My Super Fat Dad

Helena's drawing of her fasto dad. 

 Dear Readers:

 I loved this story. It surprised me that a 10-year-old could figure out the trend that more and more people are becoming prejudice to those overweight. Helena capsulizes this well in her story. It's a building problem where one airline says it's considering charging people by their weight; An obese boy was taken away from his mother solely because of his weight (he lost nothing while in foster care); and it mushroomed into a hospital saying they would not take care of obese people. I was proud

of Helena for writing this story and still scratching my head as to how such a young girl figured this out.

And just so you know, neither of her parents are fat.

Diana

My Super Fatso Dad

  

By Helena Ghekiere, 10  

   

   My name is Marsha Jane Brady.  I have a super skinny mom, her name is Breggita, a regular sized twin sister, Mia, and a super, duper, super, duper, fat, fat, FAT dad, named Bob. One day, I was doing my homework when my dad trudged into the room.

   "Marsha, can you hand me that donut?" he asked as he stood in the middle of the homework room.

   "Dad is it just me, or are you fatter today?" I asked. But he didn't seem to hear me which is good because if he did hear me, I'd be in HUGE trouble.

   "Marsha, would you PLEASE hand me the donut?" he asked again, a little angrier this time. I didn't answer because, well, number one, he could do it himself and two, he didn't need the donut.

   "Give me that donut!!!" Dad commanded almost growling.

    That's when I totally lost it and yelled: "Dad, you don't need a donut!!!" If you ask me!" But I just screamed that in my head so no one else would hear it.

   But I did say out loud: "Hey, Dad, why don't you go to the kitchen and get a donut, O.K.? Why don't you do that, fatso? I mean Dad."

   Then Dad started trembling in rage. "What did you call me?!"

   I said, "Um, Dadso!" I said it with a fake smile plastered across my face.

   "You called me Fatso," my Dad yelled. "You are grounded for, how old are you now?" he said in a softer voice this time, which sounded more scary then when he yelled.

   "Ten," I confessed.

   "You are grounded for ten weeks!" Fatso said.

   "Dadaaaad," I whined. "O.K. umm, two weeks?"

   "And that is final!" he grabbed my arm and dragged me into my room. He scowled at me before closing my door. Luckily, I don't have a lock. Then, I heard a clicking noise. I went over to the door to see if it was open. It wasn't.

   That night, I was lying in my bed when I heard some tapping on the window. At first, I thought I was imagining it. Then it kept getting louder, louder and louder. Then I heard a faint yelling. I listened carefully trying to make out what it said.

   "Open the window. Open the window!" I heard.

   I rushed over to the creaking window and yanked it open.

   "Mia what are you doing here?!" I asked astonished.

   "I'm here to rescue you, duh," my twin said.

   "How will you get me out?" Did I mention that there was a screen super-glued to my window?

   "Easy," Mia said. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a knife.

   "Where did you get that?" I asked stunned.

   "I stole it from Dad's prized, kitchen collection," she giggled as though she outsmarted our super fat dad.

      "Shh....or Dad will hear you! I got it when Dad was dragging you to your room," she explained.

   "Let's get you outta here," said Mia suddenly.

   "Right!" I said. I had almost forgotten why she was here. She started cutting the screen and soon the old screeny lived no more.

   "Come on Marsha," Mia said. "Climb out."

   O.K. Some information. When windows are a foot higher than you, and you are not flexible, it's hard to get out of a window. My window is a foot taller than me and I am not flexible, so it was not surprisingly hard to get out.

   "I can't," I yelped. "It's too steep. Can you help me?"

   "Sure," Mia said, starting to pull me up by the hand.

   Finally, after two hard minutes, I was free.

   "Now  what should we do?" asked Mia.

   "I don't know. I thought you were a genius," I answered.

   "I can't always think up a solution," she said.

   "I thought you already had a plan!" I yelled at her. I was getting mad now. Really mad.

   "Well, sometimes you shouldn't expect something when you don't know it's true," Mia yelled back.

   I got so mad I wanted to burst. I stormed off. You have to remember that we were on the roof. So without assistance of Mia I was helpless. Whoa. What was that? I started slipping on a broken roof tile and then, I fell, down, down, down.

