#Sherwood Public School

[hannahhook7744]

Marisol Rivera Madrigal Headcanons;

Her full name is Marisol Carmela Victoria Rivera Madrigal.

She is eleven years old by d3 and a triplet (the other 2/3s are named Marcelo and Mariana Rivera Madrigal). 

She has two younger sisters who are five and six respectively named Renata and Vera. 

She has the gift of Geokinesis (aka Earth Bending). 

She is the oldest daughter of Miguel Rivera and Mirabel Madrigal (the oldest triplet by three minutes).

She has her father's skin tone (she's a bit darker than her mom) when she's older with short choppy black hair and dark brown eyes. Has scars on her feet from accidents with her gift and one under her hair from dropping a ton of rocks on her hair.

She's been told that she looks like her tía Isabela, her bisabuela Alma, and her parental great-great-great grandmother, Imelda. Which considering she gets along with the three of them the best (or imagines she would in the case of Imelda), she takes enormous pride in. 

She's also been told she has her father's smile. 

Her birthday is October 25th—making Marcelo, Mariana, and her all Scorpios. 

Marisol thinks astrology and astronomy are interesting. She also really likes Antonio, Bruno, and Isabela's rooms because she thinks they're cool. 

The eleven year old also really loves bows and insists that bows are cool.

Her favorite colors are pink, green, light blue, and white. But mainly pink. 

She, however, despises the color ‘yellow’. 

Marisol's favorite aunt is Isabela and she doesn't even try to hide it. 

While she says that she doesn't have a favorite holiday because it's ‘childish’, her favorite holiday is actually Ancestry Day. It's Marisol’s favorite because she loves learning about her family history. 

Marisol has helped Marcelo write down his recipes and has made a little book about their family with him and Mariana as practice for when they’re grown ups (since she and Mariana both want to work with books when they're older). 

Marisol is a student at the Encanto's only public school for now but fully intends on intending Auradon Prep or another school outside of the Encanto once she's old enough.

She wants to go to college like her primas Princesa and Elmira.

Her choice of school currently is Sherwood University. 

Marisol also enjoys writing and reading and really wants to be an author, narrator, or professional audiobook reader when she grows up. Though she'd settle for a director or a script writer if she couldn't have any of her top three picks. 

She's really insecure about how her voice sounds. 

She collects rocks. 

She pretends that she gets dragged into her siblings and cousins’ shenanigans but the truth is she causes just as many shenanigans and is just better at hiding it.

Casita adores her and the rest of her siblings the most out of her generation, but she is the clear favorite since Casita will help her sneak out occasionally (as shown below in the concept art).

Marisol is fascinated by Isabela's creations—her potato people especially—and plays with them often. 

Bruno is her favorite great uncle because he tells the best stories and he lets her play with his rats. 

Marisol (as shown in this concept art) often reads out stories for the potato people and Bruno's rats to act out…. It's gotten out of hand more times than she'd like to admit it. 

Despite the fact that her siblings often annoy her with their refusal to ‘act like adults’, Marcelo and Mariana are her clear favorites in the sibling category.

Belinda is her favorite cousin because ‘they are the only ones who know how to act like adults’. 

Marisol desperately wants to be seen as mature and responsible, because she wants to be treated as an adult (aka grow up too soon). She actually matures as she gets older though and stops putting too much emphasis on it. 

She is single and uninterested in romance currently, and Barbara Hood, Maria Hood, Gronosis of Camelot, Garanwyn of Camelot, and Tulip Rossi.

Also it should be noted that if you have a problem with Marisol's siblings or cousins (especially Marcelo and Mariana), then you have a problem with her because she will absolutely not be friends with someone who shit talks her family in more than a friendly manner. Only she can be mean to her family, thank you very much. 

Marisol has been described as easily annoyed/irritable, independent, solemn, sneaky, introverted, well-mannered, curious, rational, and clever. But she's also been described as brave, creative, graceful, imaginative, and intuitive.

She can also be really insecure and paranoid, though she tries not to show it. 

Marisol has a pet groundhog that Antonio gave her named Clover. She adores him. 

She also has a worm and ant farm. Yes, she's named all of them individually. 

The bow Marisol is seen constantly wearing was a gift from Isabela. 

The eleven year old once refused to believe that Santa Claus was real for three years until she and her siblings saw him with their very own eyes. 

She also used to be really jealous of Mariana because she thought that since she was named after Isabela, that meant Mariana was Isabela's favorite and not her (spoiler: Mariana is not Isabela's favorite). 

Her favorite animals are dogs, worms, ants, moles, and groundhogs. 

She destress-es by taking long bubble baths.

Her favorite band is The Dragon Slayers and her favorite song of theirs is ‘Take Back The Knight’: she has their band poster in their room. 

Her second favorite musician is Celia Cruz and her third favorite is a tie between Mirabel Madrigal, Hector Rivera, and Miguel Rivera but if anyone asks her she’ll say that her parents are her first favorite because she doesn’t want to hurt their feelings. 

Marisol is not very interested in video games but occasionally plays them when her siblings, cousins, and friends bug her enough—her favorite of these games is ‘Plants Vs. Dragons’. 

Marisol won’t admit it but she’s terrified of dragons. 

Her favorite movie is ‘Spookley the Square Pumpkin’.

She is subscribed to some of the Auradon magazines (Dolores and Isabela got her hooked on them)—Royal Digest, Vanity Fairy, and National Aristocratic in particular. 

Marisol is up to date on all of the gossip at Auradon Prep and other schools because her cousins tell her everything (that’s age appropriate). They’ve also given her articles from the school and she is absolutely enamoured with the mystery of the ‘lunchroom stalker’ (whoever recorded the footage in the cafeteria) and insists that it was either Lonnie or Jordan. 

Her favorite vk is Evie and her least favorite is Mal. Not because of anything she’s done, she’s just scared because Mal can turn into a dragon. 

This has backfired because they told her about the Madam Mim Dragon Incident and the Maleficent Dragon Incident, which only made her more scared of them. 

Everyone thinks that Mariana was the worst of the triplets when they were toddlers but if anyone were to ask Mirabel and Miguel they would actually point out that it was Marisol, who all the adults remember as a little terror (seen here).

She often sits in her windowsill to read.

When Marisol gets stressed/has a breakdown, the plants in her room start dying and she is unable to remove any of her books from their shelves because they grow longer the more she tries. Sometimes books even fly with the aim to hit someone when she's overwhelmed instead of just floating to her as they usually do (as shown below).

She has a lantern that uses to get around her room and Casita at night.

As seen by Bruno in a vision, this is what she looks up as an adult (as shown below).

The eleven year old has told Marcelo that she will, under no circumstances, ever try the isle food because it will likely kill her due to how health code violations aren’t a thing over there—and she’s also recommended he not try it either. This caused many arguments between the two and Mariana, who of course, had her own opinion.

She also refuses to put any of the hair care products or potions /medicines from there anywhere on or in her person without testing it on something first because she claims it’s risky.

The earth bender wants to have social media (mainly InsyaRoyal) so badly but her parents refuse to allow it until she’s at least the age Mirabel was when Casita fell, much to her disappointment. They let her watch Auratube though.

Her favorite channel in Auradon is Fairy Planet and her favorite Auradon shows are ‘Little Dwarves, Big Giants’ and ‘Aurora The Explorer.’ She also likes ‘Auradon’s Classiest Home Videos’ but she can’t stand ‘The Young And The Crownless’.

She also secretly likes ‘Real Princesses Of Charmingsville’ but can’t really be open about that because technically she’s not allowed to be watching it (Isabela and Dolores both let her watch it).

She has a stuffed rat that her mom made her as a baby that she named ‘Pinkie’.

Jordan is her favorite Auratuber.

Her favorite food that Julieta makes is “Make Your Family Proud” Sticky Rice Arroz atollado (which is Julieta’s favorite food too) and her favorite dessert she makes is Guava and Cheese Mini Bites Bocadillo Con Queso. Her favorite drink is Passion Fruit Butterfly Bliss.

Marisol has been nicknamed Mari, Sol, little earth, little soil, Rompetierras, Pequeña rompehielos, and little earth shaker. Depending on who is calling her what, she may or may not respond.

Her favorite place to visit in Auradon is ‘Mad For Tea’.

Marisol was so scared during her gift ceremony that Isabela gave her a flower to give her courage after she slipped away from her parents.

Mariana and Marisol can out argue Isabela and Mirabel, much to everyone’s displeasure.

No one can out argue a Madrigal—even if they're eleven (aka Marisol).

Eventually Marisol gets green and pink, round rimmed glasses that are much like her mother’s when she gets older.

When asked which parent she gets along with better she just shrugs and says she gets along with them both fine enough.

Marisol’s favorite flower is the same as her mother—a daisy.

She works really hard to do well in school but struggles because she has undiagnosed Dysgraphia that she doesn’t want to bother her family with since they’re busy with her cousin and sibling’s (and the adults’) own issues.

Marisol wants to be just like her Tía Isabela, Bisabuela Alma, and her great-great-great grandmother, Imelda, when she grows up.

Her favorite Auradon play is ‘The Old Stand’.

Her door depicts Marisol standing on a floating piece of earth, rocks floating all around her as she examines them.

Her room has a secret passage that leads to several different places... including the kitchen cabinets. It is hidden in a stone wall behind the stone outline of a stone door with an eye on it that she bended into the door (there are other stone carvings on this wall too).

