The Return of the • Sabin Blazers •

Story and Pictures byStudents of Sabin Elementary School

The Return of the Sabin Blazers

Story and Pictures byStudents of Sabin Elementary School

Published by the Portland Trail Blazers

*

* September 11

This book is a gift from the students of Sabin Elementary to thechildren of New York City and allthose affected by the horrific eventsof September 11, 2001.

Special thanks to the New YorkKnicks and the Kips Bay Boys &Girls Club, who worked to helpconnect students across a nation,bringing us all closer together.

Scottie Pippen sat thinking about the letter he hadreceived. The letter read:

Dear Scottie,

My name is Sean Jones. I am 8 years old. I go toSabin School. Do you remember visiting us lastyear? I like to ride my roller blades. I have a prob-lem. In my class the kids like to make fun of mebecause I am ugly. They call me ugly and tease mebecause my dad is black and my mom is white. I getvery upset when they tease me. Can you help me?

Thank you,Sean

Derek Anderson was thinking about a letter he hadreceived the day before. How could he help the little girl?

Dear Derek,

My name is Anna Simpson. I play basketball in PEand at recess. I am in fourth grade at Sabin School.My favorite thing at school is dancing on the drillteam. It is so much fun.

But I have a problem. I used to live with my mom,but she had problems and I had to go into fostercare with my brother. I miss my mom. Some kids onthe drill team found out that I am in foster care andnow they say mean things to me like, “nobody lovesyou” and “you don’t even have a real family.” Itmakes me cry. I don’t want to go to drill team any-more. What can I do to make them stop sayingthose things to me? If you can think of any solutionsplease write back.

Sincerely,Anna Simpson

As Scottie was thinking about his letter, Rasheed Wallacewas reading this letter:

Dear Rasheed,

My name is Michael Larkin. I am a big fan of yourteam. I am 10 years old and in the fifth grade at Sabin. My favorite sport is basketball. I play itevery day at school. I like to watch the Blazersgames on TV.

I have problems with people who call me all sortsof names and they even talk about my mom anddad. It makes me mad when they say I’m doingsomething and I’m not. I get so mad that I want tohurt someone, but I don’t. I try to control my anger.If I get angry and yell or fight I will get suspended.Do you ever get mad like that? If you do I would liketo know how do you control your anger so that youdon’t yell loud or hit somebody?

Sincerely,Michael

Derek decided to call his friend Scottie Pippen for advice.While they were talking, Rasheed called in on anotherline. Scottie said, “Hey guys, these kids need our help.Let’s go back to Sabin and see what we can do.”

“Good idea,” Derek replied.

“Let’s see if Dale Davis, Bonzi, and Chris Dudley want tocome and help,” Rasheed said.

Scottie telephoned his friend, Ms. Hall, the principal ofSabin. He told her about the letters and explained thatsome players wanted to come with him to see if theycould help. Ms. Hall told him, “I think it’s a great idea.Come on over. Only no pizza party this time!”

Scottie, Rasheed, Derek, Dale, Bonzi, and Chriswalked into Sabin School the next morning. The firstthing that they did was stop by the office to say helloto Ms. Hall.

Scottie and Chris entered the third grade classroom anda student yelled, “It’s Scottie Pippen!” The whole classbegan to chatter. Mrs. Marshall, the teacher, smiled athim and said, “Ms. Hall told me that you would be stop-ping by.”

Scottie said, “I came back to Sabin to help out a friend.”He told the students about the letter that he hadreceived. The class became very quiet. He said, “I’mlooking around and I don’t see anyone ugly in thisroom.” He added, “If anyone here is making fun ofsomeone or his parents, then that person has an uglyattitude. An ugly attitude hurts other people.”

Chris said, “Think before you speak. If you wouldn’twant someone to say something to you, then don’t yousay it.”

Rasheed talked to the fifth grade. “Someone in this classsent me a letter because he has trouble controlling hisanger. Hey, I have the same problem, and I reallyworked on it this year.”

A boy raised his hand and said, “It’s hard not to yell orfight when you get really angry.”

“Sure it’s hard,” Rasheed said, “but if I lose my temper Iget thrown out of the game. Now that’s not a goodthing. I am a part of a team. I want to stay in the gameand play because my team needs me on the court.”

“Your class is your team,” he continued. “You need tostay in school and not get suspended. When you feelyourself becoming angry, remember that your friends andfamily need you to be a leader and do the right thing.”

In a fourth grade classroom Derek spoke about his letter.He told them, “Sometimes adults have problems and theycan’t take care of their children. It doesn’t mean that theydon’t love their kids.”

