Dear Mr Gabe Ceci,

Ever since 1987 at Riverside University High School in Milwaukee, WI among the Freshman 9th Grade Honors English class when my Honors English Teacher Mr. Gabe Ceci stated that his dream was to have one of his students publish a book giving him credit in the inside and then show up to give him a $5000 check written out to him, it has been my life long dream, goal, passion, and bucket list to be THAT student! To publish my book "Mohican Forever" during Mr. Ceci's lifetime has been my personal mission for the last 30 years giving him credit written in the inside of my book about all the times he inspired me to be a writer. Including during his live performances of the Odyessy performing all the roles both male and female in a stunning and breathtaking performance. How the poem Invictus by William Ernest Henley that Mr. Ceci made my Freshman Honors English class memorize & Mr. Ceci got he me precite the poem in front of the class by memory before anybody else in the class emblazoned Invictus' message into my mind, heart, and soul to help me to survive & overcome during the darkest valleys in my life. How Mr. Ceci's class assignment to study the symbolism and meaning behind the song American Pie by Don McClean has left me with a very positive memory of Mr Ceci each and everytime I hear the song on the radio. How important it was that Mr. Ceci believed in me that he arranged to have me move into his homeroom and into his Academic Decathlon team. Mr Ceci had unbelievable faith in me to entrust me to help grade his student's papers. While I was grading Mr Ceci's student's papers in his English office alone with him was when I finally broke down and revealed my family's horrible secret because Mr. Ceci made me feel that he was a safe person who I could trust to to reveal the Intergenerational Trauma happening in my home. Mr Ceci went above and beyond by doing more than just making sure the incident was reported to the Riverside University High School Social Work mandated by law. Mr Ceci also took his own personal money and bought me a pair of glasses because my foster family failed to provide for my most basic need including getting me a pair of glasses so I could read the board and succeed in school. Mr Ceci all on his own noticed how I struggled to read the board without my glasses because he was so observant and compassionate.

Mr Ceci did more than just was expected of him to be a mandated reporter. His generous act of kindness by him and his then wife to actually take me physically to the eye doctor themselves and pay out of their own private family's income made me feel loved and cared for during a dark time of being alone and suffering in foster care without my family. How supportive Mr Ceci, former wife Mrs Ceci, and especially from the support from his son Gabe Ceci from Riverside University High School Class of 1988 through various late night phone conversations and emails has demonstrated the whole Ceci family has all been supportive to me throughout my life. To be honest I wished I was a member of Mr Ceci's family because of the love that they all have shown me. When I in 2010 showed my rough draft of my Native American Romance Novel "Two Step" to Mr Ceci, he sent me very detailed and encouraging emails after he read my entire rough draft and was empowering me to continue to get closer to finish a book and get it published like our longtime mutual dream. A dream that I have been diligently working towards.

Life is short. This is the year I am finishing my book after writing it since 2003. I am setting a tangible goal this NaNoWriMo 2017 to reach 100,000 words by November 31, 2017 at a daily goal of 3, 334 words per day. I am currently writing a business plan based on the Right Brain Business Plan by Jennifer Lee to map out a feasible way to getting my book Mohican Forever! published.

Good news! A Mohican family member by the name of Randy Lewis and his Mohican wife Katie talked to my tribe at the Arvid Miller Library and Museum in Bowler, Wisconsin after talking about my Mohican Forever! book in progress. That's when the Mohican Librarian Yvette Malone revealed that they have scholarships to help Mohican authors like myself publish their books.

I have high hopes of achieving my goals that I included a funding raising for NaNoWriMo the nonprofit that his hosting this online event for writers to motivate me to be accountable with my Mohican Forver! publishing goals. My first major fundraising goal is to raise $300 to earn a ticket to the Writing Dangerously Write-A-Thon hosted by NaNoWriMo in San Francisco. So to take a step towards my dreams I am donating this $25 towards my dream writing event and dedicating my book Mohican Forever my WIP and it's publication to you Mr Gabe Ceci of Brookfield, WI of Angel Consulting and former AP/Honors English Teacher of Riverside University High School of Milwaukee, WI.

So when I publish my book by 2018 with my heartfelt dediction thanking you written in Mohican Forever! acknowledgements, Mr Ceci please also expect my check written out to you with a special note written in the note section that says "You deserve so much more and that there is much more to come!"

INVICTUS
BY WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.

Source: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51642/invictus


AMERICAN PIE by Don McClean

A long, long time ago
I can still remember how that music used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance that I could make those people dance
And maybe they'd be happy for a while
But February made me shiver
With every paper I'd deliver
Bad news on the doorstep
I couldn't take one more step
I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died
So bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry

And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin' "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die"
Did you write the book of love, and do you have faith in God above
If the Bible tells you so?
Now do you believe in rock and roll, can music save your mortal soul
And can you teach me how to dance real slow?
Well, I know that you're in love with him
'Cause I saw you dancin' in the gym
You both kicked off your shoes
Man, I dig those rhythm and blues
I was a lonely teenage broncin' buck
With a pink carnation and a pickup truck
But I knew I was out of luck
The day the music died
I started singin' bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry

Them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
And singin' "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die"
Now for ten years we've been on our own, and moss grows fat on a rollin' stone
But that's not how it used to be
When the jester sang for the king and queen in a coat he borrowed from James Dean
And a voice that came from you and me
Oh, and while the king was looking down
The jester stole his thorny crown
The courtroom was adjourned
No verdict was returned
And while Lenin read a book on Marx
A quartet practiced in the park
And we sang dirges in the dark
The day the music died
We were singin' bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin' "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die"
Helter skelter in a summer swelter, the birds flew off with a fallout shelter
Eight miles high and falling fast
It landed foul on the grass, the players tried for a forward pass
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast
Now the halftime air was sweet perfume
While the sergeants played a marching tune
We all got up to dance
Oh, but we never got the chance
'Cause the players tried to take the field
The marching band refused to yield
Do you recall what was revealed
The day the music died?
We started singin' bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
And singin' "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die"
Oh, and there we were all in one place, a generation lost in space
With no time left to start again
So come on, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
'Cause fire is the devil's only friend
Oh, and as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage
No angel born in Hell
Could break that Satan's spell
And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite
I saw Satan laughing with delight
The day the music died
He was singin'
bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
And singin' "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die"
I met a girl who sang the blues, and I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away
I went down to the sacred store where I'd heard the music years before
But the man there said the music wouldn't play
And in the streets, the children screamed
The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed
But not a word was spoken
The church bells all were broken
And the three men I admire most
The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died
And they were singin' bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin' "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die"
They were singin' bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
And singin' This'll be the day that I die"

http://www.metrolyrics.com/american-pie-lyrics-don-mclean.html

With Respect, Love, and Admiration,
Wenona Gardner class of 1991.