There is a hole in the door outline. When Marisol sticks her makeshift door knob in it, it opens the passage up and allows or her to go through it. It also leads to Bruno's place behind the walls.

Marisol's bed is suspended off the ground by vines and looks a lot like Isabela's bed, but with dark pink and white vertically striped sheets.

Also Casita has done the above to Marisol. But only once because actually no one was happy with her for doing that.

Her room is a wide expanse full of earth and plant life with stone structures like statues, benches, and bridges, but it is not entirely that. There is a little area that is much like a regular room with mint green wallpaper and a wooden floor that is decorated with plants. It has a little area that holds her rock collection on one wall, a wooden stand that holds a tv, a recorder player, and a radio. On another wall, there is a floral writer’s desk where her writing supplies and laptop rest. 

She has a little statue there as well so she can practice the instruments she wants to play. Beside that is a closet that holds her close and the hidden chest in which she hides her ‘baby’ stuff (aka her stuffed animals and blankie). 

Marisol’s walls are decorated with posters, family photos, and drawings.

She also has a wide collection of books and a white board for her to brainstorm on—she also has a circular window that she can sit on above her book cases. It has a stained picture of earth on it. Furthur in her room is another window in which she tends to sneak out of that is big enough for her to easily slip out of. 

The other kids absolutely know that Marisol sneaks out and are sitting on that information for if they ever need a 'get out of jail' card.

Mirabel and Miguel would never say this but they wish she'd stop trying to grow up too fast.

Marisol sometimes feels sad that she's not Vera or Renata's favorite sibling but would deny it if asked (Marcelo is Renata's favorite and Mariana is Vera's favorite older sibling).

Marisol’s favorite candy is fairy bubble gum but she has to sneak it because Alma banned it from the house after it nearly caused Marisol to float off when she was six. Her second favorite is Chocolates Madrigal. 

Her favorite book is a tie between ‘The Tales of Flynnigan Ryder’ and ‘The Little Earth Shaker’.

She's read all of the Fotogramas magazines.

[justinssportscorner]

Daniel Villarreal at LGBTQ Nation:

Trans activist and civil rights attorney Alejandra Caraballo has criticized Meta for allowing the anti-LGBTQ+ hate account Libs of TikTok, which is run by Chaya Raichik, to keep up a Facebook post targeting a transgender high school athlete. Caraballo reported the post from the account which said, “A male just won the Girls [200-meter] Varisty in Sherwood, Oregon. He set a new record for the girls race. These high school girls just had their dream stolen from them because the school is catering the delusions of a boy who pretends to be a girl.” The post referred to Aayden Gallagher, a McDaniel High School track athlete who finished the race with a 25.49-second time. Caraballo said that the post inspired bomb threats against the school and said that Meta “clearly knew the history of this account inciting dozens of bomb threats along with violent imagery in her comments.” Indeed, Libs of TikTok’s posts have been connected to numerous death threats against medical professionals, children’s hospitals, public schools, educational officials, and places of business with transgender-inclusive policies. “These people on the oversight board are spineless amoral cowards running cover for a fundamentally evil company. They can lie to protect their conscience but the reality is they’re enabling horrific violence against vulnerable minorities,” Caraballo wrote on Bluesky while linking to an article by Meta’s Oversight Board explaining their decision to allow the post to remain publicly visible. The board wrote that the post didn’t violate Meta’s recently rescinded rule forbidding “statements denying existence” (which was deleted in Meta’s January update). “Nor do the posts represent a ‘call for exclusion,'” the board wrote, “because there are no calls… for the transgender athlete to be ejected, disqualified from competition or otherwise left out.” Meta also claimed that Gallagher is “a voluntary public figure who has engaged with their fame” since winning the race, making them fair game for public comment and criticism by social media users.

Meta permits anti-trans harassment from anti-LGBTQ+ extremist Libs of TikTok’s Facebook account.

[rpking99]

NEW MUSE UPDATE

As I enjoy my break, it is time to finally get around to adding some new girls! Been a while, huh? Haha!

Now... let's kick it!

NEW GIRLS ADDED

COMICS

Bryce Wayne, The Bat- DC

Starting off we have a genderswaped version of Bruce Wayne, the Batman, from Earth-11.

Introducing: Bryce Wayne, the Bat. Playing the part of a genius CEO, single mother of six and party girl all at once as she works to protect Gotham and keep the streets clean!

Regina 'Gina' Grayson, Nightwing- DC

Another genderswap from Earth-11, the Genderswap world gives us a female version of Richard 'Dick' Grayson!

Still using the name Nightwing, Gina is as fun loving and cocky as ever. As quick witted, clever and such a skilled leader and acrobat.

CARTOONS

Morticia Addams- Addams Family

Mother of Wednesday, she is as hot as she is mysterious and ookie.

ShellyWave- Transformers Kotobokiya

The ever logical and serious member of the DCDC, Shelly is behind the budget of the group and other clubs of the school. Able to take over when Megatronia is busy, be careful trying to face her black and white view point. A scientist who is an expert with biology

SophieWave- Transformers Kotobokiya

Sophie is the most loyal of the entire DCDC, with a not-so-secret crush on their leader. Sophia is very clever with computer and has made herself mechanical 'babies' in her robot companions (Ravage, Laser Beak, Frenzy & Rumble) to assist her in her work for the DCDC. Many refer to her as a 'spy' as she looks for those who may cause problems for the school

ANIME

Sylvia Sherwood, the Handler- SpyXFamily

She is the commanding officer of WISE within Ostania, and Agent Twilight's main contact for Operation Strix. Ooften over worked and stressed over the budget of the misssion, as well as worried about the eventual war that could break out if the mission was to fail.

(Side note, thanks to @the-blackbird-roleplays for assisting me in creating the following AU)

Ryuko Kiriyuin- Kill La Kill AU

Face claim is Junketsu Ryuko. From an alternate universe where she and Satsuki swapped roles, their father taking Satsuki and sabotaging Ryago's data

Ryuko Kiryuin shares a good few traits wish canon Ryuko Matoi. Being hot headed, a bit arrogant and aggressive. But pushed to the max. You can describe Satsuki Kiryuin as the Iron Queen, Ryuko Kiryuin is the Volcanic Empress.

A 'might makes right' attitude to the public, pushing everyone to be stronger. Making herself public enamy number one… And the one number one all at once. Trying to make everyone stronger to battle her mother. Going with a warrior mentality rather than that of a general. Making everyone ready to fight rather than inspiring any form of unity

She's literally a one woman army against what will come, training others without them even knowing they are being trained, to save the world and stop her monster of a mother. Because of that... she is alone. No Elite Four, no support or friends. Just her mother.... and her one friend.

Even in this world, Mako found Ryuko and became her friend. Her one support. Mako's love the only thing giving Ryuko hope and keeping her from falling into despair and pleasure as her mothers tool

Satsuki Matoi- Kill La Kill AU

Satsuki Matoi is the rallying force of the world. The rebel who united the school against her sister, not knowing the plan and not even knowing they are sisters. Having arrived at the school to seek the murderer of her father but seeing liberating the school to be more important than her personal desires.

She is from the country, and so while she tries to speak like a heroic knight... she lets crass profanity and weird sayings slip out in the middle of a speech of epic proportions

GAMES

YORhA Unit 10H- NiER Automata/NiER Reincarnation

A Healing Unit with the Type 10 personality and apperance. A sweet, kind and cheerful Android.

Catherine- Catherine

A succubus from the game of the same name. Working to taunt the souls of wicked men, so they either fall into hell or repent and become better men.

Nico- Devil May Cry

A genius when it comes to the art of turning demon parts into anti-demon weapons. The granddaughter of the woman who created Dante's famous guns, Ebony & Ivory, as well as the daughter of a certain scientist villain from DMC4 who did improve opera against Dante. She is crass, with no filter in her voice, but an excited joy of a person that gives no fucks.

MISC

Sana Tsukumo- V-Tuber

Sana is the oldest of the Council, the first made by the gods. 13,800,000,000 years old to be exact. A gentle, kind, being. She needs the limiter atop her head to stay at a decent/normal size that wouldn’t destroy the planet… that happened once. Luckily Fauna could fix it. A fantastic artist, she is fascinated by the world around her. 

Raora Panthera- V-Tuber

Raora Panthera, the big cat. The artist with the Gods Eye. A skilled artist with a cheerful mind and an addiction to crane games. Loves ladies, and is very energetic and focused. She loves a cute blue cat mascot called Chatini.

Cecilia Immergreen- V-Tuber

Cecilia is an ancient automaton, created to be a maid.But she wished to be more. So much more. Shut down, she was eventually found by Liz and made to be part of justice. She has a habit of… interests. With a life she jumps from one hobby to another, diving right in… and forgetting about it. She can not drive. Her violin can turn into a lance. She is a little unhinged

Gigi Murin- V-Tuber

Gigi classifies her race/species, officially, as Gremlin. She is a force of nature who can also be distracted by a barking dog, getting into a barking contest with it. Known as the Chaser, she is the rush down member of the group meant to catch the crooks once the others have tracked them down and prepped the situation. Because of her massive metal gauntlets she insists on being called ‘The Fister!’

[thedeadgirlwriting]

A Heather Chandler, 1/2 OC Synopsis I had to do for a server. Might adjust it for my RP Blog.

