Benjamin Saucier

= Early Years =

Benjamin Saucier was born on August 18, 1989 in Sarasota, Florida. Florida is one of fifty states in the United States. Sarasota is a town on Florida's West Coast. A coast is an area near a body of water, in this case the body of water was the Gulf of Mexico. As a kid Benjamin frequently swam in the Gulf of Mexico. He often wondered if he kept swimming in a straight line how long it would take him to get to the coast of Mexico. Little did he know that if he went in a straight line he would actually reach Texas, another and much bigger state. He also didn't know that he'd probably have to avoid many oil rigs to get there and swim through a dead zone. A dead zone is an area in the Gulf of Mexico that is so dirty from old tycoons of industry dumping there waste that no more fishes live there.

Growing up Benjamin was interested in art. Both his parents were artists. They didn't make alot of money painting and Benjamin often was made fun of for it. See, alot of people in Sarasota are from the midwest. The midwest is where the tycoons of industry are. Well, not anymore because industry only exists in highly competetive low cost production free trade zones. Anyways, once the midwesterns made alot of money selling the family grocery store or collected there petetion they moved to Florida. More specifically Sarasota because it is on a coast. In the midwest things like art aren't important. I bet they don't even know about dead zones.

Anyway, when Ben got made fun of for drawing and being poor he dreamed of one day getting a full scholarship to a fancy schamcy liberal arts school where he could dress up in polo shirts all the time and get made fun of by artists.

= High School =

Benjamin attended Sarasota High School. It was a very big high school, much different from the gifted magnet school where he attended elementary and middle school. In Florida a gifted school is when rich families from the midwest hire tutors for their children to help them get better IQ scores. An IQ score is a number we assign to people to see how smart they are.

Ben had alot of fun at Sarasota High School. It was a very diverse campus. There were alot of white kids who were poor who grew up on farms. They were the rednecks, because they often had sunburns on there necks and dipped skoal. Dipping is when you put tobbacco leafs in your mouth, then spit. They also wore camoflauge to school. Camoflauge is a way of blending in with your environment before you kill something in it.

There were alot of hisspanic kids who were poor and grew up in downtown Sarasota. They didnt have sunburn necks. The rednecks often got into fights with the hisspanics because they spoke a different language. Fighting is something poor people do when there socioeconomic circumstances, broken family life, and crummy public high school make them frustrated and angry. Lots of people are frustrated and angry, not just people from Sarasota.

Benjamin continued art in high school. He painted large abstract acrylic pieces. He loved to paint. Unfortunatly, art wasn't something Florida Public Education funded. Ben had a series of crummy art teachers who told him that their children could paint the mess he was making. Even though Ben was getting scholarships and had his work displayed in the state capital his teachers were suspicious. They wondered why anyone would want to paint something other than flowers. Benjamin wondered why he didnt want to paint flowers. Flowers were very pretty, in fact his state was named after flowers. Ben decided that maybe he wasn't any good at painting and flipped off his art teacher. He refused to submit an AP portfolio because he didnt want his teacher getting any credit. He didn't like his teacher much. So ended his art career.

To fill the time Benjamin started playing sports. He was okay at sports and people liked his muscles way more than they liked his art. They even tried to get him to join in fights!

During his junior and senior year Ben decided to take all the Ap classes he could. See he didnt like Sarasota much, even though it was on a coast. He didn't like his high school much, even though there were lots of fights. So he decided to try his hardest to go to college. He passed 8 AP's all with a score of a 4 or better. He even got a nifty certificate for it. He also became his class President, a scholar athlete, President of the History Club, member of Nationals Honors Society and was on homecoming court! He even gave the keynote speech at his graduation and got to date cute popular rich girls. While he was not exactly interested in any of these things they look extraordinary on paper.

However, to add insult to injury Ben's peers voted him most artistic during Senior Notables! AS IF!

= Hampshire College =

Benjamin worked very hard and got into all 7 schools he appilied to. He was very excited. He got lots of money from a school called Hampshire, which apparently has its own Wiki! Hampshire College is in Amherst. Amherst isn't on a coast.

He decided to go to Hampshire because they didn't have tests or grades, even though he did both very well on tests and grades. If it ain't broke don't fix it. However, Benjamin did indeed try to fix it and now he's not sure what was or wasn't broke in the first place. Go figure.

Hampshire College was a very strange place to Ben who had never been to New England before. New England isn't like the midwest. In the midwest families make money quickly if they're lucky and move to Florida. In New England one or two families have alot of money then they sit on it for generations. Then they send there children to Harvard or Yale or Amherst or Smith, or if the child likes to smoke cigerettes   wear wacky patterns, colorful hats, ripped clothes, and  listen to music made by machines rather than real live instruments they send them to Hampshire College where they can make fun of me for being part of the man! The man is a proverbial  entity that controls the world economy and gombles up anyone who watches television shows and showers.

Benjamin adapted quickly to his new and exciting environment. He has made lots of friends. Some of them know him well and some of them call him Sauce. Sauce is short for his last name which is Saucier, much in the same way that Ben is short for Benjamin. Brillant!

Benjamin is currently involved in many activities that will make this part of his life look as extraordinary as High School. That way he can go to Law school where he plans to be just as extraordinary on paper. And that way he can work for the man and make lots of money and retire somewhere with a coast.