Hello Kitty, Aaliyah, & Elmo

The three icons I picked are Hello Kitty, Aaliyah, & Elmo. First, Hello Kitty is a fictional character developed by the Japanese. It was first created in 1974 in Japan. This first started by the company Sanrio putting the image on a coin purse and it was brought to the United States in 1976. From then on it has been extremely popular and has grown from just being for pre-adolescent teens to even the adult population. It is found anywhere from school supplies, clothing, high end merchandise, and even on a television show. Second, Aaliyah Dana Haughton also known in the Hip Hop industry as Aaliyah is a major icon in the Hip Hop World. She released her first album Age Aint Nothing But A Number in 1994 at the age of 15. She quickly traveled to the top of the charts and her album gained Platinum status. On top of her great music career she also was an amazing actress and was in several movies including Romeo Must Die and Queen of the Damned. Tragically, in 2001 Aaliyah's life was cut short when her small passenger plane burst into flames right after take off. She was only 22 years old at the time of her death. Her music, beauty, and lovely personality inspired everyone including children and adults. She was considered the "Princess of R&B." Finally, Elmo is a puppet character that inspires pre-school children to learn and grow up with great values and morals. Elmo stars on the hit television show Sesame Street.

I chose these three icons because all three have been important in my life. To begin, Hello Kitty has been my favorite character since I was a little girl. Next, Aaliyah was someone I looked up to and even with her fame her family and education was more important and she never changed who she really was. Finally, Elmo has inspired so many kids to be better and a lot of what my kids know is from Elmo teaching them.

I first got a hello kitty stuffed animal when I was seven from my foster mom the first day I met her. I took this stuffed animal everywhere I went. When I had to have eye surgery, that was my comfort. When I had my first daughter, Hello Kitty was right there with me and was the first stuffed animal my daughter held. It always seemed to make me feel secure. This character has now become very popular with my children and nieces as well. My daughter has every single Hello Kitty DVD and it is very important to her.

Aaliyah was a beautiful woman that captivated the attention of everyone all across the world. She was only 15 years old and had such a beautiful voice and had values and stayed true to those even with all of the fame and attention she got. The Hip Hop & R&B industry has so many singers, rappers, and so on that change when they are famous. They begin to do drugs, commit adultery, carry guns, commit suicide, and so much more and Aaliyah didn't do that. She stayed the lovely, beautiful woman she was before all of the attention and money. The day she died I do not believe there was a dry eye in my school. She was extremely popular and her death hit people like a ton of bricks. It felt as though someone in our family had died.

Elmo means a lot to me because Elmo has taught my three children things that have truly helped them in life. My daughter Aleeciah got lost in Walmart when she was with my mother and because of Elmo she knew to go up to an adult with a name tag and give them her Nana's name. The people at Walmart were able to call over the intercom for my mom and she was able to pick Aleeciah up at the counter. On top of this, my kids learned to count and say their ABC's while watching Elmo every morning.