From the start, Heather Halston-Chandler was designed to survive the cutthroat nature of the world. As the only child of a prestigious businessman and big shot model, Heather was raised in the comfort of an upper-class home in Sherwood, Ohio and was thrown into the deep end of a world that revolved around public image and reputation, along with the belief that anything could be yours if you wanted it enough. She soon became the town’s golden girl with an infamous mean streak. Heather was classy, refined, snappy and drop dead gorgeous, turning head’s wherever she walked. By freshman year, she already ran her high school with an iron fist. Everything was hers because she wanted it, and she believed that she had damn well earnt it. She made the rules and people followed them, hunched over in the shadows, cowering at her presence. She drank the attention from her reputation and learned to thrive off of it, like a drug. Her looks were her bargaining chip and her wits her sword.

However, behind the doors of her sweeping family estate, Heather served as nothing more than occasional PR to her parents and as a result her relationships often lacked anything other than transactional affection. In desperation to make something of herself other than what others wanted, she threw herself spiralling down a rabbit hole of blurred nights and university parties. Her parents were appalled by the sight of their teenage daughter dragging herself back in at ungodly hours, perfumed like a mini bar. They dragged the girl to service after service, hoping to expel her of the sinful behaviour. But the priest’s sermons fell on deaf ears.

As her homelife started to weigh heavy on her shoulders, she had a choice to make. She could roll over and die or see how far she could push the limits, so she did.

What the girl didn’t expect, was for those limits to end with her laying in a bed of glass the next morning.

Having been served a wake-up mug of drain cleaner by an unknown individual was a hit to Heather’s reputation, that she couldn’t afford. You would think that this might be the wake-up call Heather needed to change her ways, but her stubborn pride, carried the resentment and spite of what happened. Forging it into her motivation and desire to learn how to act and manipulate. She knew what she wanted and was going to take it, because she wanted it enough.

By the time she had recovered and regained her voice she had missed months of her junior year another expense which made her blood boil. She started to use her head and got back on her feet and secured her spot at Ravencrest University in senior year, thanks to her mother’s connections as an alumni.

Afterall, Heather Halston-Chandler isn’t someone to take things laying down, and she’s about to make it everyone’s problem.

[siena-sevenwits]

I'm attempting to assemble some "buffet" lists for my 2025 reading. I don't mean to get through any of the lists, but to use the lists as limited inspiration pools. It would be rather a long list to put in one post, so I'll do it by category.

Children's Literature

The Gawgon and the Boy by Lloyd Alexander (Great Depression)

The Dark Frigate by Charles Boardman Hawes (the high seas)

The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry (modern day)

Greenglass House by Kate Milford (1930's fantasy)

The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope (New York State with visits from Revolutionary era ghosts)

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (re-read) (Edwardian England)

The Cabinet of Wonders by Marie Rutkoski (fantasy)

The Guests of War Trilogy by Kit Pearson (WWII Canada)

St. Winifred's by Frederic W. Farrar (Victorian English public school)

The Box of Delights by John Masefield (1930's England)

The Feud at Fennell's by John Mowbray (1930's English public school)

I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino (Renaissance Madrid)

Twilight Robbery by Frances Hardinge (re-read) (fantasy)

The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli (14th century England)

A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver by E. L. Konigsburg (Twelfth Century England)

A Circle of Silver by Maxine Trottier (War of 1812 Canada)

The Ramsay Scallop by Frances Temple (14th Century Europe)

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham (18th century America and the seas)

Archer's Goon by Diana Wynne Jones (fantasy England)

The Enchanted Castle by E. Nesbit (Edwardian English fantasy)

The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill (fantasy)

The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright (Interbellum NYC)

Race to the Bottom of the Sea by Lindsay Eagar (fantasy)

The Girl Who Kept the Castle by Ryan Gaudin (fantasy)

The History of the Hobbit edited by John D. Rateliff (soooort of children's literature) (Fantasy sort of)

[camisoledadparis]

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … January 4

1750 – France Bruno Lenoir and Jean Diot are caught having sex in public for which they are arrested. A year later they were executed. There was general surprise in France at the severity of their sentence. Their execution was the last in France for consensual sodomy.

1877 – Marsden Hartley (d.1943) was an American Modernist painter, poet, and essayist. Hartley was born in Lewiston, Maine, where his English parents had settled.

In 1898, at age 22, Hartley moved to New York City to study painting at the New York School of Art. Hartley was a great admirer of Albert Pinkham Ryder and visited his studio in Greenwich Village as often as possible. His friendship with Ryder inspired Hartley to view art as a spiritual quest.

Hartley first traveled to Europe in April 1912, and he became acquainted with Gertude Stein's circle of avante-garde writers and artists in Paris. Stein, along with Hart Crane and Sherwood Anderson, encouraged Hartley to write as well as paint.

Finnish-Yankee sauna

In 1913, Hartley moved to Berlin, where he continued to paint. Many of Hartley's Berlin paintings were further inspired by the German military pageantry then on display, though his view of this subject changed after the outbreak of World War I, once war was no longer "a romantic but a real reality." The earliest of his Berlin paintings were shown in the landmark 1913 Armory Show in New York.

In Berlin, Hartley developed a close relationship with a Prussian lieutenant, Karl von Freyburg, who was the cousin of Hartley's friend Arnold Ronnebeck. References to Freyburg were a recurring motif in Hartley's work, most notably in Portrait of a German Officer (1914). Freyburg's subsequent death during the war hit Hartley hard, and he afterward idealized their relationship. Many scholars believe Hartley to have been gay, and have interpreted his work regarding Freyburg as embodying his homosexual feelings for him.

Portrait of a German Soldier

In addition to being considered one of the foremost American painters of the first half of the 20th century, Hartley also wrote poems, essays, and stories.

Cleophas and His Own: A North Atlantic Tragedy is a story based on two periods he spent in 1935 and 1936 with the Mason family in the Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, fishing community of East Point Island. Hartley, then in his late 50s, found there both an innocent, unrestrained love and the sense of family he had been seeking since his unhappy childhood in Maine. The impact of this experience lasted until his death in 1943 and helped widen the scope of his mature works, which included numerous portrayals of the Masons.

He wrote of the Masons, "Five magnificent chapters out of an amazing, human book, these beautiful human beings, loving, tender, strong, courageous, dutiful, kind, so like the salt of the sea, the grit of the earth, the sheer face of the cliff." In Cleophas and His Own, written in Nova Scotia in the fall of 1936, Hartley expresses his immense grief at the tragic drowning of the Mason sons. The independent filmmaker Michael Maglaras has created a feature film Cleophas and His Own, released in 2005, which uses a personal testament by Hartley as its screenplay.

1946 – Arthur Conley aka Lee Roberts (d.2003) was a U.S. soul singer, best known for the 1967 hit "Sweet Soul Music".

Conley was born in McIntosh County, Georgia, U.S., and grew up in Atlanta. He first recorded in 1959 as the lead singer of Arthur & the Corvets. With this group, he released three singles in 1963 and 1964 – "Poor Girl", "I Believe", and "Flossie Mae" – on the Atlanta based record label, National Recording Company.

In 1964, he moved to a new label (Baltimore's Ru-Jac Records) and released "I'm a Lonely Stranger". When Otis Redding heard this, he asked Conley to record a new version, which was released on Redding's own fledgling label Jotis Records, as only its second release. Conley met Redding in 1967. Together they rewrote the Sam Cooke song "Yeah Man" into "Sweet Soul Music", which, at Redding's insistence, was released on the Atco-distributed label Fame Records, and was recorded at FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It proved to be a massive hit, going to the number two position on the U.S. charts and the Top Ten across much of Europe. "Sweet Soul Music" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.

After several years of hits singles in the early 1970s, he relocated to England in 1975, and spent several years in Belgium, settling in Amsterdam (Netherlands) in spring 1977. At the beginning of 1980 he had some major performances as Lee Roberts and the Sweaters in the Ganzenhoef, Paradiso, De Melkweg and the Concertgebouw, and was highly successful. At the end of 1980 he moved to the Dutch village of Ruurlo, legally changing his name to Lee Roberts — his middle name and his mother's maiden name. He promoted new music via his Art-Con Productions company. Amongst the bands he promoted was the heavy metal band Shockwave from The Hague. A live performance on January 8, 1980, featuring Lee Roberts & the Sweaters, was released as an album entitled Soulin' in 1988.

Conley was gay, and several music writers have said that his homosexuality was a bar to greater success in the United States and one of the reasons behind his move to Europe and his eventual name change. In 2014, rock historian Ed Ward wrote, "[Conley] headed to Amsterdam and changed his name to Lee Roberts. Nobody knew 'Lee Roberts,' and at last Conley was able to live in peace with a secret he had hidden – or thought he had – for his entire career: he was gay. But nobody in Holland cared."

Conley died from intestinal cancer in Ruurlo, Netherlands aged 57 in November 2003. He was buried in Vorden.

1960 – Michael Stipe has been the lead singer, lyricist, and composer for the successful rock band R.E.M. for over two decades. Among his best-known songs is "Losing My Religion," which rose to number 4 on the United States rock charts in 1991. He has also become involved in film and now has his own production companies.

The child of a career military officer, John Michael Stipe, born in Decatur, Georgia, grew up on bases around the United States and also in Germany, and spent his high school years in Illinois.

Stipe returned to Georgia for college, enrolling as an art student at the University of Georgia in 1978. There he met fellow alternative music fans Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Bill Berry. Within a year all four had dropped out of college to forge a career as a rock band, R.E.M.

They went on a concert tour and in 1980 put out their first single, "Radio Free Europe." Its success, particularly on college radio stations, won them a recording contract. Their first full-length album, Murmur (1983), was chosen as Album of the Year by Rolling Stone magazine.

