Elliot

Aglioni

     Elliot Aglioni lives with his mother, father, and his dog, Bo, in Berkeley, California. He enjoys commas, and dashes above all other punctuation marks. While he dislikes exclamation points, Elliot will sometimes use them out of necessity. When not spending time with his favorite punctuation marks, Elliot likes to punctuate conversations with remarks that he--and often only he--finds amusing. Elliot hopes to continue playing with words in the future. 

Elena

Alderman

    Elena Alderman was born via C-section in Alta Bates Hospital in 1989, and grew up a ravenous youngster in the beautiful wild jungle of the Oakland Hills. She moved to Berkeley when she was 9 and immediately realized that this was the place to be. Elena can frequently be found roaming the streets of NSB wielding a metal bat, angrily warding off all that dare to threaten her peaceful hillside community or her adoring family waiting patiently back home on Spruce Street. 

Caitlin

Alexander

    I reside in Oakland, California where i get my inspiration, is from everything. My family, friends anything i think of. 

Peter

Angell

     Mr. Peter Angell catches some Z's (four to seven, to be precise) every night at his foothill hideout after a long, grueling day of writing short stories and running several miles (four to seven, to be precise). Mr. Angell enjoys comedy, music, backpacking, living in Berkeley, and writing about thimself in the third person, but his favorite pastime is kicking it with his friends. Mr. Angell is also President of the Key Club (a community service organization) and a member of the Orchestra, and he runs Varsity Track and Cross Country. One day, Mr. Angell hopes to be king of the world and have a pet elephant. In the meantime, he hopes to go to a great college and find some fantastic career in which he can be happy, have lots of spare time, and make lots of money. Mr. Angell has two favorite quotes. The first is "The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep." The second one is a secret. 

Fennis

Brown

     Fennis Brown lives in Berkeley with her two sisters, parents and two dogs. She currently studies at Berkeley High School, where her favorite classes are Economics, Reading and Writing the Short Story and Art History. Because of her creative flair she loves spending time doing art, both visual and performing, as well as creative writing. Currently she is co-directing En Pointe, an all youth organized dance company, where she does everything from choreography to costume design, organization to stage management and fundraising to booking theatres. Last year she highly enjoyed her AP Language and Composition class where she felt as if her “…writing really developed and grew in a short amount of time.” This year she looks forward to creative writing and reading short stories, two of her favorite things to do! 

Danielle

Chan

     Danielle was born in Tainan, Taiwan, but raised in the Bay Area for 16 of her 17 years. She enjoys both reading and writing but on her own time and subject. She also enjoys playing badminton, as she has for the past 2 years, and practicing martial arts, with her 5 years of experience. She relies on her emotions for inspiration. Danielle currently lives at home with her parents, and in the next year plans on attending college.

Ellis

Clark

     Ellis Clark was born in San Francisco, California. He moved to Berkeley in the first grade and has been attending Berkeley Public Schools since the 7th grade. He hopes to attend one of the UC's or possibly Columbia College in Chicago. He hopes to continue writing in college and in addition to this he dreams to continue playing baseball. His writing influences are J.D Salinger, James Ellroy and John Steinbeck.     

Willie

Cox

Jessica

Cussins

Michelle

Davilla

Anika

Dove

Naomi

Fisher

      Naomi has lived in Berkeley, CA all her life. During her free time, she loves to write, play the flute, and spent time with her four older siblings. She also loves to travel, which she hopes to be able to do more of when she is older. She plans on going to college and studying music and some form of writing, although she doesnt know which genre yet. Her family members are the most important people in the world to her.

Ricardo

Gama

Jennifer

Garfield

Andy

Goessling

       Andy Goessling was born in Oakland, California in 1989. In 1994 he moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee for a year and a half, before returning to the Bay Area, where he has lived for the last ten years. Mr. Goessling gets his writing influences from twisty-turny thrillers, as well as engrossing fantasies. He always prefers humor to melancholia, be it dry, cynical, or in-your-face. In short, he loves books that make him stay up a long time past his bedtime. Andy spends virtually all waking hours participating or thinking about bicycle racing and riding. He trains every day for two to three hours, after which he feels like he wants to just go to sleep. But he can’t, because he has to write kick-a** literature! On the weekends, he usually has to get up very early to drive to bicycle races that are hours away. Andy’s plans for next year are to attend a four-year college that has a decent to amazing cycling team, where he hopes to excel on the collegiate cycling circuit.

