Lesson 4 - Create a new character

Create a new character – Sage MacKenzie Greene


Sage McKenzie Greene is 15 years old. She is a petite 5’1” with short spiky dark hair that is tipped a bold blue at the ends. She is very fair skinned with a freckled nose and icy blue eyes, which she hates because they make her look like an alien. She recently convinced her mother to let her wear contacts instead of glasses. She chose brown lenses. Since contacts, Sage is a conflicted tomboy who wears smoky kohl eye shadow (unknown to her mother) and paints her stubby fingernails blue to match the blue in her hair. Sage wears five pierced earrings in her right ear and one in her left. Her bottom teeth are crooked and she is about 15 pounds overweight. She loves potato chips and Coca Cola, and is a Pisces who reads her horoscope daily.

She was conceived after the high school prom in Miami, Florida. A pregnant Jackie was sent to live with her aging aunt and uncle after her boyfriend left for college without even a goodbye. Sage was born in Chicago’s Logan Square to Jacqueline “Jackie” Greene. Her parents encouraged her to give up the baby for adoption, but, to spite her parents and because she really wanted to keep her little girl, she decided to stay in Chicago. She remained with her aunt and uncle living upstairs in their bungalow. Sage has never met her father and he is not listed on her birth certificate, however, MacKenzie is his last name.

Sage and her mother now own the bungalow. Her mother bought the home from her aunt and uncle when they recently decided to take their RV and move to Florida to live out their lives in a warm climate. Jackie works the second shift at the candy factory on Western Avenue. Mom is gone from 2:00pm-11:00pm. Sage thinks she is too old for adult supervision since her aunt and uncle are gone, but Jackie has neighborhood spies. Jackie’s boyfriend, Nick Spallina, is a policeman and does a house check for her.

Sage has taken an interest in rap and hip hop music since she swiped an Ipod from someone on the city bus. Some of her favorite music is from Black Milk, 50 Cent, Black Eyed Peas, and Beyounce. She hates Justin Bieber, but liked him last year. More recently, she has begun to hang out after school with the krump dance people to practice moves to boom box music to the likes of Eminem, Missy Elliot, and Jay-Z. She often averts her eyes when Officer Spallina “Mr. Horny” drives past, she then hops on the grimy city bus home, since missing the regular school bus.

She lives in a diverse neighborhood and speaks street Spanish very well and has taken a liking to some soul food, although pizza is her constant favorite. She is chatty and likes to hang out with her best friends, Katie and Rosario. Katie lives next door and Rosario across the street. Sage and her friend Katie go to the resale shop and H&M for clothes and from time to time she steals a few things, although her mother gives her money. She mostly likes to wear tattered jeans with short jackets or hoodies.

Another friend she hangs out with is Mulogo “Moo”. They share the same art class and he approves of her style. Sage envies Moo’s work of large splashy graphics. Sage’s work is more fantasy inspired. The Moo crew is training her for graffiti mural work and she hooks up with them some evenings before her mother comes home from work. Moo gave her a pair of fatigues to wear when tagging. The have deep pockets for art supplies and spray cans. She has an army backpack she brings that is filled with aerosols, rags, markers, and stencils she has created. She steals different colored paint sprays because she needs an adult to purchase them. She once asked her mother to buy her some, but Jackie declined and became suspicious that Sage wanted them for huffing. That was something that never occurred to Sage and denied that she would ever do that. Her mother flatly refused, anyway. Most of the graffiti work is done in deserted areas in closed business districts or along the train tracks. Sage is more street smart than book smart. She is also lying to her mother more frequently because it comes so easy. Sometimes she feels guilty.

Most people like Sage, but a few black girls from school bully her about her looks and association with Moo. When Moo found out he set the group straight, but one of the girls, Maykalah, is sweet on Moo and still stink-eyes Sage. She, in turn, flips Maykalah the bird every chance she gets. Moo is a tough character but doesn’t cause trouble so is respected in school. He is fond and protective of Sage, but has a girlfriend.

Sage’s bedroom is a hodge podge of furniture left by her aunt and uncle that consists of an Art Deco vanity with mirror, and a single bed with a carved cherrywood headboard. The walls, although papered, are crammed with stuffed animals on shelving, Twilight posters, Johnny Depp, and illustrations of tattoos she will someday get. An old steamer trunk sits under her window filled with dolls she never played with. She also has a tabby cat she named Leo. The community has rats in the alley and the cat gives Sage and her mother a sense of security even though Leo spends most of his time just lying around.

Sage has a secret – she thinks she can hear her cat speaking to her, and that someone may be lurking around and following her.