Tim Green’s Football Hero
Carter Hwang
Period 3
12/11/19
Trowbridge
Tim Green’s Football Hero
Tim Green’s football hero combines an amazing, inspirational story with great life lessons. The story of Ty Lewis, a younger brother of his NFL star brother, Thane Lewis, and his harsh upbringing with abusive aunts, uncles, bullies, and mob bosses. Yes, I said mob bosses.
The compelling story of Ty Lewis begins with him losing his parents. They die in a car accident, forcing him to move with his Uncle Gus and his Aunt Virginia. With his older brother playing football at Syracuse, Ty is left feeling alone and empty. Soon Ty’s brother, Thane, is drafted in the NFL and Ty recognizes all of the leeches trying to suck the wealth out of Thane. To pile on top of all of Ty’s problems, his uncle has ties to the mob. Once the mob finds out Ty is related to Thane, they pressure Ty into giving them inside information of Thane and the NFL.
Many lessons are learned throughout this inspirational story. At school, Ty deals with bullying. When he goes out for the football team, he gets picked on and feels hopeless. Ty’s brother provides advice, telling Ty to no back down. At practice the next day, Ty stands up to his bully by blocking him into the metal bench. This provides the lesson of not letting people push you around and that it is ok to stand up to those who pick on you or others. Another major lesson that is learned throughout the book is healthy ways to cope with loss or negative circumstances in general. Ty lives with verbally and physically abusive aunt and uncle. He is also dealing with the tragic loss of his parents. Thane, again, provides his brother with advice. He teaches Ty to play the sport he loves. Being occupied with something you are passionate about helps ease the pain of loss or the pain of your negative environment. There is a lot for the readers to take away from the great book.
Tim Green does an amazing job utilizing imagery. While reading, it is very easy to picture the scenes of the book in the reader’s mind. Mr. Green uses descriptive word choice to really burn the image of the book in the reader’s mind. Green also changes the tone frequently throughout the book. He sets a more positive tone when there are scenes with Ty and Thane, in order to really develop the bond of the brothers throughout the book. Green quickly changes to a dark, negative tone, to set the harsh reality and environment Ty endures every day of his life with his aunt and uncle.
Overall, the outstanding use of tone, descriptive diction, imagery, and valuable life lessons make this book a necessary read. While it may be a sports book, it can be easily read by all sorts of people, regardless of their interests. There are many lessons to take away from this great book. Green’s excellent storytelling makes it damn near impossible to put the book down.
Small Mindedness in the Fashion World
Carter Hwang
Period 3
Trowbridge
12/2/19
Small Mindedness in the Fashion World
In the Naperville community, everybody is the same. Especially when it comes to clothing. Guys all wear the hoodie with jeans or sweatpants. If they are feeling dangerous, they throw in a flannel too. They all lace up the nike trainers or the vans. Never stepping outside of the box. You want to know why? They are scared to.
A lot of high school is filled with judgement and criticism. Everybody has a set of watchful eyes who are quick to tell their friends the moment they see something out of the norm. Every single person is aware of this, which is why people choose to blend in rather than stand out. And this shows in the outfits people wear. There is a reason everyone is dressed pretty much the same. People do not want to handle the judgement.
The thing is, everyone wants to be successful. They want to make a lot of money, or have high influence, like a lot of celebrities we see today. It is extremely hard for people to become that because they are too scared to step outside of the box. Most of these successful celebrities are successful because of their creativity. If you look at most of the successful people we see today, you can tell how creative they are by looking at the clothing they wear.
In a GQ Article (https://www.gq.com/story/lil-uzi-vert-fit-pic-profile) they delve into the creativity of the rapper Lil Uzi Vert and how it shows in his sense of fashion. Virgil Abloh, a fashion designer who created the brand “Off White” and is now working for Louis Vuitton, stated, “He is another level of a creative being. To me he is an Impressionist painter replacing pigments with ready-made brands and clothes” Clothing is a way to describe moods and emotions. Later in the article, GQ described, “He embraces self-expression rather than self-erasure, and he occasionally dresses to send a message. During this year’s Pride Month, Uzi wore a Nike rainbow-flag T-shirt paired with rainbow Air Maxes, from the brand’s Pride collection”
While I was on Twitter, I found this article on Lady Gaga, a well known musician. (Unfortunately I Could Not Find the Article) A man was in the condo complex. He noticed one of the elevator buttons was not in use. He asked the lady in the lobby why it wasn’t in use. She answered, “She (Lady Gaga) uses that floor for her wardrobe” As you can see, Lady Gaga takes huge pride in her collection of clothes. She carefully picks each outfit to express herself.
Overall, people need to step outside of the box more. Not only in fashion, but in life as well. Society is too busy judging and degrading, rather than uplifting and encouraging.