In 2006 we continued settling into our Pfefferkorn house, I was looking for new adventures after financial planning and Allie was in fifth grade at Glenelg Country School.
Between Allie, Barb and I, we had some mutual fantasies about turning Allie into a TV star or model. Allie spent countless hours of her life watching Disney shows like Lizzie McGuire and Hannah Montana and we felt Allie was at least as cute and talented as many of the kids on screen. In January, in one of our early steps toward this fantasy, we attempted some glamor shots in Allie’s newly appointed princess bed. I’m not quite sure what we were thinking at this point.
We tried some with Busty who was not especially cooperative.
At some point over the winter, we convinced ourselves (or someone convinced us) that Allie could use more formal modeling training so we enrolled her in weekend Barbizon classes in Towson. The program covered a variety of topics including runway, television, photo sessions and speech. Barb thought if nothing else they might teach Allie some useful social skills and self-confidence, kind of like cotillion without the dancing. The classes were operated by Jenn Spears — no relation to Britney, I’m sure, but I can’t find anything more about her or the program. I just remember doing the driving to Towson and sitting in the parking lot waiting to get her after each session. These classes struck me as even skeezier than Allie’s dance competitions but she made it all the way through them until “graduation” in June.
Later in January, Allie got ready for Renaissance Day at school. Sydney’s mom loaned us the fancy costume she made for her niece in previous years. Thanks Miss Faith!
Sue was involved in a project in Gainesville to recycle tires. One way or another, she heard that there was a tire park not far from us in Maryland and she asked me to send photos. Allie and I found the park in Catonsville and scouted it out on January 24. Here are just a few of the many photos I sent Sue. Allie and I never made it back to the park and I’m not sure what became of Sue’s project, but this was a fine activity for us on a sunny January day. Kind of hard to believe that Catonsville was at the forefront of recycled tire park design and application.
Connor Burke’s dad took this very nice photo of Allie at a school chorus event, I’m guessing the winter concert in December. Technically, he took this as the school’s official photographer and wasn’t supposed to give us a copy but I begged him for one. It’s one of my favorites. So grown up!
In February, Allie’s class put on a low-budget production of Snow White in the library. Allie is the dwarf in the yellow hat. Sydney was the Wicked Witch. Michelle Wolf was Snow White.
Allie was a featured dancer in the school’s more formal class production of “The Princess and the Pea,” but we managed to not get any photos of that. Sorry, Allie.
Feb. 12: Buster’s first snow! More reasons for Buster to love us.
The actual school Renaissance Day was February 22. Festivities included a lunch for us parents and I honestly can’t remember what else. But everyone enjoyed the fancy dresses.
At the end of February, in the midst of her Barbizon classes, Allie put together a document summarizing her modeling aspirations and what she had learned thus far. This .pdf of the document contains some of her varied thoughts but also a lot of placeholders for photos from magazines I imagine she cut out and pasted in the final actual document. Unfortunately, I can’t find that finished copy, but the pdf is fun for capturing some of her impressions. The pull-quote, as far as I’m concerned: “Barbizon has changed me by making me feel more confident in things that I do…Now, I feel as if I am able to do more things, and not be as shy.”
For Spring Break, we headed to Greece with Aunt Laurie. We squeezed in two nights in Athens, one in Delphi and three on Crete in our whirlwind visit from March 18-26. See more photos and details of our trip.
Upon our return, Allie did a school assignment reviewing books she read over Spring Break, including Al Capone Does My Shirts.
We returned in time for an April 1 sleepover on the USS Constellation in Baltimore with Paige and her dad, Gerry. I’m not sure who exactly put the program together, but we joined a bunch of kids and other parents. I’m reasonably sure Barb is the one that found it for us. We did a bunch of activities on the ship, had a dinner of stew and hardtack, and more or less slept in hammocks. It was an adventure. We had a good time but were happy to get home for a proper shower and rest in a real bed.
Time for a little two-kitty love in April with Buster and Harry.
Allie wrote an assignment for school titled “A Life of Love: Sara and Howard Duncan” (April 10, 2006). It’s a sweet little reminiscence of Grandmom and Grandpop, with carefully selected clip art!
She followed this up a few days later with a summary of her family for Spanish class, Mi Familia.
Yo me llamo Allie Duncan. Yo tengo diez años. Yo soy Americana. Yo tengo pelo café y ojos café. Yo pelo es largo y liso. Yo soy morena. Mi nariz es pequeña. Mi piel es blanca. Mi ojos son mediana. Yo soy delgada y pequeña.
Mi mamá es Barbara Fisher. Ella es abogada. Ella es perfecta. Ella es china. Su pelo es negro y sus ojos son café. Mi mamá es baja amo yo.
