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Alexander Carlyle was born the second of three children to Peter and Joanna Carlyle in the spring of 1978. His parents had met through mutual friends at a Christmas party five years before and had grown inseparable ever since. They made their home in Anaheim, California and welcomed Alex’s brother John during their first year of marriage with Alex coming along only two years later. When Alex was two years old, his younger sister Claire joined the family as the third and final child.
Alex’s childhood was a mostly happy one, even though he often liked to cause trouble. His parents were good people with regular, middle class jobs who provided what they could for their family. They made sure that their children were healthy and happy and thriving, and that the kids received a good moral upbringing. From the start, Alex was a bit of a handful. He’d listen to authority figures for about five minutes and then go off and do his own thing. He’d argue about having to go to church because it was boring and then would fidget and not pay attention through the entire service. In school, he was much more interested in recess and PE and tugging on girls’ pigtails than he was in reading, writing, and arithmetic. He was a bright boy, however, and despite his lack of enthusiasm for learning, managed to slink through the years with average grades, proving that he was learning something even if he didn’t apply himself.
There were subject areas that Alex did thrive at and that he actually enjoyed. Art was one of them and he showed a real talent from the time he could hold a crayon steady to a piece of paper. He was always doodling and often made anything his canvas – the sidewalk, the walls in the living room, people. If he could make a mark on it, he would. He also developed a deep love for music, although the process was much slower. When he was five, his mother started him on piano lessons, which, even with Alex’s insistence that he hated the piano, continued for years. It wasn’t until Alex discovered rock and roll that he actually grew excited about music. He was convinced that he was going to be a rock star legend one day, like Steven Tyler or Axl Rose. For his twelfth birthday, his parents bought him the guitar he had been begging for (alright, it was an acoustic guitar and not the awesome electric one he had wanted, but Alex liked it all the same) and signed him up for two months of lessons at a local music shop. Alex took to the guitar instantly, and he never had to be told twice to practice. The two months of lessons eventually became a permanent fixture and Alex even convinced his mom to let him take drum lessons as well. The Carlyles were thrilled that their son was actually passionate about something and hoped that his focus and drive for music would carry over into his schoolwork.
In high school, Alex did start paying more attention in class, but only marginally. He took a bunch of art and music electives, and joined the drama club and played basketball and baseball. He was also part of the drum line for marching band and did the school musical all four years. The motivation to keep up his grades only came from his motivation to be able to do all of the cool electives and activities he was involved in.
When Alex graduated from high school, he did what any wannabe rock star would do – he passed on college and moved to downtown LA. Peter and Joanna were not happy with their son’s decision. Without reacting as extreme as completely disowning the kid, they did cut him off financially, making it clear that if he intended to live like a starving artist, he was going to have to embrace that lifestyle completely. Alex was a little too fine with that. He’d always been headstrong and rebellious and eager to do whatever made him happy. For a few years he did okay for himself, playing random gigs and making new friends and immersing himself into the LA music scene while working minimum wage jobs. Eventually, however, things became tight and Alex found himself going to his parents for help. They agreed to help him out on one condition: that he move back home and attend community college. Alex felt like he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. It didn’t take long for him to make the practical decision, however, and he moved back to Anaheim to live with his parents and go back to school.
At the age of 21, Alex started in on the transfer program at Cypress College. His focuses were in English and Art with music and other GED courses strewn in. With some personal effort, Alex actually held decent grades and finished up the program in two years, transferring his credits over to CSU Long Beach. His parents were proud of him, which encouraged Alex to make it through another two years of university education. After his undergrad graduation, Alex had no idea what to do with his degrees. His mother and academic advisor both seemed to think that a career in education was a good career path for him. Deciding he didn’t have much to lose besides thousands of dollars in post-grad education, Alex applied for the Master’s/Credential program at College of Communication and Education at CSU Chico. Much to his surprise, he was accepted into the program for the coming fall.
Packing up his things, Alex headed up to Chico to start the next chapter of his education. The experience was new and exciting from the get-go. Alex had never lived anywhere outside of Southern California before and the weather in NorCal was a shock to the system. The nights were colder, particularly in the fall and winter, and everything was so much greener. For two years he lived and studied in Chico before finally being awarded his teaching credentials.
Although he’d grown to love life in Northern California, Alex missed Orange County and moved back down to Anaheim. He lived for a few months in his parents’ house while he settled into life in the real world, working random substitute jobs in the Orange Unified School District. After a while he moved out into his own apartment and continued to take subbing jobs whenever they became available. When a friend of his from his time living in downtown LA announced that she was moving back to her hometown in Oregon, Alex took the opportunity to offer her assistance in the move. It was summer break and he had next to no jobs coming in.
Three days of driving, motels, and greasy diner food later, Alex and his friend Elle finally made it to Portland. Alex liked it instantly. It was beautiful and green and a lot different from Los Angeles. After enduring hours of Alex cooing and gushing over how much he was in love with everything about Portland, Elle sarcastically suggested that he marry the city and move there. Not one to take mocking sitting down, Alex announced that he would. The next day he went to the school district office and asked about job openings. There were a few in his subject areas, which was promising. Alex had his resume faxed over and set up interviews with the schools. He wasn’t expecting to receive any job offers, but he wanted to try anyway, if only to prove some sort of point to his friend. Whatever that was.
Alex’s work experience only consisted of two semesters of student teaching and one year of substitute teaching, but he must have charmed somebody because Alameda Elementary School called him a few days later with a job offer. Their music teacher had just retired and they were looking for someone to teach art, too. At first Alex was a little freaked out; he hadn’t really intended to move out of state, but he couldn’t in his right mind turn down a decent job offer. He accepted the job on the spot anyway, figuring that he could always call back and change his mind if he needed to. It was better than turning it down and regretting the missed opportunity later on. Later that night, he admitted to Elle that he was freaked out about the decision he made, especially considering that he would be teaching elementary school and he knew nothing about little children. Elle called him a pansy and suggested that he call the school back in the morning to tell them that he wouldn’t be teaching there because he was a little girl who was afraid of kindergarten bullies and wanted to run home to his mommy in California. It was then that Alex decided he was going to teach at Alameda for sure and he was going to kick ass at it. Because he wasn't a pansy and he definitely didn't need his mommy.
That was about three years ago. Since then, Alex has adjusted to life in Oregon quite nicely. He wasn't too happy about the winter months for the first two years (way colder than SoCal! And too wet!), but he's finally grown accustomed to the crisp air and not wearing shorts in January. He's made some good friends, too, in addition to Elle, both at work and outside of it. The kids haven't been as bad as he had been dreading, either. Turns out six-year-olds think he's the shit, and getting kids interested and excited about music and art has been really rewarding. He's happy in Portland, even if he still hasn't become a rock star.
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