NowComment
2-Pane Combined
Comments:
Full Summaries Sorted

[1 of 5] Long Division, Book One, pages 1-49, Book Two, pages 166-172, by Kiese Laymon (2013) copy 01

Author: Kiese Laymon

Laymon, Kiese. “Book One, Pages 1-49, Book Two, Pages 166-172.” Long Division, Scribner Book Company, 2013, 2021.

1 additions to document , most recent 12 months ago

When Why
Apr-13-23 Wording change

5 archived comments


0 General Document comments
0 Sentence and Paragraph comments
0 Image and Video comments


New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 1 (Image 1) 0
No whole image conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Whole Image 0
No whole image conversations. Start one.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 2 (Image 2) 0
No whole image conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Whole Image 0
No whole image conversations. Start one.

“Twice upon a time, there was a boy who died and lived happily ever after, but that’s another chapter.” —ANDRÉ BENJAMIN, “AQUEMINI”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 3 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 3, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“I don’t wanna time travel no more…” —Erykah Badu, “Window Seat”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 4 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 4, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
—ANDRÉ BENJAMIN, “AQUEMINI”
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 5 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 5, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

BOOK ONE

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 6 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 6, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

ONE SENTENCE.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 7 0
profile_photo
Apr 15
Daeja D Daeja D (Apr 15 2023 8:02AM) : Chapter summary/ Satire more

Laymon makes fun of the media’s preoccupation with sensationalizing Black grief and tragedy through comedy. Additionally, he uses commentary to draw attention to the systematic racism in American education and how it feeds the myth of white supremacy. Overall, the chapter exposes the hypocrisy and injustice of American culture through a blend of humor and critique.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 7, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

(BOOK ONE, pages 1 – 11)
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 8 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 8, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

LaVander Peeler cares too much what white folks think about him. Last quarter, instead of voting for me for ninth-grade CF (Class Favorite), he wrote on the back of his ballot, “All things considered, I shall withhold my CF vote rather than support Toni Whitaker, Jimmy Wallace, or The White Homeless Fat Homosexual.” He actually capitalized all five words when he wrote the sentence, too. You would expect more from the only boy at Fannie Lou Hamer Magnet School with blue-black patent-leather Adidas and an ellipsis tattoo on the inside of his wrist, wouldn’t you? The tattoo and the Adidas are the only reason he gets away with using sentences with “all things considered” and the word “shall” an average of fourteen times a day. LaVander Peeler hates me. Therefore (I know Principal Reeves said that we should never write the “n-word” if we are writing paragraphs that white folks might be reading, but…), I hate that goofy nigga, too.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 9 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 9, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 9, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 9, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 9, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 9, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 9, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 9, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

My name is City. I’m not white, homeless, or homosexual, but if I’m going to be honest, I guess you should also know that LaVander Peeler smells so good that sometimes you can’t help but wonder if a small beast farted in your mouth when you’re too close to him. It’s not just me, either. I’ve watched Toni Whitaker, Octavia Whittington, and Jimmy Wallace sneak and sniff their own breath around LaVander Peeler, too.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 10 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 10, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 10, Sentence 2 0
profile_photo
Apr 13
Suhailah R Suhailah R (Apr 13 2023 9:15PM) : Overstatement (satire)
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 10, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 10, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

If you actually watched the 2013 Can You Use That Word in a Sentence finals on good cable last night, or if you’ve seen the clip on YouTube, you already know I hate LaVander Peeler. The Can You Use That Word in a Sentence contest was started in the spring of 2006 after states in the Deep South, Midwest, and Southwest complained that the Scripps Spelling Bee was geographically biased. Each contestant has two minutes to use a given word in a “dynamic” sentence. The winner of the contest gets $75,000 toward college tuition if they decide to go to college. All three judges in the contest, who are also from the South, Midwest, or Southwest, must agree on a contestant’s “correct sentence usage, appropriateness, and dynamism” for you to advance. New Mexico and Oklahoma won the last four contests, but this year LaVander Peeler and I were supposed to bring the title to Mississippi.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 11 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 11, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 11, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 11, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 11, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 11, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 11, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Anyway, LaVander Peeler has way too much space between his eyes and his fade doesn’t really fade right. Nothing really fades into anything, to tell you the truth. Whenever I feel dumb around him I call him “Lavender” or “Fade Don’t Fade.” Whenever I do anything at all, he calls me “White Homeless Fat Homosexual” or “Fat Homosexual” for short because he claims that my “house” is a rich white lady’s garage, that I’m fatter than Sean Kingston at his fattest, and that I like to watch boys piss without saying, “Kindly pause.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 12 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 12, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 12, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 12, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 12, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

LaVander Peeler invented saying “Kindly pause” in the bathroom last year at the end of eighth grade. If you were pissing and another dude just walked in the bathroom and you wondered who was walking in the bathroom, or if you walked in the bathroom and just looked a little bit toward a dude already at a urinal, you had to say “Kindly pause.” If I sound tight, it’s because I used to love going to the bathroom at Hamer. They just renovated the bathrooms for the first time in fifteen years and these rectangular tiles behind the urinal are now this deep dark blue that makes you know that falling down and floating up are the same thing, even if you have severe constipation.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 13 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 13, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 13, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 13, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 13, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Nowadays, you can never get lost in anything because you’re too busy trying to keep your neck straight. Plus, it’s annoying because dudes say “Kindly pause” as soon as they walk in the bathroom. And if one dude starts it, you have to keep saying it until you have both feet completely out of the bathroom.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 14 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 14, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 14, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 14, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

But I don’t say “Kindly pause,” and it’s not because I think I’m slightly homosexual. I just don’t want to use some wack catchphrase created by LaVander Peeler, and folks don’t give me a hard time for it because I’ve got the best waves of anyone in the history of Hamer. I’m also the second-best rebounder in the school and a two-time reigning CW (Class Wittiest). Toni said I could win the SWDGF (Student Who Don’t Give a Fuck) every year if we voted on that, too, but no one created that yet. Anyway, it helps that everybody in the whole school hates LaVander Peeler at least a little bit, even our janitor and Principal Reeves.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 15 0
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 15, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 15, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 15, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 15, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 15, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

When LaVander Peeler and I tied at the state Can You Use that Word in a Sentence contest, the cameras showed us walking off the stage in slow motion. I felt like Weezy F. Baby getting out of a limo, steady strolling into the backdoor of hell. In the backdrop of us walking were old images of folks in New Orleans, knee-deep in toxic water. Those pictures shifted to shots of Trayvon Martin in a loose football uniform, then oil off the coast drowning ignorant ducks. Then they finally replayed that footage of James Anderson being run over by those white boys off of Ellis Avenue. The last shots were black-and-whites of dusty-looking teenagers from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee holding up picket signs that said “Freedom Schools Now” and “Black is not a vice. Nor is segregation a virtue.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 16 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 16, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 16, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 16, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 16, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 16, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 16, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 16, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

The next day at school, after lunch, LaVander Peeler, me, and half the ninth graders including Toni Whitaker, Jimmy Wallace, and strange Octavia Whittington walked out to the middle of the basketball court where the new Mexican seventh graders like to play soccer. There are eight Mexican students at Hamer and they all started school this semester. Principal Reeves tried to make them feel accepted by having a taco/burrito lunch option three times a week and a Mexican Awareness Week twice each quarter. After the second quarter, it made most of us respect their Mexican struggle, but it didn’t do much for helping us really distinguish names from faces. We still call all five of the boys “Sergio” at least twice a quarter. LaVander Peeler says being racist is fun.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 17 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 17, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 17, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 17, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 17, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 17, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 17, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

It kinda is.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 18 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 18, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Anyway, everyone formed a circle around LaVander Peeler and me, like they did every day after lunch, and LaVander Peeler tried to snatch my heart out of my chest with his sentences.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 19 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 19, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“All things considered, Fat Homosexual,” LaVander Peeler started. “This is just a sample of the ass-whupping you shall be getting tonight at the contest.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 20 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 20, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 20, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

He cleared his throat.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 21 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 21, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“African Americans are generally a lot more ignorant than white Americans, and if you’re an African-American boy and you beat not only African-American girls but white American boys and white American girls, who are, all things considered, less ignorant than you by nature—in something like making sentences, in a white American state like Mississippi—you are, all things considered, a special African-American boy destined for riches, unless you’re a homeless white fat homosexual African-American boy with mommy issues, and City, you are indeed the white fat homosexual African-American boy with mommy issues who I shall beat like a knock-kneed slave tonight at the nationals.” Then he got closer to me and whispered, “One sentence, Homosexual. I shall not be fucked with.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 22 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 22, Sentence 1 0
profile_photo
Apr 15
Alexandria T Alexandria T (Apr 15 2023 2:13AM) : Satire (Irony) more

It is ironic that LaVander is sharing this opinion about African Americans when he himself is African American.

profile_photo
Apr 15
malyia j malyia j (Apr 15 2023 4:05AM) : I feel the same I feel like certain things he says about black people makes it seem like he isn't or he hates his own people
profile_photo
Apr 27
Angel A Angel A (Apr 27 2023 12:09AM) : Satire more

Isnt he african American?

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 22, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 22, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

LaVander Peeler backed up and looked at the crowd, some of whom were pumping their fists, covering their mouths, and laughing to themselves. Then he kissed the ellipsis tattoo on his wrist and pointed toward the sky. I took out my brush and got to brushing the waves on the back of my head.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 23 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 23, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 23, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 23, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

It’s true that LaVander Peeler has mastered the comma, the dash, and the long “if-then” sentence. I’m not saying he’s better than me, though. We just have different sentence styles. I don’t think he understands what the sentences he be using really mean. He’s always praising white people in his sentences, but then he’ll turn around and call me “white” in the same sentence like it’s a diss. And I’m not trying to hate, but all his sentences could be shorter and more dynamic, too.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 24 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 24, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 24, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 24, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 24, Sentence 4 0
profile_photo
Apr 14
Suhailah R Suhailah R (Apr 14 2023 7:15AM) : Satire (use of humor?)
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 24, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 24, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

The whole school year, even before we went to the state finals, LaVander Peeler tried to intimidate me by using long sentences in the middle of the basketball court after lunch, but Grandma and Uncle Relle told me that winning any championship takes mental warfare and a gigantic sack. Uncle Relle was the type of uncle who, when he wasn’t sleeping at some woman’s house and eating up all the Pop-Tarts she bought for her kids, was in jail or sleeping in a red X-Men sleeping bag at my grandma’s house.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 25 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 25, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 25, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

What Uncle Relle lacked in money, he made up for in the way he talked and taught the ratchet gospels. The sound of his voice made everything he said seem right. When he opened his mouth, it sounded like big old flat tires rolling over jagged gravel. And he had these red, webbed eyeballs that poked out a lot even when he was sleeping. I could tell you crazy stories about Uncle Relle’s eyeballs, his voice, and his sagging V-neck T-shirts, but that would be a waste of time, especially since the detail you just couldn’t forget about, other than his voice, was his right hand. The day after he got back from Afghanistan, Uncle Relle lost the tips of three fingers in a car accident with our cousin Pig Mo. Now, he had three nubs, a pinky, and a thumb. You would think that if you had three nubs, a pinky, and a thumb, you would keep your hand in your pocket, right? Uncle Relle always had his right hand out pointing at folk or asking for stuff he didn’t need or messing around with weed and prepaid cell phones. He told everyone outside the family that he lost the tips in Afghanistan.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 26 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 26, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 26, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 26, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 26, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 26, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 26, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 26, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 26, Sentence 8 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 26, Sentence 9 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 26, Sentence 10 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Grandma said Uncle Relle lied about his nubs because he wanted everyone to know he was a damn survivor. In private, she said, “A real survivor ain’t got to show no one that they done survived.” Grandma was always saying stuff you would read in a book.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 27 0
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 27, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 27, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 27, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Lavender Peeler,” I told him while brushing the sides of my head and looking at his creased khakis, “Oh, Lavender Peeler, my uncle and grandma thought you would say something white like that. Look, I don’t have to consider all things to know you ain’t special because you know ‘plagiarize’ is spelled with two ‘a’s,’ two ‘i’s’, and a ‘z,’ not an ‘s,’ especially since if you train them XXL cockroaches in your locker, the ones that be the cousins of the ones chilling in prison with your old thieving-ass brother, Kwame, they could spell ‘plagiarize’ with ummm”—I started to forget the lines of my mental warfare—“the crumbs of a Popeyes buttermilk biscuit, which are white buttery crumbs that stay falling out of your halitosis-having daddy’s mouth when he tells you every morning, ‘Lavender, that boy, City, with all those wonderful waves in his head, is everything me and your dead mama wished you and your incarcerated brother could be.’ ” I stepped closer to him, tugged on my sack, and looked at Octavia Whittington out of the corner of my eye. “That’s one sentence, too, nigga, with an embedded quotation up in there.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 28 0
profile_photo
Apr 14
Suhailah R Suhailah R (Apr 14 2023 7:18AM) : Commentary more

Commentary on culture, “talking white”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 28, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 28, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 28, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“So.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 29 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 29, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“And your fade still don’t fade quite right.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 30 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 30, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Without even looking at me, LaVander Peeler just said, “Roaches cannot spell, so that sentence doesn’t make any sense.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 31 0
profile_photo
Apr 17
Amadou D Amadou D (Apr 17 2023 9:58PM) : "satire"making jokes
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 31, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Everyone around us was laughing and trying to give me some love. And I should have stopped there, but I kept going and kept brushing and looked directly at the crowd. “Shid. Lavender Peeler can be the first African American to win the title all he wants, y’all,” I told them. “But me, I’m striving for legendary, you feel me? Shid.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 32 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 32, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 32, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 32, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 32, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 32, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 32, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Even the seventh-grade Mexicans were dying laughing at LaVander Peeler, who was closest to me. He was flipping through one of those pocket thesauruses, acting like he was in deep conversation with himself.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 33 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 33, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 33, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Shid,” I said to the crowd. “I’m ’bout to be the first one of us with a head full of waves to win nationals in anything that ain’t related to sports or cheerleading, you feel me?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 34 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 34, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 34, Sentence 2 0
profile_photo
Apr 14
Suhailah R Suhailah R (Apr 14 2023 7:23AM) : Commentary on culture (social) more

