Atchison, Kansas

This summer I had the privilege to travel to Atchison, Kansas, where I attended the Life Teen Leadership Conference at Benedictine College. This conference was not only the best week I have ever experienced, but it was a week filled with many Catholic teens joined together in learning how we can live out our Catholic faith, and what it means to be a leader at school, home, and church. During this conference I encountered a bible verse that opened my eyes and truly resonated with my heart, making me rethink my life and how I was living it. “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple” Luke 14:27. I had heard this verse before at church many years before this event, but in that moment at LTLC, the world stopped…

Amelia Mary Earhart, named after her two grandmothers Amelia and Mary, was born on July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas. Being the daughter of a railroad attorney she spent her childhood in various towns, including Atchison and Kansas City, Kansas and Des Moines, Iowa. She spent the winter months with her grandparents, Alfred and Amelia Otis, in Atchison and the summers with her parents in Kansas City, Kansas. Her mother and sister, Grace Muriel, visited her while she stayed with her grandparents,…

Deborah Kaye Allen, known as Debbie Allen is one of America’s brightest stars. She is a famous actress, dancer and choreographer. She was born on January 16, 1950 in Houston, Texas. She is the third child of poet and director Vivian Ayers, and orthodontist Arthur Allen. Debbie was 3 when she began dancing. By age 8 she set her goals and was determined to be a professional dancer. In 1957, Deborah’s parents divorced. This divorcee left Vivian, Debbie’s mother as the main caregiver or her…

Amelia Earhart  "The most effective way to do it, is to do it." Amelia Earhart said and believed this wholeheartedly. She didn't have time to think of effective ways to do things, she had too many records to set and dreams to accomplish. Because of this she became famous.  Amelia Earhart was born on July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas. In her young life, Amelia climbed trees, collected bugs, and hunted rats with a .22 rifle. She lived with her grandparents up to the age of 12,…

Everything’s Coming Up Capote Holcomb, Kansas is a normal small town with a restaurant, post-office, and its very own school system. In In Cold Blood Truman Capotes describes the small town and its simple atmosphere with uses of selection of detail, imagery, and structure, while setting up for a dramatic and twisting change. “Not that there is a lot to see” is the first impression Capote gives of Holcomb to the readers. But he seems to contradict himself considering the majority of…

Capote points out that even in the small, religious town of Holcomb “…class distinctions are … clearly observed…” (Capote 34). The class distinction separates who can have the American Dream and who cannot. Capote reveals the inequality in America and how people will quickly be isolated if their beliefs do not match the norm. Class distinctions differentiate how people live their lives. The lower a person ranks the more their ideals separate from the norm. After Perry’s father discovers Perry in…

Truman Capote’s 1965 novel In Cold Blood, was based upon the true events of the Clutter family murder case, that occurred in the year 1959, in the very modest town of Holcomb, Kansas. The story revolves around the two insensitive murderers, Perry Edward Smith and Richard Eugene Hickock, whom have had the past of growing up in completely opposite home environments from one another, and the detective Alvin Dewey, who goes out of his ways to try his best to capture these criminals. Although Perry…

The one who lied is your friend Floyd Wells. There isn’t any safe, so let’s get the hell out of here” (239). No one knew the motive for the crime, but Perry confessed that is was to find ten thousand dollars Mr. Clutter kept in a safe. Furthermore, Capote works in Dick and Perry backgrounds throughout the novel. When he uses the montages throughout the story, this gives some details on Dick and Perry’s lives. Letters from Perry’s father Tex John Smith and his living sister Barbara Johnson and…

However, despite this, Kansas is still able to present itself as an aristocrat of commonness within American politics. Even if a politician is from Mission Hills, they can still peg themselves as an authentic, rugged American. Kansas votes Republican consistently, which is an interesting juxtaposition to a century ago, when it was considered a radical area. After the Summer of Life in 1991, the dynamic became not between Democrats and Republicans, but traditional, moderate Republicans (“Mods”)…

and put on medication. In February of 2015, I met a girl named Alexus on social media. I was glad I finally had a good friend in my life because honestly, most of my friends were two faced or high all of their lives. Her and I became close ridiculously quickly and after knowing each other for around two months, we gladly got into a relationship. I was happier then even as cliché as it sounds, but my life was finally looking up. I finally thought for once in my life somebody other than my family…