A boy said, “It must be really hard to not be with yourmom or your dad. I wouldn’t like that. I would feel lonely.”

Then a girl asked, “How can we help a friend who is infoster care?”

Derek answered, “You can help by being a friend. Whenyou hear people saying unkind words, go stand next toyour friend. Ask the other kids to stop. If they won’t stop,you and your friend walk away together. Your friend willknow that there are people who care about her.”

Dale and Bonzi found a second grade classroom wherethe students were working on science experiments withplants. They were having a great time until they heardsomeone saying, “You can’t talk right. You must be stupid.”

A little girl replied, “I am not stupid! I am learningEnglish.”

Dale walked over to the girl who was ready to cry.“What’s your name?” he asked.

“Carla,” she replied softly.

“What language do you speak at home?” he asked.

“Spanish,” she replied. “I am from Mexico.”

Dale asked the class, “Who here can speak Spanish?”Carla raised her hand. “Hmm” he said, “Only Carla can speak Spanish, does that mean that the rest of youaren’t smart?”

“No,” said a little girl. “We never learned Spanish. Wespeak English.”

“That’s right,” Dale told her. “Just like Carla learnedSpanish first and now she is learning English. If she makesmistakes does that mean that she isn’t smart?”

“No!” answered the class.

The first lunch bell rang and the players decided to checkout the cafeteria. Derek stopped to help some confused firstgraders find their lunch cards and was happy to see someother students helping them too.

Dale and Bonzi watched as a student tried to cut in theline. Then the student turned and saw them staring at himand he walked to the end of the line.

Scottie, Chris, and Rasheed were in the cafeteria whenthey heard someone complain, “Man I wish we didn’t haveto eat this stuff. I hate it!”

“It’s not that bad,” a girl replied.

“Yes it is,” the boy insisted. He then dumped his tray ontothe floor. The rest of the kids at his table just stared at himfor a minute. “You’re in trouble!” someone shouted. Acouple of students started to clean up the mess.

“Hey!” called Bonzi. “What do you think you’re doing?”

The boy stuttered, “I didn’t…I don’t…”

“You had no business throwing that food on the floor. I sawyou do it. We all saw you. Now some other people arecleaning up your mess. Why should someone else clean upafter you? I think that you should clean up your own mess,don’t you?”

The boy decided that it might be a good idea to start cleaning.

The Blazers grabbed some brooms and mops and helpedclean up the cafeteria.

Later the players went out for second recess with thethird, fourth, and fifth graders. Derek saw a group of stu-dents playing soccer out on the field. It looked like fun,and so he decided to join them.

Chris walked over to watch a group of students playing tetherball.

Scottie and Bonzi headed towards the basketball courtwhere a group of girls and boys were arguing instead of playing. A girl rushed up to them shouting, “The boys say that the girls can’t play basketball because we can’t shoot!”

“Well, you can’t!” a boy yelled.

“Is that so?” Scottie replied. “I guess those Portland Fireplayers don’t know that they can’t shoot.” He stared atthe boys.

“Well, those Fire ladies can shoot,” one boy admitted.

“Of course they can,” Bonzi said. “Anyone can learn toshoot a hoop. It doesn’t matter if you’re a girl or a boy.It just takes practice.”

“Why waste time arguing, when you could all be prac-ticing and playing?” Scottie asked. “Let’s go!” Hegrabbed the ball and took a shot.

Rasheed and Dale were watching an exciting game offoursquare. Everything seemed to be going great until a voice called out “Hey, Lisa, you were off the line—you’re out!”

“No I wasn’t!” Lisa yelled back.

“Yes, you were!” a boy insisted. “You’re cheating!”

Lisa ignored him and tried to keep on playing.“Cheater!” yelled another voice.

“You were off the line,” a very deep voice said.

Lisa looked up and saw Rasheed Wallace staring downat her. “What fun is a game if it isn’t played fairly?” heasked. Lisa didn’t answer.

“Everyone makes mistakes,” Dale said, “but if you cheat,no one will want to play with you. Now, can someoneexplain to me how to play this game?”

“It’s easy,” a little boy said, “here, let me show you!”

Out on the soccer field, the game was intense. “Youkicked me on purpose!” a boy yelled.

“I did not!” a girl replied. “It was an accident.”

“Forget about it,” someone said. “Let’s finish the game.”