I think this is connecting or introducing the idea that black people only win big in sports

Toni Whitaker, Octavia Whittington, and Jimmy Wallace stopped laughing and stared at each other. Then they looked at both of us. “He ain’t lying about that,” Toni said. Octavia Whittington just nodded her head up and down and kept smiling.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 35 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 35, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 35, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 35, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 35, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

The bell rang.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 36 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 36, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

As we walked back to class, LaVander Peeler tapped me on the shoulder and looked me directly in my eye. He flicked his nose with his thumb, opened his cheap flip phone, and started recording himself talking to me.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 37 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 37, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 37, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“I shall not stomp yo fat ass into the ground because I don’t want to be suspended today, but this right here will be on YouTube in the morning just in case your fat homosexual ass forgets,” LaVander Peeler told me. “I do feel you, City. I can’t help but feel you. I feel that all your sentences rely on magic. All things considered, I feel like there’s nothing real in your sentences because you aren’t real. But do you feel that a certain fat homosexual is supposed to be riding to nationals tonight in my ‘halitosis-having daddy’s’ van? I do. All things considered, I guess his mama don’t even care enough to come see him lose, does she?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 38 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 38, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 38, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 38, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 38, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 38, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 38, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 38, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 38, Sentence 8 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

LaVander Peeler got even closer to me. I smelled fried tomatoes, buttered corn bread, and peppermint. I held my arms tight to my body and counted these twelve shiny black hairs looking like burnt curly fries curling their way out of his chin. I scratched my chin and kept my hand there as he tilted his fade-don’t-fade down and whispered in my ear, “You know the real difference between me and you, City?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 39 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 39, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 39, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 39, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 39, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“What?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 40 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 40, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Sweat and piss,” he told me. “I’m sweat. All things considered, sweat and piss ain’t the same thing at all. Even your mama knows that, and she might know enough to teach at a community college in Mississippi, but she ain’t even smart enough to keep a man, not even a homeless man who just got off probation for touching three little girls over in Pearl.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 41 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 41, Sentence 1 0
profile_photo
Apr 14
Suhailah R Suhailah R (Apr 14 2023 7:26AM) : Juxtaposition
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 41, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 41, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 41, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

LaVander Peeler closed his flip phone. “One sentence,” he said, and just walked off. “All things considered.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 42 0
profile_photo
Apr 14
Olasubomi O Olasubomi O (Apr 14 2023 7:31AM) : Laymon's Use of Satire more

Kiese Laymon employs satire to criticize how modern media is shallow and influences individuals’ thoughts and actions. City, the main character, is engrossed in a viral video frenzy that holds no significance, serving as a representation of the vacuous consumerist society that he resides in. By ridiculing this trend, Laymon highlights how people’s attention is diverted to insignificant content instead of engaging with substantive issues. Laymon implies that media’s trivialization perpetuates a shallow culture that can’t contemplate on essential concerns. By doing so, he stresses the need to re-examine the impact of the media on society.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 42, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 42, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 42, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

ALL CLEAN.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 43 0
profile_photo
Apr 15
Daeja D Daeja D (Apr 15 2023 8:04AM) : Summary and Satire more

City and Lavender frequently debate one another about each other’s appearance or the qualities they like and dislike about one another. Knowing his mother and informing City about the history of many students who made changes was something Miss Reeves had to do. Brenda Travis, a high school student from McComb, just up the road, was fifteen years old, according to Principal Reeves. "Fifty years ago, that young woman canvassed these same streets with the SNCC’s voter registration volunteers. The girl was given a year in the state juvenile prison for the crime of ordering a hamburger from a white restaurant, and she led students like you on a sit-in.
Satire and commentary are used from City and Principal Reeves’s conversation.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 43, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

(BOOK ONE, pages 12 – 20)
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 44 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 44, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Turns out LaVander Peeler commenced to tell our principal, old loose-skin Ms. Lara Reeves, that I called him a “nigger”—not “nigga,” “negroid,” “Negro,” “African American,” or “colored.” I figured it was just LaVander Peeler’s retaliation for someone turning him in two months ago for calling me an “f-word.” I know who snitched on LaVander Peeler, and it wasn’t me, but after he got in trouble for calling me an “f-word” he started calling me a “homosexual,” because he knew Principal Reeves couldn’t punish him for using that word without seeming like she thought there was something wrong with being a homosexual in the first place.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 45 0
profile_photo
Apr 19
Amadou D Amadou D (Apr 19 2023 1:29AM) : satire and political commentary more

Kiese Laymon uses satire to highlight the ridiculousness of contemporary culture and customs. He utilizes this to highlight the lack of accountability displayed by many black boys in the modern world. For instance, consider how many children acted courageously in the past to influence change. Today, however, they are denigrating the black community and engaging in argumentation while using racial insults.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 45, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 45, Sentence 2 0
profile_photo
May 26
Mason W Mason W (May 26 2023 9:52PM) : Long Division - Without ... more

Kiese Laymon employs the use of satire as a tool to shed light on the absurdity of contemporary culture and traditions. Through this approach, he aims to draw attention to the absence of responsibility exhibited by many black boys in today’s society. Laymon contrasts the present with the past, where numerous children demonstrated bravery and determination to bring about change. In contrast, the modern-day black youth indulge in debasing the community and engaging in heated arguments while resorting to racial slurs. It’s intriguing how LaVander Peeler altered his comment from using the “f-word” to a more socially acceptable term. Despite this transition, his sarcastic tone and offensive nature remained intact.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 45, Sentence 3 0
profile_photo
Apr 20
Jade P Jade P (Apr 20 2023 7:06AM) : Satire (Irony/sarcasm) more

I found it ironic how LaVander Peeler changed his comment. When he originally used the “f-word,” and switched to using what can be seen as a more “acceptable” description. He did this to avoid getting in trouble but still used it sarcastically and in an offensive manor.

I guess you should also know that no one else at Hamer or in the world ever called me an “f-word” or “homosexual” except for LaVander Peeler. I’m not trying to make you think I’ve gotten nice with lots of girls or anything because I haven’t. I felt on Toni’s bra in a dark closet in Art and she twerked on my thighs a few times after school. And I guess I talked nasty with a few people who claimed they were girls on this website called WhatYouGotOnMyFreak.com, but really that was it. Truth is my sack stayed dry as hell, but I don’t think you’re supposed to feel remedial about sex unless you make it through tenth grade with a dry sack. The point is that even if LaVander Peeler caught you watching him piss once, I don’t think that should really qualify you as a homosexual.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 46 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 46, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 46, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 46, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 46, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 46, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 46, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Anyway, I sat in Principal Reeves’s office waiting to tell her that I didn’t call him a “nigger,” but that I did bring my wave brush out after lunch by mistake.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 47 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 47, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

In Principal Reeves’s office, next to her bookshelf, was a poster with a quote from Maya Angelou. The backdrop of the poster was the sun and in bolded red letters were the sentences, “Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean. Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 48 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 48, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 48, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 48, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 48, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 48, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 48, Sentence 6 0
profile_photo
Apr 27
Allison L Allison L (Apr 27 2023 9:42PM) : Maya Angelou poster more

The Maya Angelou poster is probably a reflection of Principal Reeve’s personality and why she pushes CIty to be more socially active

I hated sentences that told me that my emotions were like something that wasn’t emotional, but I loved how those red words looked like they were coming right out of the sun, red hot.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 49 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 49, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Ms. Lara Reeves had been a teacher since way back in the ’80s and she became the principal at Hamer about four years ago. The worst part of her being the principal was that she was also my mama’s friend. My mama was known for having friends you wouldn’t think she’d have. Mama had me when she was a sophomore at Jackson State fourteen years ago. She’s old now, in her early thirties, so you would expect her to have only Black friends in her thirties, but she had old Black friends, young African friends, and super-old friends like Principal Reeves.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 50 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 50, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 50, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 50, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 50, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 50, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Mama taught over at Madison Community College and Principal Reeves took a politics course from her. When I first heard that my principal was my mama’s student, I thought I’d get away with everything. But it was actually harder for me to get away with anything since whenever Principal Reeves didn’t do her homework or answered questions wrong, she liked to talk to my mama about how I was acting a fool in school.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 51 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 51, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 51, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 51, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

On Principal Reeves’s desk, you saw all kinds of papers flooding the bottoms of two big pictures of her husband, who disappeared a few years ago. No one knows what happened to him. Supposedly, he went to work one morning and just never came back. If you looked at pictures of Principal Reeves back in the day, you’d be surprised, because she looked exactly the same. She had the same curl at sixty-two that she had at thirty-one, except now the curl had tiny rays of gray.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 52 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 52, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 52, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 52, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 52, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 52, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Principal Reeves also kept a real record player in her office. In the corner underneath the table were all these Aretha Franklin records. Mama loved Aretha Franklin, too, but she only had greatest-hits CDs, which she’d play every time she picked me up.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 53 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 53, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 53, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 53, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I invented calling Principal Reeves “Ms. Kanye” behind her back because even though she asked a lot of questions, you really still couldn’t tell her nothing. She asked questions just to set up her next point. And her next point was always tied to teaching us how we were practically farting on the chests of the teenagers on the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee if we didn’t conduct ourselves with dignity.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 54 0
profile_photo
Apr 18
Ebenezer L Ebenezer L (Apr 18 2023 9:41PM) : they are too comfortable with their langauge more

I get that they are saying jokes, I make some myself. But at a certain point these characters need to conscious of what they are saying and who it is insulting.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 54, Sentence 1 0
profile_photo
Apr 14
Suhailah R Suhailah R (Apr 14 2023 7:29AM) : Commentary on Culture
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 54, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 54, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Before Principal Reeves stepped her foot in the door of her office, she was saying my name. “Citoyen…”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 55 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 55, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 55, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Yes ma’am.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 56 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 56, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“I’d like you to start this test,” she said, and handed me a piece of paper. “It might take you the rest of the year to complete it but we have plenty of time. Don’t look at me with those sad red eyes.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 57 0
profile_photo
Apr 18
Ebenezer L Ebenezer L (Apr 18 2023 9:44PM) : Satire more

This principal reminds me a lot about Mr. Johnson he is caring and overall different. one main important factor is how unconventional they are in showing their love for their students.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 57, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 57, Sentence 2 0
profile_photo
Apr 14
Suhailah R Suhailah R (Apr 14 2023 7:23AM) : Satire (overstatement)
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 57, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

At Hamer, they were always experimenting with different styles of punishment ever since they stopped whupping ass a few years ago. The new style was to give you a true/false test with a bonus that would take you damn near a whole year to do if you messed up. And the test had to be tailored to what they thought you did wrong and what you needed to learn to not mess up again. The craziest thing is that it was usually harder understanding what the test had to do with what you did wrong than taking the actual test itself.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 58 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 58, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 58, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 58, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 58, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 59 (Image 3) 0
No whole image conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Whole Image 0
No whole image conversations. Start one.

I was shaking my head at that bonus question, thinking about how many months it would take me to write those three stories, when Principal Reeves got all serious.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 60 0
profile_photo
Apr 18
Ebenezer L Ebenezer L (Apr 18 2023 9:46PM) : Understand more

I would be pissed as well if I had to write three stories over something that I really didn’t do. He’s a better man then me cause I would’ve said no.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 60, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Citoyen, do you know who the great Brenda Travis is?” she asked me.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 61 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 61, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Umm…”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 62 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 62, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“No. You do not know. Brenda Travis was a fifteen-year-old high school student from right up the road in McComb,” Principal Reeves said. “That young lady canvassed these same streets with the SNCC voter-registration workers fifty years ago. She led students like you on a sit-in and for the crime of ordering a hamburger from a white restaurant, the girl was sentenced to a year in the state juvenile prison.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 63 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 63, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 63, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 63, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 63, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 63, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Just a regular hamburger?” I asked her. “Not even a fish sammich or a grilled cheese? That’s crazy.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 64 0
profile_photo
Apr 15
Alexandria T Alexandria T (Apr 15 2023 2:17AM) : Satire (Jokes) more

City says this after being told a serious story of someone going to prison for having a sit-in. He’s joking about a little detail.

profile_photo
Apr 27
Allison L Allison L (Apr 27 2023 9:10PM) : Satire? more

Principal Reeves is telling City about activist movements and he responds with sarcasm towards justice issues that Reeves feel has to do with him

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 64, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 64, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 64, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 64, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“That contraption holding your teeth in place, that’s the problem.” Principal Reeves sat at her desk and started riffling through the tests.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 65 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 65, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 65, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“I don’t get it,” I told her.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 66 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 66, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Today is the biggest day of your life, Citoyen. You want to waste it calling your brother LaVander Peeler a ‘nigger’ and using a wave brush on school property?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 67 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 67, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 67, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

The problem was that at Hamer, you used to be able to use your wave brush until the second bell at 8:05, but ever since Jimmy Wallace beat the bile out of this cockeyed new kid with a Pine wave brush during lunch, you could be suspended for something as simple as having a wave brush on school property.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 68 0
profile_photo
Apr 20
Jade P Jade P (Apr 20 2023 7:17AM) : Satire more