Laura

Gorrin

    Laura was born in Berkeley seventeen years ago, and has lived there ever since. In fact, she will continue to live there until she goes elsewhere for college next year. Laura spends her time dancing, working in her school's theater, leading Berkeley High's Best Buddies chapter, and throwing koosh balls at her friends in the park. She does flips and gets koosh balls thrown at her in the park as well.

Lindsay

Guinan

Henry

Ivry

     Hailing from the small, yet quiety and cozy, tropical paradise of El Cerrito, Henry Ivry is a man of many faces. Whether he is on stage, topless, covered in and saliva rolling around with a microphone as his angelic, yet masculine and commanding, voice spills out the latest lyrics for the rock 'n' roll revolution, Steel Toe Disaster, or down at Ohmega Salvage as he hustles toilet tank lids and Victorian door hardware for money for his Friday night dice game, Henry is sure to be doing his part as a good samaritan and looking for an old lady to help across the street. His writing, which has been rumored to have ended poverty in West Poland and stir coup d'etats in the lower regions of South America, is inspired by his love of babes. Henry Ivry: man or legend? You decide.

Adam

Jacobson

Rachel

Kahan

Anna

Kalkanis Ellis

     Anna Kalkanis-Ellis was born and raised in Berkeley, CA. Growing up she was never very interested in writing, untill she took a Reading and Writing Short Stories class at Berkeley High. She learned her senior year that writing isn't so bad when you can chose your own topic.

Chris

Kennedy

Francis

Langbein

     Francis Langbein lives in Berkeley, California and is planning to attend a liberal college next year. Besides writing, he delves in baseball, chess, and jobs relating to political activism. Francis has also been trained in the art of Benni Hana cooking and knife throwing, and he plans to be a chef some day.

Margaret

Smail

     Margaret Smail, quite unfortunately, lives in Berkeley, California. She shares a house with two shifty characters, one of them British, who claim to be her parents and a very large black cat called Pyewackett. She rides horses, wins ribbons, and generally has a good time. She is amazing enough to have been accepted at the University of Wales at Aberystwyth for a course in Equine Studies. She plans to live in Britain with various animals and one male homo sapien. Pyewackett has requested that I write this addition to the author biography on the website. He enjoys running around for no apparent reason, brutally savaging anything and anyone that wanders across his path, eating, sunbathing, walking on keyboards, tubstoppers, crinkly paper that he sits on, toilets, laundry baskets, making a great deal of noise, cardboard boxes, sitting on tall ledges and hitting passers-by on the head, mattresses that have blankets on them and sleeping.

Allie

Liepman

     Allie lives in Berkeley, CA with her two loving parents, and her two siblings who recently moved back home. After Allies many hours of school, she enjoys coming home to a delicious family dinner then relaxing and falling asleep to great episodes of the OC. Allie also enjoys reading novels by Mitch Albom. When Allie is not stressing out over her homework and college applications she is working with third and fourth graders learning Hebrew. Allie is trying to keep her options open for next year. She plans to attend University of California Santa Barbara or University of California Davis.

Tashi

Lama

     Born and brought up in the land of Himalayas, Nepal and moved to the suburbs of California, the author of the memoir, Tashi Dolma Lama had struggled every challenge that came her way with great determination and enthusiasm. Making her debue as an author at a very young age, her writing comprised with global message for the people from all generations. Her fondness in traveling and experiencing new ideas and knowledge had given her an encouragement to summon them into words in the form of memoir, there by giving the readers a different taste of life and setting a clear picture in their minds of the events that took place in her life. Very rational and based on realistic, her memoir would create a positive impact on the readers. She is very sensitive, down to earth and adventurous.

