Bob and Carmen

Bob is a school maintenance man. He is in charge of changing light bulbs and keeping the floor shiny as well as a number of other things. Bob cares deeply about the environment which is why after he sweeps the floor, he picks up bits of paper from the trash pile and puts them in the recycling bin. But because it is better to re-use than recycle, he takes the special bits of paper, like the hand-written notes and takes them home. Then he uses very expensive scissors from Germany and clear glue to make elaborate, beautiful collages that portray his deep thoughts about the meaning of life.

Do kids still write notes on paper or is it all electronic these days? That would be a really shame if all they did were tweets instead of taking time to hand write a note. My friends and I were really big into writing notes and then folding them up in fancy ways. I remember filling side margins with flower vines and inventing fonts! It was great, but it probably would have served me better to pay a little more attention in class.



Carmen is a snow artist. She spends all summer long waiting for the leaves to turn, and when they do she is practically climbing trees and yanking off the leaves to usher in the winter. The first snowfall, for Carmen, is better than Christmas, but when they happen simultaneously she gets so excited that you can hear her heart beating from another room. When the snow completely covers the ground, she treats it like a blank canvas. She gathers all her equipment: paint brushes, squirt bottles, brooms, and powdered koolaid, and then she gets to work transforming the powdery white stuff into a masterpiece. Sometimes her neighbors commission her to transform their yards. However, she prefers to be paid in hot cocoas.