My middle school didn’t allow us to bring combs to school for a while after some girl threw her comb at a teacher and it hit their eye.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 68, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“LaVander Peeler ain’t my brother,” I told her, “and I didn’t think I was wasting it. I’m ready. You’ll see.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 69 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 69, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 69, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 69, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Principal Reeves just looked at me. I tried to look away toward the bookshelf so I wouldn’t have to look at her face.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 70 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 70, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 70, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“What’s that?” I asked her. “That’s so crazy.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 71 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 71, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 71, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 71, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“It’s just a book,” she said.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 72 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 72, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“I thought you said we were never supposed to say ‘just a book’ about a book.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 73 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 73, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Principal Reeves made that rule up last year. She had every book in her bookshelf placed in alphabetical order, but on the floor underneath the shelf was a book called Long Division. There wasn’t an author’s name on the cover or the spine. I couldn’t tell from looking at it if it was fiction or a real story. The cover had the words “Long Division” written in a thick white marker over what looked like a black background with all these pointy blues, some wave brush bristles, a thin slice of watermelon, a cat sitting real regal, some clean Nikes I’d never even seen, and some sticker bushes. The three dots that generally sit on top of the “i’s” in “division” were missing, but there were three dots under the word instead.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 74 0
profile_photo
Apr 18
Ebenezer L Ebenezer L (Apr 18 2023 9:48PM) : woah more

It’s been a while since I’ve seen a book mentioned inside of itself.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 74, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 74, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 74, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 74, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 74, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 74, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Who wrote that book?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 75 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 75, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Principal Reeves ignored my question and just looked at me.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 76 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 76, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Please stop looking at me, Principal Reeves.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 77 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 77, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“I’ll stop looking at you when you start looking at you. You’ve got to respect yourself and the folks who came before you, Citoyen. You.” She paused. “Didn’t your mother, you, and I sit right here before the state competition and talk about this? What did your mother tell you?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 78 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 78, Sentence 1 0
profile_photo
Apr 18
Ebenezer L Ebenezer L (Apr 18 2023 9:49PM) : Satire more

a way to give off the message that they need to look inward

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 78, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 78, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 78, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 78, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 78, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“She said, ‘Your foolishness impacts not only Black folks today, but Black folks yet to be born.’ But see, I don’t agree with my mama…”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 79 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 79, Sentence 1 0
profile_photo
Apr 20
Jade P Jade P (Apr 20 2023 6:55AM) : Satire (Irony) more

Making a comparison to my own personal teachings, specific things from my grandmother. She always tells me stories about how she grew up and when things began to change around her, regarding drugs and gun violence and how it only got worse as time went on. Even though the ones who had seemed to be the root had either been arrested or were dead, they only passed it onto the next generation.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 79, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“There are no buts, Citoyen,” Principal Reeves said. “You are history. Kids right around your age died changing history so you could go to school, so you could compete in that contest tonight, and here you are acting a fool. The day of?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 80 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 80, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 80, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 80, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 80, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Is that a question?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 81 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 81, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Fifty-one years ago, Black students took responsibility for the morality and future of this country,” she said. She was so serious. “They organized. They restrained themselves. They put themselves in the crosshairs of evil. They bled. And when the cameras were on, they were scared. But they stepped up and fought nonviolently with dignity and excellence, didn’t they?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 82 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 82, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 82, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 82, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 82, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 82, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 82, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 82, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 82, Sentence 8 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I just kept looking down at Long Division and started to smell the french fries coming from the cafeteria.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 83 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 83, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

NNever mind that book, Citoyen. Is it too much to ask of you to respect those students today?” she asked. “Look at me. Those that are still alive are watching. You know that, don’t you?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 84 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 84, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 84, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 84, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 84, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 84, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“You mean tonight?” I took my eyes off the book and looked at Principal Reeves. “Tonight, they’ll be watching?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 85 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 85, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 85, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 85, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Yes. Tonight they’ll be watching, along with the world. But they’re always watching, so you must behave and compete accordingly. This is just another test. I’m not gonna suspend you or tell your mother. However, if you act a fool one more time this semester and fail to complete the test, I have no choice but to reach out.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 86 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 86, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 86, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 86, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 86, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 86, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 86, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I hated when folks used the word “however” in regular conversation. You knew that the person you were talking to was so much wacker than you thought as soon as you heard that word. “I know,” I told her.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 87 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 87, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 87, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 87, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“One more thing,” she said and closed the office door. “Two things, actually. First, I don’t want you to come back to school until you finish the test. Second, I hear from LaVander Peeler and a few other teachers that you’re spending a lot of time alone in the bathroom stalls.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 88 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 88, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 88, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 88, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 88, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I looked down at the wet stains on my shoes.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 89 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 89, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Have you been—”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 90 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 90, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“What?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 91 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 91, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Touching yourself inappropriately at lunchtime?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 92 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 92, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Lunchtime?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 93 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 93, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Yes. I’ve heard that after many of the boys go into the bathroom to yell ‘Kindly pause,’ you have a tendency to… listen. We don’t want to halt natural human functions at Fannie Lou Hamer, but that activity might be better suited for home, possibly before you go to sleep or maybe even when you wake up.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 94 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 94, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 94, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 94, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I raised my eyes to Principal Reeves. “I’m good,” I told Principal Reeves. “You’re telling me not to get nice with myself on school property. I hear you.” I started walking out of her office, then turned around. “Wait. Can I borrow that book? I’ll bring it back tomorrow. I just never really seen a book with a cool title like that and no author before.” Principal Reeves slowly reached down and handed me the book. “I haven’t finished it yet,” she told me. “Be careful with that, Citoyen.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 95 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 95, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 95, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 95, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 95, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 95, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 95, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 95, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 95, Sentence 8 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 95, Sentence 9 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 95, Sentence 10 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 95, Sentence 11 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 95, Sentence 12 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Why?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 96 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 96, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Just be careful,” she said. “See if it can help you with your test. If not, leave it alone. Some books can completely change how we see ourselves and everything else in the world. Keep your eyes on the prize.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 97 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 97, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 97, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 97, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 97, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 97, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“I’m good,” I told her before walking out, folding up my test, and placing it inside Long Division. “Don’t worry about my eyes. And that prize is minessss, with all the ‘s’s.’ ”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 98 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 98, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 98, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 98, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

At 3:15, LaVander Peeler and I waited on the curb for his father to pick us up. I had Long Division in my hands. LaVander Peeler had on these fake Louis Vuitton shades and he kept looking down at my book.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 99 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 99, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 99, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 99, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“What you looking at?” I asked him.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 100 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 100, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 100, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

He asked me if I had figured out the difference yet between sweat and piss. I looked up at LaVander Peeler and noticed two continent-sized clouds easing their way through the sky behind his fade that didn’t fade. I thought to myself that a lot of times when you looked up at the sky, you’d see nothing but bluish-gray shine, and a few seconds later continent-sized clouds would slowly glide up and take every last bit of shine out of the sky.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 101 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 101, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 101, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 101, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I didn’t like the drippy ache in my chest that I was starting to feel, so I opened up Long Division and read the first chapter while LaVander Peeler and I waited for his father, LaVander Peeler Sr., to drive us to the Coliseum.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 102 0
profile_photo
Apr 14
Olasubomi O Olasubomi O (Apr 14 2023 7:32AM) : Laymon's Use Of Satire more

Laymon continues to use satire to comment on the absurdity of certain cultural practices. The portrayal of the beauty pageant, which City’s girlfriend participates in, is a commentary on the way women are objectified and exploited for their physical appearance. Laymon also critiques the way black people are commodified and marketed in popular culture, as represented by the fictional “We Global” music label.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 102, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

BOOK TWO

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 103 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 103, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

SPECIAL GAME

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 104 0
profile_photo
Apr 15
Daeja D Daeja D (Apr 15 2023 8:05AM) : Summary and Satire more

The relationship between City and Shalaya Crump is very interesting especially they way they talk to each other. City really likes her, but her mind is more in the future like 2013. She has captured City’s attention, and he cares a great deal about her welfare. City learns about the history of racism and oppression in the South through his quest to save Shalaya, and he also develops a deeper understanding of his own identity and position in the universe.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 104, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

(BOOK TWO, 166 – 172)
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 105 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 105, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I didn’t have a girlfriend from kindergarten all the way through the first half of ninth grade and it wasn’t because the whole high school heard Principal Jankins whispering to his wife, Ms. Dawsin-Jankins, that my hairline was shaped like the top of a Smurf house. I never had a girlfriend because I loved this funky girl named Shalaya Crump. The last time Shalaya Crump and I really talked, she told me, “City, I could love you if you helped me change the future dot-dot-dot in a special way.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 106 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 106, Sentence 1 0
profile_photo
Apr 20
Jade P Jade P (Apr 20 2023 6:46AM) : Satire (Humor) [Edited] more

This line reminded me of a photo that I saw with a picture of a guy from a movie with a “Smurf House” headline.

profile_photo
Apr 27
Ebenezer L Ebenezer L (Apr 27 2023 7:16AM) : Humor more

I like the language and casualness of the authors ways of expressing himself. He is able to create somewhat real dialogue

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 106, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 106, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Shalaya Crump was always saying stuff like that, stuff you’d only imagine kids saying in a dream or on those R-rated movies starring spoiled teenagers on HBO. If any other girl in 1985 said, “the future dot-dot-dot,” she would have meant 1986 or maybe 1990 at the latest. But not Shalaya Crump. I knew she meant somewhere way in the future that no one other than scientists and dope fiends had ever thought of before.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 107 0
profile_photo
Apr 19
Amadou D Amadou D (Apr 19 2023 1:37AM) : satire( more

City’s love for a girl named Shalaya Crump. Shalaya is different from other girls, and City loves her because she makes him feel like it’s okay not to know everything. Shalaya talks about the future in a unique way that fascinates City, and he wants to find a way to be special to her and help her change the future. The passage also reveals the cultural references and slang used by City and Shalaya, reflecting their experiences growing up in the American South in the 1980s.

profile_photo
Apr 19
Ebenezer L Ebenezer L (Apr 19 2023 10:55PM) : Humor more

They are cooking each other for no reason at all. :)

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 107, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 107, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 107, Sentence 3 0
profile_photo
May 26
Mason W Mason W (May 26 2023 9:57PM) : Satire more

The paragraph describes City’s affection for Shalaya Crump, a girl who stands out from the rest due to her unique personality. City is drawn to Shalaya because she makes him feel comfortable with not knowing everything, something that is not common in a society that often values knowledge and intelligence. Shalaya’s perspective on the future is fascinating to City, and he is eager to find a way to make a difference with her and help shape the future together. The paragraph also highlights the cultural and linguistic references that both City and Shalaya share, which reflect their experiences growing up in the American South during the 1980s. Through the use of slang and cultural references, the paragraph captures the essence of their upbringing and emphasizes the importance of their shared experiences. Overall, the paragraph presents a touching story of two individuals who are bound by a deep connection and a desire to make a difference in the world.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 107, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Shalaya Crump lived down in Melahatchie, Mississippi, across the road from Mama Lara’s house. A year ago, before we moved to Chicago from Jackson, she convinced me that plenty of high school girls would like me even though my hips were way wider than a JET centerfold’s, and the smell of deodorant made me throw up. The thing was that none of the ninth-grade girls who liked me wore fake Air Jordans with low socks, or knew how to be funny in church while everyone else was praying, or had those sleepy, sunken eyes like Shalaya Crump. Plus, you never really knew what Shalaya Crump was going to say and she always looked like she knew more than everybody around her, even more than the rickety grown folks who wanted other rickety grown folks to think they knew more than Yoda.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 108 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 108, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 108, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 108, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 108, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

It’s hard to ever really know why you love a girl, but all I know is that Shalaya Crump made me feel like it was okay not to know everything. You could feel good around Shalaya Crump just by knowing enough to get by. That’s what I loved about her most. Sometimes, she asked these hard questions about the future, but she didn’t treat you like chunky vomit when you didn’t get the answer right.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 109 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 109, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 109, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 109, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 109, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

It’s hard to explain if you never been around a girl like that. It’s just that no other girl in my whole life made me feel like it was okay not to know stuff like Shalaya Crump did. The worst part of it is that I still have no proof that I ever made Shalaya Crump feel anything other than guilty for leaving me with Baize Shephard. I’m not just saying that to sound like a brokenhearted white boy from New York City in a dumb novel in tenth-grade English. If you want me to be honest, everything I’m telling you is only half of what made the story of Shalaya Crump, Baize Shephard, Jewish Evan Altshuler, and me the saddest story in the history of Mississippi. And it’s really hard to have the saddest story in the history of a state like Mississippi, where there are even more sad stories than there are hungry mosquitoes and sticker bushes.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 110 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 110, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 110, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 110, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 110, Sentence 4 0
profile_photo
Apr 20
Jade P Jade P (Apr 20 2023 7:25AM) : Satire (Cultural Commentary) more

It’s similar to when you hear someone saying that you “act white,” it’s like certain emotions, forms of speech, or body language is often geared toward white people. So, when a black person does any of those things they are “acting white,”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 110, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 110, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

It really is.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 111 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 111, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Shalaya Crump claimed she could love me three months ago, depending on how you count. It was January 4, 1985, the last day of my Christmas break. I was about to leave Melahatchie and head back to Chicago. We were sitting under a magnolia tree in a forest we called the Night Time Woods, sharing the last bit of a can of sardines. I was just tired of not saying all of what I wanted to say to her, so I licked the sardine juice off my fingers, picked up my sweat rag, and asked her what I’d been waiting to ask her the whole break.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 112 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 112, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 112, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 112, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 112, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 112, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Shalaya Crump!” | said. “Can you break it down for me one more time. What I gotta do to make you love me?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 113 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 113, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 113, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 113, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Shalaya Crump laughed and started digging into the red dirt with her dark bony thumbs that were covered in these Ring Pop rings. Right there is when Shalaya Crump wiped her greasy mouth with the collar of her purple Gumby T-shirt and said, “Why you gotta be so green light lately, City?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 114 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 114, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 114, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Green light?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 115 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 115, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Yeah, you never stop. All you do is spit game about ‘love this’ and ‘love that.’ I already told you that I could love you if you found a way to be…” Shalaya Crump stopped talking, looked me right in the eyes, and grabbed my fingertips. “City, just listen,” she said. “Look, if we could take a spaceship to the future, and we ain’t know if we’d ever come back, would you go with me?” Shalaya Crump was always changing the subject to the future at the craziest times.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 116 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 116, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 116, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 116, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 116, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 116, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 116, Sentence 6 0
profile_photo
Apr 27
Allison L Allison L (Apr 27 2023 9:12PM) : City and Shalaya more

What is Shalaya so afraid of? Why is she worried about liking City so much?