Stipe's vigor on stage contributed to the success of R.E.M.'s concerts. He interacted with the audience and charged about with boundless energy. He blasted his often dark and brooding lyrics into the microphone with such force that they were frequently barely intelligible.

In addition to composing and performing, Stipe has also directed several of R.E.M.'s music videos and oversees the creation of their album covers.

By 2004 the band had recorded nearly twenty albums with collective sales of almost fifty million copies worldwide, making it one of the most successful in the history of rock music.

With the success of the albums Out of Time (1991) and Automatic for the People (1992), R.E.M. became mainstream music stars. Around 1992, rumors that Stipe had contracted HIV began to circulate. According to Stipe, he did not start the rumor and he does not know who did.

Not that I can tell. I wore a hat that said 'White House Stop AIDS'. I'm skinny. I've always been skinny, except in 1985 when I looked like Marlon Brando, the last time I shaved my head. I was really sick then. Eating potatoes. I think AIDS hysteria would obviously and naturally extend to people who are media figures and anybody of indecipherable or unpronounced sexuality. Anybody who looks gaunt, for whatever reason. Anybody who is associated, for whatever reason - whether it's a hat, or the way I carry myself -as being queer-friendly.

In 1994, with questions still swirling about his sexuality, Stipe described himself as "an equal opportunity lech," and said he did not define himself as gay, straight, or bisexual, but that he was attracted to, and had relationships with, both men and women.

In 1995, he appeared on the cover of Out magazine. Stipe described himself as a "queer artist" in Time in 2001 and revealed that he had been in a relationship with "an amazing man" for three years at that point. Stipe reiterated this in a 2004 interview with Butt magazine. When asked if he ever declares himself as gay, Stipe stated, "I don't. I think there's a line drawn between gay and queer, and for me, queer describes something that's more inclusive of the grey areas."

In 1999, author Douglas A. Martin published a novel, Outline of My Lover, in which the narrator has a six-year romantic relationship with the unnamed lead singer of a successful Athens, Georgia-based, rock band; the book was widely speculated, and later confirmed by its author, to have been a roman à clef based on a real relationship between Martin and Stipe. The two had previously collaborated on two books, both in 1998: The Haiku Year (for which the two had both contributed haikai) and Martin's book of poetry Servicing the Salamander (for which Stipe took the cover photograph).

1965 – Craig Revel Horwood is an Australian-British author, dancer, choreographer, conductor, theatre director, and former drag queen in the United Kingdom. He is also a patron of the Royal Osteoporosis Society.

Horwood is best known as a judge on the popular BBC dancing series Strictly Come Dancing, and until 13 November 2021, as he tested positive for COVID-19 and missed the following week's show, had been the only judge to have appeared in every edition since its inception. He is often seen performing ballroom and Latin routines including, in 2019, a performance themed around Hello, Dolly!.

Horwood has a waxwork in Madame Tussauds Blackpool which has been on display since July 2018. On 20 July 2021, Horwood was given an Honorary Doctor of Arts by the University of Winchester at Winchester Cathedral.

He was born in Ballarat, Australia. His father Phil was a former Royal Australian Navy Lieutenant whose alcoholism had "torn their family apart". He started his career as a dancer in Melbourne, then moved to London to take advantage of the greater opportunities available there and to dance competitively. In 1989, he moved to the UK from Australia, and on 20 August 2011, he became a British citizen.

Revel is Horwood's middle name; it is not double barrelled. In his autobiography, Horwood reveals that at the age of 17, he made money by appearing as a drag queen in bars and clubs and that his relationship with an unnamed celebrity was akin to prostitution.

Horwood was married to Jane Horwood from 1990 to 1992. In December 2014, Horwood informed a reporter from OK! magazine that 'I was bisexual for a long time. I flitted between men and women quite a lot between the ages of 17 and 26. My wife Jane left me for another man. Then I fell in love with a bloke. I have been gay ever since.' His former partner Damon Scott had been a runner up on Britain's Got Talent.

Since early 2018, Horwood has been in a relationship with horticulturist Jonathan Myring. In April 2020 Horwood and Myring announced their engagement. The pair, who met on Tinder, became engaged while in Tasmania.

Horwood became a patron of the Royal Osteoporosis Society in 2009. In this, he has found common ground with Camilla, Queen Consort, the Society's Royal patron (whose mother, like his, had bone disease). The two of them danced the cha-cha-cha together, on a school visit to mark National Osteoporosis Day in 2009.

In January 2015, Horwood revealed on ITV's Loose Women that he suffered from anorexia and body dysmorphia as a teenager and young dancer, as a result of trying to make himself look like other young men, and other dancers in particular.The 14th British series of Who Do You Think You Are? featured Horwood's ancestry in the second episode; in this, his family history research took him home to Australia, where he discovered that his family tree traces to Gloucestershire, Lancashire and Essex in England. Horwood found out that he is not the first dancer in his family, and that he is descended from gold prospectors that went bankrupt before becoming rich on finding a 250-ounce (7.1 kg) gold nugget. He also learnt further that his great-great-grandfather, Moses Horwood, who is revealed in the programme to have been a petty criminal from England, was convicted at the Gloucestershire assizes and transported to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) in 1841. Criminal records identified by TheGenealogist include a transportation document for Moses Horwood, showing he departed England on 1 December 1841 on board a ship called the John Brewer.

1970 – Christopher Klucsarits, better known as Chris Kanyon (d.2010), US Professional wrestler, best known for his work in World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation, under the ring names Kanyon and Mortis.

In 2006, after Kanyon's release from WWE, he began a gimmick in which he was an openly homosexual pro wrestler. This included a publicity stunt wherein he stated that WWE released him from his contract because of his sexuality. Kanyon later told reporters and even stated on a number of radio interviews, that this was just a publicity stunt and he was heterosexual. However, he later retracted these statements and acknowledged that he was in fact homosexual.

Before his death Kanyon was working on a book, Wrestling Reality, with Ryan Clark. The book was released November 1, 2011, and it features Kanyon's struggles as a closeted gay man as a prominent theme.

1984 – Illinois repeals its "lewd fondling or caress" law, more than two decades after repealing its sodomy law.

1997 – A British tabloid accuses Conservative M.P. Jerry Hayes of having an affair in 1991 with a then-18-year-old male. At the time, 18 was under the age of consent.

[thefisherqueen]

I came across the surname Baskerville in a text completely unrelated to Sherlock Holmes (in a book about wild camping), and it's gives some really interesting insight into the history and present state of UK inherited titles and landownership so thought I would share!

'William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066 and then made himself king. It was like any other invasion of conquest, in any other time or realm. King Harold the Second was dead. Long live the King. Life goes on. But there was a difference. New laws saw all of the land seized by the Crown - a relatively unique development in the history of conquest. Sasxon barons were replaced by the Norman lords and their allies. The Domesday Book - the most definitive land registery document every devised - was produced on William's orders in 1086 to identify the new owners and their land holding and what they might owe, in tax, favour and loyalty, to the king: the sovereign Landlord.

Landownership had worked broadly in the same way ever since our ancestors abandoned the nomadic life, and took up the shovel and plough about 10.000 BC. What the Normans changed in Britain was the communal right of access over the land. That system of non-communal access is still very much in force today amoung the modern-day descendents of the Normans. Which is why William's 1086 census - the Domesday Book (and its modern version, the Land Registry) - remains so important. It serves as a legal document that established ownership by the legal holder of the title.

My research into where I could roll out a sleeping bag today meant looking at landownership. I discovered that very little had changed sinde the Norman invasion. Just 0,6 per cent of the population still owns 50 per cent of the British land, and most of this elite are the descendants of the 11th-century Norman aristocracy.

A report - "Who owns Britain?' - by Country Life magazine in 2010 was said to be the most detailed survey of its kind in over 100 years. The research claimed that just 1200 aristocrats and their families own 20 million of Britain's 60 million acres of land. The top private landowner in Europe was the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, who owned 240.000 acres in England and Scotland. Research by the London School of Economics in 2013 claimed that the Normans who conquered England - with surnames Baskerville, Darcy, Mandeville and Montgomery - still dominate the student rolls for Oxford and Cambridge universities, still make up a large proportion of the elite that holds the prime positions in professions such as medicine, law and politics. They also control a good number of the political agencies, public bodies and charitable organisations that oversee rules regulating land management and access.

But 1066 was about more than Saxon lords losing their holdings. It was how it affected the peasants that mattered most. The common rights over common lands like Sherwood Forest and the Kentish Weald were gone. Those rights included the right to roam over woodlands, marshes, moors and coasts of many common areas; to graze animals, collect wood for fuel, tools and buildings, to eat fruits, to collect water from rivers and streams, to catch fish and generally to do all the things that made it possible to live off the land."

