Paley curated a great summer for her 17th trip around the sun. Paramount was a lot of writing and recharging. She was accepted to college writing program at the University of the South Swanee, and a editing program with an online publisher for the summer. She kicked off her year of being 17 with more shows and fun activities. Shortly after her 17th birthday, she visited Alcatraz for the first time and did two trips with her cousins in one month. The more important one being, watching her cousin Ella cross the stage at her high school graduation. It’s crazy that all of our nieces and nephew are now grown adults. After her birthday, she announced that her last year before turning 18 would be spent, finding more quality time with her friends. and undertake the creation a 17th music playlist! I like to think the first song she added was Edge of Seventeen.

Not sure if that playlist idea garners from my routine of putting together a family playlist each year, they go all the way back to when she was born. The songs are mostly songs I liked in that year but as the kids got older, I included songs they kept asking to be played or they kept hitting play. In the olden days, as my kids would say, I used to make mix tapes when I got my double cassette tape player in the mid-1980s. My dad used to make mix tapes on his reel to reel, which we still need to digitize. It’s probably the only recording of me and my siblings talking during our childhoods. Sadly we didn’t have a video camera growing up or even home movies. To say our kids have plenty of things to look back is an understatement. For now, watching Paley grow into the young adult she is destined to be is an amazing gift. For the Spring theater production, Paley got her first leading role in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest as John Worthing/Ernest. The play was hilarious and Paley had such a great time with the cast for this show. She even got casted with longtime acting buddy. He’s been doing shows with Paley, all the way back to kinder at her elementary school.

Just before her 17th Birthday, Paley finished her online course for her driver license. A few weeks later she passed the written test to get her permit. Over the summer we started driving more and more, and she kicked off Senior year driving to school with me and the twins every morning. We reached her driving test date around Thanksgiving and she hit snag, by booking the wrong appointment. Luck was on our side because, while the local location was booked out a another month, the location every parent swears your kid should take their test, was available almost a week later. She took her test, and the one thing about this new location, which she had only driven once the day prior, was a tricky intersection. For some reason, a side street had the entire intersection painted off as a do not stop zone. There was no police or fire station around it, it was a bit of an anomaly. Sadly, there was traffic on the street that day. And while she stopped outside of the box initially, when the cars started moving forward, she proceeded to the cleared opening on the other side of the intersection, but her car stopped with a portion of the tail end inside the do not stop zone. Which is an automatic moving violation. Like any new driver, she was crushed but she soldiered on, making sure we tested that intersection before the next drive test.

Of course, with a week driving on her own, came “Why didn’t I get my license sooner!” She was driving everywhere, and even starting to explore more around the immediate area and hopefully soon the peninsula. She’s even gotten a routine of heading to the club one day of the week to workout. Paley rounded out her Junior year of High School on a high note. She worked her tookus off, and her report card provided black and white evidence of all that hard work. To say we were proud of her achievements last year is putting it mildly. Before the school year ended, she attended prom with two of her friends and performed in the theater showcase, and even received an award from the theater department at the Senior showcase. The award aptly titled, DEPARTMENT SUNSHINE. These are more fun awards, not to be taken that seriously. Over the summer she hopped on a plane to Nashville, to begin her two week residency at the Sewanee Summer Writing Conference at the University of the South. Paley had such a positive experience because it allowed her to get a real dose of the college life for two weeks on her own. It also gave her first dose of submitting applications to attend summer writing programs. She actually applied for three programs and got into all three.

She fell in love with the Swanee program and even got a chance to write a play to be performed during the second week. More importantly, she cemented her key interest in going to a college environment that was steeped in the small town experience, and set in the woods. On our second FaceTime while she was gone, her words exactly were, “I am ready to live on my own, I am ready to not have to answer to anyone and I am ready to go to college.” In a nutshell, my job is done, while Clem is burying his head in the sand, not totally ready for his little girl to jump out into the world. We both want her to shine, but I also want her to feel strong and take risks and chances on her own.

Right before Paley took off for Sewanee, she got into an editing program online with online publisher. At the end of the program, she was offered s senior editing position with the publishing house. She has been workin with Poliphiiny since early June and is still editing submitted works. She has even been promoted to an executive editor position back in December. She is still working with them in editing submissions to their online magazines . She loves the program and she’s getting a real chance to work with authors on their works and working with other editors. It’s an eye opening experience for her and a real glimpse into a career as a book editor some day.