   And suddenly, it stopped. I felt like I was hovering. But it couldn't be. I didn't feel a thud either. I looked down. Oh, my gosh. It was Dad!!! Fatso Dad!!! It couldn't be, but it was.

   "Dad, you have wings. You can fly?"

   "Yes, I have wings and I can fly. All angels do. I love you, Marsha. Now let's get inside. It's freezing out here!"

   At that moment, I decided, I would never call my dad "Fatso," again. After all, he was an angel!

Encore Entertainers Trains Kids for Life

Gracie Monaghan, 8, (middle) plays Scuttle, the dumb seagull, with her friends, two sisters, Maria (left) and Athena Seiple (right) Siena Funiciello, 7, played Ariel in this part. All photos provided by Shana Ghekiere.

Lisa Puskar, 9, who split the part with Sienna, talks to the prince, Jack Ghekiere, 8. His sister, Helena, 10, plays Sebastian

Hats Off To Encore Entertainers For Training Kids How to Act For Musicals And --  For Life

By Diana L. Chapman

  

 Tiny, and a whirlwind of an 8-year-old, Jack Ghekiere stepped out of the crystal blue waves in his prince role, bold, confident and remembering every single line he had learned for The Little Mermaid.

   Jack and the other 32 kids in the summer production ages 4 to 13 only had two weeks to learn their lines before the performance would happen before their parents, well-wishers and the general public at the Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro.

   "It was so fun and I'd rather be doing Encore than school," said the peppy boy with bouncy, Shirley Temple curls after the performance.

    That was likely the case for the scores of youths who had a chance to act, sing and dance in the musical even though they are much younger than many of their counterparts who had lead roles in the group's double-the-size productions like Oliver which had 83 students.

    The smaller performance is to help some of the younger youth to strut their stuff, some of whom  might not have had a shot for the leads in larger productions.

   "I was scared," said Gracie Monaghan, an 8-year-old, who played Scuttle, the seagull in Little Mermaid. "When we did Oliver, it was my first time ever speaking on stage. Then, the Little Mermaid was scary and it was my second time and I had a really big part. It was fun and scary at the same time. I liked acting like Scuttle because he was so stupid."

   The amazing shows -- I've seen two of them already and am looking forward to seeing Peter Pan midwinter in San Pedro and possibly Seussical in Redondo Beach-- were the brainchild of Marcelo and Summer Cacciagioni mostly propelled by Summer's  mentor and Summer's abilities to get youth to act on stage no matter their age, their fears, their shyness or just about anything else that would terrify someone to perform.

   "I love shy kids. They are my specialty," said Summer during a phone interview who has two children, Alora, 4, and 11-month-old Lilly Rose and lives in Torrance. "Bring me a super shy kid and I get so excited. Every kid is different and every approach has to be," who adds that her sometimes massive shows teach children a lot about life. Children who go through her programs, she said, learn about commitment, responsibilities, team work and respect. Most of all, it gives them a big boost in self confidence.

   Parents are also encouraged to take on larger roles in the productions.

   The programs accommodate children ages 4 and up and does provide scholarships for some students. Last year, Encore raised $30,000 to help families who otherwise couldn't afford to enroll their children. This year, the Gala will be held at 5 p.m. Nov. 10 at the Torrance Marriott with casino games, live music, a silent auction and a banquet dinner. Tickets are $65 per person if purchased before Oct. 19.

   The non-profit organization's beginnings were sparked  in 2007 when Summer's mentor, Alex H. Urban, who ran youth drama productions, died and "it really opened my eyes."Summer was so impressed with Urban  that when she wrote a high school paper on him she  penned: "One day, I want to grow up and produce, direct, and run my own Youth Theatre Company!"

   She did teach youth for a variety of studios across the South Bay, but after Urban's death, both her husband and friends encouraged her that it was time for her to open her own non-profit  theatre company, calling it Encore which stands for Educating the Next Class of Rising Entertainers.

     Terrified about whether it would work, Summer  said she needed a minimum of at  least 25 kids to start, she prayed hard for 45.

