silas Deane protected Bancroft, and so shows the motive of the murderer, and his circumstances show his ability to perform the act.…
James Anderson Depreist, was born on November 21, 1936 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father died when he was six, then he went to live with his aunt, Marian Anderson the celebrated contralto. It was Ms. Anderson, who was earliest influence in music, and who supported and encouraged all his endeavors.…
In 1993 two minors had committed burglary, and murder. The minors names are Christopher Simmons age of 17, and Charles Benjamin age of 15. The victim was a neighbor of Christopher Simmons. Her name is Shirley Crook age of 46. Christopher Simmons and Charles Benjamin had tied up Shirley Crook to the chair and thrown her in the St. Louis Meramec river. Drowning her at the age of 46 .…
Have you ever thought about what it really means to be a Canadian? What you need to do to even consider yourself to be a part of this country? I believe that Sam Steele could be considered a Canadian. There are many things that he did that made him canadian but the main reason for that is that he was the one who actually fought for Canada.…
Kip Kinkel, was born in Springfield Oregon on August 30, 1982, to Bill and Faith Kinkel, Kip had a sister Kristin, which was 6 years older than him. When Kip was 6 his parents who were both Spanish teachers wanted to study abroad for a year so the family moved to Spain. Kip had a difficult time because his teacher did not speak English, once the Kinkels moved back to the United States Kip was far behind in school and failed first grade. Kip’s family was very active, but kip was not so he struggled to fit in. In fourth grade Kip found out he had dyslexia, and his parents started studying with him many hours a night to help make him better in school, and even though he understood it was difficult for him to comprehend. Kip felt lost when his…
My name is Joseph DePrince and I’m your typical college student at NYU. I try to do the best thing possible. But honestly my life changed in a matter of seconds. First I was laughing with family and friends and then next thing you know I’m sitting behind bars for a crime I didn’t commit. The story that you are about read is my story. My story of when my life got rough. But in the end there was light at the end of the…
Conclusion: The setting of Ethan Frome conveys the idea that Ethan is doomed from the start, from the winters in Starkfield to sledding down the slope with Mattie. Ever since the time of Ethan’s early life to into his fifties towards the end, it was made clear that Ethan’s tragic story was due to fate rather than his choices.…
Daniel Tammett is an extraordinary person in more ways than one. He has savant syndrome, which in itself is extremely rare. Savants have skills such as superior memory, lightening calculation, calendar calculating, musical ability, artistic ability, and/or language ability. Daniel has many of these. Daniel also has a “visual, emotional experience of numbers” (2) called synesthesia, which is also “a rare neurological mixing of the senses” (2), and on top of those two disorders, he also has Asperger’s syndrome. Having one of those can be so debilitating that it can be extremely hard to function in the world, but having three?? If someone were to say they had those disorders, it would be assumed that he/she would be living in a hospital because they would need help with daily living. Daniel is strong though, and he never let any of his disorders keep him down. That is a unique thing about him.…
Ethan Frome guided us through many obstacles that one can go through in one 's life, which is a part of the American spirit. Ethan seems like a very sincere person, who doesn 't want to hurt anyone. Throughout his life he has had many ups and downs that relate to personal issues, decisions on life, romance, death, and life. Ethan had morals that would haunt him forever which kept him from his happiness. Ethan was a man that was trapped by his own doing. He was seen as a "ruin of a man". (11) The American spirit in all of us, some of those characteristics can be bright and fun-filled, however sometimes it is dark, dramatic, and sad.…
The main antagonist in the novel Ethan Frome is Zeena Frome. Zeena is Ethan’s wife. Constantly throughout the story she brings Ethan much hardship such as draining his money by forcing him to pay for medications and care. She is also the source of Ethan’s loneliness. And above all she prevents Ethan and Mattie from being together. Mattie is Zeena’s cousin who is helping to do house work in the place of Zeena while she is sick. Frequently Zeena is in confrontation with Ethan’s personal interest.…
Ken Kesey was born on September 17, 1935 in La Junta, Colorado. Though, he lived most of his life in Eugene, Oregon. In high school, he was a wrestling champion. After he finished high school, he started college at the University of Oregon. He participated in the college’s “School of Journalism” program in 1957. Once there, the staff had recognized Kesey’s prowess and awarded him the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship award that allowed him to attend the creative writing program at Stanford.…
There have been many great American writers, but one of the most notable is Jack Kerouac. Not only did he develop a unique and interesting way of writing, he defined a culture. Jack Kerouac helped develop the Beat Generation, which originated from a group of American writers in 1950’s New York City. The Beat Generation writers, also known as “The Beats,” had very liberal views, creating a culture involving non-materialistic ideals, sexuality and drugs, interests in Eastern religions, and, most-notably, the ecstatic expressionism of living. These ideas from the Beats eventually expanded into the hippie movement during the 60’s, creating a new cultural movement in America. The Beats spread these ideas through their writing, such as William S. Burroughs’ The Naked Lunch and Allen Ginsberg’s Howl. But the most important novel was Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. On the Road was a semi-autobiographical story documenting Jack Kerouac’s adventures across the country with…