I swear I tried to come up with something smart, something that would make her think I could be the skinniest, smartest boy she’d ever want to spend the rest of her life with. “Girl, in the future,” I told Shalaya Crump, “when we take that spaceship, first thing is I think that Eddie Murphy is gonna do a PG movie. And umm, I think that Michael Jackson and New Edition are gonna come together and sing a song at our wedding, but ain’t nobody at the wedding gonna care because everyone at the wedding is gonna finally know.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 117 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 117, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 117, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 117, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Uh, finally know what?” She stopped and let go of my wrists.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 118 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 118, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 118, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Finally know, you know, what that real love looks like, baby.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 119 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 119, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“City! Why you gotta get all Vienna sausage school bus when you start trying to spit game?” She paused and actually waited for an answer. I didn’t have one, so she kept going. “Just stop. You stuck on talking about love but I’m talking about the future. Can we just talk about that? What happened to you? One day you were just regular and we were playing Atari and hitting each other in the face with pine cones. Then, just like that, you get to stealing Bibles to impress me and wearing clean clothes and talking about love and getting jealous of Willis whenever we watch Diff’rent Strokes and asking me all these questions about which senior I have a crush on. Can’t you just be yourself?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 120 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 120, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 120, Sentence 2 0
profile_photo
Apr 19
Ebenezer L Ebenezer L (Apr 19 2023 11:05PM) : humor more

What on God’s earth does this sentence mean?

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 120, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 120, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 120, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 120, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 120, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 120, Sentence 8 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 120, Sentence 9 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 120, Sentence 10 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 120, Sentence 11 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“I am being myself,” I told her. “I don’t like how you look at Willis.” | knew that making Shalaya Crump love me wasn’t going to be easy, so I didn’t let her little speech throw me off. “You talk all that mess about me, but you the one who didn’t always talk about the future like you do now.” | looked in her eyes, but she was looking at the ground. “No offense, girl, but you talk about the future way more than I talk about love.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 121 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 121, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 121, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 121, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 121, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“But I’m not just talking.” She wiped sardine grease off my lip. “That’s the difference. I’m asking about what you’d do with me in the future, like in 2013. For real! Would you come with me if I could get us there?” I just looked at Shalaya Crump and wondered how she could say I was being all Vienna sausage school bus and all green light when, seriously, she was the one always wondering about life in 2013. No kid in 1985 admitted to thinking about life in the ’90s, and definitely not in 2013, not even while we were watching The Jetsons.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 122 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 122, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 122, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 122, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 122, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 122, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 122, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 122, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 122, Sentence 8 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Never mind,” she said. “You don’t get it.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 123 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 123, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 123, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“I do get it,” I told her. “I get that I might not be the one for you. In 2013, I’ma be like forty-three. When I’m forty-three, you’ll still think my hairline is too crooked and my sweat’ll still stink like gas station toilets.” | looked up and hoped she would interrupt me. She didn’t. “Anyway. You could never love me even if I was the skinniest, smartest boy in the South. I truly know that now.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 124 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 124, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 124, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 124, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 124, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 124, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 124, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 124, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 124, Sentence 8 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Shalaya Crump finally laughed and looked me right in my mouth. “City, I’ma ask you one more time to stop being so Young and the Restless. Don’t never ever say ‘truly’ around me again. Never!”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 125 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 125, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 125, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 125, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 125, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Shalaya Crump was the queen of taking a show or a person, place, or thing and using it like an adjective. No one else in Jackson or Chicago or Melahatchie or on TV could do it like her. If she told you not to ever use a word around her, you knew it was a word that should never have come out of your mouth in the first place.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 126 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 126, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 126, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 126, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Shalaya Crump took her eyes off my mouth and started looking at my hips. “Look, City,” she said. “I could love you the way you want me to, really. I could if you found a way to help me change the future in, I don’t know dot-dot-dot a special way.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 127 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 127, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 127, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 127, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 127, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Dot-dot-dot? I thought you were done with that read-your-punctuation style. You don’t think you played that out last summer?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 128 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 128, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 128, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 128, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Just listen. I need to know if you’d come with me, even if we couldn’t ever come back.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 129 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 129, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 129, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Shalaya Crump was always saying weird stuff like that and trying to create new slang. One day, she called me on the phone long-distance during the school year and said, “City comma I realized today that I hate Ronald Reagan. When I’m president comma I wanna make it so you never have to be in a classroom with more than ten other kids from Head Start all the way through twelfth grade. I think I might wanna make it illegal for parents to leave their kids with their grandma in Melahatchie for more than three days at a time if the grandma don’t have cable or good air. What you think?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 130 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 130, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 130, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 130, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 130, Sentence 4 0
profile_photo
Apr 20
Jade P Jade P (Apr 20 2023 7:34AM) : Satire (Cultural Commentary) more

This is the kind of stuff you hear about from older people, their “back-in-the-day” stories.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 130, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I waited for her to laugh after saying that, since my ma was always sending me to stay with my Mama Lara for weeks at a time. Mama Lara didn’t have good cable or air either, and neither did her grandma, but Shalaya Crump didn’t laugh, so I fake-laughed for her and said, “You love you some English and civics classes, don’t you?” A few seconds later, when no one was saying a word, she started laughing all late into the phone. Only Shalaya Crump could laugh all late into the phone and not care about using up her grandma’s long distance to talk about hating Ronald Reagan. It was stuff like calling me long distance and telling me stuff that didn’t make sense and laughing all late at my jokes that made me think I could tongue kiss Shalaya Crump.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 131 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 131, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 131, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 131, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 131, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 131, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Anyway, I had a lot of questions about how to change the future and be special to Shalaya Crump, but my Mama Lara drove in front of her trailer right after she said that thing about coming to the future with her. Mama Lara told me that it was time to take the bus back up to Chicago. I left Shalaya Crump that Christmas break without a kiss, a hug, or any-thing, but I did tell her, “I’m coming back to fly to the future with you for spring break, baby. And when I do, you better love me. Or at least like me a lot.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 132 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 132, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 132, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 132, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 132, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 132, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“I already like vou a lot.” she told me as I got in the car. “Don’t call me baby no more, though. Just be yourself and come back in March. Please. I need you, City.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 133 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 133, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 133, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 133, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 133, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 133, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I promised myself right then and there that I’d never call Shalaya Crump “baby” if it meant that she’d be my girl, and that I’d find a way to be special and change the future when I came back down to Mississippi for spring break. In the meantime, no matter where I was in my dreams, I always found a way to kiss Shalaya Crump. Sometimes I’d be in a blue jungle or a raggedy glass airplane, but there would always be a phone hanging out of a tree or underneath a seat. I’d find a phone and dial 1-4-1-1. When the operator answered, it was always Shalaya Crump and she always gave me the best directions to get to her. Once I got to where she was, every single time we kissed with a little tongue and pressed our fronts together until I woke up sore.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 134 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 134, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 134, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 134, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 134, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 134, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 134, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

In real life, between January and March, I thought of all kinds of ways to show Shalaya Crump I was special. I wrote every plan down in this thick college-lined notebook I should have been using to take notes in English class. The notebook was called GAME in bold capital letters. Sometimes I would think I had the perfect plan, but after a few days, I knew that whatever GAME I came up with wouldn’t be good enough for her. Then, on the first day back down to Melahatchie for spring break, I got lucky.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 135 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 135, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 135, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 135, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 135, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 135, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

GAME found me…

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 136 0
profile_photo
Apr 14
Olasubomi O Olasubomi O (Apr 14 2023 7:32AM) : Laymon's Use of Satire and commentary more

Laymon uses satire to poke fun at the literary world and the way writers are often celebrated more for their identity and marketability than for their actual writing. The character of Kamikaze serves as a parody of the stereotypical “tortured artist” who is more concerned with self-promotion than with creating meaningful art.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 136, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

BOOK ONE

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 137 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 137, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

CHITLIN CITY

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 138 0
profile_photo
Apr 15
Daeja D Daeja D (Apr 15 2023 8:10AM) : Summary and Satire more

The level of competition and achievement that one wants to be pursued in this chapter. LaVander is more focused on beating his white competitors, but City also is wondering what is happening regarding the past spelling competition. Satire between the both of them from arriving at the competition.

profile_photo
May 26
Mason W Mason W (May 26 2023 10:00PM) : Satire and summary more

In this chapter, the focus is on the level of competition and achievement that one desires to pursue. LaVander seems to be more interested in surpassing his white competitors, while City is curious about the outcome of the previous spelling competition. The interaction between the two is marked by satire as they both arrive at the competition. The paragraph can be rewritten to improve its clarity and coherence. In this chapter, the emphasis is on the desired level of competition and achievement. While LaVander is primarily focused on besting his white competitors, City is preoccupied with the results of the previous spelling competition. As they both arrive at the competition, their interaction is characterized by satire.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 138, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

(BOOK ONE, pages 21 – 31)
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 139 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 139, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Sphincter,” LaVander Peeler’s father said from the driver’s seat. “Use it.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 140 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 140, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 140, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Sphincter,” LaVander Peeler started. “A tightened sphincter can be a sign of_”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 141 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 141, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 141, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

The Astro van started veering over to the side of I-55 and LaVander Peeler Sr. clicked the emergency lights on. “Boy, what I tell you?” He smacked LaVander Peeler right below his heart and grabbed a fistful of Izod. “Don’t matter if you think you know the word. That’s what the white folks think you supposed to do. Don’t be too doggone eager. Act like you got some sense.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 142 0
profile_photo
Apr 14
Suhailah R Suhailah R (Apr 14 2023 7:36AM) : Commentary on culture more

“Don’t matter what you think…”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 142, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 142, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 142, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 142, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 142, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 142, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 142, Sentence 7 0
profile_photo
Apr 27
Ebenezer L Ebenezer L (Apr 27 2023 7:18AM) : Abuse more

Could his dad be abusive? I don’t think so I honestly think his father wants the best for him and understands the reality of being a black man in a white climate.

profile_photo
Apr 27
Allison L Allison L (Apr 27 2023 9:45PM) : LaVander's dad more

Could LaVander’s father’s violent actions and hostility towards him be a reason why he projects it onto City at school and bullies him?

LaVander Peeler cut his wet eyes to me in the back seat.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 143 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 143, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Don’t worry ’bout that boy,” he told him. “Y’all play too much. This is bigger than both of y’all. I want you to do exactly like them winners.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 144 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 144, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 144, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 144, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 144, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

LaVander Peeler Sr. sat back in the driver’s seat and placed his hand on his son’s knee. “Ask for the pronunciation. Ask for the etymology just like the Indians do. Say the word back to them as proper as you can. Say, ‘I am going to use “sphincter” in a sentence now.’ No gon’ or gonna. You are ‘going to’ or you ‘shall.’ And then you say the sentence as slowly as you can. I’m talking about a whole second in between each word, LP.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 145 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 145, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 145, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 145, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 145, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 145, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 145, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 145, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 145, Sentence 8 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 145, Sentence 9 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Smile, too. If you wanna talk with the doggone judges, don’t break no verbs. Just say, ‘Well, all things considered,’ then say what you got to say. Toss some composure and thoughtfulness at they ass, too. And hold your doggone head up.” He grabbed LaVander Peeler by the chin and tilted it up. “LP, listen to what I’m telling you. They think you were lucky to get here. Both of y’all.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 146 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 146, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 146, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 146, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 146, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 146, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 146, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 146, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 146, Sentence 8 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 146, Sentence 9 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

LaVander Peeler Sr. looked at me like I said something wrong.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 147 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 147, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“These folks think they so slick, trying to decorate the contest with a little color. You didn’t come here to lose, son,” he said. “You are better and more prepared than all these folks put together because you had to be. Listen to what I’m telling you. This is bigger than you. You understand?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 148 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 148, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 148, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 148, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 148, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 148, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 148, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

LaVander Peeler didn’t answer. I closed Long Division and watched still water flood the gutters of LaVander Peeler’s eyes.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 149 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 149, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 149, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

The trip to the Coliseum took about twenty minutes and all twenty minutes, except for LaVander Peeler Sr. nicely greeting me, were filled with him testing LaVander Peeler and getting mad at every little thing he did wrong. But it wasn’t hateful mean. It really wasn’t. It was loving mean, at least to me. If Mama drove me to the contest, it’s exactly the loving mean I would have wanted her to share with me, just not in front of LaVander Peeler. That would’ve been too shameful.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 150 0
profile_photo
Apr 27
Ebenezer L Ebenezer L (Apr 27 2023 7:19AM) : Fatherhood more

I love the good representation of a present father who can chastise their child for something stupid.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 150, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 150, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 150, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 150, Sentence 4 0
profile_photo
Apr 14
Suhailah R Suhailah R (Apr 14 2023 9:13PM) : Satire (juxtaposition) more