   Instead, she got 67 and is "blown away" by the successful productions that entice  kids and their parents to join up. Since its opening, Encore has taught more than 1,000 students through productions, outreaches, camps and classes. By the end of the year, the non-profit will have conducted over 40 musical productions. Encore has two branches for its operations, one in San Pedro and the other in Redondo Beach.

    The actress says her company is part of the village needed to raise a child which can take "an army."  Her youngest student was a 3-month-old  baby and her oldest, an 81-year-old woman. Her gift, she says, is what presses so many youngsters up on the stage despite all their fears.

    "I'm not just about the quality; I'm about the process," she explains.

     And it can become a family affair.

      Jack's sister, Helena, played Sebastian in the Little Mermaid, a large part for a 10-year-old, especially having to have a Jamaican accent. She had other large roles before, but this was her biggest.

    "It was my first time being in just about every scene," Helena said. "I thought it would be hard, but it's always easy to learn my lines. It was so much fun, but I was exhausted afterward."

   Their mother, Shana, explains that the entire family has been happily immersed into the productions, meeting lifelong friends especially when parents are "encouraged" to share talents making costumes, and organizing the students. Her husband, Mike, played the shyster, Fagin, in Oliver where his children had smaller parts.

   "I find Encore to be incredibly supportive environment for all involved," Shana emailed me.  The children are met "where they are" and helped to grow, not only as performers, but as people. They are encouraged to try (and "failure" is seen as a natural part of the process!).

   "I honestly hear, "Encore is the best thing EVER! at least 25 times a week from my daughter.  My son also loves it. The teamwork that the parents do to make a show is amazing. It is truly a community at Encore."

   Eight-year-old Athena Seiple agrees with that assessment.

   In Little Mermaid, "I was a chef. I was a fish. I was a seagull. It made me feel like I was on Broadway. I made new friends and I liked everybody in the camp. It made me feel really good about myself. It made me feel like I was an adult."

 

       

    For more about Encore Entertainers, call (310) 896-6459 or email: info@encoreentertainers.org.  Visit http://www.encoreentertainers.com to buy tickets for upcoming musicals and for class prices.

Devin's Goodbye

Devin Hamilton died from cancer three years ago.

Yasmeen Carillo was Devin's best friend.

Dear Readers: 

Yasmeen Carillo, a writing student, opted to pen about her best friend, Devin, from her friend's point of view. To me, it was uplifting that Yasmeen still cared about a friend she lost three years ago and still thinks about often. This is part of Yasmeen's healing journey. --  Diana

About Devin

By Yasmeen Carrillo

Hello. My name is Devin. I died on Jan. 26, 2010. I passed away due to cancer. I had leukemia. I was only 9-years-old, almost 10.

I wish that I never had cancer.  I had two sisters and I always loved them. When I passed away, my life flashed before my eyes. It was just me, my sisters Jordan and Ryann, my friends and my Mom and Dad. I fought the cancer but my body didn't beat it. My body wasn't use to all the medication I had. 

I had a good life for a short time. One of my friends, Yasmeen was close to my family. We were best friends. We knew each other since we were babies. We were only two days apart. I was born first. She didn't really take it that hard. She was sad, but she couldn't cry. But she grieved. 

She always wonders what would happen if I didn't pass.  Her mom was close to my mom. They use to work together.When I passed, a Girl Scout troop made a tribute at my old school, Crestwood Street Elementary. 

 

My cousin, Kaya, took it the hardest. She was crying so hard the troop leader had to speak for her. Another friend spoke at the opening.  She kind of cried. She tried not to cry because she wouldn't be able to speak. My whole family was there, my mom, my dad, my sisters, grandma, etc. 

I miss so much of life. I missed my fourth grade camping trip. I missed everything.  I miss my mom, my dad, my sisters, my cousins, everyone.

I really miss my life. I wish cancer didn't exist.  Then I would still be alive.

Children's Author Publishes Her First Novel

Children's Writer Publishes Her First Adult Book and Finds Readers Enthralled With Letter 16,  Her Tome About a Floating Bottle

By Diana L. Chapman

Having twin boys, a daughter and a life wound tautly around children, children's author E.G. Ryan took a leap of faith and published her first adult novel -- Letter 16, released this spring. The story converges around two strong, suffering women, walks us through World War II and follows a floating bottle around the world.

