Erin Howard Research Paper

Best selling author, Michelle McNamara, wrote some of the greatest crime novels of our time, but few people knew about her secret life. Michelle had her own private drug den filled with a variety of prescription and illegal drugs.

Imagine your 9-year-old daughter just riding her bike in the streets with her little brother. She is as happy as she can be. Then in a split second a pickup truck drives by and swoops her up. You have no idea what to do except call the police. Once you did there wasn't much they can do about a child abduction. Well, this all changed in 1996 when a little girl named Amber Hagerman was abducted and murdered.

Debbie Allen was born to Vivian Ayers and Arthur Allen on January 16, 1950. At age three she started dancing and at age four she knew she wanted to be a professional dancer. Her parents divorced in 1957, and her mother was Debbie and her siblings were encouraged to be creative and independent. In 1960, Vivian Ayers took her children to Mexico. When they came back to Texas, Debbie auditioned for the Houston Ballet School but was denied because the color of her skin. A Russian teacher at the school saw Debbie perform and secretly enrolled her. When she was sixteen, she auditioned for the North Carolina School of the Arts but was rejected because her body was “unsuited” for ballet. While she was in high school she put her studies first and went

However, with her alcoholic dad who rarely kept a job and her mother who suffered mood swings, they had to find food from her school garbage or eat expired food they had previously when they had the slightest bit of money. In addition, when bills and mortgage piled up, they would pack their bags and look for a new home to live in, if they could even call it a stable home, since they would be on the move so often. Jeanette needed a dad who wouldn’t disappear for days at a time, and a mom that was emotionally stable, but because she didn’t have that, she grew up in an environment where she would get teased or harassed for it. Jeanette suffered so much, that even at one point, she tried convincing her mother to leave her father because of the trouble he had caused the family already. A child should be able to depend on their parents for food and to be there for them when they need it, and when that part of a child’s security is taken away, it leaves them lost and on their own, free and confused about what to do next.

As the book follows the life of Jeannette, her dream starts out as a fantasy of hope for her father. When her father was sober he was her best friend. Yet he developed a drinking problem right before Jeannette was born, that developed and worsened over the span of her life. Her mother accounts that when they lost a child, his drinking started,

Mollie Goodnight did all that she could throughout her whole life from taking care of her siblings right after both of her parents’ deaths, to just teaching some of her husband's farm hands how to read. Mollie tried to do her best even in the darkest of times, which is one of the reasons that she is one of the best women Texas has ever had.

Firstly, Every hardship and obstacles she endured throughout her childhood helped Jeannette to become a successful adult.Jeannette’s parent were very unpredictable, her mother was self absorbed in her hobbies, and her father was an interminable alcoholic. Even though her parent neglected and gave less attention to Jeannette,

Arline Crute Edwards is a native Staten Islander who has lived mostly on the north shore. She was educated in New York school system and attended Manhattan Community College. In High School, she was an activist who helped organized ‘Culture Day’ to highlight diversity amongst her peers. Arline is known for her cooking and first knew she had a knack for cooking when she showcased her it during Culture Day at Port Richmond High School.

On February 21, 1933, Mary Kate Waymon and John Divine Waymon begot a child named Eunice Kathleen Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina. She learned to play piano at the age of 3 and sang in her church's choir. Growing up, she wanted to be the first African American concert pianist. Eunice taught piano and worked as an accompanist for other performers when she attended Juilliard; however, she had to leave school after she ran out of funds. She moved to Philadelphia and lived with her family there in order to save money and go to a more affordable music program.

Laura S. Haviland risked her own life trying to make a difference for the lives of others. She was not very concerned about what would happen to her, she just wanted to make sure others were getting what she thought they deserved. She was an abolitionist and a writer. Throughout her life she was devoted to helping people in many different ways, spending much of her life doing different activities that involved helping people, most importantly slaves and their families. These were things she never had to do, but chose to do. She took it upon herself to spend her life doing this. One of the biggest things she devoted her life to was the underground railroad. She also helped to make big improvements for African Americans. This almost cost her, her life, but she kept going and helping. Without Laura Haviland's demanding work and dedication Michigan would not have made such drastic improvements as they did during this time. Laura worked her whole life to selflessly help so many different people in their current situations. Laura was a teacher,

Allison Burnett, an honorary Irvin, creates wholesome meals with filling grains and hearty vegetables for her family to enjoy. She loves hot stews and cold beers. The meditative woman who gracefully takes life one step at a time inspires the recipes below.

Andrea McWilliams is an Austin, Texas based lobbyist, political fundraiser and philanthropist known for her eloquent speaking abilities and strength of integrity. She has defined herself as an exceptional lobbyist nationally, within both government and private sector as a representative to be reckoned with. Andrea McWilliams is Co-founder of McWilliams Governmental Affairs Consultants. Where she and her husband and colleague Dean McWilliams create political policy with tenacity and determination. Andrea McWilliams has taken on the forum of national political commentator, and is a much sought after public speaker. Her strategies and political prowess have been documented by such reputable sources as, NPR, CNN, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Newsweek, and Fox News.

Ellen has been through a myriad of hardships that helps her transform her perspective on family. In the beginning of the novel, Ellen describes how her father demands her mom to cook despite the fact that she was ill and how her father jokes around about her mother dieing. Through out Ellen’s childhood, she is around abuse, neglect, and poverty she did learn something from her mother. Her mom “Does not say a word about being tired or sore”, illustrating that Ellen’s family did have some

Although their hostile childhood allowed Jeanette to rise above it triumphantly, Maureen’s experiences drove her into psychiatric hospitals. Maureen never discovered her autonomy and thus serves as an example of how damaging adversity

occasion, Hazel, was abused by her father when she was young, and she chooses to