Book Review of Slam by Walter Dean Myers This past semester I read the book Slam by Walter Dean Myers. The setting is in a run down part of town in a big city that was un-ginven. The story line is that Slam the main character is going to a new school that is a white school where he once went to a predominately was black and so is he. He is a senior going into a new school because of his grades; he also came from a school where he was one of the best basketball players. His friend was the best player for his old school. He also has a girl that he likes and the start going out. His dad does not work well not all the time his grandma is dying. The main characters are Slam, Goldy. One of the big parts in this book in when he makes the team. When tryouts came he was not look on that well mainly because he was black and he had an atitude. He played the coach one on one and he slammed on him and blocked him. But he did make the team. Then he lost the camera that he borrowed from the media center for a project. In his first game he didn't start and didn't play in the first half. He got really mad a Goldy calmed him down. They were tied at half time and at the end they beat them by 11. And that is how many points that Slam had in the game after the first half. He went out with his friend Ice and two other girls and he made out with one of them. The other girl told his girlfriend that they were kissing and she got all mad and the sort of broke up. Then he played one of the best teams in the league and this white guy tore him up so that got his confidence down. After that his friend Ducky was standing up for Slam because two of the other kids on the team didn't like Slam and the ended up getting in a fight. They never got along because Nick the guy that he fought was talking about how he was getting scouted and that Slam wasn't. Slam knew that he was better that him that he was not getting the chances that Nick was.
The history of racial and class stratification in Los Angeles has created tension amongst and within groups of people. Southland, by Nina Revoyr, reveals how stratification influences a young Asian woman to abandon her past in order to try and fully integrate herself into society. The group divisions are presented as being personal divisions through the portrayal of a generational gap between the protagonist, Jackie, and her grandfather. Jackie speaks of her relationship with Rebecca explaining her reasons why she could never go for her. Jackie claims that “she looked Asian enough to turn Jackie off” (Revoyr, 2003, p. 105). Unlike her grandfather who had a good sense of where he came from and embraced it, Jackie rejected her racial background completely. Jackie has been detached from her past and ethnicity. This is why she could never be with Rebecca, Jackie thought of her as a “mirror she didn’t want to look into”. Rebecca was everything Jackie was tr...
He explains all his difficulties through his senior year in Cidal college, in South Carolina. His abusive parents, his teammates, his coach all which lead him to become a powerful person. His memoir about his basketball career and the affects he had amongst people caused him to have a magnificent book revealing the insides he had with his teammates. Don Conroy, his abusive father, wasn’t there to keep him going but only held him back from going too far. His coach and his father were people who brought him down into believing there is no good in the world. He had a rough time growing up , but he knew he had to keep proving them all wrong. Fighting through his troubles in life, Pat only did not become a great basketball player but a great writer. This memoir, remembering all the extravagant memories he had in college with his friends, yet he did have hard times but pushed through it. Not complaining he didn’t just push himself, but he also pushed his teammates into becoming something greater. In the end, he will forever remember all his fights and great memories he had with his special teammates at Cidal college, it led him into becoming a great leader at the end of
Tryouts came and went, along with freshman year. Jesse did his normal thing - rack up rebounds, block lots of shots, score point after point. Sophomore and junior years went much the same. They had won a state championship in his junior year; Jesse had twenty points, seventeen rebounds, six assists, and four blocks. Finally, Jesse had reached his senior season, his last at Harwood. He’d shot up to six-foot ten and was benching 400 easily. He took a moment to duck into Coach Paterson’s office.
There once was a man and a woman, and they had a son named Timmy. Timmy was tall and lengthy with very long legs. When he grew up, he wanted to be a professional basketball player. He had the height and quickness but not really the other skills like shooting and agility. In fact, most people considered Timmy as mediocre or developing. Timmy`s parents informed him of a competition where there would be a competitive and a developmental team Each team would play 10 games against their level, and then there would be a tournament to determine a champion. Timmy decided to register and soon learned that tryouts would be next week.
In the book, the authors detail the lives of the players and those around them. The impact of being away from family also takes center stage, from dealing with the death of parents and siblings to coping with changes in family dynamics. The game of basketball also helped the girls get away from the Indian Wars and the Dawes Act that had occurred before the boarding school was founded. For many of the girls, basketball was a grounding force that continued to foster an important sisterhood among team members.