Eric

Liu

     My name is Dehong Liu but I prefer people call me Eric. I am a senior in BHS. I have a lot hobbies, I love to build display models, basketball, bikes and collect stuffs. I am a really nice person, I love to help people also, I want others to help me too. I want to meet as many people as I can, because I am a person that is afraid of being lonely.

Lianna

Louie

     Lianna Louie is a self-declared wacky senoir at Berkeley High School who loves hanging out with friends and Top Ramen. She lives with her family who she identifies as her strongest inpiration. Lianna believes that because she lives with a very artisically-talented family, she has been able to discover many artforms. The earliest art interest Lianna had was writing poetry. Through out her life, Lianna has written on and off and has found that she prefers creative writing. In the near future, Lianna hopes to attend a small liberal arts college, improve her ranking in fancing tournaments, and have the great final year in high school.

Grant

Long

     Grant Long is a cool kid. Take it from me. Straight from the gourmet ghetto of North Side Berkeley, he derives his inspiration from his life and imagination. Yellow Jacket blood runs in his veins, he plays 3rd base for the varsity baseball team at BHS. After high school, he plans to stay hyphy in college.

Jozef

Matlak

     Jozef Matlak was born in Madrid but flew across the ocean to live in Berkeley. He currently lives with his parents and brother. In the small amount of free time he has, he enjoys playing the violin, playing a variety of sports, as well as sleeping. His inspirations come from many great literary works of the past.

Lucy

Medrich

Alex

McCoy

   My name is Alex McCoy and that's my picture =). It seems as if I've been writing all my life. But I haven't written many pieces successfully. Writing runs strong in my family. My grandmother has published a few books, my mom wrote a stage play that was almost featured at the Sundance film festival, as a short film, and my two older sisters and myself write whenever we get the chance. I took "reading and writing short stories" because I've always appreciated the skill that it takes to condense a story from 200-300 pages, to 10-20 pages. I plan to continue to write in my spare time and don't be surprised if you read a book or see a film written by me.

Rosemary

Mcgowan

     Rosemary Ione McGowan was born and raised in Oakland, California but has attended Berkeley schools since 7 th grade. She sings in the Piedmont Choirs and loves almost every kind of music from Bay rap to The Beatles. She loves being able to express emotions through music and through creative writing as well. She has been writing since she can remember and has recently started a trend of writing (and performing) birthday raps for her friends. She hopes that one day she'll be able to freestyle at the drop of a beat.

Richard

Melgar

     My name is Richard. I have a few writing inspirations for different types of writing. Right now Im writing a memoir, which is something I never did before. I don’t think I was really into it until I read some memoirs written by other people in my class. I read some memoirs before but I wasn’t really that inspired until I read some written by some people that I kind of know. I also like to write rhymes whether it’s a rap or a poem or anything I can put words together to make it rhythm. My inspiration for that comes from the music I listen to. I like to listen to different types of music, mainly rap. I like music in whatever language too. Yea different sounds inspire me. I tried for a while making music with my friends. It was kind of hard when starting out but I got used to it and made like one good track. I almost gave up after that but now im writing more lyrics again and trying to keep up with it. I like to play sports and go places with my friends. Frisco is fun. The Metreon, Chinatown, Japantown.

Jessica

Nicely

     Jessica Nicely learned how to write in elementary school, starting off by tracing letters on big pieces of lined paper, and finishing 12th grade with a love of both reading and writing. Some of her favorite authors include Douglas Adams, Chuck Palahniuk, Kurt Vonnegut, George Orwell, and Stephen King. However, she does not spend all her time reading and writing. She also enjoys singing, running, baking, and following politics. She lives in Berkeley with her family, but hopefully next year she'll be far away in college.

Amanda

Parker

     Amanda Parker has always lived, and attended public schools, in Berkeley. She has always loved writing, especially creative writing, and finds inspiration in many American authors, including Mona Simpson and J.D. Salinger. She also is greatly inspired by the poetry of Bob Dylan, and has found a new interest in poetry and even songwriting because of him.