From: Wild camping. Exploring and sleeping in the wilds of the UK and Ireland, by Stephen Neale, page 29

I've been to the UK several times for hiking trips, and I remember being puzzled by the system of access to nature at first. It is quite bewildering to be just walking on a perfecty good path, only to suddenly find it fenced off, with aggressive signs warning walkers to KEEP OUT!!! Why are hikers treated with so much suspicion even in areas famous for its good hiking? And what do you mean by Right of Way? How come there's major roads and motor cross terrains within a national park? (turns out they are largely privately owned). Myself, I've never been shy to climb the occasional wall or fence, and pitch my tent somewhere even on private lands. I consider it my own gentle way of resisting the very idea of private property, which creates so much inequality. I've never yet faced any trouble for it, by the way. Turns out land owners have little desire to actually hike on their lands, especially in rain or cold or darkness, and the people who work for them are usually not payed enough to care about a lonely hiker who is causing no disturbance or damage whatsoever xD

[loopingpyre]

That's right, it's time for a series 8 minireview as i go through and rewatch the Capaldi era because Clara is there and I really like Clara. Deep Breath - Ok, so right off the bat this episode is a bit wierd because we have Clara jump into the streams, see multiple doctors, then she meets up with multiple doctors (and they reference Captain Grumpy earlier so like, she remembers the other two doctors) and. We have to question whether or not Capaldi Doctor is still The Doctor. It's pretty weak. The ending is solid, but most of the episode is not. Into the Dalek - Yes! Much Better, Fantastic Voyage episode with a Dalek. Deep Breath was very messy, this feels more like The Doctor. There's some extra callousness, comically so. It's a decent episode, but we still haven't really established this new doctor yet, so he still feels a bit out of whack before he gets 'You are a good Dalek' 2.0'd to throw him out more. Hard for this to have impact when he hasn't been established. This episode also unfortunately introduces Danny Pink. Robot of Sherwood - I didn't know this episode existed and I wish I continued to not. It's a fine episode on it's own i guess but I don't like the Doctor in this and it feels like a very mishandled use of Robin Hood and I really like Robin Hood. Listen - Let's go back to the Danny Pink part. So we've set Clara up as someone who lives her life outside being just a companion, which is cool, it's different, she can have a narrative outside of just travelling. A wild choice when she's the Impossible Girl who knows all about The Doctor and his deepest secrets, you could do some interesting things with perspectiv- oh she's dating a guy. Ok, well maybe at least we could set him up to be an interesting character with some special quirks? He's former military and somehow still incredibly boring? Fantastic awesome. Why? I'm completely fine with the antagonist of this episode, love the intentional ambiguity next to 'well something Did steal Young Danny's bedspread', but it feels annoying and wierd to pair clara with someone so boring, and then have her talk to The Doctor's (Much) Younger Self. These things are diametrically opposed. Time Heist - Hey, this is fun! The Doctor feels a bit more Doctor, Clara feels a bit more Clara, it's a cheesy episode where our gang rob a bank for reasons even they don't know. It's a good episode! The worms are back! Danny isn't really there! The Caretaker - Ok, so Danny is here a lot. And this episode really highlights a flaw with these episodes. Which doesn't actually include Danny. Besides the fact he and The Doctor get wierdly possessive of Clara in this episode but that's entirely explained by the fact this episode was written by a transphobe and moffat. Anyway. Jenna Coleman was cast as Clara because she could memorise motor mouth scripts with speed to keep up with Matt Smith's doctor. Capaldi has not had any scripts that have real oomph. He's bringing a high class performance to nothing material. Likewise Jenna Coleman has to struggle from her scripts going from Impossible Girl with Infinite Curiosity to.... liking a generic and poorly written guy. The foundation for this episode, the doctor being a school janitor whilst someone tries to stop his antics from being too public is decent, nothing else is.

[dailyanarchistposts]

The music subculture

She notes how we have a socially defined canon of 'classical music' epitomised by varying combinations of professional players, live, broadcast and recorded, which "implicitly moulded people's views of music" but "there was also a whole grass-roots sub-culture of local classical music. Though perhaps 'invisible' to most scholars, in practice this was the essential local manifestation of the national music system … one aspect was the provision of audiences with the necessary skills of appreciation for professionals coming to give concerts locally, but it extended far beyond this to the whole system of local training, playing, actively practising musical groups and public performances by local musicians."

One concrete example of this continuing tradition is the way in which printed scores and music parts, both vocal and instrumental, get passed on: "These were often borrowed rather than bought and when a local choir, say, found itself, as so often, singing from old and well-marked copies, it was easy to picture the earlier choirs 20, 30 or even 50 years ago singing from the self-same copies — and repertoire — of classical choral music in the day when, perhaps, those parts cost just one penny."

In Milton Keynes, as in anywhere else, the classical music tradition rests on highly trained specialist musicians, so it can be seen as a "high-art pursuit for the few". But looking a little closer, Ruth Finnegan sees that local musicians "varied enormously in terms of educational qua-+lifications, specialist expertise, occupation, wealth and general ethos." Take the leading amateur orchestra, the Sherwood Sinfonia, where she found exceptions to the usual assumptions, "like the young sausage-maker, later music shop assistant, who besides being a Sherwood Sinfonia violinist was a keyboard player and composer with a local rock group, or pupils from local comprehensive schools not all in the 'best' areas."

Take too the Brass Band world. Don't be deceived by the way that people imply that that sector is 'a world of its own' confined to families where it had become a tradition. There is endless evidence of this in the tradition of Salvation Army bands, works bands or Boys' Brigade bands, but we're all familiar with great and famous performers who belonged as much to the allegedly incompatible groupings of the dance band, jazz group or symphony orchestra. In Milton Keynes, Ruth Finnegan found that no other musical groups, except possibly a few church choirs, had such solid links, sometimes actual instruments and sheet music from long before the new city was conceived: from the Woburn Sands Band of 1867, the Wolverton Town and Railway Band of 1908 or the Bletchley Boys' Brigade Bugle Band of 1928. By the 1980s the constituents of, say, the Stantonbury Brass or the Bletchley Band and the new Broseley Brass had members of both sexes and all ages. Ruth Finnegan was assured that their political commitments were across the whole spectrum and the people involved included postmen, teachers, telephone engineers, motor mechanics, personnel managers, butchers, train drivers, clerks, labourers, storemen and shopworkers, "but also included computer engineers, a building inspector, a midwife and several schoolchildren".

Forget your assumptions: the brass band world was more representative of class and occupation in Milton Keynes than any political group. And exactly the same was found to be true of the folk music world. One of the things she observed in local folk clubs was their relative transience: "There were others too, even less long-lasting, which for a time engaged people's enthusiasm but faded out after a few years or months ..." like the Concrete Cow Folk Club. One leading singer at the Black Horse in Great Linford explained that "anybody's welcome to join in, play along, sing a song, add some harmony to a chorus or simply have a beer and listen".

[youarenotthewalrus]

Was reading the Wikipedia article for a now-obscure 19th century children's author who had shown up in the Project Gutenberg "latest ebooks" and found that the "Style and themes" section consisted of this:

Her characters were well drawn, and strikingly true to life. Her style was simple, chaste, often elegant; her plan was natural and progressive. Many of her scenes were picturesque and impressive, and charged with the power and pathos that belonged to the great masters of fiction. Moreover, her writings were all of moral tone, without mawkish sentimentality, but displaying a keen insight into the spiritual nature of man and woman, and a proper sense of their relations as moral and accountable beings.[8] Baker's books were written in good English, and were remarkably free from catch phrases and barbarisms, from eccentricities and extravagance, from bad grammar and rhetorical faults, which might have depressed the standard of literature and corrupted public taste. Her style was simple, chaste, often elegant; her plan natural and progressive. Reviewers compared her books, for literary execution, moral aim, and influence, with those of Hannah More, Mary Martha Sherwood, and Charlotte Elizabeth. They inculcated high moral and religious sentiments, but were free from the dialectics of the schools, and from all sectarianism; and therefore they were found in the libraries of all Christian denominations.[10] Many of her books were republished in England and other countries. Few if any of them were more popular and useful than Tim the Scissors-Grinder, later published in what was called the Tim Series. This volume first appeared as a serial in the Boston Recorder. Long before its completion in that paper, numerous applications were received from different houses for the right to publish it in a book. From all parts of the country, positive testimonials were received of its excellence and usefulness in the conversion and sanctification of very many.[10]

And I was like "sorry was this Wikipedia article also written in the 19th century?" so I checked the sources and the answer turned out to be basically yes:

This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Derby, George; White, James Terry (1910). The National Cyclopædia of American Biography: Being the History of the United States as Illustrated in the Lives of the Founders, Builders, and Defenders of the Republic, and of the Men and Women who are Doing the Work and Moulding the Thought of the Present Time. J. T. White. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Hart, John Seely (1873). A Manual of American Literature: A Text-Book for Schools and Colleges (Public domain ed.). Eldredge. p. 513.

[realestateee]

Discover Your Dream Home with Westport CT Real Estate Agents

Nestled along the scenic shores of Long Island Sound, Westport, Connecticut, is more than just a picturesque New England town—it’s a community brimming with charm, culture, and opportunity. Whether you're looking to purchase your first home, upgrade to a luxury estate, or invest in waterfront property, working with the best Westport CT real estate agents can make all the difference in your experience and outcome.

In this article, we explore why Westport is such a desirable place to live, what makes its real estate market unique, and how seasoned Westport CT real estate agents can guide you through every step of your real estate journey.

Why Choose Westport, Connecticut?

Westport is consistently ranked among the top places to live in Connecticut, and for good reason. This coastal town offers a harmonious blend of small-town charm and big-city sophistication. From its highly rated public schools and historic downtown to its beautiful beaches and cultural attractions, Westport appeals to a wide range of homebuyers.

Some of Westport’s standout features include:

Top-Rated Schools: Westport Public Schools are among the best in the state, with Staples High School frequently recognized for academic excellence.

Beaches and Parks: Compo Beach, Sherwood Island State Park, and Longshore Club Park offer plenty of outdoor recreation.

Art and Culture: Westport Country Playhouse, MoCA Westport, and Levitt Pavilion provide a rich cultural scene.