“loving mean”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 150, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 150, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“You left your brush,” LaVander Peeler Sr. said as I got out of the van. He handed it to me and shook his hand side to side. I told him thank you and felt sorry that I had to crush his son in front of millions.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 151 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 151, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 151, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 151, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

But I also felt something else as I walked into the Coliseum. There was something wrong with Long Division, the book I’d borrowed from Principal Reeves’s office. Even though the book was set in 1985, I didn’t know what to do with the fact that the narrator was Black like me, stout like me, in the ninth grade like me, and had the same first name as me. Plus, you hardly ever read books that were written like you actually thought. I had never read the words “chunky vomit” in the first chapter of a book, for example, but when I thought about how I’d most not want to be treated, I thought about chunky vomit.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 152 0
profile_photo
Apr 17
Olasubomi O Olasubomi O (Apr 17 2023 9:19PM) : I like how City talks about this book inside the book. Brilliant piece.
profile_photo
Apr 24
Amadou D Amadou D (Apr 24 2023 9:53PM) : city more

I agree brings a little excitement he is basically reading his own life thru the book

profile_photo
Apr 27
Ebenezer L Ebenezer L (Apr 27 2023 7:20AM) : Father more

His father sounds like a real father, I can see a father saying this. Credits to the author for such good dialogue

profile_photo
Apr 27
Ebenezer L Ebenezer L (Apr 27 2023 7:23AM) : book more

I like how the author was able to create a book inside of the book. It adds a layer of complexity

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 152, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 152, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 152, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 152, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 152, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I’m not saying the City in that book was exactly like me. I hadn’t read enough of Long Division to know for sure. Still, though, I just loved and feared so much about the first chapter of that book. For example, I loved that someone with the last name “Crump” was in a book. Sounds dumb, but I knew so many Crumps in Mississippi in my real life, but I had never seen one Crump in anything I’d read. And you know what the scariest part of the book was? Near the beginning of the first chapter, the name “Baize Shephard” appeared.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 153 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 153, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 153, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 153, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 153, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 153, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 153, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 153, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

A girl named Baize Shephard lived right next to my grandma’s house in Melahatchie, Mississippi, and she had gone missing three weeks ago. Folks made it a big deal because she was an honor student and a wannabe rapper and some folks say she liked girls. Baize did this rhyme over this Kanye beat about Trayvon Martin and James Anderson called “My Hood to Your Hood,” which got around 18,000 hits. When Obama visited Mississippi after his reelection, he said we needed to treat all our missing children with the same care and vigilance. Ever since then, you’d have a Baize Shephard update every day on the news and Grandma and her crew started their own country investigation. I understood it could have been coincidence that my name and Baize Shephard’s name were in this book with no author, but it still made me feel strange and lightweight afraid to keep reading, especially since my mind should have been on winning that contest.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 154 0
profile_photo
Apr 14
Suhailah R Suhailah R (Apr 14 2023 9:16PM) : Political commentary more

-obama’s comments on missing children

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 154, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 154, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 154, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 154, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 154, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 154, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Walking to the green room in the Coliseum was crazy, just like Uncle Relle said it would be. Grown white folks were looking at us like we were giving out $400 shopping sprees at the new Super Target by Northpark Mall, and LaVander Peeler was eating it up, saying “All things considered and moving his hands too much when he talked.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 155 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 155, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 155, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

When we got to the green room, a lanky woman with an aqua fanny pack around her waist and the name “Cindy” on her left breast came up to us.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 156 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 156, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“We’ve heard so much about you two and your ordeal with Hurricane Katrina. And good Lord, all that oil y’all had to deal with on the coast,” she said. “It was God’s will that you’re here with us and we’re gonna take great care of you. Eat all the fruit salad and corn bread y’all want before the event. Get good and full.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 157 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 157, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 157, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 157, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 157, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 157, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I looked at LaVander Peeler and just started brushing my hair. Long front strokes. Short side strokes. “You know we’re from Jackson, right?” I asked her. “Not the coast. Where you from?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 158 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 158, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 158, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 158, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 158, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 158, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 158, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 158, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Oh, we heard about that.” She ignored me and pointed at the brush. “So cute. But there will be no props beyond this point.” She held out her hand for my brush. “We can’t change the rules just for you, no matter how special you gents are. This might not be the Scripps Spelling Bee, but this is our national competition and we’ve got one shot to do it right. We will be televised live and seen on digital cable by millions of folks around the globe. The eyes of the world are upon Mississippi tonight and we can’t have our special kids up there with brushes, can we?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 159 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 159, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 159, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 159, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 159, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 159, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 159, Sentence 6 0
profile_photo
Apr 14
Suhailah R Suhailah R (Apr 14 2023 9:20PM) : Social Commentary more

She called his brush a prop and basically said that City wasn’t special enough for rules to be changed

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 159, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 159, Sentence 8 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 159, Sentence 9 0
profile_photo
Apr 14
Suhailah R Suhailah R (Apr 14 2023 9:21PM) : Social Commentary, "our special kids" more

Reminds me of the “token black friend concept” or people of color being used for diversity points

“I ain’t giving up my brush,” I told Cindy as LaVander Peeler and I walked into our personal dressing room.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 160 0
profile_photo
Apr 24
Amadou D Amadou D (Apr 24 2023 10:05PM) : culture more

ethnic background difference because you only really see black african americans carrying around hairbrushes

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 160, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

When we got into the room, LaVander Peeler just looked at me and didn’t say a word. He looked and smelled the same, but he wasn’t LaVander Peeler from Hamer any more. LaVander Peeler looked older, madder, glowier, and–I guess–realer than ever. “City, I shall keep it one hundred, as you say. You are embarrassing the fuck out of me,” he said in a tone I’d never heard him use. “This ain’t school no more. You are really blowing it.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 161 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 161, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 161, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 161, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 161, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 161, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 161, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 161, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Blowing what?” I asked him and waited for an answer. He just stood shaking his head side to side. “Why can’t you ever just bust jokes like everybody else at school? Why you gotta be so serious and try so hard to bully people?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 162 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 162, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 162, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 162, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 162, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 162, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Me? I don’t bully nobody. You’re the bully.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 163 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 163, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 163, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 163, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“How am I the bully?” I asked him. “And what am I blowing?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 164 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 164, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 164, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 164, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Everything. You blowing everything, but that’s what I expected.” He started lotioning up his neck. “All things considered, it just would have been nice if you placed in the top ten. I’m winning this shit with or without you, though. I will not lose.’

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 165 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 165, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 165, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 165, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 165, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 165, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 165, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Then what?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 166 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 166, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Then I’ma beat them in whatever else they put in my way,” he said. “Everything. All things consid-ered, I will never lose to these people. Ever. They need to know that. When I’m married to Malia Obama and living in the biggest house in their neighborhood, they need to know they will never beat me.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 167 0
profile_photo
Apr 15
Alexandria T Alexandria T (Apr 15 2023 2:26AM) : Satire (Irony) more

In the first chapter of the book LaVander calls City a “Fat Homosexual” because his house is like a rich white lady’s garage or it’s big. Now LaVander is claiming that he wants to live in a huge house with Malia Obama.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 167, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 167, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 167, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 167, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 167, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 167, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Nigga, Malia Obama don’t even know you exist,” I told him. “What is she gonna want with a goofy with a fucked-up fade, who talks fake-proper all the time?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 168 0
profile_photo
Apr 19
Deja P Deja P (Apr 19 2023 11:38PM) : “Nigga, Malia Obama don’t even know you exist,” I told him. “What is she gonna want with a goofy with a fucked-up fade, who talks fake-proper all the time? more

I found this hilarious because in this generation this is commonly used when someone says they are gonna be with some type of celebrity knowing they wont even fit the “criteria”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 168, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 168, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Whatever,” he said. “All things considered, I don’t expect you to understand. These people just need to know.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 169 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 169, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 169, Sentence 2 0
profile_photo
Apr 18
Olasubomi O Olasubomi O (Apr 18 2023 9:44PM) : LaVander's excessive use of the phrase "all things considered" gradually becomes infuriating.
profile_photo
Apr 27
Ebenezer L Ebenezer L (Apr 27 2023 8:14AM) : Lavander more

He acts too fancy. I understand why people hate him

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 169, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“And you winning this competition is gonna show them whatever it is that they need to know?” asked him. “Fool, forget white people. Why don’t you try to win this for your real people? Because that’s what I’m doing. I’m winning this for all the real chubby poor niggas in Mississippi with tight waves and contentious demeanors.” He looked at me with lightweight awe in his eyes. “You like that sentence, right? And maybe you could win it for all the tall Mississippi niggas with, you know, good breath and flip phones and messed-up fades that don’t quite fade right. You feel–“

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 170 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 170, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 170, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 170, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 170, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 170, Sentence 5 0
profile_photo
Apr 18
Olasubomi O Olasubomi O (Apr 18 2023 9:47PM) : Another satirical statement. At this point, I am beyond convinced the Kiese Laymon can make it as a stand-up comedian if he chooses. His sense of humor is brilliant.
profile_photo
Apr 27
Ebenezer L Ebenezer L (Apr 27 2023 8:14AM) : Humor more

Kiese laymon’s use of humor is great

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 170, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 170, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 170, Sentence 8 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 170, Sentence 9 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“City,” he cut me off. “You and I both know you shouldn’t even be here. That’s what’s so funny about all of this.” He turned toward me and smirked. “And you know exactly what I mean,” he said. “Think about it. At the school competition, what word did they give you?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 171 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 171, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 171, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 171, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 171, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 171, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 171, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 171, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I knew what the word was, but I wasn’t about to say it. There had been three of us in the finals. We were all supposed to get five words. If all of us got every word, our school sent three reps to state. Everyone knew Toni Whitaker was going to win. She had the highest GPA in the ninth grade and never made less than 100 percent in English. Toni got “coup d’etat” for her last word. We’d all heard the word but had no clue how to use it in what the judges called a dynamic sentence. LaVander Peeler got “in-fanticide” and I got…

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 172 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 172, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 172, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 172, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 172, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 172, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 172, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 172, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 172, Sentence 8 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 172, Sentence 9 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“‘Chitterlings,’ City?” LaVander Peeler asked. “‘Chitterlings’? And you had the nerve to brush your hair while getting all country with it. I’ll never forget your dumb ass. You stood up there with no shame, and said, ‘My grandma couldn’t understand why the young siblings from up north refused to eat the wonderful chitterlings upon finding out they came from the magical bowels of a big-eyed hog named Charles.'

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 173 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 173, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 173, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 173, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 173, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 173, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 173, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 173, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“I was nervous,” I told him. “Wait. I thought I had the hardest word. How many folks know that ‘chitlins’ and ‘chitterlings’ are the same word? You didn’t know, did you?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 174 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 174, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 174, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 174, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 174, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 174, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“They knew,” he said, “and that’s why they gave you that word. I know you see it. Everybody else does. You get them Black words every time the championship is on the line.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 175 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 175, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 175, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 175, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 175, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Black words?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 176 0
profile_photo
Apr 14
Suhailah R Suhailah R (Apr 14 2023 9:24PM) : Social commentary?
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 176, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“All things considered, you can spin your sentences fairly well,” he said.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 177 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 177, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“You think so?” I asked him.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 178 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 178, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 178, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Yeah,” he said, ’cause your dumb ass will say anything. But you ain’t even on a regional level as far as really spinning these sentences go. They want you here. My daddy and Principal Reeves even said it.” He turned his back to me and started laughing to himself. “I bet these contest people give you ‘hyper-tension’ for your first word tonight.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 179 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 179, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 179, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 179, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 179, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 179, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 179, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

‘Hypertension’? That’s a Black word?” That’s all I could come up with.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 180 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 180, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 180, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 180, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Exactly. It’s so simple and Black,” he said. “Just like your dumb Black ass. And, by the way, only simple Black people get ‘hypertension,’ and compared to ‘capriciously,’ they might as well have given you something easy like ‘homosexual,’ because that’s a compound word, too. And, all things consid-ered, that’s what you are: white homeless fat homosexual City who is going to get hypertension after he loses this competition to LaVander K. Peeler.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 181 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 181, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 181, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 181, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 181, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 181, Sentence 5 0
profile_photo
Apr 27
Allison L Allison L (Apr 27 2023 9:47PM) : LaVander more

LaVander cares too much about what white people think of him but it also seems like he calls City white as a way to insult him?