Mi papá es William Duncan. El es retirado. El es inteligente. El es Americano. Su pelo es rojo y café. Su ojos son café. El es alto. Mi papá mi ama.
Mi prima ea Kristen Embery. Ella es extraña. Su pelo es café y sus ojos son café. Ella es Americana. Ella es diferente.
Mi gato es Buster. Buster es pequeño, gris y blanco. Buster es delgado y guapo. Buster es muy perezoso. Buster es muy jugetón y energético. Buster es tiene pelo largo. El pelo de Buster es rigado.
Mi gato es Harry. Harry es gordo y anaranjado. Harry le gusta echarse en el sol y comer Purina Cat Chow. Harry tiene pelo corto.
Mis pasatiempos son bailar y actuar. Yo soy disfrutor de la vida. Yo soy muy Buena bailando y actuando.
Mi abuelo es Howard Duncan. Mi abuela es Sara Duncan. Mi abuelo y mi abuela son muy simpaticos. Mi abuelo tiene pelo blanco y ojos café. Mi abuela son pelo blanco y ojos café. Mi abuelos tengo bajo, lento, viejo, interesante, inteligente y impatiente.
Baby Jonah was born in early 2006 and Gramma went to visit in Gainesville with Keri, Jon and Sue. She sent us these photos in April.
In April, one way or another (I think Barb got a lead through Allie’s dance class), we got the name of a local talent agency for Allie’s fantasy modeling career. The L&M Modeling Agency was operated by the problematically named Melissa Needy out of an office on Reisterstown Road in Pikesville. We submitted a handful of photos, filled out some forms, and crossed our fingers.
One Saturday in May, we got a rather frantic call from Melissa for Allie to go to a cattle call audition in Baltimore for a commercial shoot. I was able to get her to the location in time, waited an hour or two along with lots of other kids and parents. Allie went into the audition interview alone, came out 10 minutes later, and we headed home.
A few days later we got word that Allie had been selected as one of the four kids to appear in the commercial. Shooting would be in a few weeks at a location in Alexandria, Virginia. Allie would have to miss a day of school and I would have to take her for the day, but it was a paying gig — she would make $500 for the effort (of which Melissa took $100). We said sure. This was all too easy.
When the appointed day came, Allie and I headed to Alexandria. The location was in someone’s house that had been rented but there was a full union film crew with several trucks outside and a whole lot of equipment already set up inside. They had put a big model train table in the living room with lots of lights and activity from black-clad crew members. I was ushered into the dining room with the other parents and the homeowner. The shoot for the 30-second commercial took several hours, followed by another hour or so while the kids each read the script a few times for the voiceover. It was a serious, tedious production but we did get some nice sandwiches from the craft table at lunchtime.
The spot turned out to be for a NY State teacher’s union (see the 30-second video…you may have to wait a while for it to download). Allie is in it for a total of about 8 seconds and got two lines of voiceover (“What will our communities look like…” and “Already, schools are cutting back…”). A star is born!
Allie’s check came relatively quickly and we put it in her college education account. It was followed shortly after by an invitation to join the Screen Actors Guild, with a significant initiation fee and annual dues after that. I tried to assess the pros and cons of signing Allie up but eventually decided against it.
We updated Allie’s resume and waited for other offers to roll in. Allie quickly had two other auditions for commercials but wasn’t selected. Before long, even the auditions petered out and our friendly agent, Melissa, became less friendly and harder to get hold of. Show business is very fickle.
In May, I tagged along as a chaperone with Allie’s class on a field trip to Gettysburg. I’m pretty sure I learned more and enjoyed the battlefield tour more than the kids. They enjoyed the gift shops more, though.
On June 6, Allie officially finished her 5th grade year and graduated from Lower School. Onward to Middle School in August!
The world of dance recitals continued, though I don’t have exact dates for these photos nor do I remember the specific dances. Allie was in the Jazz Dance and Hip Hop classes, having decided she’d had enough with formal ballet and the Competition team. You’d think I would remember the breakdance pose, but no.
We didn’t mind her dropping ballet before getting into toe shoes. I can’t remember the specifics of why she stopped doing the Competition team other than maybe she aged out of one section and the next was getting to be too much of a time and travel commitment.
I have a reservation that says we rented a place in North Carolina, B958 Miacomet in Sanderling for June 11-18. It was a 5-bedroom place and it looks familiar, quite like other places we’ve stayed on the Outer Banks. But if we went, I’m not sure with who (Nancy?) and I’m not sure why we have no photos. A small mystery.
Barb had her OGC picnic at Centennial Park on June 20 (more photos).
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