Convenient Location: Just an hour’s train ride to New York City, Westport is ideal for commuters who want the suburban lifestyle without sacrificing urban access.

With so much to offer, it's no wonder the town’s real estate market is competitive and diverse.

Navigating the Market with the Right Expertise

The Westport real estate market is known for its dynamic nature. From luxury waterfront homes and historic properties to new developments and charming colonials, there’s something for everyone—but navigating this landscape requires expert guidance.

That’s where experienced Westport CT real estate agents come in. These professionals know the market inside and out, offering insights into pricing trends, neighborhood dynamics, and property values. Whether you're buying or selling, having the right agent ensures you make informed decisions and achieve the best results.

What Sets Great Real Estate Agents Apart?

Not all agents are created equal. When searching for a partner in your real estate journey, consider these essential qualities:

Local Knowledge: The best Westport CT real estate agents have deep roots in the community. They know the nuances of each neighborhood—from the bustling activity near Main Street to the quiet elegance of Greens Farms.

Proven Track Record: Look for agents who have successfully closed deals in your desired price range or property type.

Negotiation Skills: Real estate is not just about finding the right home; it’s also about securing the best price and terms.

Marketing Expertise: If you're selling, your agent should offer a comprehensive marketing plan, including professional photography, staging, online listings, and social media outreach.

At Kristine G. Montanaro Real Estate, you’ll find a team that embodies all of these traits and more.

[briswide]

Be Sure of these Things Before Enrolling Your Name

Learning how to drive is a crucial life skill that proves useful in everyday situations and during emergencies. Therefore, selecting the right driving school is essential.

Rather than enrolling in the first driving school you find, it's important to do some research, especially when considering a driving school in Woodridge. One key factor to consider is the balance between theory and practical driving experience. Some schools limit instruction to the classroom, while others combine both theoretical learning with hands-on driving practice. The latter is far more effective because real driving experience is vital. Without getting behind the wheel and physically using the accelerator, brakes, and gears, you won’t gain the confidence needed to drive safely on public roads. Opting for automatic driving lessons can further help you understand vehicle functions more clearly. Another important consideration is class timing.

A driving school in Sherwood offers flexible schedules, with sessions available from early morning through to the evening. Depending on your availability, you can choose a time slot that fits your routine, whether that's morning lessons before work or evening classes after other commitments.

You should enquire about the course fees at the reception while you are visiting the driving school in Sherwood. It's important for you to know the cost of the classes. You must simultaneously learn about the payment method. Do they accept checks, or do you have to pay with cash? You should select the payment method that works best for you. Finally, when finding a driving school in Woodridge, collect more information about the teaching method and the test pass rates.

[sherwoodtaxi]

Why Fort Saskatchewan Taxi Services Are Your Best Bet for Convenient Local Travel

In today’s fast-paced world, having a reliable means of transportation is crucial—especially in growing cities like Fort Saskatchewan. Whether you're heading to work, going out with friends, or catching a flight, choosing the right mode of transport can make all the difference. That's where a Fort Saskatchewan taxi comes into play—offering unmatched convenience, safety, and affordability for residents and visitors alike.

Let’s explore why opting for a Fort Saskatchewan taxi service like Sherwood Taxi is a smart decision and how it can significantly improve your local travel experience.

A Reliable Option for Daily Commuters

Commuting in Fort Saskatchewan doesn’t have to mean long waits or the stress of navigating unfamiliar routes. With a Fort Saskatchewan taxi, you can count on timely pickups, professional drivers, and door-to-door service that ensures you get where you need to go on time. Whether you're heading to the local mall, school, or office, a taxi ride is often quicker and more comfortable than taking public transport.

For daily commuters, time is money. Sherwood Taxi understands this and ensures its fleet is available around the clock to meet your transportation needs without delays.

Safe Rides with Experienced Drivers

Safety should always be a top priority, and that’s exactly what you get with a trusted Fort Saskatchewan taxi service. The drivers are not only experienced but also trained in defensive driving techniques and customer care. They're locals who know the area inside and out, meaning they can choose the safest and most efficient routes—especially during harsh Alberta winters.

Sherwood Taxi’s commitment to safety includes clean, well-maintained vehicles and GPS-tracked rides, ensuring peace of mind for every passenger.

24/7 Availability—Because Travel Doesn’t Have a Clock

Emergencies, late-night events, and early-morning flights happen. What you need is a taxi service that works on your schedule. One of the standout features of a Fort Saskatchewan taxi service like Sherwood Taxi is its 24/7 availability. No matter what time of day or night you need a ride, a driver is just a call away.

This kind of availability is especially useful for shift workers, travelers, and students who often need to get from point A to point B at non-standard hours.

Affordability Without Compromise

Cost-effectiveness is a huge factor when choosing a transport option. With a Fort Saskatchewan taxi, you’re not only getting competitive rates but also tremendous value for your money. Sherwood Taxi offers flat-rate pricing, transparent billing, and no hidden fees—which means you know exactly what to expect before the ride even begins.

This is particularly appealing for longer trips such as airport transfers or travel between Fort Saskatchewan and surrounding areas like Sherwood Park or Edmonton.

Perfect for Locals and Tourists Alike

Whether you're a resident running errands or a tourist exploring the area, a Fort Saskatchewan taxi makes navigating the city stress-free. For visitors, taxis provide a seamless way to experience the local culture, visit attractions, and try out local restaurants—without the hassle of renting a car or figuring out public transit.

And if you're someone who values comfort and personal space while traveling, Sherwood Taxi's well-maintained vehicles offer a calm and clean environment ideal for short or long trips.

Supporting Local, Getting Local

When you book a Fort Saskatchewan taxi from Sherwood Taxi, you’re not just getting a ride—you’re supporting a local business that invests back into the community. Local drivers are more attuned to the city’s rhythms, events, and needs, giving you a ride that feels more personal and connected.

Plus, by supporting a community-based service, you contribute to job creation, local growth, and the improvement of regional infrastructure.

Final Thoughts

In a city that’s continuously growing and evolving, the need for dependable transportation cannot be overstated. Choosing a Fort Saskatchewan taxi from Sherwood Taxi means choosing punctuality, safety, affordability, and a deep understanding of the local landscape.

Whether it’s for work, play, or something in between, having a trusted taxi service on your side transforms how you experience the city. So next time you need a ride in or around Fort Saskatchewan, don’t think twice—book a ride with Sherwood Taxi and travel with confidence.

Flat Ride Taxi Inc – Sherwood Park Taxi Service

12-2016 Sherwood dr, Sherwood Park, Ab, T8A3X3 (780)803-0000

, (780)753-0000

flatridetaxi@gmail.com

[umbrrealestae]

Call ☎️8800837166 | Oceanus Meadows offering 2 & 3 BHK Apartments in Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore | Starting from ₹80.69 L onwards.

Welcome to Oceanus Meadows, a premium residential development by Oceanus Dwelling located in the thriving area of Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore South. Spread across a vast 25-acre expanse, this ready-to-move project offers well-designed 2 & 3 BHK Apartments that provide the perfect balance of modern living and serene green surroundings. Oceanus Meadows is the ideal community for a balanced lifestyle with ample space and premium amenities. This project is RERA registered with ID PRM/KA/RERA/1251/310/PR/270623/006023, giving homebuyers peace of mind and transparency.

Key Features & Amenities:

Extensive 25-acre development Ready-to-move 2 & 3 BHK apartments Serene green spaces and premium infrastructure Paved roads and electricity connections

Location Advantages:

Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore offers excellent connectivity and a variety of nearby amenities for a convenient and comfortable lifestyle.

Nearby Schools:

BGS National Public School – 5 km (15-minute drive)

Sherwood High School – 4.2 km (12-minute drive)

Nearby Hospitals:

Apollo Hospital – 7 km (20-minute drive)

Fortis Hospital Bannerghatta – 6.5 km (18-minute drive)

Nearby Transit Points:

Bannerghatta Metro Station – 5 km (15-minute drive)

Jayadeva Junction – 8 km (22-minute drive)

Shopping & Entertainment:

Royal Meenakshi Mall – 6 km (18-minute drive)

Vega City Mall – 7.5 km (20-minute drive)

[reasoningdaily]

Put yourself in places where you are listening to stories.

The Sandy Spring Slave Museum stands out for its commitment to local heritage. Founded by Doctor Winston Anderson in 1988, the museum enriches educators, students, and families through education, immersion, and introspection. 

In the 18th century, Quakers founded Sandy Spring, naming the town after a spring with sandy soil. According to the Sandy Spring historical marker, the Quakers called the spring, now located in Northwest Branch Valley Park, “Snowden’s Manor” and “Harewood.”

Through online archives, information about Sandy Spring is made available to the public. These archives detail descriptions of the economy, property, and residences in Sandy Spring. The buildings include a two-story “Roadside” with wooden shingles, gabled roofs and brick chimneys, Victorian-styled jigsawn porches, post offices, and blacksmith shops.

The historical documents provide information about notable people: Benjamin Rush Roberts, who founded the Sherwood Spring Mill in 1854, William Henry Farquhar, who administered the county’s school system in 1864, and Lucy Gilpin, who owned and ran the Sandy Spring Store in 1903. 

However, the crucial history of African Americans in Sandy Spring is underreported. Home to Montgomery County’s oldest free black community, many enslaved people who settled with the Quakers stayed in Sandy Spring, creating their own families and traditions over the centuries. The lack of historical records challenges Black families from discovering truths about their past generation.