Hannah

Pollack

     Hannah Pollack was born and raised in Berkeley, California. She likes being with friends, exploring San Francisco, and watching Grey's Anatomy. Her favorite books are Middlesex and The Kite Runner. Next year she plans to go to a four year university..

Alex

Pujol

     Alex Pujol lives in Berkeley with his mom, dad, and two dogs. He's seventeen years old, and is a senior at Berkeley High. Alex enjoys spending time with friends, watching movies, and sleeping. He rows for the Berkeley High Crew team. He hopes to attend a four-year university, and possibly study history. Afterwards Alex hopes to have a powerful job so he can sit back and stack his scrilla.

Javier

Rebollar-Loza

     Born and raised in Mexico, in a city called Valle de Bravo, Javier is a student that enjoys writing humorous and creative pieces. He thinks that if a story is not funny or if it doesn?t catch the audience's attention then there is no point in reading it or writing it. Inspired by the writing of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Pablo Neruda, Javier realizes his passion for Latin American Literature.

Evan

Roberts

     Evan Roberts lives with his family in west Berkley. He enjoys hanging out with friends, art, and music.

Katherine

Rose

     Katherine lives in a tacky yellow house in the flatlands of Berkeley with her mother, younger sister, and two eccentric cats. She enjoys reading, hanging out with her friends, and creating every kind of art imaginable, as well as participating in a variety of athletic activities such as rugby, running, speedskating, and human jenga. Her plans for after highschool include going to an art college and becoming a professionally exhibiting artist.

Gabe

Schnake Mahl

     Gabriel Schnake-Mahl lives in Berkeley with his parents and twin sister. He is a passionate sports fan and plays baseball for Berkeley High School. Next year, he plans to attend a UC for college. Though he doesn't consider creative writing to be one of his strengths, he does feel as though his skills are growing.

Jacob

Shogren

Nico

Sophiea

     Nico Sophiea lives in Berkeley with his family and currently attends Berkeley High School. He plays drums in various bands and combos such as "The Messiest Colors Society" and "The Brian Pardo Jazz Combo" at the Jazz School. He is currently a senior at Berkeley High at plans to go to college at a University of California next fall.

Cassie

Thomas

Olivia

Toczynski

     Olivia Toczynski is a pretty silly girl. Her favorite thing to do is laugh, and wishes she could do it all the time. Even looking back on her worst experiences, she is able to take them lightly and make a joke out of them. More than keeping herself happy, she wants to make sure everyone around her is as pleased as they can be. Of course there have been some bad events in her life, and that's where writing comes in. It all started when she got a cute little journal when she was 9, and has expanded a lot since taking the Reading and Writing Short Stories class at Berkeley High! 

Max

Trow-Shaw

Elon

Ullman

     My name is Elon Ullman, and I'm a senior at Berkeley High School. My writing influences and motivations include Albert Hoffman, Ken Kesey, F. Scott Fitzgerald and of course my own experiences and adventures. I enjoy making nachos, camping in illegal places, and meeting open minded people.

Kevin

Vognar

     Kevin Vognar's imagination was developed by the compound influences of video games, science fiction, half-dreams and techno music. His aspirations have transformed from ice cream making to space exploration to writing, though given the chance he would still love to go on a spacewalk. He thinks far too much and does far too little, though if you don't save the world he'll be sure to do it someday.

T'Ara

West

Gabrielle

White

     Gabrielle White has lived in Berkeley CA her entire life, she's never even moved houses. She lives with her mom and dad, and she's an only child. Next year she plans to attend college and hopefully have a good time. When she's not writing she is usually with friends or playing soccer.

Solomon

Wong

     Solomon Wong is a solipsist. This means he believes himself to be the sole creator of all ten dimensions. Everything he sees is an illusion created to console himself as he lives out his life in a completely blank and empty space. Not a speck of dust, not a line, not even a point truly exists. Only Solomon's consciousness. He invented math. He invented the concept of time. He invented mitosis. He invented verbs. He wrote Catcher in the Rye. He keeps the sun burning, and keeps Mars frozen. When Solomon dies (when his conscious or subconscious decides it is time), all matter, concepts, energy, and waves will disappear in that instant.

Ayshe

Yasa