1. Louisa May Alcott was influenced to write from an early age. She was born in 1832, in Pennsylvania, but grew up in Concord, Massachusetts, a center for thinkers and writers. Her father, the social reformer Bronson Alcott, was her teacher. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were her mentors.
2. As a teenager, Alcott helped support her mother and sisters, while her father pursued unprofitable schemes for reform. Alcott was a seamstress, a governess, and a domestic servant at various times, but she kept writing. She published a poem in 1851 and a story in 1852.
3. In 1862, during the Civil War, Alcott served as a nurse in a Union hospital. As a result, she developed a severe illness from which she never fully recovered. Yet the experience had a positive effect. It provided her with the material for her popular manuscript Hospital Sketches, published in 1863.
4. Alcott wrote numerous tales from magazines during the 1860s, but she published them anonymously or under pseudonyms. In 1868-1869, she published Little Women using her own name. Little Women brought Alcott fame and, for the first time, financial security.
5. For Little Women, Alcott drew on her childhood adventures with her older sister Anna and younger sisters Elizabeth and Abigail May. The sisters became Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy in the book, with Jo as the character Alcott based on herself. Little Women and several later books for young people established Alcott's public image as the "children's friend."
6. The reputation endured until the mid-1940s, when tow book-business partners discovered that Alcott had a darker side. These partners matched Alcott with the pseudonyms she had used. They revealed that Alcott had published adult thrillers of revenge, violence, and passion.
7. The discovery led critics to re-evaluate Alcott's life and writings. Some now conclude that Alcott hid feminist messages in Little Women. The fact that Alcott openly campaigned for women's rights later in her life supports this conclusion. Alcott died in Boston in 1888.
Learn to Trade
1. Are you losing sleep over the problem of your job future? Have you thought about learning a trade? A trade generally requires manual labor and training in a specific skill, and this has many advantages. Imagine having a job that allows you to work with your hands, see immediate results, and gain financial security. What's more, you could enjoy what you do.
2. Hundreds of trades exist, so it should be fairly easy to find one that suits you. You might want to be an electrician, a plumber, or a hair stylist, to name only three. New trades keep emerging as well. The developing filed of renewable energy offers opportunities for solar or wind power technicians.
3. Some trades are undergoing labor shortages as workers retire, and this means that newly trained people are in demand. Learning some trades is possible in less time than it take to earn a four-year college degree-and at less cost.
4. Here are questions to help you start thinking about a trade. You might want to consider these in step-by-step order. Remember that a little research in a library or on the Internet can help you find answers.
Decide whether you are more concerned about learning a trade aligns with your interest or done with high earnings potential. Earnings can vary considerably among trades.
Some trades require physical effort. Hair stylists and barbers spend time on their feet. Masonry workers lift heavy bricks or concrete, and they must stand or kneel for long periods.
Almost always, learning a trade starts with earning a high school diploma or high school equivalency credentials. College courses can be a plus. In addition, learning a chosen trade may require strong math skills, spatial reasoning skills, or communication skills.
8. Now you are ready to explore the ways to learn your trade. You might attend a community college or trade school or learn through an apprenticeship. Explore the possibilities for financial aid. Enjoy the process of discovering your bright future.
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