As Senior year kicked off, Paley was riding high with her eyes wide open for her last year journey that lied ahead. She was also in the thick of working on college applications. By the end of the summer, Paley had worked out a list of schools 14 long to apply to. As she worked through the Fall on school work and applications, the list did go down to 12. The main problem being of the 14 schools, all but one were private, and even the one public was asking for supplements, which is rare in CA. A lot of the schools on the list had at least 2 supplements required for their writing programs. Amherst sadly was taken off the list because it was requiring 3. In the end, Amherst she decided, which we visited in summer of 2024, was not clicking with her vibe. I know that statement dates me.

Another big task that was completed over the summer was Paley’s Senior cornerstone project for theater. Her high school theater department is setup with a Thespian Society structure, allowing the students to build their theater careers and interests with a milestone program. Students are asked to maintain a certain participation level through working in shows, to even volunteering as ushers or outside programs. One of the major milestones of the program is the Senior Capstone Project. Each senior is asked to either write, direct, produce a show or an external education program or event. Since freshman year, Paley has been sure about writing and directing her own show for her project. During Junior year she was working on two scripts and at the end of her year, she presented her final project idea of directing a play. Her play was approved with just one act written, which meant she needed to finish off the play by the eend of the summer, just in time for casting.

The summer of 2025, would become the great summer of writing. Just after school started she had completed the script. She presented the script to the department head, and was scheduled to have her show on stage the first week of February. At the exact same time, she auditioned and was casted in Radium Girls, a play about the poisoning of young women in the early 20th century who were using radium to paint watch and gauge dials for the military. I’ve heard of the show over the years but never saw a production of it. The ladies in the show were amazing, I think this is one show in her career so far, that I’ve attended the most shows. I am not counting the number of times I worked back stage at shows. I believe I ended up seeing 4 of the 5 shows. While she was rehearsing for Radium, she was already in rehearsals for her senior project titled Is It Okay to Be a Vigilante? She was even assigned the main theater for her production.

As the New Year was arriving Paley had already completed half of her applications for college. The four early actions she submitted in November, had already come back with offers. As the New Year began, she was finally hammering out the remaining six applications. and ramping up rehearsals times for her show. At the same time she was auditioning for the Spring play, Twelfth Night. She was casted as the main Viola, who went undercover as a man to lean into her love interest. Another classic english comedy! As we close out her 17th year, in preparation of her 18th. We flew back to the east coast to do one last look at the schools she is looking at for college.

Out of the 12 schools she received several acceptances but has whittled down the list to about 5 that she thinks are a possible fit. All 5 have amazing writing programs. For her I believe, she wants a place that fits or checks off as many boxes possible. Heading off to college is a big bundle of emotions and nerves for all students. There is always a worry you are making the wrong choice for the future. While Clem and I have different paths into college, we made the best of the choices we made. Neither of us are even using the degrees we earned honestly. Has that changed with our kids, nope. Our three will make their choices, which is something I have had to remind myself throughout the last two years as Paley journeyed through the college process. At one point, she had a gap year on the table. As her senior year took off last Fall, the idea of a senior year was no longer on the front burner. In the end she’s chosen to head off to school.

Paley cast for her Is It Okay to be a Vigilante? play.

Which leads me to today, she’s starting to embrace 18, while cramming to make a decision on which school to go to by the May 1st deadline coming up soon. In the end she will choose what is right for her. One thing is for certain, she can handle it, this year along, the workload she has taken on between applying to 12 schools, 3 summer program, taking 4 AP classes and finishing off the year in school the same as last year. And thats not even touching on the seven productions she is going to finish off with in her senior year alone. Oh and writing and producing a play. I think she’s going to be okay. I feel for all the kids, even the ones who applied to one school and got in. It’s all so stressful. I also applaud all of the students who are taking an alternative routes, like going to a community college or even doing a gap year. Looking ahead for her 18th year, there is certainly going to be a lot of change and many adventures to hear about as she journeys on into adulthood. For now, watching her prepare for graduation and possibly getting a job for this summer. We are happy she’s building her own life and her own terms. Here’s to the 18th spin around the big star. More importantly we are excited to see how she continues to build her body of work and spreads her interests into many different areas of learning and potential career paths later in adulthood.

Paley 18th: Let’s Get Thing Started, Writing and Apps

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