“street love” by Walter Dean Myers

1. “street love” by Walter Dean Myers Troy Butler, Jr.

2. “Damien looked, he had seen her beforeHe knew her name, but not much more“Yeah, I see her,” he said. “she’s the quiet kind I don’t know her game,, or what’s in her mind.”“And if you found her in your net,” Kevin asked,“What then? Would you throw her back?Or could she be a midday snack?”“Yo, Kevin, you know I have a planAnd you know I have Roxanne. I’m not into fast foods o r the easy lineAlthough I have to admit the lady’sFine as she needs to be but canShe satisfy the brain or the heartI don’t know.” (10-11) The perfect picture for this slide would be 2 guys on a basketball court looking across the street. Damien and Kevin are hanging out on the court and they see a pretty girl walk by across the street and Kevin starts to question Damien about what their relationship would be if they had one. But Damien tells Kevin that he wouldn’t know because he’s never had a conversation longer than a couple words with her and he knows nothing more than her name. Damien also says that he doesn’t know her game and the way the thinks and if she can satisfy his mind and his heart , and he wonders what a movie would be like if her thoughts were on a screen.

3. “My head is filled with images as I stumble,Heavy-footed through this endless day.Terrible images of my mother’s faceTwisted in disbelief, her body tremblingAss the realization that her life was finishedWashed over her.Her mouth was open but all that I couldHear was the wailing of her soulAs they hustled her from the chaos of thecourtroomInto the chaos of the forevernessThat was to be her punishment”.(13) In this part of the story Junice tells how she has memories of her mother being thrown in jail for 25 years to life for possessing drugs and distributing them. When she was really a prostitute. This part also revealed how the thoughts of her mom being arrested haunted her every night. Which made her unhappy and depressed and if anyone had a look in her mind they would turn away.

4. “Yeah, it’s hard, baby It’s hard right down to the bone I said Oh, it’s hard baby It’s hard right down to the very bone It’s hard when you’re a woman And you find yourself all alone I’ve been flapping and scrapping, honey running from door to door I ain’t what I used to be, ain’t really Miss Ruby anymore Oh, daughter, daughter, daughter, Why you chasing White Girl dreams? Yes, oh, daughter, Why you chasing White Girl dreams? Them rainbow you were finding, Ain’t really what they seems to be, I told Junice to get herself on up We ain’t no trifling women.”(19) I would use a picture of somebody in a courtroom Ms.Ruby tells Junice in the courtroom that Ambers are strong women and everything's going to be okay but Junice keeps reminding Ms.Ruby she got 25 years to life. She also reveals that Junice’s mom’s name is Leslie and she was born on a cold day in December.

5. “Mommy seemed a hundred miles awayIn the yellow-lightCourtroomWith all of the people standing at the tablesAnd Mommy was smallerThan the wereEven though everybody saysShe is so tallThe judge pushed his glassesUp on his nose when he was talkingBut Mommy just lookedDown”(16) In this setting Junice’s little sister Melissa tells in detail what happened in the courtroom and the expression on her mom’s face when she looks up. She also reveals that Ms. Ruby is their grandmother when Ms. Ruby yells “be strong daughter”

6. We drone along the faceless highway That is the history of my life Telephone poles, light poles, pretending Differences, pretending they are not the Thousand pages etched of who I am Each episode was written by somebody With my dark face, my broad back, Mama, Miss Ruby, how far back do we go? Did some Bantu gap-toothed women Rise one bright morning And march willingly to the shore? To the waiting ships? We are on the Thruway Miss Ruby, her mid slipping in an out(22)