Tag: Rise of the Storyteller

—

by

I was obsessed with black girls. I could stare at them all day, and often did. There was, in my eyes nothing so beautiful, nothing so exotic, and nothing so powerful as a black girl. I told one once that I thought she was pretty. Very sweetly, she thanked me then walked over to a…

Rise of the Storyteller 5: Punchy

—

by

A battered little girl. A panda bear. A set of fists. And a skeptical therapist. We have a lot to do in this chapter so let’s get started. One night I said something to my mother and step dad. Something like I didn’t want to go back to visit Char. Something ominous and haunting before…

Rise of the Storyteller 4: Matching Blades

—

by

I don’t think my second grade teacher, Mrs. Herring, hated children when she started teaching at 20th Street School, but by the time she got to me, I think it was starting to happen. Teaching is a punishing job. You see one kid after the next that you can’t save. Can’t save from bullying, can’t…

Rise of the Storyteller 3: Brotherhood

—

by

I had been hit for no reason. I never saw by who. I was in a crowd, then I felt a swift and sudden punch to the back. Everyone was moving around me. When I turned, I saw so many snarling faces all I could do was keep walking. When we got to the lunch…

Rise of the Storyteller 2: 20th Street School

—

by

Racism is a feature of the human condition that can be studied in many ways. You can see it through the eyes of incarceration. You can see it in the machine of poverty. You can look at racism through the eyes of history, looking at heroes and victims. You can see it in the workplace…

Rise of the Storyteller 1: Fear and Death

—

by

Can’t picture her face. Every day she helped me with my jacket, I can remember that. Every day, when the other kids went to the coat room to put on their jackets, I took mine to my kindergarten teacher and she helped me put it on. I couldn’t work the zipper and she would always…

The Beginning of My Life

Mar 24, 2021

—

by