Thankful

 I am thankful for many things. I'm thankful for my family, my friends, and all the wonderful people around me. I love my family, their quirks, their funny little ways of making life interesting. I am so grateful for my parents, who took the time to help me learn and have fun. I'm thankful for the time spent with my siblings, when we weren't fighting, when we had a lot of fun together. I'm grateful for my awesome aunts and uncles; they tickled me and teased me, talked with me and taught me. I'm so thankful for my adorable little cousins. They run around being cute, squealing and laughing and hugging and being so sweet. Without my friends, I would be quite sad. I'm so glad I have so many great friends who support me and help me when I need them. I'm thankful for our lovely home and that it has enough space for all of us, that our yard is big and beautiful and lets us roam around and do what we please. I'm so grateful that we're well provided for, that my dad has a job, and we're well off. I'm very thankful for all the great things in my life.

More About Me

 When I was little, I thought that when I was older, I would be so smart and life would be so wonderful. I looked up to the sixth graders in my elementary school, but soon in kindergarten I realized that we were better behaved than they were. We had to walk single file down the hallway on the third tile away from the wall, silent, with our hands behind our backs. The sixth graders, though, stood wherever they wanted in line and chatted with their friends and were loud. It gave me some pride that I was better behaved than them, and a little excited for when I could talk in line and not have to stand rigidly with my hands clasped behind my back. I also thought I would be able to stay up so late and get to watch more movies. I figured that I would be able to do whatever I wanted, because I would be so grown up.

 I don't know what the best thing I've ever done is and I'm not sure what the worst thing I've ever done was. I feel bad for teasing Thomas when he was little and am regretting not being nicer to him now, but I don't have one specific huge regret.

 I worry about my intelligence. Not really, but sort of. A little. I don't care enough to do anything about it, so I guess I don't care. I care enough to worry, but not do anything. I don't really care about my grades, so I very rarely study and I'm usually surprised when I walk into class and it's set up for a test. I am happy when I get a good grade, and a little sad when I get a bad grade, but I just get what I get. I compare myself to my brother, Thomas, a lot, which my parents always protest about how horrible it is to be comparing myself to him. Because I'm in MathCounts, I'm constantly comparing what I got to the leading student, this obnoxious sixth grader, my annoying brother. It doesn't help that he gloats that he got all of them right, again, or got the most out of anyone.

 I worry about my family and friends. I worry for their well-being and how they're doing, especially when my friends tell me that they're fine when they've shown signs of someone who's not okay. I also worry about if I've hurt my friend's feelings or if I've done something wrong. I worry about the large and lurking future and what is hiding in it's foggy mists.

 I am the happiest when I'm surrounded by my extended family, usually around holidays. There's such a warm happy feeling when we're all together. My little cousins running around, my aunts and uncles laughing and talking together, a general fun-filled place. I love waking up from a nap and knowing that I can go out of my room and play with my adorable little cousins or go help someone fix up a snack they're making, or have an intelligent discussion with one of my aunts or uncle.

Growing Up

 My first stuffed animal was a little giraffe, which I loved, but I had a large collection of stuffed animals and I didn't have a favorite. I remember lining them all up and playing school or zoo or other random games with them. I would always have a stuffed animal with me, wherever I toddled around the house.

 My favorite book when I was little was Stellaluna, a pretty picture book with lots of words about a bat who was raised by birds, trying to copy their ways. I would read it over and over to myself. When I was a little older, I really liked Ender's Game, The Hobbit, and the Harry Potter series. My dad would read books out loud to my brother and I when I was three or four. We would bug my dad to read more, more, more!! until he would, and if we got bored when he wasn't home from work yet we would take the book and read it ourselves. My favorite TV show when I was really little was Teletubbies, I have no idea why, and when I got older I liked Cyberchase. I don't know why. They're so weird. I guess I liked the bright colors...

 I don't really remember any of my firsts, because Thomas always seemed to get there ahead of me. I remember my first story I wrote with a plot, in kindergarten. I was so proud of myself. It was two pages long and I had an illustration to go with it. It was about a unicorn trying to find a place to sleep. It wasn't that great of a story. But at least the unicorn had a problem, tried to fix it, and ended up with some things that weren't her solution. The first time I rode a bike without training wheels was when I was nine. We didn't bike very much, and only when I protested that I still didn't know how did my dad teach me. I rode my bike around and around in our driveway, then went around Lake Artemesia with my dad.

I don't remember having a favorite birthday, most of them were fun little parties when I was little, then going down in frequency to every other year, when I was nine. My last birthday was fun because I got cute, thoughtful presents I really liked and had a quiet birthday where I just sort of stayed up in my room and read. The next day, I had a party where my friends walked home with me and we just sort of hung out, ate pizza, watched a movie, and roasted s'mores.

My Name

 The name Tyra is Swedish, said tee-rah, said like the way you would pronounce Tyr, that god of war, but then with an a at the end. Tyra means battler, warrior. I guess my name sort of fits me, but I'm not that violent. Also, I'm quirky and...different. I have many different personalities, depending on who I'm with, just like how my name is pronounced or written differently by many different people. My parents didn't know about Tyra Banks when they named me because she wasn't that popular yet, and I am forever correcting people on the pronunciation of my name. I don't really have a nickname, but my aunts and uncles sometimes call me Teezeranne, strangely combining my first and middle name, Zanne. My middle name isn't actually a name, but just my mom's thinkings of liking the name Anne and the letter Z. I got the last name Draper because the king's drapers lost favor with the king. He needed new drapers and some of my ancestors filled the position.

