Kirjahaku

Sidelines is an insider's look at the fascinating world of high-school football, and, beyond that, it is also about the death and rebirth of the American community. Stuart Albright uses football to explore our nation's complicated history of race and public education and to explain why some communities continue to thrive while others are slowly dying away. Sidelines tells the story of nine very different communities across North Carolina, from deep in the Appalachian Mountains where a team of Cherokee Indians carry the hopes of an entire tribe on its shoulders, to military outposts where the War in Iraq dominates every aspect of daily life. We meet resilient coaches in urban schools on the brink of state take-overs and men who lived through segregation, fire bombings, and shattered dreams. Sidelines profiles ordinary coaches and community leaders who do extraordinary things. from

Three years ago, Stuart Albright decided to quit his job as a public high school teacher. Despite numerous awards and accolades over a 17-year career, he felt empty and burned out. So Albright started to ask hard questions about what it means to serve others and what it means to be unselfish. His newest book, This is the Good Thing, is the result of that struggle - a struggle that ultimately led him to remain in his job and approach his work with a renewed sense of purpose. In the book, Albright concludes that most of us want to be good, but we live in a culture that rewards selfishness. So we reach for fame and fortune and all the trappings of success - all the stuff that is supposed to make us happy but leaves us feeling empty instead. For the past 17 years, Stuart Albright has struggled with this dilemma. Teaching in the same public high school for his entire career, Albright has experienced tremendous success and tremendous failures. These moments have led him to one hard-earned lesson: in order to be fulfilled, we have to put other people first. In This is the Good Thing, Albright argues that if we focus on ourselves, we will miss out on the many things that make life worth living. Albright makes a convincing case for Service over Self by pulling from research in psychology and sociology, as well as from his own experiences in a diverse public school. Albright challenges us to lift up the people who matter most in our lives - our co-workers, our neighbors, and our family - by placing them in the spotlight while we stand back in the shadows. This is the Good Thing is a powerful call to service.

Camden, New Jersey, is quite possibly the most troubled and dangerous city in America. But a far different story lies beneath this cold surface. It is a story of hope, of voices struggling desperately against deaf ears. In the summer of 1999, a college student named Stuart Albright arrived in Camden full of youthful idealism and a naive sense of justice. Blessed Returns is the moving, deeply personal account of a young man's coming-of-age amidst a tumultuous and life-changing summer. Albright worked at a youth facility in the heart of Camden's blighted, industrial core, and he discovered a community governed by faith and resilience in the face of unimaginable despair. It is a place filled with passionate and unforgettable characters. Moving seamlessly between a heartbreaking tale of loss and a forceful call for social change, this book is a message that cries out to be heard. It is a story laid bare with all the honesty and confession of a meaningful prayer.

Sidelines is an insider's look at the fascinating world of high school football, and, beyond that, it is also about the death and rebirth of the American community. Stuart Albright uses football to explore our nation's complicated history of race and public education and to explain why some communities continue to thrive while others are slowly dying away. Sidelines tells the story of nine very different communities across North Carolina, from deep in the Appalachian Mountains where a team of Cherokee Indians carry the hopes of an entire tribe on its shoulders, to military outposts where the War in Iraq dominates every aspect of daily life. We meet resilient coaches in urban schools on the brink of state take-overs and men who lived through segregation, fire bombings, and shattered dreams. Sidelines profiles ordinary coaches and community leaders who do extraordinary things.

The 51 adults in this collection share one thing in common: they once took a creative writing class from Mr. Albright in Room 413. Some of them have just entered the working world after college. Others are married with kids and pushing 30 years old. Some are still living in Durham, NC. Others have moved to far-away places like New York, California, Ireland, and even China. They are doctors and teachers, Olympic athletes and award-winning journalists. Some of them really struggled after high school; others haven't written much of anything since that class. But all of them are open and honest about their successes and failures. No Longer Removed from Myself demonstrates that most people really do want to make the world a better place. Our successes come in different forms. Our lives move forward in fits and starts, the ending uncertain and a little bit scary. Sometimes our dreams go unrealized. Some¬times we find happiness and joy in the most unexpected places.