“Montgomery County has such rich Black history that you don’t have to go outside of your communities,” Sandy Spring Slave Museum Co-Director, Doctor Troy Boddy, said. “Unfortunately, much of that history gets lost over the years. Our role is to not only tell about the contributions of Black people throughout history but locally.”

Educating families on discovering their personal lineage, one of the museum’s most unique programs is conducting genealogy research. Genealogist, Natalie Thomas, studies local African American history. Thomas allows visitors to trace their past through a geographical and biological lens when requesting a session online. 

An additional core aspect of the Sandy Spring Slave Museum is its preservation work on collecting oral history from African American families in Montgomery County. Using an archival database, PastPerfect, the Sandy Spring Slave Museum works with American University and anthropologist professor, Doctor Rachel Watkins, to record historical stories for the greater community.

“We used the collection to teach history at the museum, school trips with children and teachers, and even school leadership like Superintendent executive staff,” Sandy Spring Slave Museum Co-Director, Sandi Williams, said. 

Along with historical research, the museum staff works to develop educational material for schools and the public. Their lesson plans, interactive panels and books explore the African diaspora through the Middle Passage, the Abolitionist movement and the Civil Rights movement. These resources navigate the collective resilience, opportunity and culture of African American communities in the United States, a resilience reflected by the museum’s own board.

“Our board members are 90% volunteers or current educators. We have that piece which makes it very instrumental in helping us to promote our mission to bridge the information gap,” museum manager Deborah Buchanan said.

Buchanan has been a lifelong resident of Sandy Spring, along with Boddy and Williams. 

Photo Courtesy of LA Times

Outside of the enriching learning journey, the heritage trail is an accessible and valuable component of the museum. Open 24 hours a day, visitors can explore 18 outside panels that highlight families, buildings, and structures in a natural setting. As an example for cultural and environmental preservation, heritage trails cultivate new perspectives in understanding how people survived, built and transformed the natural resources into landmarks, monuments and icons in a specific area.  

Museums and organizations like the Sandy Spring Slave Museum are integral in gaining personal insight into the shared narratives, culture and values of African Americans.

“I grew up in a family where we talked about our history,” Boddy said, adding on “There’s still a lot that was untold…knowing history allows you to have a shield to protect yourself from misinformation and helps you navigate what’s going on in our world today.”

Nationwide, millions are still searching to restore missing pieces of their family history. The erasure of Black studies, the neglect of Black cemeteries and other acts of structural racism shed light on the urgency for communities to come together, reclaim and showcase their lost voices. Amplifying Black stories through the Sandy Spring Slave Museum allows thousands of visitors to find meaning in educating themselves on African American history—from the brutal to the beautiful.

“The museum becomes an eye-opening experience and a catapult for people to share this information with others and bring more people into the museum,” Buchanan said.

Not only is the struggle to preserve African American history a priority for educators, journalists and advocates, but the Sandy Spring Slave Museum staff recognizes the combined weight of marginalized communities. When these communities uplift and support each other, they can foster stronger relationships and build resonance in a history of oppression and silence.

“Our stories intermingle with Asian Americans and Latino Americans, overlapping with Native Americans—and so this is our story that we just often aren’t given,” Boddy said.

Ultimately, when students and teenagers approach history, learning with open-mindedness creates a world of new ideas, observations and questions.

“Ask why—so you can dig below the surface of just what you see, but why is it that way; why did people do the things they did; what are the different ways in which folks have different perspectives,” Boddy said. “Make connections between things. Put yourself in places where you are listening to stories.”

On the topic of furthering the knowledge students pursue, Buchanan believes: “It is never too late to give up your prejudice. You need to educate yourself so that you can elevate your thought processes and your mind—thereby liberating your mind, body and your soul.”

[misterkevinbriansatterwhite]

Biography of Kevin Brian Satterwhite, Children's Book Author

I was born and raised in Durham, NC.  I am disabled and was diagnosed with schizophrenia back in 2015.  I am a recovering drug addict and have been clean and sober since 2019, after nearly twenty years of drug abuse and addiction.  I learned how to write cursive and count to one hundred before I entered first grade.  I spent most of my youth in boy scouts, karate, gymnastics, team sports, and performing arts - and I continue to be well known throughout my community.  I have been a creative writer for many years and consider myself a professional story developer.  I was diagnosed with ADHD in 2012 and have only completely read one novel in my entire life which is Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry.  Some of my most memorable books as a child are - Goose Goofs-off by Jacquelyn Reinach, Surprise Party by Sharon Gordon, The Berenstain Bears books by Jan and Stan Berenstain, Where’s Waldo by Martin Handford, The Value of Believing in Yourself: The Story of Louis Pasteur by Spencer Johnson M.D., and a book about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by an author I don’t recall.

I am a first time author and have recently completed sixteen children's books.  I kept thirteen books for myself and ghost wrote three for my longtime friend.  One of my books is currently being published by Archway Publishing from Simon and Schuster.  As a youth and now as an adult, I have always been surrounded by people of many different colors, cultures, and ethnicities which is reflected in my work.  My picture books include subjects about - cross-gender friendships, gender identity, block parties, race/color, immigration, and growing up in the inner city.  I have also written a children’s novel by virtue of the conflict between Israel and Palestine, in hopes to have a positive impact within Jewish and Arab communities around the world.  As someone with a formal education, I believe it is my responsibility to help children develop as avid readers and writers - at an early age.  By virtue of my love for writing and years of experience - I believe several of the books that I’ve written - have the potential to be developed - for broadway, television, and film.

I was raised in a culture of book fairs, book clubs, and educational programs - which included the likes of Scholastics and Pizza Hut.  As a youth I participated in a jump rope jamboree with Durham’s Bouncing Bulldogs.  I visited educational camps at Duke University.  I also volunteered at the Museum of Life and Science.  I attended preschool and kindergarten at St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church - where I was a student of Jane Hurlburt’s Montessori Family School in Durham, NC.  As a child I attended KinderCare and YMCA.  For elementary school - I went to Pearsontown and Southwest.  After having attentive and behavioral issues - I went to Camelot Academy - which is a small K-12 private school founded by Thelma DeCarlo-Glynn - which is also in Durham.  My grades improved and I returned to public school for seventh and eighth grade.  At Sherwood Githens Middle School I was a member of the - Esquires and the Sophisticated Gents - program that taught me - respect, responsibility, and self-worth.  I eventually became a member of the - Mentors - learning more from my younger peers - than I ever could have taught them.  

Growing up - I was a member of St. Joseph AME Church where I attended church and Sunday school.  When visiting my grandparents in Clinton, NC - I went to Vacation Bible School and still remember singing, Lift Every Voice and Sing - before going outside for recess.  I broke every drum set, guitar, and saxophone my parents bought for me - as a gift during my childhood.  Somehow I managed not to break my violin and have been playing since the age of five.  As a youth, I performed in violin competitions at Meredith College which was always a truly wondrous experience - although I wasn’t very good at the violin.  I’ve performed in local malls and shopping centers - including Brightleaf Square - during the holiday season with a children’s orchestra led by my childhood violin teacher - Hjourdis Tourian.  I began piano lessons in 1994.  After not being allowed to play drums in my middle school band because of my late reentry into public schools - I continued violin and piano lessons outside of school.  I’ve had three different piano teachers however, I spent most of my time learning from Barbara Leder in Chapel Hill, NC.  I participated in annual recitals and while I had difficulty practicing at home - I really loved playing the piano.  After graduating middle school - I stopped taking music lessons when I was accepted via lottery into Durham Magnet Center - now Durham School of the Arts.  Instead of my parents having to drive around town for my lessons - I simply took classes in - electric piano and orchestra - which allowed me to practice more frequently.  DSA opened in 1995 for students in grades 6-8.  Each year a grade was added.  Their first high school class graduated in 2000.  I attended Durham School of the Arts from 1996-1997 as a freshman and a sophomore.  It was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

As a teenager, I performed in an orchestra at Durham Bulls athletic park during a holiday event - led by my orchestra teacher Mr. Boyd Gibson.  I competed on an undefeated track team at Durham School of the Arts, although we had high school freshmen on our team and we competed against middle schools.  I got a job at a movie theater as soon as I could work.  My sophomore year at DSA I was selected by Kathleen Graves to be a student in a class of only twenty-five performers - known as the DMC Players (before the school's official name change to Durham School of the Arts).  It was truly challenging.  I’m thankful that my environment was comforting rather than competitive.  I was more moved by observing than I was performing.  The students in that class were phenomenal.  That same school year I auditioned for a play about civil rights.  It was a series of multiple one-act plays and thankfully I landed a small, but powerful part.  Unfortunately, I don’t recall the name of the play.  However, I do remember singing, We Shall Overcome - as each show began.  I was proud to be a member of that ensemble.  We were originally only supposed to have three performances - and the show had such an impact on the community that - there were nine performances in all.  Civil rights leader C. T. Vivian attended the final show to a packed house.  I was too humble to help myself to a conversation, but grew as a person and a performer because of the experience.  Near the end of the school year, I performed in a comedic show of one-act plays.  The crowd was so amused that after the show - I was approached by the schools technical director, Mr. Deter - and told that I had the audience in the palms of my hands.  The vice-principle must have overheard the sentiment and repeated the conversation during a seminar full of students, without naming the subjects.  I was too young to realize the positive impact it would have on my life - and simply remained quiet and respectful - amongst my peers.  