“No!” the boy said, his face was red and he was reallyangry. “She always does stuff like that.” He ran over tothe girl and began yelling at her, “You are just mean!Your mama…”

“Whoa!” shouted Derek Anderson. “I don’t want to hearany more yelling and I definitely don’t want to hear any-thing bad about someone’s mama or any family member.”

The children on the field became very quiet. “It’s reallydisrespectful to talk that way,” a third grader said.

“Extremely disrespectful,” Derek agreed. “How many ofyou would like someone to say something rude aboutsomeone in your family? Raise your hand if you wouldenjoy that.” No one raised a hand.

“Remember to treat other people with respect. Cut them abreak. If someone bumps into you figure it’s an accident.”Derek told them. “Why get all angry about it? Let me askyou this, what’s more fun getting all mad and yelling orplaying the game?”

“Playing!” all the kids cheered.

“Well then, let’s do it!” Derek exclaimed.

Recess was over and the Blazers were tired. Theydecided to take a break and talk about their day. Theyall agreed that they had a good time, but they wanted todo more. “There are so many great kids here,” Scottiesaid, “but some of them are having problems withanger, and tolerance, and…”

“It seems to me that the problems all relate to respect,”Derek interrupted.

“Maybe if we could talk to them about how importantrespect is,” Rasheed said, “it would help.”

At 2:20 the entire school gathered in the gym. Scottiebegan to speak, “We had another great day at Sabin!”Everyone cheered. “We saw wonderful things happen-ing in your classrooms, at lunch, and at recess. But, wealso saw some problems.”

“Hey we all have problems, no one is perfect,” Dereksaid. “We want to help you think of some strategies tomake things better.”

Rasheed said, “It all boils down to respect. Let’s talkabout respect.”

Mama Malaika said, “Let’s all join together and say thepoem our third graders wrote on respect.” She led theassembly:

“One of our PAWS Rules says ‘Show Respect.’ Yes, youheard right! R-E-S-P-E-C-T”

R stands for realizing that I can make a positive difference.

E stands for encouraging everyone I meet to be the best that they can be.

S stands for showing my parents and teachers how hard I can work.

P stands for peacefully working with other students and my teachers.

E stands for eliminating intolerance and rudeness at my school.

C stands for cooperating with my classmates, teachers, and staff.

T stands for take this information and make Sabin a great school by acting on it!

The

Portland Trail Blazers pre-

sented the students of Sabin School with

an exciting challenge last year: develop a story-

line, produce illustrations, and publish a book. The

Sabin Blazers is the product of that challenge. It deals with

the excitement generated when celebrities visit an elementary

school. This year the Blazers asked the students to write a sequel.

We knew that we wanted to create a storyline with more depth, one

that illuminated real problems occurring at urban schools. We began

planning the book at the end of last summer. After September 11th, came

the unimaginable tragedy that left the children asking “Why?”. Of course

there are no simple answers, but at Sabin, we tried to help students cope with

the aftermath. Our discussions always returned to the issue of respect. If you

respect others you don’t hurt them. Respect means tolerating differences.

Respect means letting petty, hurtful feelings go. The theme for our sequel was

established: respect. Under the guidance of Michelle Sullivan, Library/Media

Specialist, the students developed and wrote a story based upon how respect

and disrespect look in an elementary setting. Christopher Lamp worked with

the students to develop the illustrations. Each page presents a different

motif. A motif is defined as any figure or design used either as a central

element in a work or as a repeated element used to create a pattern.

The motifs found on each page of the book are students’ works

inspired by cultures from all over the globe, past and present.

Thanks to other Sabin staff members Joan Marquis and

Rhonda Amatore for communications and special

assistance, and Deadra Hall, principal.

