Steven Alper

This book is how Ben McBain always loved sports. And it was the beginning of basketball season. He had a friend who's name is Sam. And they had a friend lily Wyatt. Lily was Ben’s closest friend. Then one kid came to town who's name is Chase Braggs. Then every one was talking about chase, that he's fast strong like ben when he played basketball but chase liked to talk allot, but sam didn’t. Bens team name is Rams and they where going to have a scrimmage against chases team.

Erik was not a good brother.because Erik spray paint on paul’s eyes.Paul tray to remember why he had (IEP). Paul wanted to play soccer but on Lake windsor but he can’t because he was blind. At paul’s new school every bullied him because his (IEP)and his thick glasses. Have you ever read Tangerine? Well this book is about Paul’s life .

“Tangerine” is a book filled with action, drama, heart, wins, loses, and brotherhood. Paul had always been the odd one out at school, and at home. Paul is legally blind, with glasses so thick, they look like the bottom halves of coke bottles on his face. But when Paul moves to Tangerine Middle school, his world is turned upside down. Paul finds himself happy, with friends, and on the soccer team. But not everything was perfect at home. Paul has an older brother named Erik who likes to bully and intimidate Paul. Paul had always been afraid of Erik, but he just can't quite remember why. The only thing he does know is to watch his back around Erik. Edward Bloor uses wonderful examples of characterization, and symbolism, to display the theme of growth and change in the story.

Throughout literature there are many characters who exemplify the THS core values such as engagement, perseverance, and collaboration. Andre Dubus in his memoir Townie demonstrate all of these when he runs with his father, overcomes the troubles of his childhood, and rebuilds the broken relationship with his father. At the opening of the book, Andre is looking for sneakers to wear running with his father. When he can’t find his own shoes he wears his sister’s that are two sizes too small for him.

The narrator, a teacher in Harlem, has escaped the ghetto, creating a stable and secure life for himself despite the destructive pressures that he sees destroying so many young blacks. He sees African American adolescents discovering the limits placed on them by a racist society at the very moment when they are discovering their abilities. He tells the story of his relationship with his younger brother, Sonny. That relationship has moved through phases of separation and return. After their parents’ deaths, he tried and failed to be a father to Sonny. For a while, he believed that Sonny had succumbed to the destructive influences of Harlem life. Finally, however, they achieved a reconciliation in which the narrator came to understand the value and the importance of Sonny’s need to be a jazz pianist.

In the early stages of Brian’s life his family received devastating news when his mother who was a registered nurse noticed that young Brian's arms were engulfed in bruises. He was diagnosed with leukemia and was informed that his life would be drastically changed. Three years of his life he spent most of his time at the hospital between

Music is known to leave its mark on people helping them to overcome challenges in their lives or to give them courage to defy the odds. In one’s daily life, music is normally taken for granted or is seen as nothing special. As ordinary as it may seem, music can convey emotion in times when the body is numb or all hope is lost. Similarly, in The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway, the cello’s music gave people hope and determination to live their lives in spite of the rampant siege around them. Therefore, music very much impacts the lives of the principal characters Dragan, Kenan, and Arrow.

Created by Sam Esmail, Mr.Robot is a Techno/ Psychologial thriller series which follows the main character Elliot Alderson. Elliot is a extremely skilled hacker who suffers from multiple mental illnesses; such as anxiety, depression, addition and dissociative identity disorder. In season 2 episode 3 the “Atheist Speech” also known as “Their Madness Takes you Prisoner” or “So fuck god” is one of the many rants by Elliot when he enters into a disconnected state and discusses issues within the world. Within the Speech Elliot speaks about the fundamental issues he has with religion and the back bone behind why cult like organizations continue to stand.

The personal Narrative “Music Tonight” by Stephen Policoff is unusual because it is all about the daughter, but written from the father’s perspective. I was at first confused as to who the transformation would happen to, and it seems that both the father and daughter experience transformations within the piece, but because it is told from the father’s point of view we will focus on him being the character. At first, this story made me feel somber because I was sympathizing with the daughter, however after reading the entire story I realized that this story is not meant to be morose but rather to celebrate the joyous effect that music has on Anna. Simply because she was diagnosed with a neurological degenerative disease I was beginning to

‘He told me I have the wrong kind of fingers’” (7). When the father fell for it, the boy’s sisters also told the father similar stories so they could get out of their lessons. Even when all three children had stopped playing their instruments, their father still tried to get them to play, but with different instruments, “‘the trumpet or the saxophone or, hey, how about the vibes?’” (7). No matter what the children said, the father tried to get the children integrated into music somehow. When the children refused to play different instruments, the father tried to get the children to listen to recordings so they could be inspired, “‘I want you to sit down and give this a good listen. Just get a load of this cat and tell me he’s not an inspiration’” (7). No matter how hard the children pleaded into getting away from music, the father still tried to connect his kids into music

James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” conveys how music serves as a form of communication, both at a small and large scale. Charting the development of the communication between Sonny and his brother allows us to view how the unnamed brother fails to meet Sonny at his emotional level by not understanding his pain. I argue that the text introduces Sonny as someone who “has never been talkative” to set the foundation for his growth from being voiceless to speaking both vibrantly and effortlessly through music (Baldwin 113). Over the course of the text, the unnamed brother begins to listen to Sonny to discover the connection between music and emotion. Therefore, the text argues that music is a crucial mechanism to communicate with one another—more specifically

Ossie Davis once said, “Any form of art is a form of power; it has an impact, it can affect change, it can not only move us, it makes us move”. Similarly, The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway tells the story of how three individuals Arrow, Dragan and Kenan suffering from the unrelenting and ruthlessness of war are impacted by one musician’s art. All three characters suffer from the war in different ways, but the art in the form of music finds a way to connect them all. Galloway’s novel illustrates that art helps lessen the suffering of those facing the brutality of war as the cellist’s music provides healing of the spirit, mind, and body. The cellist’s music provides hope and inspiration to the people of Sarajevo that they will be able

"Going slow to go fast. " This made me go in utter shock. How is he going to do this? Will this technique actually work? I was asking myself when I read this.

Imagine waking up every morning smelling smoke from a muck fire that will never go away. In the book, Tangerine by Edward Bloor, the main character, Paul Fisher, faces many choices that affect him in positive and negative ways. Paul is a young boy that has the struggle of moving from Houston, Texas to Tangerine, Florida. This can be a hard change for anybody. Paul makes many decisions that affect himself. First, he tells the police on Erik for being involved with the death of Luis Cruz, two he choses to go to Tangerine Middle school because he did not need an iep anymore so he had the opportunity to play soccer, and finally he decides to jump on coach Warner’s back . The choices Paul makes, and the consequences of those choices, affect the development of his character.

The majority of characters from war-time novels often resort to substance abuse as a way to cope with the horrors of war. In Joseph Boyden's Three Day Road, the young Cree soldier, Xavier, uses excessive amounts of morphine to forget the bloodshed he witnessed on the battlefield. Similarly, Mrs. Ross, the mother of the young Canadian soldier Robert from The Wars becomes an alcoholic as a way to deal with the departure of her son to war. However, in Steven Galloway's “The Cellist of Sarajevo,” the primary characters, although affected by war, employ a different strategy to come to terms with and survive the war, and to regain their moral values and identity. In this novel, music is employed as a tool of healing and rebirth. Specifically, Arrow, Kenan, and Dragan use the music of the anonymous cellist to reclaim their sense of humanity, compassion, and self-identity and move forward despite the ongoing war, much like the mythical Phoenix rises from the ashes in rebirth.