WTSP.com is the official website for 10NewsWTSP, Tampa's source for local news, breaking news, weather, radar, and live streaming video in Florida's Tampa Bay area. Get New Orleans, Louisiana latest news. Find photos and videos, comment on the news, and join the forum discussions at NOLA.com. I know it helps, I can tell you that.” — Mickey Fisher, writer-producer and show creator. Invisible Child: Dasani. It is a rare moment of belonging in a year of rootlessness. As the sun sets, Dasani and her family step out for some air. A man brushes past them, walking along West 1. Street. His hooded sweatshirt is pulled low over his face, which is dusted by a salt- and- pepper beard. He moves with the purposeful air of a celebrity in hiding.“I seen your videos,” Chanel says, stopping him in his tracks. For years, Dasani’s family had been watching the DVDs of this former convict turned fitness guru who calls himself Giant. His team, Bartendaz, combines pull- up acrobatics on city playgrounds with a militaristic message of self- improvement, steering followers away from drugs and alcohol to “the bars of health.”Giant looks Chanel up and down, noting the open beer she has sheathed in a brown paper bag.“Bud don’t make you wiser,” he observes, flashing a smile that reveals a perfect row of teeth. Chanel ignores the comment. She is already thinking through the possibilities presented by this accidental meeting. She steers Dasani to some empty pull- up bars at a nearby playground.“Show him what ya got!” she calls out. Giant, whose name is Hassan Yasin- Bradley, accepts the impromptu audition the way a famous film director takes the waiter’s latest screenplay. While Giant remains on the fringe of prime- time America, he has his share of acolytes in Harlem. Dasani springs to the bars and begins to knock out an impressive set of pull- ups, her shoulders popping with the muscles of an action figure. Giant is still chatting with Chanel when he looks over and pauses.“Whoa,” he says. Read the latest real-time news from Birmingham. See news photos and watch news videos. Stay up-to-date with the latest Birmingham breaking news from The Birmingham. Penny on her way to Houston for surgery on My 600 Lb. Penny’s story on last night’s show, “My 600-lb Life” provoked strong reactions. The latest news, breaking news and current news at Mirror.co.uk. Get all the big headlines, pictures, analysis, opinion and video on the stories that matter to you. OFFICIAL WEBSITE - Films, books, audio titles including The Secret, The Power of Henry's Imagination, Hero, The Magic, The Power, The Secret to Teen Power. Second Life official website. Second Life is a free 3D virtual world where users can socialize, connect and create using free voice and text chat. Chanel senses that she may be on to something. She explains that Dasani has been doing pull- ups in Fort Greene Park for years. She can also dance, do gymnastics, run track. All she lacks is training — of any kind. Now it is Giant’s mind that races through the possibilities. The girl is uncommonly strong. She has a telegenic smile. She’s spunky.“She seems like just the kind of girl we could use on our team,” he says, grinning at Dasani, who grins back. Giant quickly explains how his team works: It has a limited partnership with Nike that will hopefully lead to bigger things. In the meantime, the team earns modest pay in exchange for holding training clinics, and performing at concerts and other events. At the very least, he concludes, Dasani merits a proper tryout.“Meet me at the park next Saturday,” he says, leaving his number before disappearing. Dasani lies awake that night. It is the first time in her life she can see a path to something else. What exactly, she is not sure. She has not even had her tryout. But for a girl who has spent her life tempering expectations, she cannot stop herself from dreaming just a little.“I’ma save all my money so we can get a house,” she tells her mother.“Use your money for you,” Chanel says. This might explain why, in Dasani’s words, Mommy goes “loco” during an inspection of the family’s room at Auburn. Chanel lets in the inspector, who promptly demands that she surrender the family’s forbidden microwave oven. Chanel refuses. She cannot afford to buy a new one, nor can she fathom having to wait in line every night to reheat 1. The inspector leaves, and by the time two security officers with the Department of Homeless Services arrive to confiscate the microwave, Chanel has hidden it in a friend’s room. As for the inspector, Chanel offers to “punch that bitch in the face.”Dasani believes that her mother’s biggest problem is her mouth. She reflects on this as her homeroom teacher, Faith Hester, delivers a lesson that week on personal responsibility.“I don’t ever wanna hear, . They are looking for an opportunity to do something crazy and ridiculous. They have nothing to live for.”Dasani ponders this.“I am telling you to listen to your internal barometer,” Miss Hester says. All around, men are leaving the projects to report to early work shifts. Chanel stands in the cold, watching them. It seemed like a job that Chanel could perform beautifully. The woman told her about an organization that helps people with G. E. D.’s find work. For Chanel, words like “G. E. D.” end a conversation. It has been 2. 0 years since she sat in a high school classroom. She can feel like a foreigner in her own country, unable to speak the language of bank accounts and loan applications. When filling out medical forms, she stops at the box requiring a work number, frozen by its blankness.