English IV Assignment: Write a one-page essay about an encounter with a famous person. You may invent an experience if you have not had one. How did you feel about this encounter? How did the celebrity behave? Did you learn anything through the experience? Be creative and proofread your work. Due Friday morning.

My Encounter

By Alexis Castle, English Honors Class B3

March 15, 2011

This morning, I made breakfast for a famous person. I cooked eggs, bacon, sausage, and toast. When I was finished, I waited for him to come out of his room and eat, brushing my hair in the mean time. After a few minutes, one of the best-known writers in the United States came into the kitchen wearing pajama pants and an undershirt, his hair disheveled. He grinned when he saw the food, but before he started eating, he gave me a hug and kiss. That was my most recent encounter with a celebrity named Rick Castle, also known as my father.

In some ways, my entire life has been an encounter with fame. When I was little, I used to fall asleep on my dad's lap at boring dinners—dinners with guests like James Patterson and Brad Pitt. Until I was in fourth or fifth grade, I never realized that having the children of Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award winners at birthday parties was unusual. I thought everybody's father was as well known as mine.

When I got older, I found out that most people have no idea what life with a famous person is like, and they think meeting a celebrity will be exciting and special, maybe special enough to change their lives. When we went out together, people would point to my dad in the street and take pictures of him with their cell phones. Sometimes, they would even talk to me about him. The weird part was that they seemed to be talking about a different person than the one I knew.

People would say that my dad was funny, sexy, brilliant, and larger-than-life. I knew him as the guy who picked me up from school every day and kissed my knee when I scraped it, the one who held me when I had nightmares and rode the Dumbo ride with me at Disney World. He was my dad, my hero. Now I know that both pictures of my father are accurate. He is Rick Castle, the witty author and popular celebrity, and he is Rick Castle, the loving and faithful father.

Without even trying, my dad has taught me a great deal about fame. Because of him, I know that celebrities are more than cardboard people, more than images in magazines. At the end of the day, celebrities are just people who happen to be famous. Like my father, they have lives and families and qualities the public never sees. They are somebody's husband or wife, brother or sister, mom or dad.

I believe a person's true worth is not found in how many people know her name or how many people recognize him on the street. Fame is what the world sees, but worth is what a person has when no one is looking. My father is not just a famous author. He is always available when I need him, forgives my mistakes, and helps me become the best person I can be. Those things make him truly worthwhile, more than being famous ever could.

I will always be grateful for the lifelong celebrity encounter that has taught me about fame, about people, and about what is important. Most of all, I am thankful for Rick Castle, the man who has never been too famous to be my dad.


A/N: This chapter was inspired by my dad, a wonderful father and local celebrity who gets recognized whenever I go out with him :) Please let me know if you're enjoying the story.