Chris Van Allsburg was born on June 18th, 1949 in Grand Rapids Michigan. As a child Chris’ family moved three times, although always staying within Grand Rapids. The last house he lived in with his parents and sister was a Tudor style house in East Grand Rapid, which would later become the inspiration for the cover illustration of The Polar Express. Although Chris never studied art in high school he got accepted to the University of Michigan college of Architecture and Design as an art student. It was there that Chris would meet his future wife, Lisa Morrison, a fellow art student who was also obtaining her degree in education.…
Vhiknukzark or commonly known as Zark, to those of inferior vocabulary, is a Kobold that lived with his tribe inside the cave system of Srazol Mountains. He was a hunter and defender of his tribe. He would go out and hunt the rich wildlife in the nearby forest, the Whispering Woods. When gnomes came near his tribe he made sure they left with a few arrows in their backs… if they made it out alive that is. Vhiknukzark was happy with his simple life of hunting, sleeping and eating. But that changed in the 10th year of his life.…
Walter Dean Myers was born in Martins burg, West Virginia. His name at birth was Walter Milton Myers. He was two years old when his mother had died. Walter Dean Myers life was revolved around his neighborhood and church. Walter Dean Myers didn’t do as good in school. The sport that he played in school was basketball.…
To his younger sister, Rachel Gentz, Joel Gentz was a nerd in high school. He was a member of the marching band, and more specifically the drum line. He was obsessed with all things related to flight and dreamed of being an astronaut. Joel was also an outdoors-man; enjoying hiking and backpacking with his family and as a Boy Scout. Joel graduated high school in 2002 and with events of 9/11 fresh in his mind, decided he wanted to enlist. His parents convinced him to go to college first and potentially become a military officer. Joel went on to attend Purdue University with an Air Force ROTC scholarship in hopes of becoming a pilot. Joel was the Cadet Wing Commander at Purdue. He was honored four years running with the Warrior Spirit award, elected by his ROTC class. He was also a member of the Arnold Air Society. He graduated in 2007 with a degree in Aerospace Engineering and was accepted to the U.S. Air Force’s pilot training. However, Joel had been exposed to the difficult training of the USAF Pararescue and had a new dream. Joel turned down his chance to fly to become a Combat Rescue Officer, and take on…
Serial killers are hard to catch because many of them don a guise of sanity. Andrei Chikatilo, while having some red flags such as accusations of inappropriate behavior towards minors, necessitating several moves and career changes, also had normal facets to his life: he was married with two children. Most serial murderers also operate with repeated motions, aka modus operandi (“MO”) when they commit their crimes—Chikatilo would often eviscerate, mutilate, sexually defile, and even engaged in cannibalizing his victims.…
1923. As a child he grew fond to a simple home life along with the Mennonite community. He…
Fritz Scholder was a professor for the Institute of American Indian Arts. At the time, Scholder vowed to never paint a Native American Indian; however, things changed when he thought his students could not get the honest truth in the representation of these indigenous people. On that day, Fritz broke his promise to himself and began the works that will define his career.…
In 1993 two minors had committed burglary, and murder. The minors names are Christopher Simmons age of 17, and Charles Benjamin age of 15. The victim was a neighbor of Christopher Simmons. Her name is Shirley Crook age of 46. Christopher Simmons and Charles Benjamin had tied up Shirley Crook to the chair and thrown her in the St. Louis Meramec river. Drowning her at the age of 46 .…
His name name was Edward James Wolff, he was born in San Diego, California April 7th 1896. Lived with my parents Edward Wolff and Pauline Wolff, they came to the United States from germany. He moved to Seattle, Washington at the age of 4. He went to school in Seattle and it was great. He didn’t really mind about me being from german descent because germans were one of the biggest immigrant groups in the United States and he was taught that everyone is equal. He always felt comfortable and not scared of being discriminated. Until the World War 1 began, he was 18 years old trying to make a living. But, he got discriminated, he was getting worse treatment that the rest of people, he got called names and made his life a lot harder, it got to the point where a german got lynched. Even though germans were a big…
Kip Kinkel, was born in Springfield Oregon on August 30, 1982, to Bill and Faith Kinkel, Kip had a sister Kristin, which was 6 years older than him. When Kip was 6 his parents who were both Spanish teachers wanted to study abroad for a year so the family moved to Spain. Kip had a difficult time because his teacher did not speak English, once the Kinkels moved back to the United States Kip was far behind in school and failed first grade. Kip’s family was very active, but kip was not so he struggled to fit in. In fourth grade Kip found out he had dyslexia, and his parents started studying with him many hours a night to help make him better in school, and even though he understood it was difficult for him to comprehend. Kip felt lost when his…
Looking at the trials and tribulations of an average adolescent’s life, there are many times of stress, trouble, and hopefully growth. If there are compounding instances of setbacks and hardships, this could be very detrimental to the development of a young mind. There are never any definitive answers as to why any of these young individuals who commit terrible acts of violence did what they did. There are multiple instances throughout their upbringing that can give some insight as to what could have led to the execution of a horrendous violent outbreak.…
I believe that there were several different things that were contributing factors to why Kipland Kinkel killed both his parents, and later two of his fellow peers. I do not think that there is one specific thing that can be blamed for Kip's behavior, but multiple things worked together to cause Kip's explosion.…
Kyle Winterbottom is only one of many teens to learn the hard way the negative effects of peer pressure. He was only 16 when he fell off of a balcony on the third floor. He was with friends drinking when six or seven people came down to their floor from a party. The strangers were drunk and asking for cigarettes, they also may have spiked Kyle’s drink. His parents say he wasn’t always doing drugs and drinking but pressure from his peers got him into it and now he is dead.…
Ole Kirk Christiansen; inventor of “Lego”; was born on April 7, 1891 in Filskov, Denmark; he was a renaissance man for many reasons, but one was because he didn't jump to Legos right away; he actually started slowly. To start; Ole Kirk Christiansen followed one of his brothers footsteps when he was 14; in 1905. He began to learn how to be a carpenter; he left and began in Germany, and later Norway. However; Ole Kirk Christiansen returned to the country of Denmark in 1916. When he returned he used his savings and brought the Billund Carpentry Shop and Lumberyard. When he got back he married a women named Kristine Sörensen. Ole Kirk Christiansen had met her in Norway, and had four children. Ole Kirk Christiansen didn't start too…
If I had to choose someone to see again it would have to be David Groenke. Dave was my dad's best friend all throughout my life. He didn’t move away and we didn’t lose contact with him. He passed a year ago due to cancer. Dave made a huge impact on my life, not only my life but my families life also. Dave was like family to me and was always messing with me. Losing him was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to go through in my life. He was such a family guy and everyone who met him loved him.…