“I want my kids to be able to come see me at my job, pick up my paycheck,” she says that afternoon, standing with Dasani outside Au Bon Pain, where the day’s pastries will soon sell at a discount. At night, she replays the team’s DVDs over and over, studying the members closely. At school, she tells no one. This new dream is carried on practical terms. It is less about helping herself than about making her parents whole. In the meantime, Dasani worries about the most immediate challenge, which is to get to Harlem on time. Punctuality is a miracle in her family. On Saturday morning, there is no sign of Dasani as the Bartendaz start to warm up at the playground at 1. Street and Lenox Avenue. Soon they are causing a commotion that slows the traffic. One after another, they fly onto the bars, whipping through moves that seem to defy gravity. Some of them wear black T- shirts with the logo of a man bending a bar, his brain lit by a bulb.“Salute that mind!” Giant calls out to his followers. There is Cinderblock, Honey Bee, Sky, Earth, Water, Blaq Ninja, Salubrious and Mel Matrix. Giant’s second in command is Dr. Good Body, a self- described athletic alchemist (“the library is my alma mater”) who transforms the “base metal” of a person’s character into “gold.”Giant orbits around his team, issuing commands in a lyrical code that is impenetrable to outsiders. He is especially fond of abbreviations. A favorite is “C. A. P.” — Character, Attitude and Personality. His nickname, Giant, stands for Growing Is a Noble Thing. It is a bold name for a man who stands just 5- foot- 7. Born Warren Hassan Bradley, he grew up in the Baruch projects on the Lower East Side, where in his teens he became known as a D. J. He started selling drugs, and was sent to prison in 1. Like Dasani’s father, Giant left prison transformed. He had earned a high school equivalency diploma and devoted himself to Islam. By the time he started Bartendaz in 2. Harlem’s playgrounds. Dasani finally arrives, her mother and two siblings in tow, as the team’s practice winds down. Dressed in bright- pink shorts and matching flip- flops, she is a dwarf among titans.“What’s your name again?” Giant says.“Dasani.”“Dasani with a D?”“Like the water,” Chanel says. He turns to the group.“Everyone say, . Dasani coasts through the exercise.“Damn!” a team member says as the others whistle. Giant remains cool to the newcomer, telling Dasani “stay there, breathe” as she pedals her feet in the air while holding her head level with the bar. Her next test comes on the parallel bars, where she knocks out a set of dips in good form, and then pedals again as Giant counts aloud, shaking his head incredulously. Next, they hit the floor for push- ups. Dasani connects her hands in the shape of a diamond as she dives into a set of flawless push- ups. Then she goes for broke, clapping her hands behind her back, mid- push- up. Honey Bee captures the image on the team’s i. Pad before Dasani comes crashing to the ground, promptly dusting herself off.“Look at this! Look at this!” Giant says, running over to show Dasani the i. Pad photo. The team has drawn spectators who live as far away as Norway and Japan. This one is a local.“Excuse me,” he says to Dasani. She about to do it!”Giant smiles.“Wait till they see you in three weeks,” he says. The family is ecstatic. Supreme runs to the corner store for a dozen roses. He hands them to Chanel.“Dag, I love it here,” he says, looking at her tenderly. He is charming, she thinks, but confusing on details like payment and a promised contract. Giant, too, can spot a hustler, and he seems wary of Chanel. Malik congratulates Dasani, handing her a bottle of peach- flavored Snapple. She carries the bottle with both hands, later writing “Malcolm X grandson” on the label before stashing it in her dresser at Auburn. The next day, when Dasani’s siblings tag along to practice again, Giant senses that Chanel expects him to repeat the invitation. He skips the meal, but reassures Chanel that her daughter, like his other team members, will be compensated for events. The first one is a training clinic this Thursday. All Chanel needs to do is bring Dasani. The rest is Dasani’s job.“That’s why we got the word . Not your mom’s ability.”On Thursday afternoon, Dasani asks if her mother has heard from Giant. Chanel is tired after a long day and cannot imagine taking Dasani all the way to Harlem.“He never called,” Chanel tells Dasani. Up in Harlem, Giant had been calling repeatedly. He checks his phone, looking for a response. Dasani goes to sleep feeling crushed. She wakes at 5 a. Still feeling glum, she boards the bus on an empty stomach, sitting alone with a thin blue blanket laid carefully across her legs. Five hours later, as they approach the Capitol, Dasani presses her face to the window. It looks different here. There is space everywhere — trees, monuments, water. She can see off into the distance, her view unobstructed by skyscrapers. She is paying special attention, trying to record what she sees so she can describe it later to her sister Nijai. Remember every single detail, Nijai had implored. It is not just that her blindness prevents her from seeing it herself. It is that Washington represents Nijai’s roots, the city where she was born and last saw her mother alive. Every detail. After a tour of the memorials, the bus stops near the White House. Dasani runs to the tall, wrought- iron gate and looks between the bars. On the sidewalk, a group of protesters wearing orange suits and black hoods are chanting foreign- sounding names.“Obama, close Guant.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
December 2016
Categories |