 My parents were thinking about naming me Hannah, but when one of my grandmas remarked about how happy she was that she could help them choose the name Hannah, they decided to not name me that because they didn't want to keep hearing about how she helped name me. I think Hannah would've been a good name, but I'm not sure if I have one name that I really love and wish I had been named. I used to love the name Jane, but when it became my littlest sister's middle name, the name Jane lost it's appeal. I don't really have any favorite boys names. If I had been a boy, my name would have been Thomas, after my dad and grandpa. It's sort of a tradition to name the first son Thomas.

 I don't really think that I would be different with a different name because people come to think of your personality when they hear your name. Even if I had been named something else, say, Beatrice, then the name would stretch to fit my personality, or produce a nickname that better suits me.

Thoughts about family and where I live

 I was born in Silver Spring, Maryland. I lived most of my life in Berwyn Heights, Maryland. I lived there until I was 11½, when we moved up to Skillman, New Jersey. I've liked New Jersey better because here I have more friends and I know more people, whereas in Maryland, there were only about seventy kids in my grade. Also, in Berwyn Heights, I didn't live very close to any of my friends and we lived on a busy road. We lived right across from the elementary school, so I didn't have any bus experience (other than on field trips) until we moved here. The school was tiny, so there weren't really any extra-curricular activities, and for band or chorus we had to be pulled out of class. I would literally read through all of class, and still get straight A's. I didn't study, and am still trying to get in the habit.

 My fondest memories from my childhood are mostly playing with my siblings. We had a big backyard and we'd explore “The Bamboo Forest” together, which connected the backyards of neighbors four or five houses down, and to the houses on the street behind us. We'd also play in our sandbox and “paint” the benches with sand and water mixed together. We'd play carnival on my brother's big bed with him giving rides to my sisters and me playing games with them. Oh, what fun we had before we detested each other.

 As far as I can remember, I wasn't a huge troublemaker, that was my brother's job. I teased him, of course, and my parents said they always warned me not to. I kept teasing him and eventually, when he was, like, four or five he teased me back and I was shocked. I stopped, but he's been bugging me for as long as I can remember. I have a brother and two sisters. I'm the oldest child, and my brother is second. I sort of like my position because I get to babysit my siblings and have more...benefits, but I'm also expected to do the most. It isn't fair because my brother gets to do everything good I do, except he doesn't have to do as much work because he's younger. Also, he'll always side with my little sisters against me whenever I've done any little thing and get me in trouble.

 I used to have a beta fish named Ruby. I named him when I was eight, and called him Ruby because he was reddish purple and had pretty flowing fins and tail. He lived for about 2½ years, when I had to be the one cleaning out his tank and remembering to feed him while my sisters got to have a pretty little pet. He died when I was eleven, and I'm sorry to say that I was rid of my duty to him.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

 Elizabeth Cady Stanton inspired many people to fight for women's suffrage. Her childhood as a daughter of a lawyer and judge helped spark her desire for equality for all. Her organizational skills helped unite women. Her dedication to the women's suffrage movement never ceased, even in hard times. This amazing woman was the first women's suffragist.

 Even as a child, Stanton tried to right things she saw as politically wrong. She was born in Johnstown, New York on November 12, 1815. She would read her father's law books and if she found a law she thought unjust, like that married women couldn't own property, she simply cut it out of the book. Her father had to explain to her that just because the law wasn't in his book didn't mean that it was gone altogether and that they didn't need to abide by that law. When her brother died, her father told her that he wished she was a boy. Stanton studied classics and learned horseback riding to try to be more like a son for her father. She wanted to go to Union College, where her brother had studied, but was instead sent to Emma Willard's all-female seminary for three years. Stanton studied hard there, even though she disapproved of single-sex education. Later, she met Henry Stanton, an abolitionist. Disregarding her father's objections, they were married and went to the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London for their honeymoon.

 Stanton worked her whole life trying to get rights for women. At the World Anti-Slavery Convention, she met Lucretia Mott. They worked together to hold the first women's rights convention in 1848. Stanton declared that women and men were equal and that women should be able to vote. Stanton wrote articles on women's rights and through the paper, met Susan B. Anthony. Together, they organized the Women's Loyal National League in 1863.

 Stanton is remembered as the “brains” of the women's suffrage movement. She wrote and spoke out for women's rights. She contributed a lot to the movement. Even though she had seven children and a house to tend to, she still found time to write and make speeches, and go to conventions. She wore a short skirt over trousers, even though mocked by many, to make a statement about women's rights. Stanton's feminism led her to oppose the fourteenth and fifteenth amendment because they extended the rights of African-American men, but excluded women. She even wrote and published The Woman's Bible, where she tried to correct what she saw as a degrading view of women in the scriptures. Stanton continued to put forth her opinions and stayed up to date with women's suffrage until she died in 1902. She didn't live to see the amendment passed, but she helped tremendously in bringing it around.

Stanton is known as the founder of the women's suffrage movement. She dedicated a lot of her time to convincing people that women should have more rights because they are equal to men. Through many speeches and conventions, she influenced many people. Her life is a testament to what one person can do to change the world.