I'm Perry from Santa Barbara and I support the slowdown meeting a wide diversity of poets

and their outstanding poems takes my mind and heart to a higher place.

A truth that feeds my day away from the debilitating misinformation or the plagues us.

Join me by making a gift to the slowdown today.

Go to slowdownshow.org slash donate.

I'm Major Jackson and this is the slowdown.

When I was young, I played basketball for hours.

You wouldn't believe it now, but back in a day, though I stand at just five foot eight inches, I had serious gain.

In the summers, my friend Mark and I shot baskets all day and into the evening in the schoolyard of Valk's junior high.

One night in a game of 21, though pitch dark, we magically did not miss a shot for nearly an hour.

We could have closed our eyes, anywhere on the court, and still have heard the sound of the ball swishing through the net.

As much as I enjoyed playing back then with my friends, I loved shooting hoops even more with my dad.

At times, we had an even greater synchronicity.

We played one on one.

I wished I had his height six foot three inches.

He was one of those dads who scaled down his play to build my confidence.

He demonstrated jump shots, and I showed him my latest street moves.

Once in a game of horse, I dribbled down the court, carried the ball behind my back, and while turning in the air after leaping,

eased the ball beneath my leg, then off my fingertips, a gentle layup off the backboard.

In my youth, we never lived together.

I went when I think of myself back then, always trying to dazzle him during visits, or whenever I spent time at his home.

I continually tried to prove myself worthy of his affection, which was everything to me.

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