After hard-fought battles to include African Americans as qualified students within the white American educational system, the opportunity for higher learning still remains a struggle. This is Troy Potter's story. He is an African American young man from inner-city Philadelphia. He grew up with dreams of becoming a basketball player but now that he's eighteen he must learn the rules to a whole new game: college. How will Troy survive at a predominantly white school? Will he be afforded the same quality of education as his fellow students? How will he learn to become a successful black man in a white world? This penetrating novel takes a close look at the world of academia from a youthful African American perspective.
An absurd account of a ridiculously absurd young man who goes to college, bringing nothing with him but a hedonistic bag of sex, drugs, rock n' reggae, and the surf culture (oxymoron). In college, he broadens his horizons, learns how to study, and to go through the motions of becoming a respectable citizen in American Society.
An absurd account of a ridiculously absurd young man who goes to college, bringing nothing with him but a hedonistic bag of sex, drugs, rock n' reggae, and the surf culture (oxymoron). In college, he broadens his horizons, learns how to study, and to go through the motions of becoming a respectable citizen in American Society.
The 50s have been idealized in nostalgia for the naivet of the populace and the birth of rock and roll music. But there were other factors at work that greatly affected the lives of the 50s generation. Factors such as the Korean police action, a military that had not yet fully accepted the idea that a soldier could be acquitted at a court-martial, and a society that wasnt quite ready for religious and racial harmony. COLLEGE-BOY LIEUTENANT is a story of a young man, STEVE STILLMAN, who joins the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) so he can complete his college career without being drafted into the Army. As he graduates, marries, and enters the service as a second lieutenant, Steve encounters a myriad of situations. His education into the Army way and his growth from boyhood to manhood in the 50s military and its culture are major factors in this sometimes humorous, sometimes serious novel. When Steve reports for duty at Fort Lee, Virginia, he leaves his new wife, LAURA, behind because she is expecting their first child in little over a month. This provides him with the opportunity to experience barracks living and to make friends with two other young lieutenants, each of a different religion. As the weeks go on, the young men experience attitude changes and are toughened by their training. They decide to attend religious services together weekly in a nearby town and the search for an acceptable religious facility is disturbing but results in an easy choice. The training progresses through classroom work where Korean Army officers are included. Language differences lead to some hi-jinx but the striking philosophical differences become apparent. When the training finally ends, Steve and one of his two friends, SKEETER WALTERS, are assigned to remain at Fort Lee. They both take 15-day leaves to make family arrangements: Steve to move Laura and their new baby to Virginia and Skeeter to marry his childhood sweetheart and move her there, too. When Steve and Laura arrive at their new apartment in Virginia, they busy themselves with the usual matters of getting accustomed to a new community. Meanwhile, Steve learns he has no real duties in the Army and he breaks a cardinal rule by asking for an assignment. Meantime, Lauras mother comes for a visit and is appalled by their living quarters, persuading them to move. There are two important developments as Steve and Laura begin to search for a new apartment. First, Steve is appointed Assistant Defense Counsel for Special Courts-Martial and the soon-to-be-discharged Defense Counsel gives him an education on the astounding military system of jurisprudence. In addition, he learns the unpleasant reason why Skeeter did not resume their friendship. When Skeeter tells Steve the apartment next to his is available, Steve and Laura decide to rent it, hoping that proximity will alleviate the problem. Steves work after appointment to the court becomes one of the main elements of this story through the several court battles that take place. Some reveal the basic unfairness of the military system while others have a dramatic or humorous twist. His blossoming abilities result in an offer to be sent to law school but an evening at the officers club and a blatant example of the dictatorial nature of the system convinces him otherwise. Meanwhile, a second job assignment - that of Post Ration Breakdown Officer - becomes another main story element. Responsible for the issue of all food at the army post, Steve learns how to wield the power of the militarys true currency, coffee. He uses it to acquire a field jacket, electric calculators, and powerful friends who save the day more than once. Woven throughout the story are the day-to-day worries of Army life, the day-to-day problems of a young married couple with a baby living in a less than conventional environment, and the humorous incidents relevant to both. One particul
