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The Basketball Diaries

The Basketball Diaries. By: Jemeny Velasco & Austin Moore Period 4. Summary:.

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The Basketball Diaries

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  1. The BasketballDiaries By: Jemeny Velasco & Austin Moore Period 4

  2. Summary: The film is an adaptation of poet and memoirist Jim Carroll's juvenile diaries chronicling his kaleidoscopic free-fall into the harrowing world of drug addiction. As a member of a seemingly unbeatable high school basketball squad, Jim's life centers around the basketball court and the court becomes a metaphor for the world in his mind. A best friend who is dying of leukemia, a coach who takes unacceptable liberties with the boys on his team, teenage sexual angst, and an appetite for heroin all begin to encroach on young Jim's dream of becoming a basketball star. Soon, the dark streets of New York become a refuge from his mother's mounting concern for her son. He cannot go home and his only escape from the reality of the streets is heroin for which he steals, robs and prostitutes himself. Only with the help of Reggie, an older neighborhood friend with whom Jim "picked up a game" now and then, is he able to begin the long journey back to sanity, which ultimately ends with Jim's incarceration in a state penitentiary. After months in the hospital, he gets out and later does a talk show about his drug life, but before that he turned down free drugs given to him by his old friend, Pedro. The film is set in the early 90s, while Carroll's actual book recounts experiences from growing up in the 60s. Jim started out as a practice basketball player, and moved on to writing his Basketball Diaries.

  3. Buy Movie At… Amazon.com - $8.99 Target.com - $8.29 Walmart.com - $10.00

  4. Books: Crank -Kristina has always been a good girl, until the summer before her senior year of high school, when her life changes forever. While visiting her long lost father, Kristina takes on the persona of Bree. Bree is everything Kristina is not – wild, flirty, bold. Bree quickly gets caught up in a world of parties and romance, and begins doing crystal meth, otherwise known as crank. Even after she returns home to the quiet suburbs, Kristina/Bree continues on her downward spiral into addiction. Beneath the Meth Moon - Laurel Daneau has moved on to a new life, in a new town, but inside she's still reeling from the loss of her beloved mother and grandmother after Hurricane Katrina washed away their home. Laurel's new life is going well, with a new best friend, a place on the cheerleading squad and T-Boom, co-captain of the basketball team, for a boyfriend. Yet Laurel is haunted by voices and memories from her past. When T-Boom introduces Laurel to meth, she immediately falls under its spell, loving the way it erases, even if only briefly, her past. But as she becomes alienated from her friends and family, she becomes a shell of her former self, and longs to be whole again. With help from an artist named Moses and her friend Kaylee, she's able to begin to rewrite her story and start to move on from her addiction.

  5. Article: 10 Reasons Not To Use Drugs at TeenZeen.org Drug use is a growing problem in the United States, especially among teens and even younger kids. This essay will explain why you should not use drugs, whether it’s marijuana, cocaine, or anything else considered illegal. The road to addiction is a long one that has many negative effects on one’s health, and this article will explain ten reasons not to use in the first place. 1. Physical Health: Inhaling drugs like marijuana clearly is dangerous. If done enough, it can have the same effects that smoking cigarettes can cause. Marijuana has five times as much tar as the same amount of tobacco. Injecting drugs with needles, however, can be fatal in a shorter time. Consider that every time the addict uses a needle by another addict, fatal diseases like AIDS can be spread. Every day, someone uses a dirty needle and later finds that he has contracted a serious illness. Addicts will also be less inclined to exercise or take care of themselves when all that matters is getting the next high. 2. Family: Drug addicts often think and act differently when using drugs. They will often steal from their family, and be more inclined to abuse them physically and mentally. As families are destroyed by alcoholism, illicit drug use can destroy them too. 3. Careers: Often, before one even attempts to get a job there is a drug test. So, before the career even begins it is over. For those who already have careers, consider that drug use increases the chances of losing a job. All the work put in can be destroyed by an addiction to cocaine or marijuana. Losing a job because of drug addiction doesn’t look good when you want to get the next job; references will be meaningless if the former boss says you were fired, and then tells the reason why. 4. Friends: Friends are often more willing to work with the drug addict because they see him as someone trying to find happiness. Where the family has to live with the addict, there is more distance for the friend. However, even friends will leave the addicted to his own choices, and decide to stop socializing with them. The addict, already losing his or her family, will have lost all social friends too. 5. Spiritual: Using drugs may seem spiritual at first. Addicts may see themselves as becoming closer with their beliefs. However, putting drugs ahead of family usually says the addict is willing to put drugs ahead of his or her God. Once it was thought spirituality could be found by inhaling or injecting something, but now few religions or cultures tolerate drug use in religious rituals.

  6. 6. Depression: Depression can turn anyone towards drugs. Pills, marijuana and cocaine offer an escape from the sadness. If the addicted continues to use drugs and lose friends and family, he will inevitably have troubles with depression. 7. Mental Illness: Even worse than depression, which people experience every day, is the fact that the chances for mental illness are higher for an addicted person. It could also be said the addicts are already acting in an insane way by choosing something like cocaine over loved ones and friends. 8. Money: Where will addicts go once they lose their job? Often, money is the major concern of addicts. Some will take to selling drugs just to get by. Either way, the user will spend most of the money they earn on more drugs. They are often willing to steal and borrow to continue using drugs. Many addicts have also turned to prostitution to pay for an addiction. They have no money left and are willing to do many things to get it. 9. School: Many studies report that addiction is highest for ages 18-28. A lot of these will be college students. While some like drinking a beer or two at the end of the school week, some use drugs every day. Consider that, with little money, troubles with family, and troubles with friends, the addict will often stop attending classes or doing homework. School inevitably suffers for any common drug addict. 10. Time: The last reason not to use drugs is all the time it takes to get them. Many addicts will spend the entire day just trying to get their next fix or buy the next bag of marijuana, cocaine, or other drug. They can spend hours using them. The addicts can finish little work while using, because the mind is somewhere else. Time is also wasted when you get caught with the drugs, and face jail time. Many consider that certain drugs should be legalized. What wasn’t mentioned here is the fact that drugs are illegal. You can spend years in prison for selling or using drugs, some worse than others. Selling drugs to others can lead to deaths. There are just too many reasons not to use drugs in the first place to even consider it.

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