Outcast: A Short Story

“Outcast United, a alluring treat for lovers of nonfiction. As refugees from around the world join together, Luma ( the Fugees soccer coach) helps the young boys get an education and learn how to work together to keep each other safe. Luma a independent women came to America to go to school.

An outsider is defined as “a person who does not belong to a particular group.” In the book, The Outsiders, many of the characters can be described as being an outcast from the social society. Ponyboy, Johnny, and Cherry are outsiders in this novel because none of them really fit into the groups that they’re “supposed” to be in.

In “Outcasts United” written by Warren St. John we learn about the lives of multiple young children along with their families coming from broken homes that seek a better living, they are refugee. Throughout the book, the lives of the kids are described on how they learn to adapt to this new life. Luma Mufleh is introduced in the beginning. She is the creator of the “Fugees” a soccer team she started in order to give these boys a way to escape from their past. While learning the way these kids live their life, the theme that is portrayed to us would be teamwork.

Clarkston, Georgia is a small town on the outskirts of Atlanta, home to many refugees from around the world. These refugees all migrated to Clarkston for many different reasons including war and diseases. For about the last twenty years Clarkston’s refugees have expanded to roughly one third of its population. This migration has caused many cultural differences as well as struggling businesses and racial discrimination. Author Warren Saint John discusses many challenges due to this migration through the Fugees, a soccer team of refugee boys. Outcasts United is a story showing that in order for a community of very different cultures to coexist there must be acceptance and compromises made by both the natives and the refugees so that they can all live in peace.

In the non-fiction text Outcasts United Warren St. John suggests that diversity teaches one to accept and understand other cultures, through the Fugees unity. The under 13 fugees are about to have their last game and they really want to win.The team is very close and, Grace, a refugee from Congo has an idea that the team should pray together. The team consists of both Muslims and Christians, and they must figure out how to pray together. ¨But Grace had an idea. He thought the Fugees should pray together. The idea presented a quandary; there were both Christians and Muslims on the team. How could they accommodate everyone? With no help from Luma or any other adult, the boys quickly worked out a solution. Grace would offer a Christian prayer, Eldin, a Muslim one.¨ (270) St. John uses the word ¨quandary¨ meaning a state of perplexity or uncertainty over what to do in a difficult situation. He uses this word because it shows how complicated the situation is. He then states that there are both Christians and Muslims on the team to show its diversity with religion. He talks about how the team needs to accommodate everyone and talks about how they work out a solution, the boys end up having one Christian boy pray in his native language and one Muslim boy pray in his native language. ¨Having friends from all over the world was perfectly normal to Qendrim… ¨It's like they're all from my own country,¨ he

Alienation is something we find to be constantly present within our society. This idea is steadily exemplified throughout history whether it be through class, race, or any social unjust. In Kristen Dombek’s piece, she details various accounts of social alienation. The reader follows as Dombek reveals corruption between human relationships and the way we interact with world. She exposes what we are all afraid to admit- modern values and morals. Kristen Dombek presses us with the question of why we do the things we do and live the way we live. Readers are forced to question if they are slaves to the world around them. Do we succumb to the social and economical pressure demanded from us, and if so, will we allow that to happen for the generations after us? Although alienation is something that roots from ourselves as individuals, recognize the factors in our lives that this originates from. Question the relationships people have established in their own neighborhood, or if a prosaic office job is fulfilling. When we serve our economy but it does not do the same for us, the symbiosis or harmony in which live in is disrupted. Will we make a change for the beauty we desire to create and the life we lead in oppression today or tomorrow? In Bank-robbin in Brooklyn Kristen Dombeck explores the ideas of societal alienation by questioning the dynamic of people 's’ lives in their neighborhoods, in the workplace and their roles in society in general.

Outcast United was a book filled with emotion, and a culture completely different from anything of which the average American citizen has ever been exposed. Lumas attitude toward the fugees was incredibly positive. No matter what the situation was luma helped anyone on the Fugees team.

In today’s society, many people do not think about the outcome that immigration can lead to. It has been noticed that immigration into the United States is increasing more rapidly than ever. Recently, talk of allowing a large number of refugees to travel to the United States has surfaced in the media and has proven to be an extremely controversial topic. When it comes to refugees, many complications arise and some of these complications can be depicted in towns such as Clarkston, Georgia. In the novel Outcasts United, author, Warren St. John gravitates toward the expression of the idea of refugees and the struggles they encounter when coming to America.

One of the most recurring themes in Warren St John’s 2009 novel, Outcasts United: An American Town, A Refugee Team, and One Woman’s Quest to Make a Difference is community. Throughout the book, the protagonist, Luma Mufleh, creates a unique community amongst refugee boys living in Clarkston, Georgia. In the 1990s, Clarkston became a resettlement location for refugees and their families. The boys and their families were selected by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for resettlement in the United States. These families were forced to relocate after living in countries with war, persecution, natural disasters, environmental crises, and poverty.

Today we watch the world rage in war, bathe in chaos, and live in destruction. Where there is war families are being torn apart. Children watch family members be killed in front of them and many homes are destroyed. They are forced to leave their country and seek refuge in a neighboring one. In the book Outcasts United, the main conflict is how refugees are readjusting to life and how they are treated. Many characters have waited years to get into the u.s.This has made me realize that the way we deal with refugees is a big problem today. The camps they are put in are unsanitary. It takes years for background checks. And even after they get an okay to come here, they still struggle. Money can only go so far. I believe it is time to help them. Refugees are people and need to have another chance at life.

Outcasts United by Warren St. John is a non-fiction book about the accumulation of refugees in Clarkston, Georgia due to the resettlement process of the International Rescue Committee. The sudden increase of refugees created a conflict for both the people in Clarkston and the new immigrants. The novel follows the refugees as they, and Coach Luma Mufleh, form the Fugees, a soccer team that they use to figure out and adapt to their new lives. These refugees came into the United States with the hope of a better and safer life, but many struggled with trying to adapt their new lives in Clarkston while still trying to hold onto the memories of their past.

The book Outcasts is a very enjoyable book to just sit down some time and read for fun. This book and the books that follow are an offshoot of John Flanagan’s original story the Ranger's Apprentice. His writing style is very similar to the other books we has written. Very simple easy read and understand what he is trying to tell. This story will not take much of your time so you could read a few chapters a day and be done in a week, that is if after you start reading you can put the book back down. No, you won’t have to read the Ranger's Apprentice first, but I would recommend that you do so that you can have some background. If you liked that series, then you will love his newest one. It follows the story of a 16 year old boy named Hal going

Everyone should spread the message that if humanity needs to be saved, the Earth needs to be saved too. It needs care and affection as much as you do."

I found the text from the excerpt in “I’m Not A Feminist But…” intriguing as it opened my mind to how our current society views feminism. Throughout the entire text is declares reasons why individuals say they are not feminist, and I found these reasons to be true. When students were asked why people were so against being labeled a feminist the answers were that they didn’t want to be viewed as radical, experience social rejections and other issues (Weiss 29). After reading the reasons I can relate. As individuals in college we do not want to be an outcast, and in today’s society you are an outcast if you are feminist. It amazes me how scared people are to step outside the social norms and boundaries. We all want to fit in and are scared to

Before you I lived a life of inhibition. I never felt free to be myself. I hid in the shadows of the person others thought I had to be. It got to the point of me having an inferiority complex. I had to win to feel on top. The truth was that I was on top of nothing. I