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Work Cited (Links)

https://www.biography.com/athlete/kevin-durant

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/19/books/amanda-gorman-inauguration-hill-we-climb.html

https://www.oklahoman.com/article/4815027/kevin-durant-the-oklahoma-city-thunder-stars-complete-mvp-speech

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His story and his speech show the American voice at its peak. Someone that came from the bottom but worked hard every day and reached levels of success many never come close to. He followed the American ideal of hard work and was rewarded with being a professional athlete and was regarded as the best in the world when he won MVP. Just like other successful people in the US, he had to put in work everyday into his craft to become successful.

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In his speech he mentions, "The odds were stacked against us. Single parent with two boys by the time you were 21 years old. One of the best memories I had was when we moved into our first apartment, no bed, no furniture and we just sat in the living room and just hugged each other. We thought we made it."

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This was one of the people she talked about in the poem. Just the brief story about him alone helps add on to the American ideal of hard work that is present in the poem. People during Covid had to work hard to maintain enough money to feed their families and have the necessities. Frontline workers sacrificed their lives to make sure people stayed healthy and safe. This is the definition of the ideal hard work, everybody during covid had to give their all.

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In the poem it mentions, “Trimaine is an educator who works nonstop, providing his community with hotspots, laptops, and tech workshops, so his students have all the tools they need to succeed in life and school.”

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This quote and the story shows that the pilgrims and Bradford had to work hard everyday to keep the ship afloat in the rough conditions. On top of the journey, the pilgrims and Bradford need to harvest their own resources and start a settlement, which requires long days of hard work. The pilgrims' hard work is the reason why their mission was successful and why they managed to survive in the settlement.

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In his journal he described, “In sundry of these storms the winds were so fierce and the seas so high, as they could not bear a knot of sail, but were forced to hull for divers days together.”

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William Bradford - "Of Plymouth Plantation"

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William Bradford - "Of Plymouth Plantation"

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William Bradford was a pilgrim on a journey for salvation and religious freedom. He wrote a journal titled, “Of Plymouth Plantation” in which he explained his trip to America on September 6, 1620. On the ship were a number of pilgrims looking for the same ideals as Bradford. Their only resources were that of which they brought on the boat. They were starting a new settlement from scratch. This by itself is a very difficult task, but the journey to America was just as challenging.

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Amanda Gorman - "Chorus of the Captains"

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Amanda Gorman - "Chorus of the Captains"

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Amanda Gorman is a poet and a human rights activist born in Los Angeles, California. Amanda Gorman gained a high amount of popularity after reading one of her other poems, “The Hill We Climb”. The public reception to her work was very positive and her other books and poems have risen in popularity. At the young age of twenty three, Amanda Gorman has a bright future ahead of her in the American Literature career. The poem that presented the ideal of hard work the best, was her work, “Chorus of the Captains,” in this poem Gorman praises the citizens and workers of America for working extra hard during Covid at home and at work.

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Kevin Durant is a basketball super star and began his NBA career in 2007 as the second pick in the draft. Kevin Durant was born and raised in the outskirts of Washington, D.C. in Suitland, Maryland. He raised by a single mother with three siblings. His dad left the family when he was an infant. The family was very poor and were living in different apartments frequently. Kevin Durant was blessed with height and ended up reaching the height of 6'10". He quickly fell in love with the sport of basketball when he was a kid. He continued to pursue his passion with the support of his mother. He eventually reached the NBA as a high lottery pick (He was one of the best players in college). In his first season he was already one of the better players in the league. After sometime in the league he won the highest award of Most Valuable Player in the 2013-2014 season. When he received the award he gave a powerful speech about his come up and how he worked hard everyday to reach the top.

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Kevin Durant delivers famous ‘You the Real MVP’ 2014 NBA MVP acceptance speech | ESPN Archives