Him and Rowdy have been friends for 14 years. In fact, they “have spent 40,880 hours in each other’s company” (Alexie 24). But, when Junior makes the hard decision of attending Rearden, an all white school, Rowdy does not take the news well. Consequently, when Junior informed Rowdy of this, Rowdy punches Junior in the face and leaves him behind. Because Rowdy and Junior have been friends for so long, Junior continues to pursue and attempting to regain Rowdy’s friendship. Junior had sent numerous emails and hand drawn cartoons to Rowdy, but Rowdy did not reciprocate the same actions. After trying to regain Rowdy’s friendship throughout the entire school year, Junior and Rowdy played a game of basketball and they “didn’t keep score” (Alexie 230). Because Junior was persistent in interacting with Rowdy they eventually became friends
The power of expectation begins to show when Arnold reflects the expectations he had on the reserve and at Reardan, and preceding the rematch against Reardan, Basketball helps to build healthy relationships which are evident in Rowdy and Arnold’s friendship, and his relationship between the Reardan students. And the impact of support is evident when Arnold compares the reactions of the different schools, and how they directly affect his performance and again in the events preceding the rematch against Wellpinit. Even something as insignificant as basketball which may not seem like something impactful at first glance, it can change an individual's life
Having a big ego and too much self confidence can ruin a person’s ability to see the consequences of their actions, and make good choices in life. The book Slam is a book about a boy who switches schools and has to learn how to fit into his new school. He has a hard time keeping his grades up and getting along with the teachers, students, and coaches. In the story, Slam!, by Walter Dean Myers, Slam doesn’t foresee the consequences of his actions because of his ego, his immatureness, and his self confidence.
Harper Lee wrote the novel To kill a Mockingbird where she explores the segregation during the early 1930´s where Atticus Finch is one of the main characters. Presented with a case of a colored man accused of rape in Maycomb, Alabama. At the time, segregation in the U.S was at its peak, with the newest case of Tom Robinson, that Atticus needs to defend. His kids, Scout and Jem are slowly adapting to the new reality of a white man protecting a colored case, provoking the town of Maycomb. Something similar from our world put in context would be, The Grio: A boy of color pulled out of school by parents, after harassments as: monkey and aggressive attacks about his color. The case touches the subject Tom Robinson and colored people
After all the trouble Allen got to choose to return to his old high school Bethel. He didn’t go back to his school and decided to work with a tutor to earn his high school diploma. While this was going on his mother contacted georgetown university coach, John Thompson and convinced him that her son would be the best player for him. He was conceived and set up a meeting with Allen. John was impressed with talking to him and also watching him in workouts. That he put down a scholarship on the table. Allen took this scholarship and arrived on campus for a fresh start.
In John Feinstein’s Foul Trouble, Danny, a basketball player, experiences the tough NCAA restrictions. Terell and Danny were on their way to the most elite showcase basketball camp in the country. They arrive at the camp and make their way inside. All kinds of diverse reporters and television hosts swarmed Terrell. Danny was feeling as if he does not belong there. He walked into the building and sat on the bleachers. The whole place was teeming with college coaches. Danny could not wait to start the camp games. Coach Wilcox, Danny’s father, was also very eager.
Published in 2016, Blackass, a novel by A. Igoni Barrett, is a story set in present-day Lagos, Nigeria. The main character, Furo Wariboko, a chronically unemployed college graduate, is shocked to wake up with white skin, barring the one exception: his black behind. Furo rushes to his salesperson interview, and upon seeing his skin, an executive, Arinze, offers him a more lucrative position. Furo, broke and unable to face his family, then meets Igoni, a writer who secretly takes interest in his story and his family’s quest to find him. Furo also meets Syreeta, who invites him stay with her. After they develop a sexual relationship, Furo discovers that Syreeta, who lives a comfortable life, is supported by a married man. The narrative shifts
...f self-control and discipline to overcome the challenges these high school students had to endure. The first scenario, when the young men were kicked out the restaurant because of the color of their skin showed self-control. If I was put in that situation I would’ve argued the manager down, most likely made a scene which wouldn’t have made the situation any better. The next scene was when Ronny was called a fruitcake by Ryan the all-American LB. Ryan tried to humiliate Ronny in front of his peers , the coaches , and even his dad. I would’ve taken that comment personal and argued back, might’ve gotten out of character. I think he handle the situation very well, he made his point without being negative, during the process of going through this altercation he even managed to snatch him a spot on the squad. The last scene I touched on is when the two start defensive
The main character is completely alienated from the world around him. He is a black man living in a white world, a man who was born in the South but is now living in the North, and his only form of companionship is his dying wife, Laura, whom he is desperate to save. He is unable to work since he has no birth certificate—no official identity. Without a job he is unable to make his mark in the world, and if his wife dies, not only would he lose his lover but also any evidence that he ever existed. As the story progresses he loses his own awareness of his identity—“somehow he had forgotten his own name.” The author emphasizes the main character’s mistreatment in life by white society during a vivid recollection of an event in his childhood when he was chased by a train filled with “white people laughing as he ran screaming,” a hallucination which was triggered by his exploration of the “old scars” on his body. This connection between alienation and oppression highlight Ellison’s central idea.
My struggles with soccer began early in my life. I was an average player, who had a drive to succeed and go far. Early in my soccer career I began to have difficulty breathing, and was struggling to run normally. I was then diagnosed with asthma. I was frustrated with the way I was playing, but decided I was not going to let the asthma control my life, or my dreams. As in The Pact, George, Rameck, and Sam tried not let the distractions of their home lives interfere with the drive to succeed in college, and fulfill their dreams. In George’s case, I think he struggled at home because he never had a male figure in his life. His parents divorced early in his life. When his mom remarried, it didn’t last long. George came home to find all of his step-fathers stuff gone. Rameck’s mother was involved in the drinking and smo...