“‘Homosexual’ is a compound word?” I asked him. “What’s the ‘K’ stand for?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 182 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 182, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 182, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 182, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

LaVander Peeler started laughing and humming the beat to the Piggly Wiggly commercial. I put my brush down on my bag and gently went over the top of my head with the palm of my hand. Mama and Uncle Relle had never said anything to me about getting Black words or about how the people at the competition wanted me there. I couldn’t understand why they needed me if they already had LaVander Peeler.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 183 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 183, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 183, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 183, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 183, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

It didn’t make sense.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 184 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 184, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Let me ask you one more question, LaVander. Let’s say you’re right. Why would they need me if they already got you?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 185 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 185, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 185, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 185, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

LaVander Peeler looked at me like I was crazy. “What’s wrong with you? They think it’s all about them, not us. They feel good about themselves just by having us in the contest. But they’re in for a surprise.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 186 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 186, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 186, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 186, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 186, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 186, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Why?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 187 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 187, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Because, like I said, this exceptional African American is not letting these white folks win this contest. They messed up when they let me in. Come along if you want to. All things considered, I have to get my clothes on and start focusing.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 188 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 188, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 188, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 188, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 188, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

LaVander Peeler acted like I wasn’t even in the room by stripping out of his clothes and into his outfit for nationals. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do, where I was supposed to look. I glanced up once and saw him butt-booty naked, pulling up his boxers. I didn’t get why he brought a change of boxers for the contest. Maybe he was always changing his boxers in the bathroom of Hamer. Maybe changing his boxers at strange times, not just saying “All things considered,” was really the weirdest thing about LaVander Peeler.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 189 0
profile_photo
Apr 18
Olasubomi O Olasubomi O (Apr 18 2023 9:56PM) : And you stood there watching?....jeez!
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 189, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 189, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 189, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 189, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 189, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 189, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I didn’t want to tell you this, but I think I should. LaVander Peeler’s pubic hair was some of the nappiest I’d ever seen in my life. I’m talking about it looked like a black cabbage patch of tight balled-up cabbages. The truth is that LaVander Peeler was skinnier than me by a good thirty-four pounds, just like every other boy in my grade, but his sack was much rounder, wrinklier, and older-looking, too. I think I had plenty of width on him in the privacy area, but I couldn’t be sure.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 190 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 190, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 190, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 190, Sentence 3 0
profile_photo
Apr 18
Olasubomi O Olasubomi O (Apr 18 2023 9:58PM) : I commend your creative use of imagery but I didn't need to read this City!
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 190, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 190, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I really couldn’t.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 191 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 191, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

We were both in there writing words on paper and practicing asking for the Latinate when Cindy came in without knocking. “Gents, turns out you’re right. City, you can have your brush with you as long as you want. My boss understands cultural difference and wants to make you as comfortable as possible. This is going to be a global experience. So you should wear these, too.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 192 0
profile_photo
Apr 15
Alexandria T Alexandria T (Apr 15 2023 2:32AM) : Satire (Exaggeration) more

Having a wave brush is considered a cultural difference to the white people in the competition.

profile_photo
Apr 15
malyia j malyia j (Apr 15 2023 4:07AM) : I would consider that a culture difference because you really see white people with hair brushes trying to get waves
profile_photo
Apr 17
Alexandria T Alexandria T (Apr 17 2023 10:50PM) : Satire (Exaggeration) more

Having a wave brush is considered a cultural difference to the white people in the competition.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 192, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 192, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 192, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 192, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 192, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 192, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

She handed us two Rocawear button-ups.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 193 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 193, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I looked at LaVander Peeler. He looked at me. And for the first time, his look asked me what I thought. All I could really think about was what he saw when he looked at me. I know he saw ashy hands and a wave brush. But I knew in that second that he couldn’t hate me. He didn’t have to like me, but he definitely couldn’t hate me when there was so much work for both of us to do in the next three hours. We had to show everyone, including white folks, chubby jokers with tight waves, and skinny jokers with suspect fades, just what was possible.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 194 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 194, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 194, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 194, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 194, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 194, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 194, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 194, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 194, Sentence 8 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I reread the first chapter of Long Division until it was time for us to perform.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 195 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 195, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

When we left our dressing room, we walked into the general prep room where some of the competitors walked around, talking with each other and mouthing sentences. I scanned the room the same way I do when coming into any room where it is obvious most of the people aren’t Black and Southern.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 196 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 196, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 196, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Over in the corner were the two white boy twins from Louisiana. They had “Katrina’s Finest” airbrushed in brown block letters on the back of these tight dirty sweatshirts. The twins were outside a huge group of white kids huddled in the corner looking at something. The kids at the back were all on their tippy toes trying to see over the cluster of about fifteen kids. You could see that the white kids kept fake yawning, and rocking these half smiles. Between white faces and white shirts, I saw a cheek and a neck that was a little less dark than mine. And to the left of that cheek was a folded forearm that was close to LaVander Peeler’s color. I started to get a terrible déjà vu feeling.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 197 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 197, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 197, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 197, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 197, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 197, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 197, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 197, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 197, Sentence 8 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I tapped LaVander Peeler on the shoulder and pointed to the crowd. He walked toward the other contestants, got on his tiptoes, swiveled his head a bit, and started scratching the scalp part of his fade. Then he walked out of the room for almost two whole minutes.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 198 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 198, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 198, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 198, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

When LaVander Peeler came back in, he looked at me, exhaled, and shook his head again before walking to the other corner of the room and slumping in the corner. I got to rubbing the top of my head with the palm of my hand and followed him.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 199 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 199, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 199, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“What is it?” I asked him. “What happened?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 200 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 200, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 200, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 200, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

LaVander Peeler looked up at me, eyelids half covering the brown of his eyes, bottom lip just hang-ing. “They got us,” he said on volume two, when he’d just spent five minutes talking to me on volume seven.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 201 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 201, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 201, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Why?” | looked over at the crowd again.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 202 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 202, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“They got us.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 203 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 203, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Cindy came in and told us to get in line. As the crowd broke up, they taped our respective states on the back of our shirts. “LaVander Peeler, look,” I said, and pointed to these two Mexican kids with Arizona tags on their shirts. Arizona is the state where the governor made a rule that Mexican kids couldn’t learn Mexican history in high school and another rule that said you could try to arrest Mexicans as long as you thought they were Mexicans. During one of our Mexican Awareness weeks, Principal Reeves taught us that Arizona was becoming the Mississippi of the Southwest.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 204 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 204, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 204, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 204, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 204, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 204, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I thought that was good for Arizona. I knew LaVander didn’t.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 205 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 205, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 205, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

LaVander Peeler got in line as he was told. He didn’t pout or whine. LaVander Peeler’s eyes had that slick mix of shock and shame. I can’t say that he was crying because tears didn’t pour down his face, but he had more water cradling his red eyeballs than I’d ever seen in the face of someone who wasn’t actually crying.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 206 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 206, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 206, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 206, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 206, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Your eyeballs are sweating. Or is that piss?” I asked him, trying to make him laugh. LaVander Peeler ignored me. Still water flooded the bottoms of his eyes from the time he got his Mississippi tag until we reached the stage, the crowd, and those white-hot lights.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 207 0
profile_photo
Apr 14
Olasubomi O Olasubomi O (Apr 14 2023 7:33AM) : Laymon Use Of Satire more

Laymon uses satire to comment on the legacy of racism and its impact on black identity. The character of Mama, a black woman who is ashamed of her race and tries to pass as white, represents the internalized racism that many black people struggle with due to centuries of oppression and marginalization. Laymon also critiques the way white people often appropriate black culture without truly understanding or respecting its significance.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 207, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 207, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 207, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 207, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 207, Sentence 5 0
profile_photo
Apr 27
Ebenezer L Ebenezer L (Apr 27 2023 8:18AM) : Lavander more

Thank God he is crying, I really dislike him and his character

WORDS, WORD, WORK.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 208 0
profile_photo
Apr 18
Hayley B Hayley B (Apr 18 2023 10:09PM) : Satire and Summary more

With this competition and noticing the different treatment that many contestants got, City notice it and was sick. When getting his word on stage and even hearing the word that LaVander got her wondered. Why are they giving these “black words” especially the word given to City…. “niggardly”.

profile_photo
May 26
Mason W Mason W (May 26 2023 10:03PM) : Satire and summary more

Upon observing the competition and the contrasting treatment of contestants, City became disturbed. As he took the stage and heard the word that LaVander received, he began to ponder the reasons behind the allocation of these so-called “black words,” particularly in his own case with the word “niggardly.” The use of such language, which has origins in bigotry and discrimination, was deeply troubling to City. It was clear to him that there was a need for greater sensitivity and awareness around the use of language, especially in public contexts such as competitions. By speaking out against this issue, City hoped to raise awareness and prompt change in the way that language is used and understood in society.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 208, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

(BOOK ONE, pages 32 – 37)
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 209 0
profile_photo
Apr 19
Amadou D Amadou D (Apr 19 2023 1:56AM) : use of satire more

This work emphasizes the ridiculousness of standardized language, the nonsense of cultural assimilation, and the struggle of African Americans for respect. The erroneous sense of superiority and the necessity to adhere to white cultural norms are represented by the character LaVander Peeler. Beatty uses comedy to highlight the ongoing fight for racial justice and equality in America and to encourage more direct and frank discussions about racial issues and structural racism. The political parts of the book are based on its criticism on racism’s background and legacy as well as the necessity of group action to overthrow repressive regimes.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 209, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I sat on the left side of the stage, third seat from the aisle, and LaVander Peeler sat in the same seat on the other side of the stage. At the end of my row was the one Mexican girl. At the end of LaVan-der Peeler’s was the one Mexican boy. I looked at their name tags for the first time. Jesse Cruz and Stephanie Cruz. And the words “Jesse” and “Stephanie” were in quotations.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 210 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 210, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 210, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 210, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 210, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 210, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 210, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I thought to myself that if ever there was a time to bring my Serena Williams sentence game to the nation, this was it. With all that still water in his eyes, LaVander Peeler was in no shape to win, or even compete. I figured he’d miss his first sentence, or maybe he wouldn’t even try, and then he’d have to sit on that stage for two long hours, with drowning red eyeballs, watching me give those fools that work.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 211 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 211, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 211, Sentence 2 0
profile_photo
Apr 27
Ebenezer L Ebenezer L (Apr 27 2023 8:18AM) : Hating more

I’ve been praying on his downfall for a long time

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 211, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“We’d like to welcome you to the Fifth Annual Can You Use That Word in a Sentence National Competition,” the voice behind the light said. “We’re so proud to be coming to you from historic Jack-son, Mississippi. The state of Mississippi has loomed large in the history of civil rights and the English language. Maybe our next John Grisham, Richard Wright, Alice Walker, William Faulkner, or Oprah Winfrey is in this contest. The rules of the contest are simple. I will give the contestant a word and he or she will have two minutes to use that word in a dynamic sentence. All three judges must agree upon the correct usage, appropriateness, and dynamism of the sentence. We guarantee you that this year’s contest will be must-see TV.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 212 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 212, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 212, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 212, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 212, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 212, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 212, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 212, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 212, Sentence 8 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Before we begin, we’d like our prayers to go out to the family of Baize Shephard. As you all know, Baize is a young honor-roll student who disappeared a few weeks ago in the woods of Melahatchie, Mississippi. We will be flashing pictures of Baize periodically throughout the night for those of you watching live in your homes. If you have any information that might help in the investigation, please alert vour local authorities. Let us take a moment of silence for Baize Shephard.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 213 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 213, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 213, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 213, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 213, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 213, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“LaVander Peeler,” the announcer resumed, “is our first contestant. I’m sure most of you know that LaVander tied for first place in the state of Mississippi competition with our second contestant, Citoven Coldson.” Seemed weird that we were going to be first and second. “LaVander Peeler, your first word is ‘lascivious.””

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 214 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 214, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 214, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 214, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 214, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

LaVander Peeler stood up with his balled fists at his sides. He stepped toward the microphone and looked down at his feet.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 215 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 215, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 215, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“If lascivious photographs of Amber Rose were found on Mr. White’s office computer,” LaVander began, “then the odds are higher than the poverty rate in the Mississippi Delta that Mr. Jay White would still keep his job at the college his great-great-grandfather founded.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 216 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 216, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

LaVander Peeler walked right back to his seat, fists still clenched. No etymology. No pronunciation. The crowd and the contestants started clapping in spurts, not understanding what had just happened. I was clapping the skin off my hands when they called my name. I stepped to the microphone, pumping my fist and looking at LaVander Peeler, who still had his head tucked in his chest.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 217 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 217, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 217, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 217, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 217, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 217, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 217, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Citoyen, we’d like to welcome you, too.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 218 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 218, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Thanks. My name is City.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 219 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 219, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 219, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Your first word, Citoyen, is… ‘niggardly.'

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 220 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 220, Sentence 1 0
profile_photo
Apr 27
Ebenezer L Ebenezer L (Apr 27 2023 8:20AM) : Research more

I’m so happy that I searched this word up.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 220, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Before uttering a syllable, I ran back to our dressing room and got my brush.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 221 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 221, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“I just think better with this in my hand,” I told the voice when I got back.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 222 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 222, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“No problem. ‘Niggardly,’ Citoyen.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 223 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 223, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 223, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“For real? It’s no problem?” | looked out into the white lights, hoping somebody would demand they give me another word- not because I didn’t know how to use it, but because it just didn’t seem right that any kid like me should have to use a word like that, not in front of all those white folks.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 224 0
profile_photo
Apr 15
Alexandria T Alexandria T (Apr 15 2023 2:37AM) : Satire more

This is a social commentary on how Black kids are treated in competition. Although this isn’t a racist word it’s strange that they would give the Black kid this word to use in a sentence.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 224, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 224, Sentence 2 0
profile_photo
Apr 18
Hayley B Hayley B (Apr 18 2023 9:48PM) : Stood out to me more

When you have word like “niggardly” and you see the spelling and you give it to and African American child… that just seems tooo perfect and wrong. Those white people see what it is.