Corbin is sure that something is the matter with Ted. The silence is killing him. "Did I say something wrong? Maybe I shouldn't have said anything about the scouts." Corbin's voice fills the silence, the darkness of the room. "Nah, it's not that," Ted tells him softly, licking his bottom lip. He feels himself sweating, but it's not because of the heat of the night. He's not sure how much longer he can keep this secret of his from Corbin. "Then what's the matter?" Corbin asks him. "Nothing," Ted tells him too quickly. "You've been quiet for the past week. Even with me, that's not normal. Something's eating at you. Is it your parents? If it is, you know that you can ignore them. You don't have to pick up that phone when they call you." He tells him, feeling the anger growing inside of him hoping that his parents aren't making him feel guilty for creating the life that he's wanted. "No, it's not that at all," Ted whispers to him, feeling his mouth growing dry. "Then what it is," Corbin asks him, sitting up on the bed. Ted can see his figure in the dark now that his eyes have adjusted to it. He knows that he's not going to get any sleep if he doesn't come out with it himself. "There's something that I've been meaning to tell you. Something that I've wanted to get off my chest for years now." Ted tells him, he can't believe that the words are just slipping out of his mouth. Ted can see that Corbin is getting off his bed and making his way to his. He sits down on the edge closest to Ted. "You know that you can tell me anything. It doesn't matter what it is." Corbin whispers which make it even harder for Ted to think straight. "My Sophomore year a lot of things had changed for me. That's when it all started really." Ted tells him, sitting up on his bed and pressing his back against the pillows that are behind him. Corbin doesn't say anything at all to him. He knows that whatever Ted has to say is something serious and he's been holding it in for so long that it's time for him to get it out. "It's only happened one time. Just once and I can't get it out of my head. I can't stop thinking about it." Ted swallows hard. "What?" Corbin asks him softly, feeling his heart racing. He knows that whatever it is it's quite serious.
* A Real Simple Best Book of 2019: "An essential read for parents and students." * The New York Times bestselling author of Pledged is back with an unprecedented fly-on-the-wall look inside fraternity houses from current brothers’ perspectives—and a fresh, riveting must-read about what it’s like to be a college guy today. Two real-life stories. One stunning twist. Meet Jake, a studious freshman weighing how far to go to find a brotherhood that will introduce him to lifelong friends and help conquer his social awkwardness; and Oliver, a hardworking chapter president trying to keep his misunderstood fraternity out of trouble despite multiple run-ins with the police. Their year-in-the-life stories help explain why students are joining fraternities in record numbers despite scandalous headlines. To find out what it’s like to be a fraternity brother in the twenty-first century, Robbins contacted hundreds of brothers whose chapters don’t make headlines—and who suggested that many fraternities can be healthy safe spaces for men. Fraternity is more than just a page-turning, character-driven read. It’s a vital book about the transition from boyhood to manhood; it brilliantly weaves psychology, current events, neuroscience, and interviews to explore the state of masculinity today, and what that means for students and their parents. It’s a different kind of story about college boys, a story in which they candidly discuss sex, friendship, social media, drinking, peer pressure, gender roles, and even porn. And it’s a book about boys at a vulnerable age, living on their own for perhaps the first time. Boys who, in a climate that can stigmatize them merely for being male, don’t necessarily want to navigate the complicated, coming-of-age journey to manhood alone.
On the heels of his New York Times bestselling Stories I Only Tell My Friends, Rob Lowe is back with an entertaining collection that “invites readers into his world with easy charm and disarming frankness” (Kirkus Reviews). After the incredible response to his acclaimed bestseller, Stories I Only Tell My Friends, Rob Lowe was convinced to mine his experiences for even more stories. The result is Love Life, a memoir about men and women, actors and producers, art and commerce, fathers and sons, movies and TV, addiction and recovery, sex and love. Among the adventures he describes in these pages are: · His visit, as a young man, to Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Mansion, where the naïve actor made a surprising discovery in the hot tub. · The time, as a boy growing up in Malibu, he discovered a vibrator belonging to his best friend’s mother. · What it’s like to be the star and producer of a flop TV show. · How an actor prepares, for Californification, Parks and Recreation, and numerous other roles. · His hilarious account of coaching a kid’s basketball team dominated by helicopter parents. · How his great, great, great, great, great grandfather may have inspired everything from his love of The West Wing to his taste in classic American architecture. · His first visit to college, with his son, who is going to receive the education his father never got. · The time a major movie star stole his girlfriend. Linked by common themes and his philosophical perspective on love—and life—Lowe’s writing “is loaded with showbiz anecdotes, self-deprecating tales, and has a general sweetness” (New York Post).
