Kiera Wilmot was charged with two felonies, for popping the top off a water bottle.

[hunter]

91. When I was sixteen I was building even bigger home brew rockets.

But not in school. In the after school rocket club we were restricted to Estes kits. Radical modifications of the kits were not allowed.

In middle school I wasn't even at the bottom of the school pecking order, I was an outsider, a weird skinny kid doing everything I could to be invisible. The bullies had decided I was "queerbait," a taunt they carried into high school. I was frequently the target of physical violence. Quitting high school was one of the smartest things I ever did.

I stopped building fiery things that sometimes exploded after an accident that could have permanently injured me. Some kids do stupid things with cars, drugs and alcohol, I preferred pyrotechnics.

My interest in science and technology was sparked by fire and other dangerous things, it's one of the reasons I got a science degree. When my wife and I were married we were science teachers.