Kansas enjoys waking up early - out of bed by six thirty. The alarm, controlled by Kansas’ computer, begins with “Walking on Sunshine,” by Katrina and the Waves, at 6:25 in the morning and by 6:30 reaches “Start Me Up,” by the Rolling Stones, which really helps Kansas’ get out of bed energized and ready to begin his day. Once out of bed, he does his thing in the bathroom, you know, pee, brush teeth, floss, rinse with some alcoholic product to clean his mouth, wash face, oxy pads, fix hair, and such. Then, he stretches a bit, he likes keeping flexible. Kansas proceeds to prepare breakfast for his dads, generally he smokes a cigarette during that time. Once the coffee is set and the eggs are done, Kansas retreats to his room to vacuum and tidy up. By now, the computer is DJ’ing appropriate cleaning music – The Beach Boys, the Kinks, Jay-Z and on some days, Belle and Sebastian, Eminem, or Outkast. Room cleaned and all, Kansas dresses for school. Dressing is a rather simple process for Kansas. He has two closets, one for pants, and one for shirts. He goes into the pants closet and picks out a pair of pants. Then into the shirt closet, he picks out a shirt. That is really it for dressing. During the fall and Spring Kansas, wears either his corduroy brown blazer or a thinner Dickie’s jacket. During the winter, Kansas wears a black trench coat. Generally, except rare really fancy occasions, he wears a pair of Converse All-Stars, again, high-tops for the winter, and regulars for the spring. Dressed, Kansas checks that a notepad, a pen, his Discman, and a few books are in his black PVC messenger bag and goes to the kitchen to finish breakfast and read the New York Times. At around 7:30 his fathers come to the kitchen and always act surprised to see Kansas up in time for school and breakfast prepared. They shower him with praise, which is probably why Kansas makes them breakfast. While his fathers eat breakfast and chat, Kansas has a cup of freshly brewed coffee with half-and-half, and smokes another cigarette. By 7:45, Kansas leaves his apartment for the five-block walk to school during which, Kansas listens to Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, and Pink Floyd, again, generally. Kansas’ morning appears on a 5x7-index card that he had laminated at Kinkos. On the index card there is a title – “My morning thing.” and a bulleted list.

Madison Prep. begins class at 8:30 and Kansas arrives at 8:00 in order to manage his “Breakfast Club.” Simply, this club involves ten kids who prepare breakfast, on a rotating schedule, do homework, also on a rotating schedule, and chill. Kansas started that club his freshman year. The school day then begins.

During lunch, Kansas eats lunch with his friends. On Wednesday, Kansas’ poetry club meets in Central Park to read poetry and eat lunch. The rest of the day is pretty normal. Kansas participates in co-curricular activities just like anyone else.

Most days, Kansas is home by five, at which time he watches a movie until seven, at which time, he does an hour – no more, no less – of homework until eight, at which time, he reads for an hour – school books are allowed during this hour – until nine, at which time he eats dinner with his fathers who have returned from their respective occupations. From ten until Kansas’ bedtime, he works on finishing projects. See, Kansas has a poster on his wall, also created and laminated at the local Kinko’s, that he attaches 3x5 index cards to. On each index card is a project Kansas is currently undertaking, with a priority, a description, and a due date. When the project is completed, the index card is removed from the poster and filed away along with a final synopsis of the completed project or an actual print out of the project (if it was something printable, like a novel). Of course, Kansas breaks each project up into tasks, which are represented on the project poster with sticky notes. Kansas uses laminated arrows and lines, created at Kinkos as well, with Velcro on the back that attach and adjust easily on the poster to keep track of project to task relations. Some days, Kansas stays up pretty late working on his projects. Other days, Kansas simply watches T.V as a project. He calls that research. Well regardless, that is the jist of Kansas’ routine day, sparing any asinine details.