Parents need to know that The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives is a compelling, sometimes emotional nonfiction story of a 2013 assault in Oakland, California, when an African American public school teen boy named Richard set fire to a sleeping, gender-nonconforming white private school teen named Sasha The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. ; But the person who lived in this new room still had a boys nameLuke. The 57 Bus tells the true story of two California teens, Sasha and Richard, who meet by chance on an Oakland bus. Slater devotes a large chunk of the book to discussing the history of juvenile justice in the US, often quoting Barry Feld, an expert in juvenile law at the University of Minnesota, who insists that You cannot tell when youre looking at a sixteen-year-old whether they are irredeemably depraved" (174). Purchasing Sasha is accepted into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with the intent to pursue a career in transit. She writes that "in 2013, the year Sasha was burned, Oakland ranked seventh among American cities in income inequalityjust below New York. illustrated by The justice system is ignorant in that it assumes the only way to punish Richard is with incarceration, where a kid from the "right" side of town might not have been punished in quite the same way. Dashka Slater's The 57 Bus, a riveting nonfiction book for teens about race, class, gender, crime, and punishment, tells the true story of an agender teen who was set on fire by another teen while riding a bus in Oakland, California. Why did the author start the book by focusing on Sasha in The 57 Bus? My students love how organized the handouts are and enjoy tracking the themes as a class., Requesting a new guide requires a free LitCharts account. Copyright 1999 - 2023 GradeSaver LLC. Theme Theme Gender and Sexuality Gender and Sexuality publication in traditional print. When Richard, an African American junior from nearby Oakland High School, boards the bus and sees Sasha, a genderqueer kid in a skirt, Sasha quickly becomes the object of Richards misguided prank. Mon - Fri . Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Dashka Slater Sashas family is encouraged by all of the support that they have received, but they are still confused by the incident. We won't share this comment without your permission. By entering your email address you agree to receive emails from SparkNotes and verify that you are over the age of 13. My students love how organized the handouts are and enjoy tracking the themes as a class., Requesting a new guide requires a free LitCharts account. I felt like one person hates memaybe., We do not understand your actions, Debbie went on. Risky ThinkingSome Numbers: US Juvenile Incarceration. The second is the date of Karl, Sasha's father, is also quick to forgive Richard. Why does society sometimes ridicule and hurt nonconforming people? The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives: 9781526361233: Amazon.com: Books Buy new: $13.24 Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns FREE delivery Thursday, February 9 if you spend $25 on items shipped by Amazon Or fastest delivery Tuesday, February 7. Learn. With encouragement from Jamal, Richard lights Sashas skirt before exiting the rear of the bus. Encourage Your Baby to Talk & Say Easy Words such as Colours & Learn the Alphabet by Singing Along to our Catchy ABC Songs & Nursery Rhymes. When Sasha visits her fathers kindergarten classroom, they question the practice of organizing childrens registers by boys and girls and suggest Karl instead use folders AM and NZ to group the children by name. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. Within The 57 Bus, Slater defines multiple terms for sexual attraction and identity, including homosexual, bisexual, and pansexual (being attracted to all people across the gender spectrum), and Sasha and their friends underscore the many sexual identities present in the LGBTQ community. Richard and his friend Lloyd also take the bus home after school. Quote 1. After a lengthy series of court proceedings, the district attorney offers Richard a plea bargain: if he maintains good behavior in the juvenile system, he can be released by his twenty-first birthday and never have to serve time in adult prison. ; Lastly, Nemo identifies as asexual and doesnt do sexual relationships; Nemo is not physically attracted to anyone, regardless of sex or gender, and as such, they completely avoid sex and sexual relationships. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. RELEASE DATE: Oct. 17, 2017. Richard lights Sasha's skirt on fire aboard the 57 bus and is subsequently arrested and charged with two hate-crimes. date the date you are citing the material. There must be some way to wake Sasha. Few readers will traverse this exploration of gender identity, adolescent crime, and penal racism without having a few assumptions challenged. Especially since after I was attacked, the whole world was supporting me. Dashka Slater's The 57 Bus is an award-winning book that follows the story of a teenage binary person, Sasha, and their classmate, Richard. Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. I just knew that was not who I was at all. While Andrew also has deep questions concerning his gender identity, he is certain that he does not feel feminine. Instead of pronouns that disguised between male and female, Sashas language had pronouns that distinguished between animate and inanimate objects. The park is open from June to the end of September from 6 pm to 1:30 . Continue to start your free trial. That boy was on fire, wasnt he? a man remarks as Sasha pushes through the back doors to the sidewalk. Sasha saw support from all corners of the globe, and the LGBTQ+ community demonstrated its cohesivness across national boundaries, sending Sasha letters and gifts from all corners of the world. Its free and takes less than 10 seconds! Richard, a light-skinned Black teenager, is a junior at Oakland High School. After the bus pulls over and confused passengers jump out, two men smother Sashas burning skirt. The 57 Bus Summary The 57 Bus tells the true story of two teenagers living in Oakland, California. Please wait while we process your payment. Black and White. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Sasha does not really identify with either; on the other hand, Sasha's friend Andrew, who was born a girl, always knew that he was not a girl. Pre-publication book reviews and features keeping readers and industry Did you know you can highlight text to take a note? There are also three Gallic-themed hotels to stay at in the park that will transport you back to the time of the Gauls. Learn what it's like to grow up in neighborhoods rife with gangs and violence -- and see that these kids are human beings doing the best they can. Everyone should read this. Common Sense is the nation's leading nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of all kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in the 21st century. So it was a nice change to be seen as female. If there are two dates, the date of publication and appearance The 57 Bus, by Dashka Slater, tells the story of then eighteen-year-old Sasha Fleischman's life-changing encounter riding the bus home from school in Oakland, California, in October 2013.Sasha, a . Test. The story is divided into four parts -- "Sasha," "Richard," "The Fire," and "Justice" -- in which Slater deeply explores the lives of these two teens, their pasts, their friends and families, and the events that led to that fateful day on the bus. Sasha solves the problem by discarding gender as a sorting category: for instance, they decide to pick whichever bathroom is less crowded. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Sasha was named Luke at birth, but at a young age, Sasha decided that neither gender correctly applied. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more. Debbie recalls being sent home from school for uniform violations, which she also recalls never happened to the boys in her class, showing that she was discriminated against because of her gender, and that unrealistic social expectations are placed far more on girls than on boys. SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. Ta-Nehisi Coates This is another reason his attorney contends that he should be charged as a juvenile. Richard does well in the juvenile justice system: he earns his high school diploma, obtains vocational training, and works for a non-profit. The way the content is organized, LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in. Sasha wears a skirt with a masculine vest or shirt because they do not identify as either male or female. The book also aims to promote a non-discriminatory kind of justice, called restorative justice, in which both the victim and the perpetrator try to reconcile and are given a chance to try to find a solution through remorse and contrition that will help both of them heal. They wore a skirt for the first time during their schools annual cross-dressing day and began to identify as genderqueer. Sasha explains their own sexuality as hybrid gray-cupiosexual. A cupiosexual doesnt feel sexual attraction, but is still interested in sex, and a graysexual mostly doesnt feel sexual attraction but does occasionally. Sasha has minimal interest in sex, and their chosen sexual identity reflects this. Sasha wonders. With its two protagonists belonging to minorities of race or gender, respectively, the idea of otherness plays a crucial part in The 57 Bus. He gives Richard a lighter. "The 57 Bus", a non-fiction, young-adult book by journalist Dashka Slater, explores the tragic interaction of two teenagers. Growing up in Baltimore in the 80s, Coates was a dreamer, all cupcakes and comic books at the core. He was also heavily influenced by the New York noise of mid-to-late-1980s hip-hop. Created by. Sasha forms a close, platonic relationship with Nemo, another agender teenager. As Baliga observes, however, restorative justice is not lenient; rather, it is about dispensing with punitiveness for its own sake and changing the paradigm of the criminal justice system. Teen heals from loss and self-harm in gritty, gripping tale. Part 1: Gender, Sex, Sexuality, Romance: Some Terms, Part 3: Under the Influence of Adolescence, Part 3: Lets All Take Care of Each Other, Part 4: Some Gender-Neutrality Milestones, read analysis of Adolescent Crime vs. Within a tight-knit group of friends at Maybeck, Sasha feels welcome and supported. Translate the expectations of the writing task and gather evidence from research. More importantly, why do people need to define themselves by gender? Ed. Sashas family is moved by Richards sentiments, and Karl reads a statement at one of Richards sentencing hearings, stating that the family has forgiven Richard and hopes that the justice system will be lenient. A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. Play the Alphabet on the Piano (3D) 00:04 Super Circus 3D Pink Car Jump 01:57 Alphabet Tea Set (Letter A) 02:37 Colors of the Alphabet 04:02 Super Circus 3D Christmas Party 05:37 Paint Mixing (Pink) 06: . Further, boys like Richard