Mostly, Elisabeth says, it's a story about karma and faith.

"The bottle is full of karma," she explains over coffee as her three children play by her side. "People are reading it in two days. My friend, a teacher, called me crying, saying she loved it. It's been a whole different response from my children's books. Literally, everyone is loving it."

As she nears the 1,000 mark of her novel's sales, Elisabeth, a former defense analyst for the U.S. Government, can't help but be thrilled that she didn't wait for traditional publishers to cast their eyes her way. As soon as she did two readings at the local Corner Store, she sold 200 books.  She also didn't wait for publishers when it came to her ten children's books, all of which she wrote and illustrated.

Her children's works have caught on at schools, book fairs and book clubs and have begun to sell well on line with her strong marketing skills. Those include books such as Spunky the Dog, who doesn't want to live with his family anymore and The Collect-Its, two creatures living under a girl's bed who take her things when she leaves them out. All the stories are based on her mothering experiences with her twins, Nick and Maximillan, 9, who she home schools, and her daughter, Alexa Rose, 5.

As if she wasn't busy enough, Elisabeth plunged into writing novels, such as Irish Eyes and Five, both of which will be published possibly next year.

Her recent novel reflects a lot about the striking, six foot tall woman who often doesn't even begin to write until 11 at night. It shows she's highly prolific (she's working on another set of preteen stories) and that she detests rules. It irritates her inner-spirit so much that she tossed publishers rules out the doors.

Those include: don't both draw and write your own children's books,  don't self-publish and don't change genres. In other words, don't explore.

But Elisabeth is all about adventure and decided quickly on she would write novels while she continued penning her children's books. "It fuels my fire," she said. "It just gives me more drive to prove them wrong and I do like the challenge."

Her first published novel establishes the love a young woman named, Anna, a daughter of a Baron, has for her Jewish lover, named Jakub, during World War II and how their romance was pulled out from underneath them by the gathering storm of Jewish hostiles under Adolf Hitler.  

Anna then writes letters to her love who vanished suddenly from her home in Poland, and tucks them carefully into a bottle, sending them away with dreams that sometime she will meet Jakub again and reignite their love.

The 16 bottles -- most of which she sends out on streams and rivers, disappear-- but carry an abundance of  amour, but only one carries  what the author calls "Lissie's justice," and holds karma that will touch other people's lives all over the world like a jigsaw puzzle.

The story entwines with a contemporary woman named Diana, who has suffered hew own tragedy, when she finds the bottle "a world away." Distraught by her loss, but encouraged by the dramatic romance she finds in the letter despite the caverns of war and time, Diana finds a life mission: to return the letter to Anna.

"It speaks to a lot of people because of the cross-culture and the different experiences in their lives," the author said, adding she is Swiss-German. "My grandfather hid two seasonal Polish farm workers" during the war.

He did it in haystacks, cutting out sections in the hay bales where his farm workers could hide, she added. She used this same imagery in her book along with many others she gathered as she traveled  the world in her federal job. One minute a reader can be in Japan where a wife has suffered a severe and deep humiliation from her husband and mother-in-law to a space  in the expansive ocean where a man who is about as cute Star War's Jaba the Hut engages in human trafficking of young girls.

Her characters, she said, are "a compilation of humanity."

She calls her work "Lissie's justices," she said, because "in my world, if you do bad, bad will come to you."

Advice she has to other writers:

"People say they are always going to write a book," she said. "Write it. Don't share it with anyone until you are done. Who cares who the audience is? You are writing the book because you want to write it. They say every 1,000 words makes you a better writer.

"Write the book for you."

To order E.G. Ryan's books, visit www.EGRyan.com. Her books are also available on Amazon, at The Corner Store at 1118 W. 37th Street, Crafted,  112 E. 22nd Street or Rok'n'Ell, 1438 W. 8th Street, all in San Pedro. She can be reached at EGRyanEnterprises.com@gmail.com.