BRYANA • BRIAN • MICHELLE • ANDREW • CARL • JONATHAN • DEVIN • TAYLOR • ISAIAH • JESSICA • ROBERT• HENRY • ROSEMARY • SHENELLE • JEROME • JOSEPH • XAVIER • MICHELLE • MICHAEL • DASHANAE • TANISHA • CIERA • DESHAWN • KENDRA • CEDAEJIA • IVAN • ERIC • KAELOB • JESSICA • YOLANDA • CARMEN •ANDREW • OLIVIA • SHANIQUA • ANTOINETTE • AYSHIA • MECHEL’LE • LAUWREN • MARIA • MARCELLUS • ANDREA• BRYAN • DIAMOND • NIAJMA • JEHAN • AMBER • RANISHA • LARONE • KEVIN • SALMINIO • TERENCE • SYDNEY • AREANNA • LEONARD • JOANNA • MIA • AZURI • AATIKA • MIAYA • NICOLE • MARQUICHA • TREVOR • ALICIA • JAYME • EUGENE • CHARIAH • BRYNDON • ANDREW • LATIA • DECLAN • DONTA• JASMINE • SAMANTHA • DANIELLE • JAQUES • BRUCE • EMANUEL • JORDAN • JAMECIA • CHELSIE • BRIANA •KALEB • AIDA • TERRANCE • TEONDRE • SHAVONNE • AVALON • TIOSKA • AUSTIN • JOERONTE • JOSEPH • DAJUAN• SHALISA • SHANNON • SHAQUANA • MARKUS • CIERA • ABRIA • PENI • ANDRE • ORIMAR • GEORGIA • TIERRA • ASHLEY • MARCEL • WARREN • DAEDREONNA • MAYA • DIANA • RASHAY • MIRIAH • MICHAEL • CECELIA • JONATHAN • JOSHUA • REBECCA • JADE • LAUREN • CASPER • JASMINE • MARIA • ZULEIKA • RUSSELL • JOMEISHA • BRANDON • LOVIE • ARTHUR • CHARLES • LANE • EDGAR • AUSTIN • KAELEB •DEVON • JOCELYN • SERGIO • CHARLENE • JAROME • EUGENE • DARRYL • PATRICIA • DAVONTE • DAISEY •DIONNA • ANTOINETTE • JAYLEE • KAREN • HEAMASI • BRITTANY • ATRECIA • DELORES • JOSE • SEQUOIA •CHANTELL • DEVONTAE • RAKESHIA • DEVON • KAMERON • MATTHEW • EPIPHANY • MARK • LIMIHAI • ERNEST• CHRISTOPHER • TONIA • KIERRA • LUIS • TOBY • SONJA • AHMANA • BRITANNY • IZEAR •

ELIJAH • MARSEL • CYNESSE • NATASHA • NASCHE • QUIRA • KATELYNN • RASHAE • LARAIN • CURRAN • KYA •MARCELL • ELMER • JOC CRYSTAL • KENIN • CHRISTOPHER • MARC • ETHAN • SAVON • BRIANNA • EZEKIELL• OLIVIA • NADJA • TIMOTHY • SHAKEIA • REBECA • AUTUMN • NATHAN • AUDREY • MALIK • JOLICIA • TAELOR• MALIK • JOSE • RUSTY • ZACHARY • SHAKYLA • JAQUELA • KAYLA • ELIZABETH • VICTOR • ANIA • SYDNE• DEQUAN • ROBERT • HI’SHALE • LESLIE • NAMON • NIKOLAI • RASHAAN • MAYA • TAYLOR • ALEESA • SHAWNDRAE• DEANJERNELL • EXIE • JADE • DEJAVONTE • ERICKA • ELLY • VINCENT • JERRAE • TYONNA • KEYANA •CHRISSANDRA • ROY • DEBORAH • A’DAZIA-GAYE • DEONTE • LANISHA • ZAYDA • GABRIEL • DOROTHY • JONELL• BEVERLY • NAZEEH • KELSIE • JAQUAN • JALEAN • MARIAH • JEREMIAH • OMARI • BRANDON • KARIO • AKAIYA• KATELYNN • JAIDA • DOMAJIAN • JOHN • HELEN • DAICHELLE • SIOELI • TIARI • LAURA • MALIK • LEANDRE •ANGEL • SHAKIELYA • ALEXANDER • ALERIONNA • DEYANIRA • TENZIN • TAYLOR • ELIZABETH • TYSHA • FELICIA • TOSHA • CARL • ANGELICA • LANCE • SHABRIA • TATIYANA • DEVAN • REBECCA • DANIELLE • TOREN •DEIONDRE • CHAZMYNE • PHAROAH • ROBERT • KISANET • JUSTICE • JOHNKIA • SILAS • ARMANDO • TRASHAWN• BRIANNA • MONIQUE • MATEEN • JAVANTAE • DAVID • MICHAEL • DEMARCUS • TASHAI • HENRY • JACK • ISAIAH• DENISE • JIANNAH • SIONE • DAITRELL • LAPHAEL • AIRIQUE • VICTOR • RYAN • SHAWNDELL • TREOSHA • LESLIE• ANNALISAH-EILEEN • MATTHEW • ALAN • AARON • RILEY • MAXFIELD • YUKI • JEWNISHA • EMI • SHAWN •KEVIN • MAKENZIE • OWEN • ANDREW CALEB • MERRIL • RAUL • JOHNATHAN • GARRETT • TOM • JOSEPH