Excerpt from "Always Running"

In a scene from his memoir, Luis J. Rodriguez breaks a promise he had made as a six-year-old, and reveals to the reader that a trip to the grocery store is not just about getting food.

Here are all the word lists to support the reading of Grade 9 Unit 1's texts from SpringBoard's Common Core ELA series: Speak, Marigolds, Always Running, 'Race' Politics, WMDs, Chuck Liddell, Address to America's Schoolchildren, An Early Start on College, Why College Isn't for Everyone, Actually, College Is Very Much Worth It
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. possess
    enter into and control, as of emotions or ideas
    I don't know what possessed him, but then I never did.
  2. discard
    throw or cast away
    So without ceremony, we started over the tracks, climbing over discarded market carts and tore-up sofas, across Alameda Street, into South Gate: all-white, all-American.
  3. approach
    move towards
    We barely got a few feet, though, when five teenagers on bikes approached.
  4. proceed
    move ahead; travel onward in time or space
    We tried not to pay any attention and proceeded to our side of the tracks.
  5. splatter
    cause or allow to run or flow from a container
    He pushed me to the ground; the groceries splattered onto the asphalt.
  6. seize
    take hold of; grab
    Then somebody picked me up and held me while the two others seized my brother, tossed his groceries out, and pounded on him.
  7. shrill
    having or emitting a high-pitched and sharp tone or tones
    I remember the shrill, maddening laughter of one of the kids on a bike, this laughing like a raven's wail, a harsh wind's shriek, a laugh that I would hear in countless beatings thereafter.
  8. disdain
    lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike
    Up until then my brother had never shown any emotion to me other than disdain.
  9. obligation
    the social force that binds you to a course of action
    He had never asked me anything, unless it was a demand, an expectation, an obligation to be his throwaway boy-doll.
  10. plea
    a humble request for help from someone in authority
    It was his one last thing to hold onto, his rep as someone who could take a belt whipping, who could take a beating in the neighborhood, and still go back risking more--it was this pathetic plea from the pavement I remember.
Created on Thu Sep 18 17:00:24 EDT 2014 (updated Fri Sep 19 15:26:45 EDT 2014)

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