My junior and senior year I attended C. E. Jordan High School to be closer to my sister and perform in theater on a higher level with upperclassmen.  My theater arts teacher was Hope Hynes Love who now works in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School System.  While anxious about singing and dancing - I was casted for a small part in Grease after declining an opportunity to audition for a lead role.  The following school year, I auditioned for the part of Theseus and was eventually casted as Philostrate in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  Under Hope’s continuously nurturing supervision - I performed a monologue from James Baldwins’ Amen Corner - in a performing arts competition at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.  While I didn’t receive recognition for my soliloquy - I was pleased with my performance.  My interest in the arts evolved when I realized I needed to focus more on employment than performing.  I knew that moving to Los Angeles one day would take money - and if I couldn’t save any - then I could at least have the skills and experience to survive - when I arrived in such a big city.  In addition to a movie theater - some of my earliest places of employment included - a local pizza restaurant and a drug store.

My senior year of high school my father, Otis Satterwhite introduced me to a performing arts instructor Jospeh Henderson, whom he met while working in the Durham Public Schools system.  I eventually met Joseph’s wife at the time, now Cynthia Penn-Halal - who is a visiting professor at UNCSA.  Joseph and Cynthia were very diligent - and dedicated to the arts.  They embraced me with guidance and grace.  Upon meeting them - I performed with two other high schoolers and a multitude of sixth grade students - in a play written and directed by Joseph Henderson and choreographed by Cynthia Penn-Halal.  The beautiful story titled, In Our Time - took the audience on an emotional journey through American history.  It was performed at The Carolina Theatre in Durham in front of a packed house of - sixth grade students, parents, and teachers.  I appeared in the local newspaper and was even congratulated by one of my high school teachers.  Before going to college I worked for Jospeh and Cynthia at Walltown Children’s Theater as a camp counselor.  Joseph suggested I go to UNCSA.  He had a plan for me to get a good paying job, go to UNCSA, and hopefully audition someday for Law & Order.  Mr. Henderson got me an interview at Nana’s - which is an upscale restaurant in Durham, NC.  I got hired the day of my interview and never went back.  I eventually decided to attend Barry University, which is a small private Catholic university in Miami Shores, FL.  Barry University is one of the most diverse schools in the southeast.  It was a great opportunity to develop long lasting relationships with people all over the world.  

Being raised in Durham - I had the honor of growing up in the company of outstanding and wonderful youth.  To name a few - acclaimed architect - Frederick A. Davis II, accomplished scholar and educator - Pierce Freelon, cultural organizer and artist - Dasan Ahanu, community builder and rap artist - Joshua Gunn, and world-renowned poet and rap artist - George Yamazawa.  I don’t speak with everyone from my past on a regular basis, but I remain in contact with most of them through social media.  While at Barry I majored in broadcast communication and minored in theater arts.  In a competition between broadcast communication students from Barry University, FIU, and the University of Miami - I received an award from Miami-Dade Metropolitan Planning Organization, now Transportation Planning Organization for a PSA that I wrote, produced, and directed.  Upon winning the award, one of my broadcast communication professors, Dr. Hoffman suggested that I seek an internship at a top marketing firm, whose name I don’t recall.  He encouraged me academically and advised me that my confidence needed improvement.  At Barry I performed in plays and musicals such as - Hello, Dolly!, Pippin, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, You Can’t Take It with You, and One Flew Over Cuckoo’s Nest.  My most notable portrayals are Lewis in Pippin and Mr. Turkle in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, for which I received an award for - Most Comedic Performance - after being instructed by my professor, the late Susan Dempsey to write additional lines for the character.  When I was home from college during the summers - I performed at the Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, NC in a prose poetry multimedia play written and directed by Herman LeVern Jones, who once worked as an actor on Guiding Light.  During the summer months back home - I’ve also delivered newspapers, I helped people register to vote, I worked for Exxon at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, and even performed as an extra on Dawson’s Creek.

My first internship prior to graduation was at a public relations firm in Brickell just south of Downtown Miami.  I worked on a campaign for GOL TV, which is an American sports channel dedicated to soccer.  I enjoyed my time at the PR firm and it was truly a great experience.  Although there was somewhat of a language barrier, it didn’t prevent me from asking two of the firm's executives to come into class for an interview - along with my sociology professor - about race in corporate America.  I’m still incredibly thankful for their graciousness and willingness to share their experiences.  Before graduating my professor and former WPLG Local 10 reporter, Connie Hicks got me an internship at WPLG.  I learned from a variety of professionals about videotape operating, editing, and producing.  I had the opportunity to work alongside - Laurie Jennings, Neki Mohan, and Kristi Krueger - who were some of the most prominent journalists in South Florida.  From there I landed a job at WSVN Channel 7 as a videotape operator.  It was the highest rated local news station in Miami - during the time that I was there.  I was incredibly proud of myself for finding a career right after college.  I was devoted to my job in the news and once drove to work during a hurricane.  I also recall working every single day - in the tape center - for an entire month - during the holidays.  Instead of complaining about my low paying stressful job - I simply gave it my all and focused on the future.  I took the writing test twice before I was hired as a writer for the morning news - and was shortly promoted to the evening broadcasts.  I trained aspiring journalists, some of which became executive producers and at least one was a reporter.  I wrote news stories and packages for on air talent.  I once wrote an entertainment news package about the film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.  I originally wrote it for the evening news.  The package eventually aired on South Florida’s top entertainment show Deco Drive.  WSVN was a great environment.  During my time there - the entire staff was very helpful and hopeful.  I am fortunate to forever be a member of a community of such outstanding broadcast journalism professionals.  At WSVN I learned from and worked under some of the best and brightest in the business.  Some of my coworkers from WSVN included - WSVN News Anchor Belkys Nerey, WSVN News Anchor Craig Stevens, ABC13 Meteorologist Elita Loresca, CNN Correspondent Carlos Suarez, and KTLA 5 News Executive Producer Marcus Smith.  I also met Joel Brown at WSVN.  He is now an anchor at WTVD in Durham, NC.  I eventually decided to quit my low paying job as a writer for the news - so that I could save money and pursue the arts.  Before leaving WSVN I was training to become an associate producer.  However, my mind was made up and while I thoroughly enjoyed working for the news - the prospect wasn’t enough to keep me in the industry.  After quitting my job as a writer - I worked as a mortgage banker prior to the real estate industry collapse.  I decided real estate was not a good fit for me and moved to NC for two years.  In 2010 I finally made my way out to Los Angeles to pursue acting and music.  My drug addiction got the best of me and after four really difficult years - I returned to Durham to live with my mother. 

Some of my other work history also includes - waiting tables at two high-end sushi restaurants, sales associate at Adidas Originals, production assistant at the American Black Film Festival, event staff at The Party Staff, and technical assistant at Barry University.  My friend, the late Isaac Mallory from Barry University referred me to now closed Shoji Sushi in South Beach.  I was hired as an expeditor and initially failed my employment test after being confused between nigiri and sashimi.  The manager allowed me to take the test again - after I informed him that I would make no excuses for my mistakes.  I explained the reason behind my errors and promised to improve.  I passed the test and shortly after - I was promoted to a serving position.  At one point - I was the only “black” server on staff.  I eventually started doing deliveries on my days off - and even catered a gathering in a high-rise luxury condominium building.  The former owner of Shoji Sushi, Myles Chefetz is owner of world famous Prime One Twelve.  One of my greatest memories in the restaurant business was being selected to serve a Cb5 executive when working at now closed TATU Asian Bar & Grill, when she was visiting the establishment.  My additional lifetime accomplishments include - performing in spoken word poetry competitions, becoming a musician, and developing a story for my screenplay - with a storyline comparable to Star Wars.  One of my favorite babysitters as a child was my television set.  My creativity was shaped by - Steven Spielberg, Carol Burnett, and Michael Jackson before I knew the importance of expression and imagination.  

In my short life I have lost countless family members, close friends, acquaintances, and an abstruse number of college buddies.  By virtue of such an experience - I cherish my life and see the immense value of the lives of others.  My family believes strongly in education.  My father is a disabled veteran.  He was an accomplished insurance salesman and also worked as a substitute teacher for Durham Public Schools.  He attended North Carolina Central University and received his bachelor’s degree in business.  My mother attended the University of North Carolina and was a nurse at Duke Hospital for many years.  My younger sister studied sociology at Columbia University and has an MBA from UNC.  She has worked as a marketing manager at Belk, Amazon, and Facebook.  My older sister resides in Charlotte, NC and is the mother of two amazing children.  Some of my extended family and lifelong friends are doctors, lawyers, artists, computer engineers, and medical sales professionals.  

Growing up in Durham, NC - I was surrounded by the glory of college basketball.  It was truly amazing watching collegiate athletes blossom into professional basketball players.  I have a great deal of gratitude for the culture because I believe it provided me with the experience to know how to conduct myself in the company of public figures.  By the time I was thirty years old - I had lived in Los Angeles, Miami, Charlotte, NC, and Washington, D.C.  Over the years I brushed shoulders with a variety of famous actors and musicians.  Meeting prominent male and female figures in person - gave me the opportunity to see what I could achieve through work ethic and dedication.  By virtue of my life experience and the wisdom I have gained over the years I continue to grow as an individual each and everyday.  While I have overcome many obstacles - I remain focused on five pillars of production that make me proud of the path that I have ultimately chosen.  Those pillars are - love, faith, hope, healing, and freedom.  As an author with a marketable personality - I believe that I can reach young readers, parents, and educators - from a variety of demographics - throughout the world.