are more likely to be arrested for alleged crimes: When Richard is arrested for assaulting Sasha, his racial identity plays a part in the decision to try him as an adult. And there was a whole array of distinctions within each category as well. GradeSaver, Different Perspectives on the 57 Bus Fire: The Book vs. The parents' guide to what's in this book. Over a year after the incident, Du Bois gives Sasha the letters that Richard wrote. Under a California law known as Proposition 21, prosecutors have the unilateral power to try underage offenders as adults in cases involving violent crime, and this is exactly what happens to Richard. Line status Published on: 02/23/2023 1:45 PM Behind him, Sashas mustached rescuer paces the aisle. But how does he know? The 57 Bus is about a transgender young adult named Sasha whose skirt is lit on fire by a young adult male. The 57 Bus tells the true story of two California teens, Sasha and Richard, who meet by chance on an Oakland bus. When Richard, an African American junior from nearby Oakland High School, boards the bus and sees Sasha, a genderqueer kid in a skirt, Sasha quickly becomes the object of Richards misguided prank. Richard is sixteen, but when he sets fire to Sasha's skirt, he finds himself charged as an adult, primarily because he is considered to have committed a hate crime. In this way, Karl's forgiveness is also pragmatic. The book provides incredible insight into the lives of kids that many of us may not otherwise learn about. Teachers and parents! for a group? heavy bird in the storm somebody to rise having labored on through joy and sorrow hope the golden crown it will all be glorious the beautiful city forever love those having by will look upon the beauty many precious loved ones will be waiting just across the river in this lonesome valley no more to roar no every heart will then be all be PDF downloads of all 1699 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. on 2-49 accounts, Save 30% It was like a gigantic menu, with columns and columns of choices. The way the content is organized, LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in, Compare and contrast themes from other texts to this theme, The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Gender and Sexuality appears in each chapter of. Sasha is the target of Richards bullying because he doesnt like gay people, and he assumes that Sasha is homosexual. The second date is today's The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child. He spent the previous year in a home for boys after getting arrested for fighting. But as Sasha began exploring the topic online, they found that some people had developed language for combing the tangle into individual strands. After examining Richards file, Kaprice accepts him into her program. While one teen, Sasha, who appeared male but was wearing a skirt, slept, 16-year-old Richard -- egged on by friends -- lit the sleeping Sasha's skirt on fire. One moment that changes both of their lives forever. If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Adventuredome Indoor Theme Park 466 Amusement Parks2880 S Las Vegas Blvd, The Strip This is a placeholder "It's not Six Flags, but the rides are thrilling enough for a fun time." more 2. Dashka Slaters The 57 Bus chronicles the events leading up to this terrible crime and the healing that takes place after, but it also serves as a guidebook to understanding key LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) issues and concerns. Part 1: How Do You Know What Gender You Are? Further, Slater discusses how categories of biology, gender, sex, and romance are beginning to separate and combine in endless algorithms: In Sashas case, the support of their parents and attendance at the progressive Maybeck School empower them to define their unique identity. An advancement from both is restorative justice, which Slater explores in depth. Categories: Sasha is an agender teenager (identifying as neither male nor female) with Aspergers who attends Maybeck, a private high school. Renew your subscription to regain access to all of our exclusive, ad-free study tools. Richard is given the shorter sentence and allowed to stay within the juvenile system. Subscribe now. In California, prosecutors have the power to decide to charge under-age offenders as adults in violent crimes. When Samantha transitions to Andrew, for instance, he becomes the subject of gossip at his public high school: Andrews parents are not as supportive as Sashas, which hastens his crisis. Government forms only offer two options when it comes to gender: M or F. Forms also often conflate gender and sex as the same thing. The Daily Mail, in the United Kingdom, even illustrated the report with a photo of a kilt, explaining a kilt is the national dress of Scotland.. When Sasha begins to wear a skirt at eighteen, Debbie and Karl worry about them becoming a target. Without truly understanding the word, Richard states that he is homophobic. He tries to cooperate with the police and gives a statement without his mother or a lawyer present. It is my dream that queer people develop the same ideologywhat I like to call a Global Queer Conscience. He details his own isolating experiences as a queer adolescent in an Orthodox Jewish community and reflects on how he and so many others would have benefitted from a robust and supportive queer community. Direct FilesUnder the Influence of Adolescence, BinaryThe People vs. Richard - - - - - - -. Richard is punished for his crimes to the fullest extent of the law; however, both Sasha and, Instant downloads of all 1699 LitChart PDFs