“Etymology, please?” I asked him.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 225 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 225, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 225, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“From Old Norse nigla.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 226 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 226, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Nigla? That’s funny. Am I pronouncing the word right? ‘Nigga’dly.’ Pronunciation, please.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 227 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 227, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 227, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 227, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 227, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 227, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Nig-gard-ly,” he said. “Citoyen, you have thirty more seconds.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 228 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 228, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 228, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I kept squinting, trying to see out beyond the lights, beyond the stage. “Okay. Y’all have time limits at nationals, huh? I know the word, but it’s just that my insides hurt when you say that word,” I whispered into the mic.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 229 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 229, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 229, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 229, Sentence 3 0
profile_photo
Apr 27
Ebenezer L Ebenezer L (Apr 27 2023 8:26AM) : Weird more

I don’t understand why he is acting so childish, I get asking for information but to make jokes when you are struggling seems stupid to me

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 229, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Is that your sentence, Citoyen?” the voice asked.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 230 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 230, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I sucked my teeth and sped up my brushing. “You know that ain’t my sentence.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 231 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 231, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 231, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Citoyen. You have ten seconds.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 232 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 232, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 232, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I slowed my brushing down and angled myself toward LaVander Peeler. “Um, okay, I hate LaBander Veeler” I said.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 233 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 233, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 233, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Is this your sentence, Citoyen?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 234 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 234, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“No. Um, I truly hate LaBander Veeler sometimes more than some of y’all hate President Obama and I wonder if LaBander Veeler should behave like the exceptional African-American boy he was groomed to be in public by his UPS-working father, or the, um, weird, brilliant, niggardly joker he really is when we’re the only ones watching.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 235 0
profile_photo
Apr 15
Alexandria T Alexandria T (Apr 15 2023 2:39AM) : LaBander Veeler more

City made a really good point in this sentence to say that LaVander was groomed to act the way he does by his father. It shows that it’s not completely his fault.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 235, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 235, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I brought the brush to my waist.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 236 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 236, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

The judges looked at me for about ten seconds without moving before they turned toward each other. The head judge covered the microphone and started whispering to the other judges.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 237 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 237, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 237, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Noooo, Citoyen,” he finally said. “We are so, so sorry. That is not the correct, appropriate, or dynamic usage of ‘niggardly’ in a sentence. An example of correct, dynamic usage would be Perspiration covered the children who stared incessantly at the woman in the head wrap since she insisted on being so niggardly with the succulent plums and melons. Please have a seat.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 238 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 238, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 238, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 238, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 238, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 238, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I started brushing the skin on my forearm, then pointed my brush toward the light.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 239 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 239, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

That’s all I could see.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 240 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 240, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I walked toward my seat, then turned around and headed back to the microphone. “I mean, even if I used the word right, I still would’ve lost. Plums and melons? You see that, don’t you?” The buzzer went off again. I threw my brush toward the light and the buzzer kept going off. “That’s messed up, man,” I told them. “What was I supposed to do?” I saw Cindy offstage to the right, motioning for me to sit down.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 241 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 241, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 241, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 241, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 241, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 241, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 241, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 241, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 241, Sentence 8 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 241, Sentence 9 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Forget you, Cindy! Look at LaVander Peeler over there crying. I hate that dude. Naw, I mean really hate. I be sitting at home sometimes praying that someone will sew his butt hole tight so he could almost die from being so backed up. I’m serious, but look at that nigga over there with tears in his eyes, looking crazy as hell on TV. It don’t make no sense.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 242 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 242, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 242, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 242, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 242, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 242, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 242, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 242, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Now look at them Mexicans.” The buzzer went off again. I turned around and looked at the Mexican girl on my row. “You think it’s hard for y’all in Arizona? Look at us. Look at us. They do us like this in our own state. Ain’t nothing these white folks can do to make you feel like me and LaVander Peeler feel right now. They scared of y’all taking their jobs and cutting them in they sleep. They scared of us becoming Obama or O-Dawg. I mean, do y’all even call yourself Mexican? Ain’t this a competition for Americans? Peep how they made slots for Mexicans but you don’t see no slots for no Africans or no Indians. When I say Indian, I mean Native American. Where the Native Indian and African players at? Shid.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 243 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 243, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 243, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 243, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 243, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 243, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 243, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 243, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 243, Sentence 8 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 243, Sentence 9 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 243, Sentence 10 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 243, Sentence 11 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 243, Sentence 12 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 243, Sentence 13 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 243, Sentence 14 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 243, Sentence 15 0
profile_photo
Apr 18
Hayley B Hayley B (Apr 18 2023 9:49PM) : Satire more

City wasn’t wrong for what he said maybe his presence could be slightly different but it is true to wonder why there isn’t a Native Indian or African players.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 243, Sentence 16 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Stephanie stood up, stretched her back, walked right up to my face, kicked me in my kneecap, and said, “Please sit your fat ass down.” She whispered in my ear, “I’m trying to help you out. Seriously. You have no clue how you’re playing yourself right now.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 244 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 244, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 244, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 244, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 244, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

The buzzer went off again.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 245 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 245, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I put one hand on top of my belly blubber and started going over the top of my head with the palm of my other hand.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 246 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 246, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Short, fluid strokes.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 247 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 247, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“I ain’t playing myself. Shoot. What was I supposed to do?” I said to everyone one more time. “Bet you know my name next time. And I bet you won’t do this to another little nigga from Mississippi. Shout out to my Jackson confidants: Toni, Jannay, Octavia, Jimmy, and all my country niggas: Shay, Kincaid, and even MyMy down in Melahatchie just trying to stay above water. I got y’all. Death to all our opposition. President Obama, you see how they do us down here while you up there calling us thugs? You see?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 248 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 248, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 248, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 248, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 248, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 248, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 248, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 248, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 248, Sentence 8 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 248, Sentence 9 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 248, Sentence 10 0
profile_photo
Apr 14
Suhailah R Suhailah R (Apr 14 2023 9:38PM) : Political commentary
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 248, Sentence 11 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

With that, I walked off, right past my chair, past the Mexican girl who’d kicked me, directly into the backstage area. Then I turned around and walked to the middle of that stage.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 249 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 249, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 249, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“And fuck white folks!” I yelled at the light and, for the first time all night, thought about whether my grandma was watching. “My name is City. And if you don’t know, now you know, nigga!”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 250 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 250, Sentence 1 0
profile_photo
Apr 27
Ebenezer L Ebenezer L (Apr 27 2023 8:29AM) : stupid more

stupid, why did he act so immature like

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 250, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 250, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 250, Sentence 4 0
profile_photo
Apr 14
Suhailah R Suhailah R (Apr 14 2023 9:39PM) : Social commentary more

sounds like a song lyric

CLICK THAT.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 251 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 251, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

(BOOK ONE, pages 38 – 49)
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 252 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 252, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

During the first mile of the walk home, I flip-flopped between looking at the cover of Long Division and watching my feet miss most of the huge cracks in the asphalt on Capital Street. Every time I stepped on a crack, I thought of all the folks in Mississippi and the Southern Region who saw the contest live on TV and all the people around the globe who might see it later. The second mile walked on the sidewalk down North State Street, and every time I missed a crack, I thought of the folks who would hear about what I did on the internet. I figured that everything I did would be sent in Facebook links with messages like, “Jade, clink that link, girl. I just can’t.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 253 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 253, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 253, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 253, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 253, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 253, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Everyone I knew would see what I did. Worst of all, Grandma would see it and be completely embarrassed when she went to church next Sunday. Everyone would look at her and say stuff like, “It’s okay, Sister Coldson. Your grandbaby ain’t know no better.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 254 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 254, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 254, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 254, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 254, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I walked into the apartment and sat down on the edge of Mama’s bed. I wondered if Mama made it to the contest or if someone called her cell and told her what happened. Either way, Mama was probably on her way home to give me a legendary back beating. She would cry while doing it, too, I figured, and think she failed. But maybe for a second, I thought, Mama would understand that I was completely stuck on that stage.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 255 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 255, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 255, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 255, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 255, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 255, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

One way to curb the back beating I was going to get was to write down my version of what hap-pened. If I wrote about it, Mama would think I learned something from it. It also could count as the homework Ms. Reeves gave me. The only problem was that Mama took our used laptop to work with her, so I wrote on a blank page in Long Division.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 256 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 256, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 256, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 256, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 256, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

If you watched the edited version of the Can You Use That Word in a Sentence contest on YouTube tonight you know that I hate LaVander Peeler and I have a head full of waves that could drown you and your barber. Public speaking isn’t even in my top eight pleasures, but I still tied for first place in the Fifth Annual State of Mississippi Can You Use That Word in a Sentence contest.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 257 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 257, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 257, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

After writing for about thirty minutes, I went back in the garage and glanced at the clock. It was 8:50. The competition was supposed to be over at 9:00. I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t help turning on the TV.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 258 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 258, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 258, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 258, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 258, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

One of the Katrina twins was on his way back to his seat and the crowd was doing that underexcited clapping, which meant he couldn’t appropriately use the word he was given in a sentence.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 259 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 259, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Great try, Patrick,” the voice said. “You’ve represented New Orleans, city of refugees, exquisitely tonight, and you can place no worse than third if our final two contestants get their words right.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 260 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 260, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 260, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

With that, the Mexican girl walked onstage.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 261 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 261, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Stephanie,” the voice said, “if you can use this next word correctly in a dynamic sentence and our last finalist misses, you’ll be our new champion. Thank you for blessing our stage with your presence.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 262 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 262, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 262, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

The camera panned the rest of the competitors sitting in the background who were looking either sad and salty or just happy to be there. And sure as shit, there was LaVander Peeler to Stephanie’s right, head still down, fists still balled up.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 263 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 263, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 263, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Stephanie, your word is ‘cacodoxy.'

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 264 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 264, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 264, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Lord have mercy.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 265 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 265, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I’d never heard that word before. And when the spelling popped up on screen, I felt terrible for her. Stephanie went through etymology and pronunciation.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 266 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 266, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 266, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 266, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

She held her hands behind her back. Then she started tugging on her ponytail and tapping her left foot on the front of her right foot. She stood still with her hands right on her hips and started looking up at the ceiling.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 267 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 267, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 267, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 267, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Fifteen seconds, Stephanie.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 268 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 268, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“You people really do think you’re slick,” she said, loud enough so we could hear it, and started her sentence. “The man behind the desk is not only annoying, he also suffers from keen halitosis and severe cacodoxy, causing him to make my brother and me put our names in some quotations.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 269 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 269, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 269, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

The buzzer sounded. “No, Stephanie, I’m sorry. ‘Cacodoxy,’ a noun, is an erroneous doctrine, like ‘Up with hope and down with dope.'

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 270 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 270, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 270, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 270, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 270, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Are you serious?” she asked without leaving immediately. “You won’t even use it in a sentence?” She sat down with her arms folded tight against her tummy, and you could see her mouth the words “That was so fucked up” before tucking her head into her chest.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 271 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 271, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 271, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 271, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Work, I thought. She gave them that work!

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 272 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 272, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 272, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Our last competitor is, surprise, surprise, LaVander Peeler,” the voice said.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 273 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 273, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

LaVander Peeler walked up to the microphone the same way he had before his first word, “lascivi-ous.” “You can do it,” I said to the screen. “I’m sorry I left you.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 274 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 274, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 274, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 274, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Seems like a lifelong dream might actually come true for this special young man,” the voice said. “LaVander Peeler, if you use the next word correctly, Mississippi will be proud to call you our National Can You Use That Word in a Sentence champion. LaVander Peeler, your final word is..

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 275 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 275, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 275, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 275, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

LaVander Peeler raised his head and looked right into the light.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 276 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 276, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

.. chitterlings.'

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 277 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 277, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 277, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

In the background, Stephanie shot her head up, too. LaVander Peeler didn’t blink at all. Again, he asked for no etymology. He balled his fists tighter and watched the light. I could not believe what was happening. “Don’t do it,” I said to the screen. But I wasn’t sure what it was I didn’t want him to do. And neither was LaVander Peeler.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 278 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 278, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 278, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 278, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 278, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 278, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 278, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 278, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 278, Sentence 8 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

He opened his lips slightly and stood there in front of the light. Watching his parted lips shaking made me think I understood what LaVander Peeler was feeling and doing on that stage. Since the first day I met LaVander Peeler in eighth grade, he’d made it clear that he would always consider all things–including ways of being an exceptional African American, ways of winning all contests, and ways of using language to shield him from being just another Black boy. Considering all things prepared him to win the regional contests, but it didn’t prepare him for what it would feel like to not be given a chance to really lose. I didn’t get it until that second. It wasn’t at all that we were there just for decoration, like LaVander Peeler Sr. said. LaVander Peeler and I, or LaVander Peeler or I, were there to win the contest. They’d already decided before the contest even began that one of us needed to win. The only way they could feel good about themselves was if they let us win against the Mexican kids, because they didn’t believe any of us could really compete. Yeah, we were all decoration in a way. But it was like LaVander Peeler, specifically, was being thrown a surprise birthday party by a group of white people who didn’t know his real name or when his birthday actually was.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 279 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 279, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 279, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 279, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 279, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 279, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 279, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 279, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 279, Sentence 8 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 279, Sentence 9 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 279, Sentence 10 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 279, Sentence 11 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Maybe LaVander Peeler thought I understood we were all being given an unearned birthday party, and that I did what I did onstage to show other chubby Black Mississippi boys with contentious demeanors that dignity and pride and keeping it one hundred were more important than being white folk’s decorations.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 280 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 280, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

But it wasn’t.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 281 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 281, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

That’s what I realized, looking at LaVander Peeler shaking on that stage. In order to be the first Mississippi Black boy with a head full of waves to win a national contest in anything, you had to actually win–not make a speech about why the contest wasn’t fair after vou lost.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 282 0
profile_photo
Apr 27
Allison L Allison L (Apr 27 2023 9:50PM) : Satire?
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 282, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 282, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“‘Chitterlings,'” he began. LaVander Peeler paused again and looked behind him, then hard to his right, then turned hard to his left. He looked back into the light, tears finally streaming down his face, and said, “Citoyen’s grandmother couldn’t understand why the young sibling from up north refused to eat the wonderful chitterlings upon finding out they came from the bowels of a big-eyed hog named Charles.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 283 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 283, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 283, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 283, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

No bell went off for a good eight seconds. Then, out of nowhere, balloons fell from the top of the stage. Popguns went off! That “Harlem Shake” song played. Blizzards of confetti fell in front of the eye of the camera as Cindy and two of the judges walked onstage with their hands over their heads.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 284 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 284, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 284, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 284, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 284, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 284, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

The voice behind the light screamed, “LaVander Peeler, you have done the unbelievable! Times are a-changing and you, you exceptional young Mississippian, are a symbol of the American Progress. The past is the past and today can be tomorrow. LaVander Peeler, do you have anything to say? Would you like to thank your state, your governor, Jesus Christ, or your family for this blessing?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 285 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 285, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 285, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 285, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 285, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 285, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

.. who entered the kitchen like a monster and asked,” LaVander Peeler said, “Why are y’all eating all my children?’

