A brief plot summary.
Give an account of the storyline. Not too many words, please!
Marcus Brown and Eddie Russo are best friends and stars of the basketball team at Long Island City High School. Marcus is black and Eddie is white, and everyone call them Black and White. They’ve found strength to break through the racial barrier, or at least they believe so themselves. They are inseparable, always having each other’s backs, both on and off the basketball court. With the ability to get whatever scholarship they want, their future is looking good. Their plan is to get sports scholarship to a prestigious university and go on to play professional basketball. When the boys turn to crime, their friendship is put on the line along with the bright future they had planned for. Will their mistake cost them the things they value the most?
Marcus’s family is poor. His mother is a single parent. She is working long hours as a seamstress to provide for Marcus and her daughter, Sabrina, after her husband left the family. They live in a public housing estate referred to as the projects. Eddie has two parents that are both in jobs. They have a better economy than Marcus’s family, but Eddie doesn’t get as much money as he’d like to. They live in a private house in the same area of Queens as Marcus lives in. It is the beginning of the final term in high school, and parties and trips are coming up. The boys have saved up money to cover the expenses for a long time. But then, Nike comes out with a brand new pair of shoes in the basketball team’s colors, maroon and powder blue. Everyone on the team is getting a pair, and everyone will notice if the stars of the team haven’t got them as well. The boys consider themselves as too good for jobs, so th...
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...ni.html
http://paulvolponi.wikispaces.com/Paul+Volponi+bio
http://www.us.penguingroup.com/static/packages/us/yreaders/books4boys/author_paulvolponi.php
http://www.paulvolponibooks.com/Biography.htm
http://www.paulvolponibooks.com/Black_White_Notes.htm
http://paulvolponi.wikispaces.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_technique
http://www.amazon.com/review/R2M86BK6U8VNU9/ref=cm_cr_pr_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0142406929#wasThisHelpful
http://shouldireaditornot.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/black-and-white-paul-volponi/
http://lechatdu503.wordpress.com/2013/03/22/black-and-white-in-a-colored-world/
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/v34n2/witte.pdf
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/636044351?book_show_action=true&page=1
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/47002544?book_show_action=true&page=1
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/685076072
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Cedric is an unusual student to walk the halls of Ballou High. Unlike most of his peers, he actually wants to make something of himself; he does his homework, he studies and he works on extra credit projects. The majority of the kids at Ballou barely come to class, much less make any attempt at learning. Since this is the overall attitude of the school, Cedric must exercise social mobility and do whatever he can to better himself as an individual. He is not necessarily competing against the students at Ballou (because he by far surpasses them), but he is in competition with all the other students from better schools throughout the area. During the summer that Cedric spends at MIT, he is truly awakened to the fact that he was extremely far behind the other students from urban areas. The director of the program expresses his frustration with the MIT program- "When he first arrived... He had grand plans to find poor black and Hispanic kids from urban America-... He saw that he had been drea...
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Having a family of low socioeconomic status inevitably leaves me to reside in a low-income neighborhood which makes it more likely for me to witness the tragedies, adversities and hardships that people go through [not excluding myself]. Being conscious of this kind of environment, and these kinds of events, creates a pressure on me for having the aim to achieve social mobility in order to escape the aforementioned environment so that my own children could witness one less abominable aspect of life. Moreover, my family’s low socioeconomic status does not authorize me the privilege of being raised with the concerted cultivation method that kids of high socioeconomic status are more prone to being raised in. My family did not have the financial resources that granted us access to extra classes or lessons of instrumental classes, swimming practices, karate practices, or any other extracurricular activities that people of high socioeconomic status would be able to afford. This invisible fence that prevents me from these extracurricular activities enables me to having more appreciation towards the hobbies and talents that other people have. Plus, the fact that my family’s low socioeconomic status acts as a barrier from enjoying expensive luxuries in life creates a yearning [in me] to enjoy them later on in my life, in addition to acting as the fuel to my wish of achieving social mobility in anticipation of providing my own children with the luxurious vacations, gadgets, beachhouse, new cars that I could not
Primary Colors, by Joe Klein, is an entertaining, informing, and controversial novel. Filled with both humor and wit, this book provides a drama filled fictional story, in which Joe Klein purports to describe characters and events that resemble real-life political figures. Joe Klein is an American Journalist and columnist. He is also the political columnist for TIME Magazine. When Klein published his book, Primary Colors, in 1996, he left the author as anonymous and then later published the book under his name. His book Primary Colors is said to be,” A brilliant and penetrating look behind the scenes of modern American politics, Primary Colors is a funny, wise, and dramatic story with characters and events that resemble some familiar, real-life figures.” (From the Hardcover edition.) This book follows the presidential campaign of a governor of a small Southern state, Jack Stanton. The book’s narrator is a congressional worker, Henry Burton, who joined the presidential campaign. The book doesn’t exactly state it, but you can infer that the events are based on Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign. This book is sure to keep your attention, and make you want to read more.
