"His normally strong features sagged in exhaustion, as if he were in the final hours of a battle he had been fighting for years. I stared at him, looking but doing nothing"(Moore 13).

Other Wes-

"Mary looked down at her son and uttered the words she had never said before and never thought she would have to say. 'Wes, meet your father' "( Moore 25).

"Three weeks later, Nikki, Shani, and I all stood outside our car, staring with something like disbelief at our now empty home. This was it. We were actually leaving Maryland"(Moore 37).

Other Wes-

"Wes loved football, and his athletic frame made him a natural. Even if he was just going out to play in the streets with Woody and some other friends, he wore that jersey like a badge of honor. The crimson "Northwood" that blazed across his white jersey gave him a sense of pride, a sense of belonging" (Moore 29).

My mother saw Riverdale as a haven, a place where I could escape my neighborhood and open my horizons. But for me, it was where I got lost"(Moore 48).

Other Wes-

"Besides watching Tony, Wes's first real interaction with drugs had taken place a few months earlier, just before the move out to Baltimore County" (Moore 59).

"Hip-hop had begun to play a special role in my life. It wasn't just music and lyrics. It was my validator. In my struggle to reconcile my two worlds, it was my essential asset (Moore 76).

Other Wes-

"She reached again for the first Nike box and opened it. Inside were pills, marijuana, half an ounce of powdered cocaine, and half a dozen vials of "ready rock", or crack cocaine"(Moore 73).

"Moments later the door slammed open again, hitting the wall so hard flakes of the crusty blue paint chipped off. My entire chain of command, eight large and angry teenagers, entered the room and, without saying a word, picked my mattress up off the top bunk and turned it over, dropping me five feet to the cold, hard, green-tiled floor. Welcome to military school" (Moore 89).

Other Wes-

"Four tests and eight matching plus signs later, it was confirmed. They were going to be parents"(Moore 99).

"I was now a platoon sergeant, a cadet master sergeant, and the youngest senior non commissioned officer in the entire corps. Three years ago I'd been one of the insubordinate kids first entering the gates of Valley Forge. In an ironic turn, I was now one of the ones in charge of them"(Moore 115).

Other Wes-

"As he turned the corner, he heard a yell behind him.'Stop moving and get your hands up!' Wes kept walking. He looked forward, hoping they weren't speaking to him, hoping they'd just disappear. He maintained the same pace until he caught sight of two men running toward him"(Moore 114).

"Instantly, my entire body was sucked out of the plane, and I heard-felt-the aircraft speed way. I thrashed around the wind. It wasn't me who controlled my movements but the rushing air around me. I rotated in darkness because I refused to open my eyes"(Moore 136).

Other Wes-

"He spent the next seven months building his daughters house from scratch. He sandpapered every board, hammered every nail, leveled every edge...To Wes, the house was more than just a project to complete. It was a daily reminder of why he was there"(Moore 143).

"His tribe's influence in making him a man was obvious and indelible. At that moment, I realized the journey I took was never mine alone either" (Moore 171).

Other Wes-

"...He'd known his fate would be the same. He would spend the rest of his life in prison" (Moore 156).