TOWM - Part I

The Other Wes Moore - Part I

At the end of chapter 2, we discover that Moore (the author) has a love for basketball. After recently moving, he felt homesick and rather antsy, missing his old neighborhood and friends. He quickly realized that his grandparents' house, had more rules than his mother's. This meant that when the street lights turned on, he had to head home and all the chores had to be done before he was able to go outside and play. 

Moore said his "restlessness was cured only by heading out into these new streets" (42 - 43). After finishing all of his chores for the day he was permitted to go play basketball a couple streets over. 

He played basketball with some of the guys in the area and says that he "played hard, lost pretty bad, but enjoyed every minute of it" (44). He was playing with guys older, and bigger, and they all knew each other but he managed to still enjoy his time playing ball with them. 

Then Moore (the author) acknowledges something very important. He says: "From this first moment on a Bronx court, I could tell there was something special about it. The basketball court is a strange patch of neutral ground, a meeting place for every element of a neighborhood's cohort of young men" (40). 

Basketball became an escape for Moore and his neighborhood friends. All walks of life, on one court, doing nothing but coming together for the enjoyment of basketball creating a deep bond. As Wes Moore (the author) says: "We were all enclosed by the same fence, bumping into one another, fighting, celebrating. Showing one another our best and worst, revealing ourselves—even our cruelty and crimes—as if that fence had created a circle of trust. A brotherhood" (45).

For Wes Moore (the author), this court allows him to escape his reality of a troubled home life and immerse himself in an activity that brings him joy. 

I also believe that this moment in the book is the reason why chapter 2 is entitled "In Search of Home". I believe that this neighborhood court in the Bronx, five blocks over from his grandparents' house will provide a sense of  "home" for him. Not just in terms of physical space but in emotional connection, purpose, and identity. 

My "Home" -  Activities I enjoy when trying to cope with difficult situations

Just like Wes Moore (the author), feels a sense of belonging, community, and escape with basketball, I too have my escape. I am also lucky enough to call my escape, my job! 

I am a professional dancer with the Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company, a modern dance company based out of Albany, New York. Before it became my job, since I was 2 1/2, I did recreational dance classes, and when I was about 12, was when I found a deep passion for dance. At 14, I moved to New York City to train at Joffrey Ballet School which is allowing me to receive my BFA through NJCU. After graduating from JBS, I received a company position after auditioning for ESDC. 

 

For me dance has always been an escape, before I could even recognize it, I had something a lot of other children didn't: an activity that allows me to channel any emotion that I'm feeling within my mind and body into movement; a physical means of therapy and emotion processing. 

At this point now that I get paid to perform and create art with a very supportive group of dancers as coworkers, I'm lucky that I have a permanent form of emotion processing built into my schedule. If I'm frustrated with my family, and relationships with others, or am struggling with a difficult situation, I have dance to support me through it! And not many get to say it's their job! Another aspect of my job with ESDC that provides me with a sense of escape is getting to share my love of dance with children all over New York. ESDC does a lot of arts in education, which allows me to escape from any emotions that are overwhelming as well. 

Between performing, rehearsing, improvising, and teaching, my emotions such as anger, frustration, anxiousness, stress, overwhelm, or sadness I go to my job and get to dance with a lovely company of five other dancers and enter another world for that time being. "My home" or escape is dance and I am forever grateful for what dance has done for me and the fact that I can call it my job.