Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Shadow of a Nation
I really enjoyed this piece by Gary Smith. As a former athlete, it touched home on a lot of issues I dealt with in high school, though not nearly as extreme as in Takes Enemy's case. But still very similar in certain ways. I come from a tiny town as well where high school sports are it, they are the pinnacle of one's hometown existence. Certain kids are good enough to continue on with their passion in college, others are not as fortunate, but Gary Smith does a great job of portraying this contradictory little reservation town and the stress and mixed signals it sends to its youth. He also does tremendous job of describing just how short termed and temporary that pinnacle of high school sports stardom really is in the grand scheme of life. Especially when explaining how a lot of people from the reservation don't always make it back to the peak they had at one time been on, when it seemed their whole life was ahead of them. It was very relatable and easy to read for me, I love reading things like this story.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Wow! You really just drove home a lot of the same thoughts that I was having. I was pretty pumped to say the least to read your response because of the writing you did in class about football. I knew you would have a thoughtful response to this piece.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree about the small town notion that high school sports are the only thing worthwhile. Where I have struggled in the town I grew up in is, that it seems like no one can stop glorifying their high school days. It's not that these individuals have had misgivings at the caliber of the Indian reservation but, they act as if that's the only thing that's happened their whole life that matters. Sometimes, I feel like my mom truly desires for me to brag about my high school experience. I just really struggle understanding how it should seem so important because at least for me it was not at all. I get very annoyed by people not wishing to expand. I am glad you observed this as well.
Sorry for the extreme rant.