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 286 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 286, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

The music completely faded out and the balloons and confetti stopped coming down. Cindy held the trophy right next to LaVander Peeler and he said it all again: “Citoyen’s grandmother couldn’t understand why the young sibling from up north refused to eat the wonderful chitterlings upon finding out they came from the bowels of a big-eyed hog named Charles who entered the kitchen like a monster and asked, ‘Why are y’all eating all my children?’

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 287 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 287, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 287, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“I’m saying that ‘chitterlings’ are the children of hogs. All things considered, I’m saying it literally, too, not metaphorically. Chitterlings are the children of hogs.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 288 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 288, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 288, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 288, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“But you already used it correctly, LaVander Peeler,” the voice said. “And you did it quite dynami-cally, I might add.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 289 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 289, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 289, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“All things considered, I’m saying that chitterlings are the children of hogs.” With that, he closed his teary eyes and tucked his head into his chest. The crowd gasped. And I did, too.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 290 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 290, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 290, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 290, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 290, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Cindy slyly did the glide offstage with the trophy. LaVander Peeler went and sat back in his seat. The camera stopped focusing on LaVander Peeler and instead just panned all the competitors.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 291 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 291, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 291, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 291, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Then from the left side of my screen, LaVander Sr. marched out and yanked his son by the crease of the elbow off that stage. A few seconds later, a woman I assumed was Stephanie’s grandma came onstage and started pointing at Stephanie and telling her to get up and go. Eventually, Stephanie got up on her own, with her arms still folded, her head still tucked in her chest, looking at the ground. She walked off the stage, but not before she threw a finger sign right at the camera.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 292 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 292, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 292, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 292, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 292, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

A few seconds later, the voice behind the light walked right across the front of the camera and onto the stage. The voice bent and whispered something in the ear of the twin from New Orleans who was also in the finals. A few seconds later, one of the twins was holding LaVander Peeler’s trophy over his head with one hand, and the other twin joined him with both of their backs to the crowd. The twins let everyone know that as crazy as the night had been, the trophy was definitely in the hands of its rightful owners, Katrina’s Finest.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 293 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 293, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 293, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 293, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 293, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I turned the television off and sat on the floor of the garage with one of Mama’s old brushes. I wanted to get nice with myself at the thought of something I knew. But there was too much I didn’t know, like when Mama was coming home, how hard I’d get my back beat, if LaVander Peeler would be my best friend now, how folks would talk to us all around Jackson, what made me say those things to the Mexican brother and sister, and how LaVander Peeler collected the courage to go from Fade Don’t Fade to that adolescent Black superhero onstage.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 294 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 294, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 294, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 294, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I knew I could never ever hate LaVander Peeler again after that night. And crazy as it sounds, that was enough to make me feel good about throwing the brush under the bed, getting nice with myself like a true champ, and writing my story until Mama came home to tell me why what I did was wrong for me, wrong for Black people yet to be born, and wrong for the globe. Mama would tell me this, I figured, while crying and giving me the legendary back beating of my life.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 295 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 295, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 295, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 295, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

And after the back beating, I’d tell her not to cry. I’d tell her that I understood why I deserved the welts on my arms and back. And when she was quiet and gently rubbing the welts up and down, I’d turn around and say, “Mama, all things considered, I feel like I love LaVander Peeler.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 296 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 296, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 296, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 296, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

But when Mama finally came home, none of what I thought would happen really happened. I didn’t get beaten. Mama didn’t even tell me what I did wrong. Quiet as it’s kept, she barely said a word to me. She just folded up in her bed and kept crying on the phone to my grandma, saying, “I’m so sorry, Mama. I’m so, so sorry.” And since Mama didn’t whup my back, I didn’t tell her I felt like I loved LaVan-der Peeler, not just because it might make her remember that she didn’t whup my back, but because I didn’t actually know what I meant. I didn’t think my body wanted to kiss or even grind up on LaVander Peeler. But I also knew that no one on earth could make me happier or sadder than that boy either. That felt like love to me.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 297 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 297, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 297, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 297, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 297, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 297, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 297, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 297, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 297, Sentence 8 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 297, Sentence 9 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 297, Sentence 10 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

The phone kept ringing the next morning and Mama told me not to answer it. I wanted to ask her why it was ringing so much and why I couldn’t answer it but I’d made it this far without a back beating and I didn’t want to chance it.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 298 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 298, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 298, Sentence 2 0
profile_photo
Apr 19
Hayley B Hayley B (Apr 19 2023 11:22PM) : Humor more

City didn’t know what his mom was thinking but he is try not to get his behind whooped.

Forty minutes later, we were headed to the bus station. Mama didn’t say a word to me the whole trip. She bought my ticket when we got to the bus station and waited in her car until I got on the bus.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 299 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 299, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 299, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 299, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Then, just like that, Mama left.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 300 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 300, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

No “I love you.” No “See you later.” No “Behave yourself.” | was headed to Melahatchie, Mississippi, for four days to stay with Grandma.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 301 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 301, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 301, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 301, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I walked all the way to the back of the bus and person after person, no matter whether they were old, young, Black, brown, clean, or dusty, was messing with their cell phones and bootleg iPods. Some folks were talking. Some folks were listening. But most were texting. I walked to the back of the bus hating all the sentences I imagined those folks writing, hearing, and reading, and I pulled out Long Division.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 302 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 302, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 302, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 302, Sentence 3 0
profile_photo
Apr 18
Hayley B Hayley B (Apr 18 2023 10:07PM) : Stood out more

Mama probably was fighting between knowing that City wasn’t completely wrong but also didn’t respect his image and let them white peoples get to him.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 302, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 302, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Five minutes after the bus took off, I got a tap on my right shoulder. I turned and one of the girls who had been two seats in front of me was now sitting right next to me, and her friend was sitting in the seat in front of me. Both were looking me dead in my face. They were cute up close, but cute in two different ways.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 303 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 303, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 303, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 303, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 303, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

The cuter one was slightly sleepy-eyed. I liked that. She looked at the cover of Long Division and said, “Who wrote that book?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 304 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 304, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 304, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 304, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“I’m not sure,” I told her.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 305 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 305, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“We going to Waveland,” she said. “Where you going?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 306 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 306, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 306, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Melahatchie, to stay with my grandma.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 307 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 307, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“You heard of that girl they call Baize Shephard?” she asked me.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 308 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 308, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“That’s her real name,” I told her. “They don’t just ‘call’ her that. She live next to my grandma.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 309 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 309, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 309, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 309, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“You the boy from the game last night, right? The one with the brush who was cutting up on them white folks?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 310 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 310, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 310, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Yeah, I guess.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 311 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 311, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Sleepy Eyes looked at her friend in front of us. “Told you that he was the one with the brush,” she said. “The one from that private school.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 312 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 312, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 312, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 312, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I almost forgot the new brush was in my hand. I started brushing to help me with my nerves. “Fannie Lou Hamer ain’t no private school,” I told her.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 313 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 313, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 313, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 313, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“This girl right here.” She pointed to her friend, whose eyes weren’t sleepy at all. Truth be told, her eyeballs were so large and round that when you looked at her you wondered how she could ever sleep. She was wearing this muscle shirt that would’ve fit just right except her pregnant-looking belly made it cut off too soon. The girl had plenty of stretch marks on her stomach, too. As someone who had plenty of stretch marks himself on his biceps and waist, I always liked stretch marks on girls, even if it was on the front of their bellies.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 314 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 314, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 314, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 314, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 314, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 314, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 314, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“She told me that she wants you to holler at her,” Sleepy Eyes said. “She tweeted on her phone this morning that she think you was smart and fine, even if you heavy.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 315 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 315, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 315, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“No, I don’t,” Stretch Marks said laughing. “I don’t think you fine. I don’t even know him. Stop lying, V!”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 316 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 316, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 316, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 316, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 316, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Sleepy Eves just looked at Stretch Marks for a full eight seconds without saving a word. Then she looked back at me. “She told me that she wishes she could take a video with you for her Facebook with you saying one of your sentences.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 317 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 317, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 317, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 317, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Okay,” I told her and got next to Stretch Marks while Sleepy Eyes taped us. “My name is City,” I said into the camera phone, “and meeting these two cute girls right here on the way to Melahatchie made a day that started off sour as warm buttermilk into a day destined to taste something like a banana Slurpee.” I looked at Stretch Marks’s face and she was giggling her ass off.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 318 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 318, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 318, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 318, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Can we touch your brush?” Sleepy Eyes said to me and put her phone in her pocket.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 319 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 319, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 319, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I I handed it to her. “That’s a different brush than the one I threw at the contest.” She smelled tthe brush and she handed it right back.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 320 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 320, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 320, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 320, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“”I get why you said what you said to that Mexican girl,” she told me. “It was funny. I just don’t think she had nothing to do with it, though. See what I’m saying? I’m just wondering how come you didn’t go off on her brother like you went off on her.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 321 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 321, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 321, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 321, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 321, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 321, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“I don’t even know,” I said. “That’s a good question. I said what I said because she was there, in my row, and I wanted her to feel worse than us. But…”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 322 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 322, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 322, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 322, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 322, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“But you don’t know what that girl was feeling. You just didn’t even care.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 323 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 323, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 323, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“That’s true,” | told her. “And after I left, she put in that work.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 324 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 324, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 324, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“I would never be in one of those games but if they did me like they did you, I would have done the same thing you did,” she told me. “I would have gone off on the brother though. That would be wrong, too, but that’s what I would do. I woulda called him a li’l Mexican b—–.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 325 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 325, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 325, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 325, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 325, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“I don’t know about all that ” I told her.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 326 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 326, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Why you don’t know. That’s pretty much what you did. You just snapped. You treated that girl like a little Mexican b—–. And you went off on the Native folks for no reason at all. We both saw it. Would you do anything different if you could do the game over?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 327 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 327, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 327, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 327, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 327, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 327, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 327, Sentence 6 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 327, Sentence 7 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

That was one of the best questions anyone ever asked me. “I shouldn’t have never left my boy, LaVander Peeler, up there by himself.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 328 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 328, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 328, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Shoot. At least you internet famous now,” she said.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 329 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 329, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 329, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Is he internet famous, too? LaVander Peeler, I’m talking about.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 330 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 330, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 330, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“I don’t think so,” she said. “That nigga was too serious to be internet famous.”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 331 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 331, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 331, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I tried to look smooth and real-life famous as Stretch Marks and Sleepy Eyes walked back to their seats. They kept looking back at me and smiling every few minutes. Sleepy Eyes’s smile made me embarrassed for her, but it also made me want to go in that stanky bus bathroom and get nice with myself.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 332 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 332, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 332, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 332, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I picked up Long Division and was reading when three white boys who looked like they were in college came from the front to the back of the bus with their camera phones ready.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 333 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 333, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

One of the boys put his phone in his pocket and sat next to me. “Sorry if we’re bothering you, big guy,” he said. “It’s just that was some funny shit you did last night, man. Could I record you saying, ‘The Ronster, I hate you more than LaVander Peeler?'

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 334 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 334, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 334, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 334, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 334, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 334, Sentence 5 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“I guess I could say that,” I told the boy, and looked up at Sleepy Eyes and Stretch Marks, who were still watching me.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 335 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 335, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

“Cool,” the white boy said. “And if you wouldn’t mind, could you say your name after you tell me you hate me?”

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 336 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 336, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 336, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

It felt like a weird thing to do, especially given what I had said about white folks at the contest, but as soon as he got his phone ready, I put my internet-famous arm around his neck, looked right into the phone held by his friend, and said, “The Ronster, I hate yo white ass more than I hate LaVander Peeler.” I looked at the white boys steady smiling. “My name is City.” The Ronster was giggling trying to angle himself so he could get a selfie.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 337 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 337, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 337, Sentence 2 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 337, Sentence 3 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 337, Sentence 4 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I felt gross.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 338 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 338, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

I kept looking up from Long Division on the way to Melahatchie, but Sleepy Eyes and Stretch Marks didn’t turn around and smile at me for the rest of the trip.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 339 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 339, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

Not even once.

New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 340 0
No paragraph-level conversations. Start one.
New Thinking Partner Conversation New Conversation
Paragraph 340, Sentence 1 0
No sentence-level conversations. Start one.

DMU Timestamp: March 17, 2023 08:51

General Document Comments 0
New Thinking Partner Conversation Start a new Document-level conversation

profile_photo
Apr 15
Suhailah R Suhailah R (Apr 15 2023 3:52AM) : Summarizing each chapter's use of satire and commentary more

While reading chapters 1-4 of Long Division book one, I was easily able to catch on to Kiese Laymon’s writing style. His commentary, social and political, and use of satire plays a big part in the book. It adds on to the relatableness and shows how contemporary the book is. In the first chapter the use of satire, “I don’t think he understands what the sentences he be using really mean” for example, helps build the foundation of the book to understand the characters. In chapters 2-4 I noticed more of Laymon’s commentary, from talking about Obama to cultural references like “black words”.

Image
0 comments, 0 areas
add area
add comment
change display
Video
add comment

Quickstart: Commenting and Sharing

How to Comment
  • Click icons on the left to see existing comments.
  • Desktop/Laptop: double-click any text, highlight a section of an image, or add a comment while a video is playing to start a new conversation.
    Tablet/Phone: single click then click on the "Start One" link (look right or below).
  • Click "Reply" on a comment to join the conversation.
How to Share Documents
  1. "Upload" a new document.
  2. "Invite" others to it.

Logging in, please wait... Blue_on_grey_spinner