Raquel and Melanie are two poverty stricken students that attended University Height’s High School in the South Bronx, because their school was not federal funded, it lacked resources; so it does not come as a surprise, perspective students like Melanie and Raquel have more of a ...
Boone faces the challenge of being accepted by the community, encouraging them to work together rather than judging and persecuting one another. At that time in Alexandria, Virginia there was an active atmosphere of racial tension within the community between both the African American and Caucasian population. Boone, a black coach, faces the challenge of taking on a new position as head coach of the T.C Williams High School football team. This is fraught with conflict and peril however due to the opposition of those that do not and will not accept the integration of black and white students into mixed race schools. In a move by the school board coach Boone is now unknowingly threatened by the loss of his job if The Titans loose a match. If The Titans are to loose a match Coach Boone will not only loose his job, both himself and the community will loose the hope of ever having this system of integration work. Boone in an effort to be accepted by the community uses his work with the football team to support the system of integration by emphasizing that he is in fact a valued ...
Social reproduction is examined closely by Jay Macleod in his book "Ain't No Makin' It: Aspirations and Attainment in a Low-Income Neighborhood." His study examines two groups of working class teenage boys residing in Clarendon Heights, a housing project in upstate New York. The Hallway Hangers, a predominately white peer group, and the Brothers, an all African American peer group with the exception of one white member. Through the use of multiple social theories, MacLeod explains social reproduction by examining the lives of these groups as they experience it, being members of the working class in society. These social theories are very important in understanding the ways in which social classes are reproduced.
life in the mid to late twentieth century and the strains of society on African Americans. Set in a small neighborhood of a big city, this play holds much conflict between a father, Troy Maxson, and his two sons, Lyons and Cory. By analyzing the sources of this conflict, one can better appreciate and understand the way the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work.
Just a few pages into the book, words had already begun to jump out at me, capturing my attention. “The kids in Newark, black and brown, speaking Spanglish, hoods over their heads, wheeling their stolen cars over to the local chop shop -- they were aliens in America. Strange, forever separate and separated from the American ideal. But these Glen Ridge kids, they were pure gold, every mother’s dream, every father’s pride. They were not only Glen Ridge’s finest, but in their perfection they belonged to all of us. They were Our Guys (page 7).” This is a story about White Privilege, I thought. After reading the next two pages, I changed my mind. “...I wanted to understand how their status as young athlete celebrities in Glen Ridge influenced their treatment of girls and women, particularly those of their age.....I was especially curious about what license they were permitted as a clique of admired athletes and how that magnified the sense of superiority they felt as individuals (pages 8-9).” Oh! This is a story about jock culture, I thought.
A world of class and economic distinction emerged on a class of students from Harlem one day while on a trip with their teacher to FAO Schwartz Toy Store. Miss Moore intentionally targets expensive toys that are unobtainable for the children due to financial reasons; she does this in order to expose the children to what life is like for those who do not live in an oppressed community as them. This method of instruction has an impact so far on the children as they begin to contemplate the prices of extravagant items and the lifestyle of those who can afford these items: “Who are
The scholars expounds that Black athletes were commodities on the playing field to help win games and bring in revenue to their respected schools. However, the schools were just as eager and willing to leave their Black players behind and dishonoring the player as a part of the team. Therefore, not compromising the team’s winning and bring in profits for the school. Sadly, Black athletes at predominately White institutions (PWIs) who believed that they were bettering the live of themselves and their families members by going to college and playing collegiate sports to increase their post secondary careers. However, these athletes were only “show ponies” for their schools. Unfortunately, Black athletes had allegiance to their school; however, the school turned their backs on the athletes to protect the profit and notoriety of the school and the programs. Money and respect from White fans and spectators were more important to the PWIs than standing up for the respect of their Black players. Racial bigotry in sports was rampant and it was only going to get worse.
Any athlete from high school to the professional ranks has most likely heard the phrase, “Hard work beats talent.” To them, this statement provides incentive to work hard, for even if their opponent is more talented than them, they can still be victorious through hard work. To some, hard work is the most important aspect of life. However, others may argue that one’s career or social status is much more important than hard work. In Bernard Malamud’s short story, The First Seven Years, the shop owner views social status as much more important than hard work. However, among the three, hard work, career, and social status, hard work is most certainly the most important.
After reading Hallway Hangers, a sense of the complex relationship between poverty and education is gained: it a dualistic one. In some views, education is a means out of poverty, yet those who grow up poor often have different opportunities, hopes, and experiences in their school years. During my time thus far at Colgate, I have participated and watched many sporting events on campus, and found that local families attend and cheer with as much enthusiasm as the students. Similarly, on National Athletes appreciation Day last year the Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC) ran a program at both the elementary and high schools in Hamilton, providing question and answer periods for the students and giving them skills clinics. The tremendous respect that I felt that the students gave me was overwhelming, not because I was just an athlete, but because I attended Colgate University. While observing the sporting events and the community outreach programs I realized then that Colgate is a virtual mecca for this area. So a double standard is evident: the presence of a relatively prestigious college is no doubt an inspiration to local students; but the reality of the matter is - how many of these youths could, and would, achieve a college diploma?