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Sports
Essays, Memoirs & True Stories
Gritty All Day Long
I thought tryouts went great. I played catcher, just catcher. You may ask, How solid was my receiving with that lingering double vision? Well, I’m happy to report that squatting behind the plate was a miracle cure.
November 2019
Photography
Old School Boxing
In 2014, during the tense aftermath of the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, Harrison decided the young fighters at the gym needed to get to know police officers, and vice versa. So he began offering free memberships to police in D.C. and Prince George’s County. Now officers often train with ex-cons and troubled youths at Old School.
September 2019
Essays, Memoirs & True Stories
First Place
Three months before his third birthday, his Italian grandfather (on his mother’s side) set him on a proper bicycle, pushed him forward, and shouted, “Spingi, spingi, spingi!” Just like that, he rode down the driveway.
August 2019
Essays, Memoirs & True Stories
When I Was Invincible
So many times I would take risks that should have scared me but didn’t. When you grow up in a big city with hands-off parents, you become accustomed to harrowing situations. You may even come to feel that the wet plum of fear living permanently in your gut is essential to your being.
June 2017
Poetry
The Diver
The Olympic moment I remember most / Does not involve gold medals / Or bright, enthusiastic faces in the Parade of Nations.
April 2017Poetry
Eternal Moment Of Running Wicked Fast
We run so fast these letters should be slanted, fastest at dusk when our breaths burn hot coals, sweat soaking our T-shirts, sneakers slapping pavement
February 2017Essays, Memoirs & True Stories
Still Running
Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to officially enter the Boston Marathon. She wasn’t looking to make history; she only wanted to run. But in 1967 the marathon was closed to women. So she entered as “K.V. Switzer” and ran in disguise for four miles until the race director, Jock Semple, jumped off the press truck and shouted, “Get the hell out of my race!” The picture of him trying to rip the number off her chest made headlines.
February 2017
Essays, Memoirs & True Stories
Pedal, Pedal, Pedal
On a bike I have wings and a kingdom. On a bike I’m a taller, stronger, wiser version of myself — the person I wish to be on land. It’s always been this way.
January 2017
Essays, Memoirs & True Stories
My Jets Cap
One day a woman on a subway platform called out to me, “Go, Jets!” while raising her fist. Puzzled, I looked behind me and saw no one. Then I remembered: I was wearing a Jets cap.
January 2017Readers Write
Perseverance
The North Tower of the World Trade Center, the Kona Ironman race in Hawaii, a four-door Plymouth Reliant
December 2016
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