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DO NOW: Read the article, “Bouncing Back From The Slurs” by Damien Cave, and answer the questions.Sebastien de la Cruz had just reached the high notes — “the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air” — when his voice cracked and he suddenly stopped. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t warm up.” “Did you hurt yourself?” his father asked. Sebastien shook his head. He paced around the living room of his middle-class home here, testing his voice, his Air Jordans barely making a sound on the wall-to-wall carpet. It wasn’t a concert for thousands, but he wanted to be great. Perfect. Sebastien is 12. The boy who sang the national anthem during last year’s N.B.A. finals in a mariachi outfit, then calmly weathered the storm of ethnic slurs and complaints that followed. He has become something of a Latino celebrity — with all the praise and pressure that entails. Over the past year, he has done dozens of interviews, opened concerts for huge stars and won awards from Latino advocacy organizations nationwide. He has concluded that those who wrote on Twitter that he should go home to Mexico, calling him “wetback” and “beaner,” were a minority. “Sometimes, you know, people don’t know what they’re saying,” he said. “Maybe because they’re intoxicated, like after basketball games.” His story, though, seems to highlight something beyond that.Sebastien was born here. He does not speak Spanish, though he sings it fluently. His ties to Mexico are generations removed, and he is the son of a father who served in the Navy for 21 years, retiring a few years ago, though at times still wearing the hats and shirts from his military days like many other veterans. Their two-story suburban house holds not one, but assorted American flags — two near a bar in the living room, one on a plaque outside, a few others sprinkled about, along with books, toys from McDonald’s Happy Meals, and?musical instruments.Sebastian is a “yes, sir; no, sir” kind of boy, in the middle between a 15-year-old sister and twin 8-year-old boys, who came to singing mariachi only after discovering the outfit at a festival. “I was 4 or 5,” he told me. “I fell in love with how it looked and the elegance.” His father, Juan de la Cruz, didn’t know much about mariachi traditions. “If you want an outfit, you have to earn it,” he told his son. “You can’t just wear it.” They went to a mariachi school where the teachers were testing out new students. The teachers listened to Sebastien and were blown away. At their suggestion, the family hired a voice coach and Sebastien got his first traje de charro, the thick, embroidered suit that mariachis have worn for centuries. He now has several. Walking me upstairs to a red rolling suitcase, he pulled out a classic black-and-white ensemble, and another embroidered with blue. “Feel how heavy it is,” he said.He had started our conversation as if he were preparing to meet President Obama. Now he was just another 12-year-old showing off his stuff, having loosened up a bit, after joking that every time something important happened to him, he was playing his Xbox. That’s what he was doing when the San Antonio Spurs called him just a few hours before Game 3 to see if he could stand in for Darius Rucker and sing the anthem. It was not the first time he had done a big event on television. A year earlier, he reached the semifinals on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” so when his father asked him if he wanted to sing again, he thought nothing of it. His father said he knew performing at that level could change his son’s life, but “he thought it would be in a good way,” Sebastien said.The morning after the game, he was riding to a local TV station for an interview when he heard something on the radio about racist comments being targeted at him. Sebastien had no idea what they were talking about. His father had missed the Twitter-storm as well. The next few days included a flurry of media attention. The Spurs asked him to sing again for Game 4, leading?Mr. Obama to tweet support?for this encore. He went on to?serenade Gloria Estefan?for her birthday, and now, some Mariachi schools here report that more children are signing up. He is also learning the violin.He tries to be humble about his role in starting a conversation about what it means to be American, and Mexican-American. In terms of combating racism, he said, “I helped like half a percent.”With that, he stood up to sing. His second attempt at the national anthem, as you can hear above, was as perfect as he had hoped.What is the main idea of this article? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Highlight one piece of evidence the author uses to prove his main idea.List three ways the final paragraph makes you, the reader, feel that it is a conclusion of ideas:________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Here are some examples of persuasive essay conclusions. Each does the following: Restates the thesis in a new waySummarizes the general argument without adding new informationLooks to the futureLabel each part of the conclusion paragraphs below.Prompt: Should we close marine parks?These parks should be closed, or, at the very least, no new animals should be captured for marine parks in the future. Our society is no longer prepared to tolerate unnecessary cruelty to animals for science and entertainment. If we continue with our past crimes against these creatures, we will be remembered as cruel and inhuman by the generations of the future. Prompt: Should we beat children?In conclusion, physical punishment can be a useful method of discipline. However, it should be the last choice for parents. If we want to build a world with less violence, we must begin at home, and we must teach our children to be responsible.Apply this set up to your own writing. Here is a layout for this specific essay: - Remix the thesis statement. - Present one or two general sentences that accurately summarize your arguments (that support the thesis statement). Consider the past vs. the present or the counterargument vs. your response. - End with a statement about the future of assimilation in America. Consider at least one of the following questions:What will happen if everyone assimilates? If so, will America be a better or worse place?Will people resist assimilation more or less than they do now or than they did in the past? Why?Is it in the best interest of someone, especially (but not necessarily) an immigrant, to assimilate? What would he or she gain? What would he or she lose?Apply this set up to your own writing. Here is a layout for this specific essay: - Remix the thesis statement.- Present one or two general sentences that accurately summarize your arguments (that support the thesis statement). Consider the past vs. the present or the counterargument vs. your response. - End with a statement about the future of assimilation in America. Consider at least one of the following questions:What will happen if everyone assimilates? If so, will America be a better or worse place?Will people resist assimilation more or less than they do now or than they did in the past? Why?Is it in the best interest of someone, especially (but not necessarily) an immigrant, to assimilate? What would he or she gain? What would he or she lose? ................
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